Category: Drugs

You said that minoxidil might work on the chest in one of your answers to a question but the container says not to apply to anywhere but the scalp. Can I get sick from putting minoxidil on my chest?

The larger the area you apply it, the more of the drug your body will absorb. Minoxidil does drop blood pressure, so if you put it all over your chest and back (for example) you could possibly overdose and get a stroke or heart attack (in theory at least).

Hi Dr Rassman, i have a question regarding the use of finasteride. I am a 26y.o. male with a history of gynecomastia and moderate acne. Last year my family doctor prescribed proscar for my hair loss. He has instructed me to cut the pill into 4 pieces, take 1/4 of proscar each day and have an off day after every four days. At the beginning of this year i’ve noticed that my frontal and termporal areas have been thinning out tremendously. The thinning has been progressing really fast ever since. My question is, should i start taking 1/4 of proscar everyday from now on(instead of having an off day after every 4 days) or should i take propecia everyday instead? Thanks.

You should address these concerns to your doctor who prescribed you the medication. Finasteride is well known to address the top and crown areas of the scalp for male pattern balding. It is less effective on the front and the temporal areas and maybe the genetic hair loss is accelerating on its own. We go through phases where the rapidity of the hair loss goes active in spirts. You should at the least have your hair mapped for miniaturization by a doctor to document the progression and the degree of hair loss, rather than just subjectively noting the thinning. With good measurements in hand, you may be able to judge the effect of changes like what you are proposing.

Anyway, to answer your question — in my personal opinion, taking Proscar 1/4 pill (1.25mg finasteride) four days on and one day off is not as good as taking it once a day.

Hi, I just want to know: do you have many patients who have been on propecia for 8-10 years and yet still have a healthy head of hair on their heads?

Alternatively, do you have many patients who have taken propecia for a long period of time and have gone bald?

I have a number of patients who went to Mexico to get Propecia (finasteride) before it was sold in the United States (maybe 10 years or so ago). One in particular (24 years old at the time), who was balding in the crown, reversed quite nicely on Propecia and maintained that reversal without any progressive miniaturization over the 10 years. Because he was young, the drug worked beautifully. His crown was never transplanted but he did receipve alightly over 6000 grafts in the frontal area. He now has a crew cut.

I have not seen anyone who stayed on Propecia go bald, but I have seen many, many men who were taking it and decided to stop, who then went either very bald or very thin.

Before Propecia on left; After Propecia on right:

Dear Dr Rassman,
I am a hair restoration surgical trainee(I am thankful to say that my mentor is a very well respected Australian ISHRS member).

I would like to respond to one of your recent patient questions regarding the availability of generic Propecia.

It appears that generic Propecia IS currently available from some online pharmacies under the brand names Finpecia and Finax(as an example visit this link- http://www.unitedpharmacies.com/Hair_page_3_c_3.html).

It appears that there are legitimate ways that some countries can get around the relevant patent laws.

With kind Regards

I am presenting this as it was sent to me. The consumers must determine if this approach works for them. I would not recommend it for US-based people (due to it not being quite legal), but my opinion isn’t shared by everyone.

I am a 29 year old male who began taking Rogaine 4 years ago with some strong results. Feeling that the Rogaine was beginning to lose the battle, I eventually switched to Propecia and experienced rapid loss of my rogaine hair. Panicked, I got back on the Rogaine along with the Propecia, which worked great (even better than my first rogaine experience) for a few months. Now, out of nowhere, I’m noticing significant hair shedding, and I’m confused as to why this is happening. Any ideas? The only thing I can think of is missing a week or two of Rogaine about one month ago.

There may be factors involved other than just Rogaine or Propecia. A good medical history and physical exam including a miniaturization study would be helpful. I would suspect missing a week or two of Rogaine should not have a significant effect unless you are extremely sensitive and dependent upon the medication.

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Hi Dr.

This is a follow up question to the statement you just posted about generic 1mg finasteride. You mentioned a little while ago that Dr. Reddy’s lab received the right to make generic 1mg finasteride and that you called to find out when it would be available and said it may take a “couple of months” to get it out. Now you just said that the patent hasnt expired with Merck and it would take years. Im a bit confused now?

Sorry for the confusion. It was confusing for me as well. After doing more research and personally calling a Merck (makers of Propecia) representative, the story is that Propecia (finasteride 1mg) is still under patent protection. The confusion came from the FDA, which gave permission to allow generic Propecia on the market, but with patent monopoly controlled by Merck, the legality to sell it is in the hands of Merck. At least, this is how it was explained to me by Merck. If things change and generic Propecia becomes available (legally) in the US, I’ll certainly post about it here.

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