Drugs – Page 307 – Balding Blog

September 8, 2006

20 Year Old Thinning Heavily After Stopping Propecia – Hair Loss Information by Dr. William Rassman

Hello Dr Rassman,

I am a 20 year old male and have had some hair thinning in the front for about half a year.. I started propecia and stayed on it for a about a month, my hair thinned out even more and side effects were not worth it. Now 2 months after stopping treatment my hair is shedding like crazy over 200 hairs a day and the hair feels brittle all over my head. I searched through your blog but havn’t seen anything about this issue in my age range. thanks

My blog is full of recommendations to get yourself diagnosed. You need to have your hair mapped out for miniaturization, as I have said 1000 times before (perhaps even more than that). If you do not know what is wrong with you, how can you treat it? The miniaturization map tells what is going on and that comes about before you treat it.

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September 8, 2006

Generic Proscar is Generic Finasteride – Hair Loss Information by Dr. William Rassman

Is generic proscar is as good as Merke brand Proscar. Please let me know your thoughts.. thanks

I have no personal experience with using generic Proscar (5mg finasteride). If it is FDA approved, then I would assume that it is the same value as Merck’s brand.

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September 8, 2006

Using Keratex Hair Oil After Applying Minoxidil – Balding Blog

Hi Rassman,
I am 24 years old. I have male pattern baldness, I am using MinTop (Minoxidil 2%). Can I put any hair oil (Ex: Keratex) after applying minoxidil at night? If yes, at what time I should use it after applying minoxidil.

Horseshoe Keratex is apparantly an equine hoofcare product. I can not comment on the value of this product, but as you are asking about minoxidil, I will address that part of your question. Minoxidil is absorbed relatively rapidly. I would wait an hour before using the oil after a minoxidil application. I can not discuss any issues of cross reaction or safety with regard to the combination of minoxidil and Keratex.

I wonder why people would use a product made from a horse hoof. I owned 6 horses when I had a farm in Vermont and I do not remember any of my horses walking on a hairy hoof.

September 7, 2006

Hair Loss InformationPropecia and Shock Loss After Surgery – Hair Loss Information – Balding Blog

Dear Dr. Rassman,

Does a young man (mid twenties) who has been on Propecia for a few years run a high risk of permanent shock loss in the recipient area after an HT surgery? Also, will the HT speed up the normal balding process?

Thanks

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Usually, Propecia will protect a man against shock hair loss and acceleration of your hair loss, but alas that is a general rule and not everyone follows that rule. It is about 90+% predictable. Those at greatest risk for acceleration of hair loss are the young men who have very active miniaturization going on and are showing fast-track balding in process.

September 7, 2006

Rogaine Foam by Pfizer – Balding Blog

There is little doubt that the awkward application of minoxidil has been a hindrance to many men and women who might normally use it if a simpler application method was available. The referenced press release shows the use of a foam as the vehicle to get the medications to the scalp. Using a foam would certainly get the medication around the scalp, but it would also get to the hair as well and more medication may be required to get the same dose to the scalp. Do you think that using your fingers to rub the foam into the scalp may produce hairy fingertips? Pfizer seems to think that they have the answer. See their latest press release here:

Makers of Rogaine Revolutionize the Hair Loss Treatment Industry Once Again

September 7, 2006

Fine Hairline Hairs Growing, Temples Thinning with Propecia Use – Hair Loss Information by Dr. William Rassman

I’m 25 years old, I have a slightly receeding frontal line. and had more receeding at the temples, so I took Propecia as a preventative measure. On Propecia for only 1 1/2 months I immediately noticed a few (3) fine hairs which began to grow right at the front. However the enitre thickness at my temple areas and frontal area has clearly thinned, but more especially at my temples. Will I regain this loss in density if I continue using propecia? To me it seems that it will just continue to ruin my temporal areas when all I was wanting to do was maintain it. Thanks

If you are experiencing genetic balding, you must wait out a full 8-12 months to judge the value of Propecia. On a few patients over the years, I have seen the corners of the frontal hairline regrow, but that has been unusual. You will not know for some time so please show patience. I can’t answer whether you will lose density or not, as I haven’t examined your loss, nor do I have enough information about you.

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September 6, 2006

1mg Generic Finasteride (Propecia) is FDA Approved? – Hair Loss Information by Dr. William Rassman

according to the FDA and Reuters (see links below), generic 1mg finasteride was approved about a month ago (not in 2011 as you stated) for production by Reddy labs (a legitimate NYSE-traded public corporation.) any idea when distribution to US pharmacies will start?

Reuters – Dr. Reddy’s gets FDA nod for finasteride tablets

FDA.gov – Orange Book Details (generic 1mg finasteride)

The Reuters link doesn’t say anything about the 1mg pill, but the 2nd link (from the FDA site) does.

However, as of writing this reply, only the 5mg pill version of finasteride is currently available. I had no idea that the 1mg generic would be approved so soon, as the patent still has a number of years left on it. Perhaps an agreement with Merck was reached by Dr. Reddy’s Laboratories. Regardless, that is excellent news for those that should be taking the drug but could not afford it previously. I’ve made some phone calls to find out when the 1mg generic would be available in pharmacies, but so far I haven’t gotten answers other than, “could be a month or two”. Generic 5mg finasteride was approved in June and is available now, so I’d assume if generic 1mg finasteride was approved a month later it should be available any time now. As soon as I know more, I’ll certainly discuss it on this site. If any US readers discover that their local pharmacy now carries generic 1mg finasteride, please let me know.

Thanks for pointing this out.

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September 6, 2006

Can Sports Cause Hair Loss? – Hair Loss Information by Dr. William Rassman

Hello, doc.

I’m a 25-year-old Chinese male. I’ve been suffering from hair loss since high school. I began to take Proscar a month ago. I have some questions:

Will finasteride lose some of its effect when exposed to the air? Since I currently split a pill into 4 parts.

I take part in sports very often like jogging, soccer. Do such sports do harm to my hair?

What kind of foods will help the treatment of hair loss?

Thank you for any help.

I do not like to give recommendations for how to manage drugs that are not the way the manufacturer engineered it to be. If I were to guess, I would keep any pills in a humidity free container if I were to do what you do.
Sports are not harmful for your hair. In fact, as a way of managing stress, sports may help you keep your hair healthy as stress is one of the four causes of hair loss (when the genetic defect is present).
The best diet is a well balanced one. Nothing magical about a good diet.

September 6, 2006

If Propecia Stops Working, Should I Stop Taking It? – Hair Loss Information by Dr. William Rassman

Hello Dr. Rassman,

I am replying to the Aug 25 post about Propecia. If data suggests that after 5 years of usage, that patients return to where they were when the drug was started, am I wasting my $50+ a month on Propecia? I have been taking it since Spring 1998. I had 2000 grafts at NHI in Feb. 2004, but have been continuing Propecia to help keep what’s left on the top of my head. If Propecia stops working after 5 years, should I stop taking it? Thanks a lot! Love your Blog!!

No, no, no. Propecia (finasteride) does not just stop working after 5 years. Somehow I am not getting that message over to my readers. If you see no benefit from it and you stop it and lose your hair, then you will know that it was working. Unfortunately, Propecia is a drug that you must believe is working for you, if you use it. I believe that it always works on men, if not in retaining hair, at least in slowing the loss down. Stopping it brings you back to where you would have been had you never taken it. There is no guarantee that it will keep being as effective as it was the day you started it but some hair is better than no hair.

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September 5, 2006

Propecia, Supplements, Nioxin, and Rogaine — I’m Praying These Work! – Hair Loss Information by Dr. William Rassman

hi i am a 20 year old male with mpb…i know it runs in my family because my grandfather (mothers side), and my father, have mpb. i started thinning and losing hair within the past year – year and a half…but i have noticed recently that it has gotten really bad. i’ve been thru alot of stress lately bcuz of work, school, family and relationship issues. ive been on nioxin products for about 8 months and havent noticed any improvement. i just was prescribed propecia 1 mg from my doctor last week, but i cant start until next week (no money..), i have also been on prozac for about a month now, and i think that might have something to do with losing hair fast recently as well.

so my question is, will propecia regrow my hair or even grow new hair (since i’m young and trying to stop it asap). should i switch from nioxin products to rogaine 5%? i am also thinking about starting to take alot of natural supplements for detoxification and stuff…will this help? what should i do to regrow my hair back (or at least maintain my hair now…)? will this work out the way i’m praying it will?? please write back and give me as much advice as possible..thanx

Prozac can cause hair loss, and so can stress. Prayer is good. Get a Master Plan so that you know what you are going to do as you get older, wiser, and balder (if the prayer does not work). Propecia generally takes at least 8-12 months to see the benefits. If you are genetically balding, then Propecia often reverses hair loss in a 20 year old, but not all of the time or all of the way back to normal.