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My College-Age Daughter Was Prescribed Finateride

Dr. Rassman, my daughter is presently attending college in Houston Texas and was just diagnosed with Androgenic Alopecia. Her dermatologist came to that conclusion after she did a biopsy. What concerns me is, she prescribed a treatment of Minoxidil and 0.5 mg of Propecia daily. I understand the Minoxidil but I thought Propecia was for men only?

She did inform her of the pregnancy risks associated with taking the drug but it has me concerned and I asked her not to take it until I get more info. I’m not questioning this doctor’s diagnosis of the problem, just her remedy. Would you think an appointment with a proven hair loss professional would render any alternative advice? It seems this sort of hair loss in women is difficult to treat but I would think there are options available other than Propecia. Do you have any colleagues in the Houston area you might recommend? We may just wait a couple weeks and make an appointment at your office when she comes out for the summer. I appreciate your time.

Androgenic alopecia is not diagnosed with a scalp biopsy! More importantly Propecia (finasteride) is not to be taken by young women! It may cause birth defects if they get pregnant. There are a minority of women past their childbearing years who do take finasteride for very specific reasons, but even those women have equivocal results. Unfortunately, minoxidil is the only FDA approved hair loss treatment for women.

Perhaps your daughter should get a second opinion by another doctor. I don’t have any personal recommendations in your area, but you can check for physicians using the doctor search at ISHRS.org… or of course, contact our office for an appointment here in Los Angeles.


2011-05-07 06:46:41My College-Age Daughter Was Prescribed Finateride

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Bruce Willis Will Kick Your Ass

Apparently, this is pretty old, but I don’t think I saw it before so it’s new to me and worth sharing. Actor Bruce Willis was quoted earlier this year as saying…

“I’m a man and I will kick anybody’s ass who tries to tell me that I’m not one because my hair’s thinning.”

Strong words. There’s not much more to the article, but here’s the link for those interested:


2006-10-10 09:01:09Bruce Willis Will Kick Your Ass

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My dermatologist says combining finasteride and minoxidil doesn’t improve results

I just got my first box of finasteride 1 mg today. I wanted to get minoxidil 5% as well, but I need a prescription for that where I live. However, my dermatologist said the action of finasteride and minoxidil isn’t synergic, and that I won’t get better results by adding topical minoxidil to oral finasteride. That’s the opposite of everything I’ve heard so far. Men do combine oral finasteride and topical minoxidil 5% exactly to get better results, don’t they?

I don’t agree with your dermatologist. These two medications have different modes of action so taking them in combination, especially for the crown, is more effective.


2019-03-27 09:42:12My dermatologist says combining finasteride and minoxidil doesn’t improve results

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Calculating Lifetime donor supply

My question is, how many grafts can the average Caucasian person get from their donor via FUE? I don’t mean in one session; I mean in total over their lifetime. I saw different answers in different blog posts, some said at the very least 6,000, others said about 7,000, and yet others said that most people would become depleted after 5,000.
Depletion is a matter of residual hair bulk. Hair density and thickness make up hair bulk, so the coarser-haired people can afford to have more grafts removed from the donor area. For coarse-haired Caucasians with a typical Caucasian density of 2.2 hairs.FU, 6000-7000 grafts are an easy lifetime hair target in such an individual, while on the other extreme of fine hair and low density, 1000-1500 grafts might be the lifetime donor supply. Higher original density changes the equation in favor of more graft potential regarding lifetime hair. Not so simple, and that is why you need an experienced surgeon to do this for you.
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My Doctor Said Finasteride Is Given to Transgender People

Time to say good bye to propecia …

after 3 years on propecia, all this venture end with a gynecomastia surgery ! According to my surgeon the breast gland size was like a lemon…

He also said to me that finasteride drug is also gives to men who want to be a female (transgender…). according to the drug compagny, gynecomastia is a rare side effect… Now i think it is more a common side effect but impossible to really know at least at the beginning of taking this drug… like me….

Anyway this is my own story, i simply want to warning those guys that might thinking of taking this drug…PLEASE READ TWICE THE SIDE EFFECT SECTION, ESPECIALLY THE “RARE SIDE EFFECT SECTION” BEFORE ENROLL TO PROPECIA.

TootsieWhile I’m not entirely familiar with medications transgender patients might take, consider this — most male to female transgender patients do not want male pattern baldness, so finasteride is a good choice to prevent that. Propecia is not a medication to make you transgendered. In other words, transgender people do not take Propecia to make them “more” transgendered.

One of the potential side effects of Propecia is gynecomastia. This side effect is rare (my recollection is 1 in 300 or 500). Most of the time it is reversible, at least in my 14 years of experience… and most men will complain of breast enlargement when it is early, way before their breast turns to the size of a lemon.

In general, for older men (not taking Propecia) the prevalence of gynecomastia is 24-65% (source: eMedicine). But statistics aside, if it happens to YOU it is 100%, right?

Drugs other than Propecia that can cause gynecomastia are:

  • Cimetidine (Tagamet), ranitidine (Zantac), to treat heartburn
  • Nifedipine (Adalat, Nifedical, Procardia), to treat high blood pressure
  • Spironolactone (Aldactone), to treat high blood pressure and heart failure
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Can a Younger Patient Have SMP First, Then Have a Hair Transplant Years Later If Hair Loss Progresses?

Hey Doc,

Regarding the order of SMP and a HT (either FUE or Strip) – is an order of procedures preferred or needed? Specifically, if a younger candidate with the beginnings of thinning hair wanted to get SMP first to “fill in” some thin spots while anticipating the need of a HT procedure down the road, would the ink from the SMP hurt the recipient area? Thanks so much!

There is no real anatomical risk to the Scalp MicroPigmentation (SMP); however, there is something that we call the Master Plan that you need to discuss with your doctor, which includes planning for SMP and hair transplants.

If you want us to be your doctor, please contact my office at 800-NEW-HAIR and send me some good photos. I will be happy to offer you a free consultation and keep your photos confidential.

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My Doctor Told Me To Sleep A Certain Way for 6 Months After Transplant

i had a hair transplant 2 month ago. the doctor advised me to sleep in a certain way for 6 month, to wash my hair only with baby shampoo. unfortunately, after a month and half after the transplant i started doing foolish things, sleeping the way i always sleep, washing my hair with neutrogena and nizoral shampoo, sometimes even putting pressure on my head. do you think that i could have affected the transplanted grafts . i already see new hair coming out;however, it is not even. also i have noticed that a lot of my hair in the front is falling. headaches are also present.

I like to joke with my patients and tell them, “No sex for 6 months after your hair transplant surgery”. Back in 1992, I had a patient come from Asia and I told him this joke with a laugh in my voice (I am now convinced that the laugh was not translated by the translator as the patient only spoke Korean). At about 3 months, I got a call from Korea by a different translator telling me that my patient passed a message to me: No hair transplant is worth giving up his sex life. Then, I realized that my humor does not work for non-Americans so I now always qualify my jokes being sure that what I say is understood clearly. I may joke with my patients about their sex life and every one of them confirm that they would rather just go bald, so the laugh is mutual.

Joking aside, you can sleep normally a few days after surgery. You can use normal shampoos. You can resume normal activity (yes, even sex). You can even (gently) scratch your head if it itches, run a marathon at the 5th day and do whatever aerobic exercises you want at the 5th day as well.

I suggest that you educate your hair transplant surgeon.

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Can Creatine powder cause hair loss?

Creatine is a protein powder and by itself, will not cause hair loss; however, some compounds of Creatine have steroids put into them and this will cause hair loss impacting the genetic sensitive hairs that you have on your head. Be sure to read the label which lists contents

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My Father Was Bald By My Age — So Perhaps I Don’t Take After Him?

Firstly i’d like to say this site is a great resource! and has been extremely useful reading over the last few months.

Some background…I’m a 21 year old male, with extremely thick hair (both in hair diameter and in density). Around a year ago i began to develop my mature adult hairline and since then there doesnt appear to have been much if any miniaturization past the future hairline.

I had two questions, firstly i know most mpb loss starts at the temples before balding at the crown is evident, but i was wondering if it was possible (or has happened in your experience) for a person to begin balding at the vertex before there is any significant recession from the temples? as hair loss in this area would be much more distressing to me than progressing to a norwood 3 for example.

My second question is to do with predicting my future pattern, my father is a norwood 7 who says he had significant thinning at the temples and crown by my age and from looking at wedding photos was a norwood 4 or 5 by 23. His father also followed a similar pattern.

The other side of my family i.e. my maternal grandfather had a norwood 3/ 3vertex pattern until into his 70’s. So my question is seeing as my hair loss is at least slower than my father could i be expected to have avoided a norwood 7 future or can this advanced pattern start at say 22-25? (basically, at what age would you say i was ‘safe’ from suffering my dads fate!)

You can certainly have balding at the vertex without any frontal recession.

There is no definitive way to predict your hair loss by just looking at your father or uncles or grandfathers. It may offer a clue, but there is no good way to predict balding at this point. I tell men to find someone that they think that the look like (hair loss pattern) in their family and find out what age each step took in the development of the hair loss. That will give you just an idea, because there are probably many genes involved and varying expressions of those genes that may skip generations, so it may be impossible to determine who you might take after or what you pattern might be. If you are asking for some sort of assurance that you will not go bald, the best way to to this is to have a miniaturization study and following the progress of the miniaturization over time.


2007-05-22 14:36:58My Father Was Bald By My Age — So Perhaps I Don’t Take After Him?