Category: Drugs

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If Intercytex Is Successful, Would Propecia Still Be Needed? – Hair Loss Information – Balding Blog

Hi again, Dr. Rassman. Thanks for the continuous great work on the website. Doctor, my question involves Intercytex and Propecia: assuming Intercytex’ research does generate a successful treatment, am I write to believe patients who get that specific treatment will still need drugs such as Propecia? The reason I ask this is that I believe that even though the “new hair” will not suffer from DHT-related problems, the patient will still lose “original” follicles not related to Intercytex’ procedure. Thanks!

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Good question. We really don’t have much information about the quality of the hair that could be produced with this technique. I agree with you that even if you can have an unlimited source of hair grafts for transplanting into the bald area, you still need to keep your natural hair, otherwise you are committed to many unnecessary procedures instead of one. Propecia will most likely hold on to the existing hair and slow down the progression of the hair loss and whatever hair that will be obtained from Intercytex will be focused upon putting new hair into a bald area from (I suspect) a productive ‘hair generating’ source other than excision of strip harvesting from the back of the head.

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Propecia Stops Working Unless I Double the Dose – Hair Loss Information – Balding Blog

Dear Dr
Thank you for taking the time out of your busy schedule to help us with our fight against hairloss. For close to 6 months I have had my suspicions that the effectiveness of Propecia has been wearing off.I thought it was all in my head but in the last few weeks the miniaturisation of my hairs on the sides of my head have become really obvious.Its a fact,after years of great results my hair had begun to miniaturise again.I was balding again.I increased the dose to half a tablet Proscar a day & after several weeks noticed that my hair stopped miniaturising, infact the miniaturising process is now being reversed.This is great news. However,I am now experiencing an incredibly oily scalp,especially when I wake up in the mornings.My hair is soaked in oil.Are you aware of “oily scalp” being a side effect of propecia use or could it just be a mere coincidence? I know you can’t give a definitive answer unless you see me in person but ANY feedback would be greatly appreciated as the Doctors in my area don’t have a clue about hairloss related issues.
Thanks in advance

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Every patient, sooner or later, will see more hair loss even while they are on the drug Propecia. This drug is not a cure all — it slows down the progress of the balding. If increasing the dose helps you stop the balding, then talk to your prescribing doctor about taking a higher dosage. Oily scalp can be managed with shampoos made for people with an oily scalp and more frequent washing (twice a day) may work for you.

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Hair Loss InformationPropecia Info on the Internet Has Me Worried! – Hair Loss Information – Balding Blog

Hello dear doc,

I’ve been studying www.propeciahelp.com for a while and I must say I’m a bit worried about finasteride.

The users of that board have got side effects from finasteride use that won’t let go, even though the treatment has stopped.

If these side effects are due to finasteride or other factors, I do not know, but I think it’s worth a discussion.

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When one hears or reads that with the drug stopped, sexual dysfunction continues for weeks or months, I just do not know how to respond to your probe here. I would think that if it were a common problem, I would see it in my practice and I can report that maybe one patient talked about sexual dysfunction taking about a month to get back to normal. That is one out of thousands of patients I’ve personally seen. So I wonder if there is a secondary agenda suggested. Did any of these men with sexual dysfunction (real ED or libido problems) have these problem before they started with finasteride? I am not saying that it does not happen, but I can respond to my experience, which is substantial.

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Burning Pain in Scalp – Hair Loss Information – Balding Blog

For the past 18 months I have had severe hair shedding/thinning all over my scalp. I also have had scalp burning pain for the same amount of time. I have seen 3 dermatologists and 2 neurologists who cannot explain the pain. I have been taking propecia since this first started and the hair shedding just keeps speeding up. All of my blood test results were in the norm for known hairloss associated problems. There is no family history of hairloss. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

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I don’t know of any disorder causing hair loss and scalp pain. Use of the Propecia can not explain this condition either. Inflammations of the skin can cause acute hair loss or anticipate the male pattern baldness in affected patients. I am not aware of all the actions that you had for diagnosis of your condition, but if I were you I would stick to a good dermatologist. You may need more tests and follow up visits to rule out rare situations that may present with these signs and symptoms.

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Hepatitis B and Propecia – Hair Loss Information – Balding Blog

Hi i have Hepatitis B and it is InActive so i would like to know if it is safe for me to use Propecia?

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If your hepatitis is inactive and your liver function is normal, then is should be safe to take normal doses of Propecia. Of course, check with your doctor… as I am not your doctor for purposes of medical advice to your situation.

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Hair Loss InformationMinoxidil 5% Regrows More Hair than Propecia? – Hair Loss Information – Balding Blog

Hello Dr,

I understand that you recommend propecia. Just for the debate i wanted to know does propecia regrow more hair or rogaine in those people these drugs work. I found the below article which shows that minoxidil 5% beats propecia in number of hair regrown hands down. Can you comment on it please.

http://www.haarweb.nl/forum/showthread.php?p=61654
Please scroll down in the thread.

Thank you for the blog

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Thanks for the insightful link. I have been swinging to using a combination of minoxidil 5% and Propecia for men. It does appear that both is better than just one. I like Propecia because it ‘hits’ the underlying DHT component for hair loss in men, but one can not deny the building evidence of the value of higher concentrations of minoxidil. Clearly the use of both medications have issues of compliance. Twice a day use of minoxidil is the right approach, but this alone may be a problem for busy men, while Propecia in the morning is easier to use.

In conclusion, I believe that using both is best.

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Shedding from Rogaine Foam? – Hair Loss Information by Dr. William Rassman

I started using Rogaine Foam 3 weeks ago and I’m concerned with the amount of shedding I’m experiencing. I’m well aware that shedding is supposed to take place when starting rogaine for 2 weeks to 2 months but it’s hard to look at the sink and instantly see 50 to 75 hairs sitting there each time I use rogaine. Which is twice a day. I have a mature hairline so I’m not really bald. I have always had really fine hair so that’s why I get concerned. I know people lose something like 50 to 150 hairs per day who aren’t having any hair loss issues but I’ll shed 100 to 150 hairs a day from the use of rogaine and that’s not counting the hairs that shed that I don’t see. When I look at my scalp, it don’t feel like it looks any different now with the shedding going on. But maybe that won’t be the case in another month. So I was just wondering if you think I’m shedding TOO much. Thanks

First, I would want to know what you are treating and if it is necessary to use the Rogaine. Minoxidil is reported by users to have a short shedding period that lasts up to a couple of months and it is believed to be the result of an acceleration of the hair cycling process. I can’t help you further without examining you.


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Rogaine Questions – Hair Loss Information by Dr. William Rassman

Hello Doc

I have a few questions about Rogaine,

  1. I know when I first start using it, I would suffer from a small cycle of hair loss, but do you think this lost hair is reversable once the medication starts to work??
  2. Do you think Rogaine is effective in stopping hair loss in the front?
  3. Would I be less likely to get a scalp irritation if I go for Rogaine 2% instead of 5%, and do you think they are almost the same in effectiveness?

Thanks for help

The hair loss that sometimes occurs with the use of Rogaine / minoxidil is believed to occur from the “resetting” of the hair cycle. This does not occur all the time.

I believe Rogaine is as effective in stopping hair loss in the front as it is on top or crown, but the drug company only studied the crown. The crown in many ways is a better target for it is often slower to lose hair there. Shorter term hair loss responds best to medications such as Rogaine or Propecia.

Scalp irritation from Rogaine may be due to two factors — the active ingredient in Rogaine itself (minoxidil) or the inactive ingredient in Rogaine. If you are allergic to the active ingredient, 2% or 5% would not make that much difference. If you are allergic to the inactive ingredient, you can try using Rogaine Foam, which has a different base formulation (with the same active ingredient).

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Please Clarify Some Hair Loss Rumors… – Hair Loss Information by Dr. William Rassman

Hi, I was wondering if you could put some rumors to rest that people always talk about in relation to hairloss. Thank you very much!

  1. Does hair gel, palmaid, etc.. cause (more) hair loss?
  2. If someone starts balding at a young age such as 18 or 19, is it almost certain that they will lose all their hair?
  3. When Propecia/rogaine cause cause initial shedding due to beginning the medication, will the shedded hair grow back if one stops the medication?

Thanks again doctor. I’ve heard a lot of rumors and wanted to clarify!

  1. Pomade (a greasy or waxy substance for hair styling) should not produce hair loss. Neither should gel.
  2. For those who start balding early and want to know what the future holds for them, if they get their hair mapped out for miniaturization and it shows a Norwood class 7 pattern of thinning, then the prospects for advanced balding would be a good bet. But if you have only frontal miniaturization, then you may not have evidence of going bald. Get yourself assessed by a good doctor and build a Master Plan (it sounds like a broken record as I keep advising this in all young men).
  3. For those people who go through a shedding phase with minoxidil or Propecia, the hair that is shed should grow back as the hair cycle completes into the anagen phase.

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