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Propecia Stopped Working After 3 Years

I have been on propecia for 3 years, now I am 24 and the effects seem to be wearing off. It has worked well to stop loss up until now. What would cause it to stop working and how can I combat this? Is there something else I can take? What about avodart?

Thanks a million!

Unfortunately, Propecia (and probably Avodart) will eventually stop working in men with an aggressive genetic hair loss predisposition. In these men, you need to have a Master Plan to determine what you might do when the drugs stop working. In many young men taking Propecia, the effects over time will decrease, but when it does, you should not stop taking it because then you will experience what I call ‘catch-up hair loss’, which means that you will lose all of the benefits of the drug over the previous years within months upon stopping it.

Some doctors who prescribe Avodart are reporting better results in men like you, but this is still no miracle cure. Even if the Avodart works where Propecia fails, the Avodart will eventually fail as well.


2006-02-20 08:52:35Propecia Stopped Working After 3 Years

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Am I a good candidate for a hair transplant? (photo)

You have what appears to be diffuse thinning from the view in the photo below, but to make the diagnosis, you need a microscopic examination of the donor area to quantify the degree of miniaturization that is present in the donor area directly at the bottom of the scalp in the back of your head. Drs. Rassman and Bernstein first defined DUPA (Diffuse Unpatterned Alopecia), a rare condition in men, common in women. The only treatment for this is finasteride; it works in less than 50% of men. This diagnosis must be made with a hand microscope measuring the degree of miniaturization in the donor area in the back of the head.

Now about your question. You have a very, very small, and limited donor area based on the photo you sent me. The harvestable hairs, even if you don’t have DUPA (I suspect that a good hand microscope will show DUPA), you wouldn’t have enough hair to signifier impact your appearance. Beware of any doctor, anywhere, who would offer you a hair transplant. The results of a hair transplant will be a disaster for you. A dishonest doctor or ignorant illegal technician who does surgeries at a discounted rate may feel you are a good candidate because of the money they will make from you.

DUPA

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Propecia’s Male Breast Cancer Risk

Hi, I’m thinking of taking propecia (my trichologist has advised that I would benefit from taking this medication) but, from reading your site I’ve just noticed the issue about risk of male breast cancer. My mum has had breast cancer and I’m concerned that this could cause problems for me now if I start taking propecia. Could you give me some advice on what to do as up until this point I was happy with taking the drug!

There have been two cases in the medical literature of male breast cancer reported with a patient on Propecia. The incidence of breast cancer in men as about 1% of female incidence. This alone may account for the finding in those two patients. It is not a high risk issue, even for those with a history of female breast cancer in the family.

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Do Lasers Grow Hair or Remove Hair?!

Hi Dr. Rassman & Staff. Great blog.

Anyway, here’s my question. On my morning drive into downtown Chicago, I invariably hear radio commercials for laser treatment to REMOVE “unwanted” hair. Yet, I also see promo’s for laser treatments to GROW hair. Well which is it … do lasers GROW or REMOVE hair?

Thanks.

HairyThe lasers which claim hair growth are a low level laser energy dosage that do not penetrate the skin… nor do they grow hair, in my opinion.

The lasers for hair removal are high energy lasers which focus the power to a very small area (the hairy area that you’d like de-haired) in bursts to be safe. They will penetrate the skin to get to the root of the hair follicle.

Both lasers work at different light frequencies.

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Protein identified for controlling hair death

Researchers at the University of California Riverside (UC Riverside) have identified a single protein that seems to control when hair follicles die. Armed with this new information, it might eventually be possible to reverse the process and stimulate hair regrowth.

The protein in question is known as TGF-beta, a signaling protein that regulates the division, growth and death of cells. As such, it plays major roles in important jobs like wound healing, and seems to be hijacked by cancer cells to allow uncontrolled growth. In this case, the team found that TGF-beta extends its work to the cells inside hair follicles.

Read more here: https://newatlas.com/biology/hair-loss-baldness-regulator-protein/

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Do You Examine for Hair Loss When the Hair is Wet or Dry?

When judging a persons hair loss, do you look at the hair when it is wet or dry or both? I find my hair looks thinner when it is wet or gel has been applied. When it is dry it looks thicker, that is why I like to you use hair spray because it makes my hair thicker. And yes, i am thinning in the front of my scalp

Well, if your hair is wet, it is pretty obvious that your hair will look thinner. Same goes for if your hair is cut short or under harsh lighting.

We check for miniaturization of the hair. It is ideal to have your hair dry without any styling product on it. We also examine the pattern of hair loss (for MPB). Wet or dry you will see a pattern. I suppose you can see the pattern more if the hair is wet and short.

Develop a Master Plan with your doctor, laying out what will happen to you over time (best and worst case scenarios). There are many options, so why not lay them all out in front of you?


2014-02-14 09:44:52Do You Examine for Hair Loss When the Hair is Wet or Dry?

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Psychology Study Says Porn Causes Performance Anxiety

Hi dr. You often mention sexual side effects when discussing propecia but here is a recent psychology study that shows that there are often more reasons for performance anxiety

Link: Internet pornography destroying men’s ability to perform with real women, finds study

The report can be found at Psychology Today, and essentially blames online porn for libido problems in young men. I don’t know if there’s anything to this, but it certainly is interesting. The report suggests that in 6-12 weeks, the problem could be resolved by staying away from the porn and perhaps leaving your penis alone.

There was a large survey of Italian men published earlier this year that concludes internet porn causes “sexual anorexia” (see here).

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Do you think that my 800 grafts were an adequate number?

Can you give me an analysis of what you see?

Ask yourself: How many hair would have been in this area had you not lost the hair? Normal hair density ranges between 1000-1250 hairs/square inch depending upon your race. To get a reasonable density from a hair transplant when you hair is brown, skin is fair, and hair is of a medium thickness, you need to restore about 20-40% of the original hair density. There are many gaps in your hair transplant and the frontal hairline is a straight line when it should be soft, non-linear and the grafts random and to make matters worse, your doctor put another straight line of hair grafts behind the frontal line. I am worried about the nature of your frontal line grafts, as they must be single hair grafts or your hairline will look pluggy. You will, I am sure, need another transplant but I wouldn’t go back to that doctor again


2019-03-09 10:21:51Do you think that my 800 grafts were an adequate number?

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Question about Class 7 pattern of balding

I have read a few articles stating that for most norwood 7 men they would display that pattern by the time they reach 26. Would you have a reference picture of what that would look like? Im assuming they generally would not be fully bald by that age.

Two scenarios point to a Class 7 pattern of balding.
1- The aggressive balding pattern fully appears by the age of 26-

2- The balding pattern is evident with thinning and miniaturization down to the rim of permanent hair around the top and back of your head which suggests that your pattern will eventually become a Class 7 pattern.

You need a good doctor to manage your balding and if you want a hair transplant, to help you get realistic expectations for what you can achieve as determined by your donor density and your hair bulk.

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Doctor Says After 10 Years on Propecia It Looks Like How You Were Before Starting

I read an article written by a Hair Specialist from Saratoga Hair Transplant Center that Propecia works great for the first 4-5 years for most men, and then slightly each year the hair gets worse again and by the time you been on the drug for 10 years you are back to where you were 10 years ago, this sounds really good to me! But is it really true?

I always believed that after 2-3 years you will start going downhill.

I don’t agree that after 10 years on Propecia, you end up right back where you started. Some men fully maintain the benefits from Propecia in the long term, and others just do not. Everyone is different and will react differently to medication. I have patients that have been taking the drug each day for over a decade and are still seeing the benefits from it.

Think of this as a war between balding and the drug holding onto your hair. May the better side win!