Author: Dr. William Rassman

So I started Proscar (1.25mg for AGA) in a hope to prevent/slow down any possible hair loss (25 years old male with NW2, only a receded hairline and I have mid-back length of thin curly hair).

After my very first dose, I (after like 17 hours) felt some discomfort in the breasts/chest/upper abdomen, is this even possible? I gave it a try for 4 days and it’s still persisting (it’s not a full blown pain but rather a discomfort), I stopped the drug out of fear of Gyno, was this a sign of Gyno? This is my 3rd day off-drug and the discomfort is still there, what should I do? I really should take Finasteride and I am planning to restart it at 0.5mg once the discomfort resolves, is this the correct action?

If you believe you are having negative side effects, why would you want to continue the medication? The correct action is speaking to you doctor about this.

Anything is possible but it seems improbable. Gynecomastia from Propecia use takes several week if not months of use.

Finally a Norwood 2 is not generally considered balding and Propecia only treats the vertex (crown) area of the scalp – (not the front corners). We routinely offer actual tests to determine if you have genetic pattern balding routinely on every patient coming in to see us who are like you. We don’t want people on drug that do not need them.

There are many variables needed to address the question if one hair transplant is enough they include: The size of the balding area being treated, the hair thickness (fine, medium or coarse), the color contrast between hair and skin (e.g. Blondes do better with less hair moved in proportion to the balding area), the character of your hair (straight vs very curly), your goals (are they realistic?), the experience of the doctor and his/her team, the density placed at the recipient area. So if the bald area is small, then yes, one hair transplant can probably achieve reasonable goals.

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0022202X15529357

“All three studies demonstrated that finasteride treatment led to a significant improvement in hair growth and slowing of further hair loss progression”. These studies included 1879 men ages 18-41

Very impressive early results. I particularly liked that you kept your hair comparable between the two photos and with good lighting

It is hard to believe that this much hair came out in just one month treatment with dermaroller, finasteride and minoxidil. Hair length could have something to do with what we are seeing. Your before picture should have had the same hair length as the after picture

At one month, many people will see that the hair loss has stopped, and that alone may show improvement. Most people (about 95%+) will see no side effect, so that is not unusual.

I would stick to the medication and if there is an effect, you will see in in another 6 or so months.