Category: Drugs

Hello Dr. Rassman,

I have a question about a Today Show video that I saw, which mentions a possible cure for baldness using azt azidothymidine. Do you have any further information on this research?

Thank you for your great work!

No, I do not have information on this. Both AZT (azidothymidine) and HIV do produce hair loss. I’ve not heard about AZT as a hair loss treatment. When did this Today show air and is the video online? I’m curious to see what you’re referring to.

Dr Rassman
I have a script for Latisse and i added it to a bottle of Rogaine and started useing it,do you think it will help supercharge the rogaine and grow more hair.Can you please tell me what your thoughts are on it. Thanks

Although Latisse (bimatoprost) has been shown to grow eyelashes, the formulation is not known to be effective for scalp hair. If you do decide to try it, I’d be curious as to what you find, but I can not recommend this approach to you.

Hi Doctor Rassman,

I’m 28 and have had very fine/curly blond hair my whole life. I’ve never had to do a terrific amount of shaving and have very little body hair. My maternal grandfather was bald from a fairly young age. My younger brother (3 yrs younger) has darker, thicker hair and had to shave whilst in high school – he (now 25) has lost a lot of hair.

My hair began to thin out a lot starting about 3 yrs ago – I started finasteride about 9 months ago – it seems to have stabilized my loss and slightly thickened up the hairs I had.

That said, I’ve been studying pretty intensely lately, and have noticed the top/back of my head seems thinner. I was thinking of rogaine but am rather hesitant.

Do you typically see the patients get a shed on rogaine if they already had one on propecia about six months earlier?

Also: There are internet rumor that rogaine works better for coarser darker hair, and I’ve also read comments from people who had their hair shed with rogaine but not grow back – My hair has always been very fragile blond and fine, does this make it more vulnerable to a rogaine shed and the possibility of not growing back?

Thank you in advance for answering!

I don’t know of any correlation between Propecia and Rogaine shedding, but stress (like intense studying may bring) could bring on more hair loss. You can stick with just Propecia or give Rogaine a try, as it does tend to work best in the crown area that you’re describing. The shedding is pretty rare, though (see here).

I do believe that minoxidil works better on coarse hair from a visual point of view, but not from a pharmacological point of view. I say this because a 20% increase in thickness in a coarse hair may be equal to the total amount of bulk of doubling the thickness of fine hair, making it easier to see. Remember the pi R squared math formula means that small increases in the diameter of a circle will increase the area of that circle (or in this case, hair). Go to math.com or mathwarehouse.com to review the math formulas from a hands-on point of view.

Hi, Doctor Rassman,
Im a 27 year old male,my hair has been thinning since I was 23.I still got hair on top and at the front but is thinning on the crown. After tried herbal remedies like Provillus (waste of time and money, honestly) and tried different topical lotions like Revivogen( the same as Provillus,waste of time and money.) Please guys don’t even think about this kind of products,they don’t work!!!

I just decided to try Propecia after a year of research,Im still bit scared about the side effects but I think I’m going to give it a go and see if it works for me. My question is: is possible to take a dose of 0.5 daily in case I get any of the side effects? Is this safe an effective?

Thanks

You should take 1mg of Propecia (per your doctor’s prescription) and if you develop side effects, you can cut the dose… but going the other way makes no sense. 99% of people do not get sexual side effects addressing sexual performance. Why would you assume you are in the 1% group of the population?

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I have hair loss probelm and genetic history of baldness, i started hair loss at about early 20 at vertex, but it became severe at age of 25-26 when i was in struggling period of life full of tensions and strees. at 28 age i started minixidill and finasteride, it worked well particularly finasteride, but after regrow of complete hair i stopped using it. and in few months my problem again became severe, then i again resume finasteride but it don’t works now even after 1 year. now i started homepathy and stopped finasteride. what r my chances to regrow the hairs

You took finasteride for a year, but I’m not sure what you were looking for as far as results. Why would you stop it if you initially saw regrowth? Then after you restarted it, the finasteride might not have regrown hairs that were lost, but it likely maintained your hair as is. In other words, it was doing its job. Now that you stopped taking it after a year, I wouldn’t be surprised to learn that you’re seeing even more hair loss, as your loss is playing catch-up right now (it’ll get to the point of your balding pattern that you would’ve seen had you never taken the medication).

I don’t believe that homeopathy works at all for treating hair loss, but you’re open to try whatever you want.

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Hi I have been using rogaine on the front of my scalp behind my hair line and I’m just wondering if this will hold my hair loss. I know chances are it wont grow it back but I just want to know if I’m wasting my time applying it here. Thanx

There are no guarantees with drugs like minoxidil (Rogaine), but it tends to work by increasing the length of the anagen (growth phase) of the hair cycle. It can both grow new hair and retain the existing hair where it is longer than normal so instead of a 3 year growth (anagen) cycle, maybe it would extend to 4 years or so. It might work where you’re applying it, but without a microscopic miniaturization mapping over time, I couldn’t tell you if you’re wasting time.

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Can propecia can liver damage for one who is taking it for a long time. We all know, propecia is heavily metabolized in the liver, so if taking it for years and years can it cause some damage to the liver?

There is no causal connection between liver disease and Propecia, however, if you have liver disease, the dose for Propecia will have to be monitored and may have to be reduced.

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