First off, I just want to say that I love your blog and I thank you for your willingness to offer advice to the general public. I’m a 24 year old male who recently stopped taking Propecia after 1 month because well, basically I began to experience sexual side effects and let’s just say I’m not man enough to risk losing my manliness for good. You’re well aware of the information available on the internet, so I won’t go too much into detail. There have been in-depth studies in other countries and I trust their scientists know what they’re doing.
I guess what I wanted to know is what my other options are. Right now it looks like the next best option would be Rogaine, but coupled with diet and exercise and overall good health, is there any thing else that I can do to prevent further hair loss? I’m a very early NW1, so my main goal is to maintain my hair.
Thank you
I’d wonder why your doctor would prescribe Propecia to someone with a “very early” Norwood Class 1, which isn’t even considered balding. That causes me to think that you weren’t prescribed the medication to begin with. I won’t lecture, but I sincerely hope this isn’t the case. If you had these side effects, perhaps you should’ve gone back to the prescribing doctor and gone over your options (lower dosage, etc). Or maybe you went to an inept physician. Regardless, don’t start trying to treat something that isn’t there.
Get your hair and scalp mapped out for miniaturization and find out if you have any real balding going on. Everything else follows a proper diagnosis, which you most certainly need. As for treatment options, you’re correct in that the next best would be Rogaine (minoxidil)… but again, I do not recommend that you start using hair loss medications preventatively.
As for your claims that “there have been in-depth studies in other countries and I trust their scientists know what they’re doing” — how in-depth are we talking here, and does that mean you don’t trust studies performed in the US? If you’re referring to the Swedish Medical Products Agency study from 2008, I wrote about that already.
Nope, I have not had any reports from patients that the amount of semen increased with the drug Propecia.
I am not a fortune teller. You started 3 separate hair treatments and now you are stuck not knowing if one, two, or even all three were the reason you saw improvement. Still another possibility is that none of the treatments worked and it was just a matter of being patient while the hair regrew, because maybe you didn’t have genetic male pattern baldness to begin with. Maybe you had telogen effluvium and it was self-limiting and the hairs grew back on their own (as it typically takes 6 to 12 months).
I can’t give you specific advice about what medication is right for you for multiple reasons, but the main one being that I do not even know what you have. What is your diagnosis for the hair loss? Do you have male pattern baldness (MPB), or do you have an autoimmune problem?
This is the first FDA safety probe relating to either Propecia (finasteride) or Avodart (dutasteride) that I’m aware of, and it is looking into a link between male breast cancer and 5-alpha reductase inhibitors. Any FDA probe certainly is in the best interest of the public, but as the article points out, “Merck spokeswoman Pam Eisele said the prescribing instructions for Proscar and Propecia already mention cases of male breast cancer seen in clinical trials.” No relationship has been established though, so we’ll have to wait to see what is discovered in the FDA’s investigation.