Drugs – Page 282 – Balding Blog

February 16, 2007

Saw Palmetto and Grapefruit Juice – Hair Loss Information by Dr. William Rassman

Who am I to try to create new ideals Doc, but what do you think of 160mg twice a day of Saw Palmetto, with Grapefruit or Grapefruit juice(since it increases the potentcy of certain drugs) with Neutrogena T-Gel 5 days a week(i have normal to oily hair). I am 20 years of age(I am blessed to still be young), and all I absolutely know is preventing baldness is easier than trying to regrow it. All I want is a naturally, farely cost efficient method to prevent it.

I’ll let you know in several months if anything has improved. I would like to think that since I’m young I can help prevent future psychological problems, b/c of worried hairloss in men. I say this because of my personal experience. I was a banquet waiter for a large catering company, and b/c i wouldn’t gel my hair up, I wouldn’t get promoted from banquet waiter to a banquet captain, meaning going from $11.00 to $12.50 an hour. I got over it, it just sucks that i know other men like me experience this kind of stuff also. Thanks for listening again. Your brother in war

Grapefruit Saw palmetto extract has been studied for its use in prostate disease without any proof that it has value. It is also claimed to be beneficial for treatment of hair loss, but again, with no proof of value. Although its mechanism of action is not quite clear, the claims suggest that it works through a mechanism similar to finasteride by blocking 5-alpha reductase and lowering DHT levels, but those are claims without any proof.

Even though this product is available over the counter as an herbal supplement, more studies are needed to prove its efficiency for treatment of hair loss and also to prove its safety.

You announced your decision on testing your own formula. Good luck and keep us posted with the result of your research.

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February 15, 2007

Am I Experiencing New Hair Growth on the Crown? – Hair Loss Information by Dr. William Rassman

Dr Rassman,

thanks for all your blog has done, its really a great resource and place for answers. Its been a great help for me.

I am turning 25 soon, and for the past year have been driving myself crazy because my hair has thinned. I did catch it very early, its far from noticable to the naked eye, and ive been on propecia for almost 10 months.

Heres my question, I recently noticed what feels like short spikey hairs on my scalp, my hair is long so i cant see them, only feel them.

would this be considered new hair growth? I know all about miniaturization (thanks to this blog) but these hairs feel very hard and spikey. And im sure they werent there a few months ago. The spikey hairs are only on the crown and other areas my hair has thinned.

any comments you have to help answer my question are greatly appreciated

You could be experiencing new hair growth. Follow it over the next few months and get some good photographs if you can ASAP and then more later on to compare.

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February 15, 2007

Can I Take Avodart, Then Switch to Propecia to Maintain the Benefits? – Hair Loss Information by Dr. William Rassman

Hi doc.. Im a male aged 22years.. Im having thinning and falling of hair in the crown area since last two years. i Still have a significant amount of hair left. I’ve started taking generic 1mg finasteride called Finax mfgd by reddy’s laboratories. i’ve been taking it since last 5 months. Im still losing around 50 hairs a day. while taking shower, combing etc… I have a doubt regarding Avodart! Its a known fact that avodart increases hair count significantly while using it for six months but it’s long term use and side effects are not known. so i have a plan. wat If i start taking avodart for six months and after i get a good result from using it, i switch back to propecia and maintain the benefits i got from avodart(duasteride). is that a good plan? will be waiting to hear from u.. thanks in advance doc… by the way ur site is simply Amazing!!!

Loss of 50 hairs per day is normal. Propecia may very well sustain the benefits you got from dutasteride or Propecia (finasteride) may give you benefits without evening needing dutasteride. You sound like a person who wants to experiment on your head. It is your head, but I ask you why you’d want to be a guinea pig? What you said makes no sense to me, but if it makes sense to you, then so be it. It has been said that a person who treats himself has a fool for a doctor.

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February 14, 2007

Should I Take More Finasteride After a Few Years of Use? – Hair Loss Information by Dr. William Rassman

Dear Dr. Rassman, thank you for your blog. It’s really a big help.

My question is regarding the effectiveness of Propecia. Why does Propecia’s benefits diminish as time progresses? Is this situation similar to antibiotics, where the body eventually becomes immune to the drug? If, after 3-5 years or so, the effects of the drug die off, can we boost our dosage of Propecia to compensate for its ineffectiveness?

Propecia does not become less effective, but the progressive nature of genetic hair loss is on-going. The drug is about 80% effective, which means that the 20% that continues to be impacted, builds with time. More Propecia does not make for a better DHT block.

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February 14, 2007

Where Can I Buy Apple Polyphenols and Procyanidin? – Balding Blog

Hi Dr. Rassman,
Could you please suggest places that someone could find apple polyphenols and procyanidin capsules and topical solutions? I have only been able to identify one supplier and I cannot tell if their prices are reasonable. Thank you!

There appears to be a complete listing here: HairSite – Where to buy apple polyphenols or procyanidin B2?

February 12, 2007

Hair Loss After Anesthesia – Hair Loss Information by Dr. William Rassman

Dear Dr. Rassman,

Im a 22 year old male from San Jose. I went to your NHI office when I was 22 and I was told to start taking Rogaine and propecia. It worked. However, in november of 2006 I had eye surgery under general and local anesthesia. Since then my hair has been falling out like mad. I was wondering what is the average time for this fall out to cease and will the hair I regrew on rogaine and propecia come back?

Hair loss is caused by four factors:

genes (for the genetic defect)
hormones (produced normally from the testicles)
time (the longer the hair follicles are exposed to the hormones, the progressive nature of the hair loss will demonstrate itself)
stress

Your surgery and anesthesia cause enough of a stress to accelerate your hair loss. If you are on Propecia and it still happened, you are now entering another phase of the hair loss process. It may not come back, but you should come back to see me and we will analyze this together.

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February 12, 2007

My Father Started Receding at Age 50 – Hair Loss Information by Dr. William Rassman

I read your comment reccommending a 15 yo guy to wait until he’s 30 to see if he has hair loss then decide on a hairline lowering surgery. I am 31 and am considering the surgery to shorten my long forehead. I am not really sure if it is receding (must be really slow if it is), though my father’s did not until he is 50. Did you imply that hairline is not likely to recede (at least not quickly) after the age of 30?

Thanks a lot!

A receding hairline after the late 30s is unusual, but it happens. You may take after your father and recede later in life. Using Propecia is one thing that allows you to be more proactive about hair receding, rather than waiting for completion of the hair loss, but you must have a proper diagnosis so that you know what you are treating if you elect to do something about it. This way you can prevent future hair loss to some degrees, at least on the top and crown area, and take care of the frontal hairline with a hair transplant.

Taking medication before the process starts on the expectation of hair loss is certainly not something that I would recommend for my young readers who worry about what might happen to them. A long forehead (high forehead) is easy to treat with hair transplants and wonderful results are a reasonable target. You can see many, many patient results in the New Hair Institute Patient Photo Galleries.

February 9, 2007

Hair Loss InformationExperiencing Propecia Side Effects for All 9 Months of Use – Hair Loss Information – Balding Blog

Hi Dr. Rassman,

I am a 26 y/o male who has been taking propecia for about 9 months now. I have been experiencing sexual side effects for the whole time I’ve been taking the medication. I have read in blogs/articles that the side effects tend to go away after prolonged use. If they were to go away, would they be gone by the 9 month point?

If they should have been gone by now, I have no choice but to decrease the dosage to .5mg. Why do you recommend being off the drug for 2 weeks before switching to the .5mg? I understand that its b/c you want to side effects to go away before switching….but will the side effects not go away if you switch immediately from 1mg to .5mg and continue to take daily?Can you please explain the rational behind this b/c I am afraid of losing more hair by not taking the medication for 2 weeks. Please respond Dr. Rassman, these sexual side effects are depressing me quite a bit. Thanks for the help.

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The sexual side effects associated with Propecia are generally temporary. Taking 1/2 the dose may also alleviate the side effect. Taking 1/2 dose is 70% as effective and it is certainly better than taking no finasteride.

Before considering changing any drug regiment you need to discuss this with the doctor that prescribed you the medication. You may have another medical problem unrelated to the use of Propecia that is causing your sexual side effect. Some men can not get over this sexual side effect problem and then for a good sex life, they would not take this drug. Minoxidil is a reasonable alternative in such situations.

The purpose of stopping the medication for two weeks is to determine if Propecia was what was causing your side effect. In theory even this method is flawed, because of the placebo effect.

February 9, 2007

58 Year Old Woman Looking to Take Propecia – Hair Loss Information – Balding Blog

I’m a 58 year old woman, who is getting a lot of hair loss near the front of my head. This has been going on for about 6 months, and I’m not sure if I should start Propecia (correct spelling?) or Minoxidil. I’m hypothroid,and take a combination of armour thyroid, and synthroid, the latter being more a culprit in hair loss I’ve read. If my being hypothyroid will always keep me losing hair, is there any point to starting a hair serum/medication?

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Women after menopause have been the subject of one of the studies on finasteride (Propecia). The study, involving 137 post-menopausal women with androgenetic alopecia (male pattern baldness) who were treated with Propecia vs. placebo for 12 months, could not demonstrate effectiveness of Propecia. Another study shows it might help, but the statistics are just not there. Minoxidil is the only FDA approved medication for women with hair loss at this point.

Hypothyroid condition and synthroid are both blamed for hair loss. Although hypothyroid disorders may increase hair loss, I assume your thyroid hormone level is corrected being on thyroid medications. If in doubt, discuss it with your endocrinologist. As I said before, there is no systemic medication for treatment of hair loss in women now.

February 9, 2007

Stopped Propecia, Saw Catch Up Hair Loss – Hair Loss Information by Dr. William Rassman

Dear doc,

I am a 22 year old male with thinning hair and a family history of baldness. Last summer I started taking propecia, but was too lazy to renew my perscription after three months. Since then I seem to have experienced the “catch up” hairloss I hear so much about and now, five months later, Im thinking of going back on it and staying for the long haul.

My question is though, should I expect any diminished results from restarting the treatment? Does propecia somehow lose its efficacy if you stop and restart it? Is it worth going back on?

Thank you for your time.

I hear about catch up hair loss over and over again. So many men start and then stop Propecia and experience hair loss upon stopping the drug, which just shows that it was working. Just go back on it and stay on it this time. It will not lose its efficacy, but you may be more ‘down the road’ on the balding process for stopping it.

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