I lost my crown hair and got transplants and SMP. My genetics didn’t impact my frontal hairline. I was lucky
How Quickly Could Catch-Up Hair Loss Start If I Quit Finasteride?
What is the minimum amount of time someone can use finasteride and then stop and see “catch up loss”? I am 35 and have very minor hair loss and I am afraid if I start, and get sides, et, or am not comfortable with the pill, and can’t tough them out, that my hairloss will accelerate much faster than it was previously. What would you consider an appropriate amount of time to use the drug, quit, and get catch up loss?
Also, what do the shed hairs say about my MPB or loss? Is there a difference if I am shedding long/thick hairs vs wispy ones? In normal shedding and accelerated/catch up shedding, should a “bulb” be attached?
Thanks!
Catch up hair loss takes about 1 to 3 months after stopping Propecia. Hair loss will accelerate to “catch up” to the point where you would have been if you never had taken Propecia in the first place. You will NOT have more hair loss than if you’d never taken Propecia.
The bulb at the end can be normal and isn’t a concern. I’m not sure what you’re seeing as far as the long/thick hairs, but you might just be describing normal hair cycling.
Why Don’t Some Men Just Take Propecia At the First Sign of Hair Loss?
Doctor there was a topic about pro hockey player ryan getzlaf.
this is my question:
if ryan getzlaf had taken propecia at the first sign of hairloss, do you think he would still be to where he is today? or is there a good chance he could of of maintained what he had or freezed the hair loss clock by a decade or so?
my other question is: how come alot of people who show the first sign of hairloss dont go on propecia? I mean its proven to work, why not take it? how come they just let the thinning continue? I see alot of celebrities young males and pro athletes who are losing hair, and why not just take propecia? I mean they can afford it.
Propecia is an elective medication and it is only available after consultation with a physician after a good examination and understanding of its limitations, risks, and benefits. It may not always happen this way, but it should be. Propecia does not necessarily stop hair loss or reverse hair loss completely, but it does work to buy time for most. In the end, your genetic predisposition will eventually catch up and you may lose hair despite being on Propecia. This does not mean the medication is not worth taking or that the medication has stopped working.
Finally, it is not as simple as taking Propecia at the first sign of hair loss. You need to be followed by a doctor who can give you a Master Plan for the hair loss.
How to make your own topical finasteride, is it real?
Thanks Dr. Rassman. Any basis for why it will not absorb? Minoxidilmax.com one of the longest running topical finasteride sellers said this on DIY:
“If you want to make your own topical finasteride at 0.1 percent to save money, you should be able to do that with the right tools and material. No need to be a scientist to do so. The only tool you need is a scale that is accurate to 1mg level. All you need to do is to weigh 60 mg of pure finasteride power and pour it into a bottle of 60 ml minoxidil solution, close the bottle and shake it for 10 minutes.
The real challenge here is not how to make it but how to obtain good quality of finasteride material. Some people choose to use 5 mg finasteride pills (Proscar). In this case, you will need to pulverize 12 pills and then put the powder into a bottle of 60 ml minoxidil solution. Shake it very hard for 10 minutes. Let the bottle stand still for overnight and pour the clear solution to another bottle for use. The reason why it is recommended to dissolve the powder into a minoxidil solution is that it has right solvent that ensures the good absorption of the topical finasteride. You can’t just use pure alcohol as the solvent, because it evaporates too faster and you will end up with flakes of finasteride on your scalp that will never be absorbed.
With the 0.1% topical solution, you receive 1 mg finasteride if you use the solution once a day. If you use the homemade solution above twice daily, your finasteride dosage is actually 2 mg a day.”
This question is a moving target tied to instrumentation issues. Some doctors have done a) half FUE and b) half strip and measured growth differences and there were none. There are certain patients that FUE will cause damage, that group is a subset of those I called Fox negative patients in my original article. This group of Fox negative patients has contracted to a smaller number because of better and better instrumentation that has developed over the years. In that small sub-set of patients, there is no doubt that FUE is an inferior surgery and that sub-group, unfortunately, can’t be identified in advance, so each individual takes some risk that they may be in this sub-group when they elect to get FUE. Maybe this sub-group is 5% of all FUE patients, maybe less, but for them it is 100% less quality surgery because there is more damage to the grafts during harvesting. This presents the problem as if it is black and white, but there are gray areas in this sub-group that may make the sub-group larger than 5%. The strip doesn’t have that risk.
2020-04-07 02:39:532020-04-19 15:14:50How to make your own topical finasteride, is it real?
Why Is Testosterone Highest in the Morning?
Is it better to take finasteride Propecia in the morning? I have read mixed answers, but what time approximately in the morning should I take the pill? Is testosterone levels highest in the morning because we sleep? In case I take the pill in the morning and go to sleep afterwards will it be less effective or will testosterone increase even more?
I hope you can help, I’m quite worried..
It probably does not matter when you take the Propecia (finasteride 1mg) each day, but I can rationalize and then suggest a morning dose will hit the testosterone and DHT when blood levels are highest. I don’t know why we produce more testosterone in the morning.
2011-03-11 08:46:342011-03-08 13:01:00Why Is Testosterone Highest in the Morning?
Huge Reduction in Body Hair Since Starting Propecia Years Ago
I am just following up on a recent post I read on your Blog – I am 44. I have been on Propecia for almost 4 years – starting off as a Norwood 2.5, I have probably progressed to a Norwood 3 over this time. My hairfall seems to be less than a few years back, so I am not going to risk getting off Propeica – it is probably doing some good.
My question however is about the impact on body hair – I have probably seen a 30-50% reduction in body hair over the 4 year period. Is this likely to be related to Propecia, or is their some other factor. (FYI I am a regular smoker and accept that this may be impacting the benefits of Propecia)
It very likely could be the Propecia is causing your reduction in body hair. People have reported body hair loss with Propecia, and one rare occasions I have heard it go the other way. I wish I’d experienced the loss of body hair when I was taking the medication, but I wasn’t that lucky. I’d expect most patients would prefer to have this side effect, particularly those with excessive hair in undesirable areas (back, shoulders).
2010-04-02 10:33:082010-04-01 10:53:06Huge Reduction in Body Hair Since Starting Propecia Years Ago
You asked me to raise my eyebrows for a photo, why?
Raising the eyebrows gets the forehead to wrinkle and this shows the anatomy of the muscles under the skin. The distances between the Glabella (the bridge of the nose) and the highest wrinkle on the forehead tells me a great deal when measuring the leading edge of the hairline. A normal mature hairline is usually one finger breadth distance between the highest wrinkle and the midline hairline. A picture of your entire face allows me to judge general proportions, chin to nose, nose to Glabella and Glabella to hairline. Michaelangelo in his status of David, put the proportions of these distances 1/3rd, 1/3rd, and 1/3rd however most normal people find that the distance between the chin and the tip of the nose is equal to the distance between the Glabella and the leading edge of the midline hairline.
How does a Personalized Master Plan work?
Say you are 19 with male pattern baldness. How do you figure out who’s pattern he will be following?
For a 19 year old developing that hairline, it would be critical to get to see a doctor who is an expert in the field of hair restoration as you need to have a Personalized Master Plan developed for your future. I suspect that more hair loss is on the way, faster than you might think so get a good doctor who understands the concept that genetic balding is progressive and that you need a Master Plan, from point of diagnosis, to each year in your life as the progressive nature of hair loss may develop. At the beginning, I would get a HAIRCHECK test (https://baldingblog.com/haircheck-test-how-it-is-done-video/) which I would repeat yearly and adjust treatments appropriate to keep hair on your head. This may in the future lead to a hair transplant if and when the medical treatment but that is not in your immediate future. I educate my patients to put themselves into the shoes of a balding man and ask them to imagine themselves 10 or 20 years older to try to prevent what is shown here: https://baldingblog.com/need-master-plan-think-hair-transplants-photos/.
Will Anesthesia Accelerate Hair Loss?
Hi Doctor Rassman,
I am 26 yr old guy having hair thinning since past 10 months. I recently started on a regimen of propecia and Minoxidil 5% since past 1 month. I plan to have an elective surgery next month which will involve Anesthesia with IV sedation. I am worried this could accelerate my hairloss/ thinning. From what I have read any surgery can cause Temporary hairloss or telogen effluvium more so due to psychological stress than light anesthesia. How true is this ? Does any surgery always result in hairloss ? Will the fact that I will be 2 months on propecia and Minox help or decrease the hairloss/thinning that might be caused because of the surgery ? Please advise whether its too risky to go for surgery as I do not want to mess up with my hair. I have had a surgery (accident fracture) before under general anes. 4 years back and did not notice any hairloss but that was because I was not having any hair issues back then.
If you have genetic hair loss, then any stress (like anesthesia and surgery) can accelerate the hair loss process in a young person. Men are less likely to have this happen and your approach wtih Minoxidil and Propecia should reasonably protect you, as much as possible. I have rarely seen hair loss in men with anesthesia and surgery outside of the scalp, but in women with genetic hair loss it is not uncommon. Many women who lose hair will regrow it, but for the few men that lose it with ongoing genetic hair loss, the return of hair is rare. Your approach seems aggressive and well-timed and would encourage you to continue on that track.
I Am Bald in a NW3V Pattern, but My Hair is Thin in a NW6 Pattern
I am 40 years old. I have bald areas corresponding to Norwood 3 Vertex but thin (but stable) hair corresponding to NW6 according to two doctors. I am not taking Propecia for 18 months.
1. Can I still progress to a NW6?
2. If you (Dr. Rassman) were to transplant me, would you fix the NW3 regions or the NW6 regions or both?
Generally, when doctors assess patients with a Norwood scale, it is meant to categorize your eventual balding pattern. You may not look like a Norwood class 6 right now, but it seems two doctors that have examined you think you are going to eventually be a Norwood 6. This likely means you are not a Norwood 3V, but you have a pattern leading to a class 6.
Many men on finasteride may never lose all of the hair in the end pattern, but no one really knows. Best to get good baselines with bulk measurements along with some good pictures, and then repeat them serially year after year to know where you are actually going.
So a good doctor should recognize this and transplant the hair with both a short term focus to address your immediate needs and a long term focus leaving enough donor hair available to address the evolving situation as it unfolds. In short, this is what I always stress about on this blog and in my private practice. This must be a Master Plan for each patient before going forward with the first hair transplant in what may become a course you will follow over your lifetime.