Category: Drugs

Hi Doctor. I am a 58 year old male with a-fib. I have been taking Tambocor twice a day for 3 years and I would like to start using Rogaine. What are your thoughts on this?

Thanks

My thoughts are… you really need to ask your doctor.

Rogaine can cause a decrease in your blood pressure as a side effect. I do not know the state or severity of your atrial fibrillation or how well it is controlled or if you would have side effects with other medications. Only your doctor can give you specific information with respect to your treatment.

This is a comment left by a reader in response to Propecia being under patent protection…

And that is exactly why we need to see the end of Patent laws as we know them today, companies are given way too much time to bleed us. Its evil. Especially when medication has been Government funded or approved.

The real issue is that patents stop other companies from innovating. In fact while I’m thinking about, we should all be lobbying against the company that tried to sue Histogen. Because that company only cares about your money not your hair. There is nothing more criminal then these companies slowing down the discovery process – its anti human and we want our hair back

Maybe you are right, but we live in a capitalist society. I’m not going to make excuses for it. These are for-profit companies and they spend millions (if not billions) of dollars on research and tests to develop new products and new drugs. Some drugs fail, some succeed. When one succeeds, it makes up for all the R&D and failures that still had to be paid for.

Do you think they should just give that away for essentially nothing? Patents form the backbone of what built our country into an industrial giant. In time though, the patents on these drugs will expire and generic versions will be legally available in the US… so there’s no stranglehold forever.

We all have the right to our own opinions, but hair loss is seen as a cosmetic issue. I have a hard time believing that the government would fund hair loss issues when its hard enough to have HIV or diabetes or heart medicines funded. But hey, maybe you can lobby the government and try!

Snippet from the article:

Dr. George Q. Daley sits at his keyboard and types “stem cell treatments.” In less than a second he gets 13.4 million Google hits.

“Here’s a website where they claim over 1,500 patients treated,” says Daley, one of the world’s foremost stem cell researchers. “That doesn’t mean they’ve been treated successfully. It’s ‘buyer beware!’”

But consumers have a hard time sorting out all the stem cell claims out there. Websites often look professional and convincing. Typically they feature distinguished-looking white-coated doctors posed in front of bookcases, technicians holding up flasks with mysterious colored liquids, and happy, healthy-looking clients cavorting on beaches.

Read the full story at NPR — Offshore Stem Cell Clinics Sell Hope, Not Science

This is a good article about scams and selling false promises online. Although it targets the people looking for stem cell treatments that don’t exist, much of this can be applied to the same people seeking out a hair loss “cure”.

Bottom line, there are unscrupulous people that are more than willing to take money from desperate folks looking for miraculous medical treatment via the web.

Dr. Rassman, you have said before that minoxidil works for about half of men. The box says that minoxidil has only been proven to work for men experiencing hair loss at the apex/top of head and not for men that are balding from the front. Are these clinical studies made up of men that are already “good candidates”, meaning they have the right kind of balding for the drug to work? Or are all types of balding patterns included in the trials?

I am 34 years old, been on finasteride for a year and noticed that it slowed things down, but didn’t stop it completely. I have since added minoxidil. I would appear to be a perfect candidate from what I have read. I caught it early, I don’t think most people would even realize I am losing my hair, it is still pretty thick. I am losing my hair at the apex/top of head area, my hairline looks good. Is someone like me almost guaranteed to get a good result? Or am I still just a 50/50?

Thanks so much, your site is a huge help!

There is no guarantees in life (other than death and taxes). If it works for you it’s 100%. If it doesn’t work for you it’s 0%. Statistics do not apply when it’s you… and you won’t know until you try. That being said, I’ve found that these medications tend to work best in the early stages of hair loss. So while I’m hesitant to “guarantee” anything from the medications, I’d suspect you’d have a better chance at seeing benefits than someone that started the medication after losing hair for 20 years.

Selective patients for these studies would discredit the studies. Minoxidil is very effective in about 15% of patients and mild benefits can be seen in half of those who are thinning in the crown (more stats here). With regard to the frontal area, the reports indicate it is less effective than when used on the crown.

Hi Doc. Right know I’m on Propecia for 3 years, but I’m noticing some thinning in the frontal area. Would it be effective to start to take 2 mg a day? Thank you.

Increasing the medication dosage will not necessarily slow down or help stop the hair loss process. Propecia is a good medication, but it is not the magic bullet. It does not completely stop hair loss and different people have different results with the medication.

As Propecia is a prescription medication, talk to your prescribing physician about changes in dosing. If he/she decides you should, that’s between you and your physician.