As your widow’s peak is showing very well, the tip of the widow’s peak is a good marker for where your hairline was when you were a child. This tells me that you have developed a mature hairline at this time. I can’t comment on the future. I wrote a medical article on this process (see here: https://newhair.com//pdf/2015/phenotype-article-published.pdf)
Finasteride is a risk in pregnancy with unprotected sex
A man wrote to me about this problem with his baby who developed a problem unique to 5 alpha reductase inhibitors
This is what Merck wrote:
Although the above comments reference 2 studies using a 5?mg dose, Merck (2007) also measured semen levels of finasteride in patients taking a 1?mg dose. The men were treated with 1 mg for 6 weeks. The highest level measured was 1.52 ng/mL, and the mean level was 0.26 ng/mL. Using the highest measured level (1.52 ng/mL), women exposed to a 5?mL ejaculate per day would be exposed to 7.6 ng/d (assuming 100% vaginal absorption). Merck (2007) found this level to be 750 times lower than the “no effect” level for developmental abnormalities in rhesus monkeys.
In summary, a 1?mg dose of finasteride does not appear to adversely affect spermatogenesis. In addition, the level present in the ejaculate of patients taking 1 mg appears to be negligible. Thus, there does not appear to be any need to stop 1 mg of finasteride in those patients trying to conceive or in those whose partners are pregnant.
This is what is really the issue:
Mohan et al states which clearly shows that even a small amount of finasteride that comes through the semen, the risk is real:
“Congenital scrotal agenesis is a rare anomaly that, to our knowledge, has only been reported in the literature on four previous occasions.. Scrotal development is initiated in the 7th embryonic week with the formation of labioscrotal folds on either side of the urogenital folds. Foetal testosterone is converted into more potent dihydro-testosterone by the action of the enzyme 5a-reductase type 2 which is expressed in these tissues. The scrotum is then formed as a result of enlargement and midline fusion of the labio-scrotal folds in response to the androgens…
Sinnecker et al. have shown that that 5a-reductase type 2 deficiency can result in a spectrum of phenotypes with varying degrees of virilization spanning from completely female to almost normal male. The phenotypes reported in our cases could be explained by a localised deficiency of 5a-reductase type 2, limited to the labioscrotal folds. This could possibly result in partial virilization of labioscrotal folds where in there is absence of development of normal scrotum but at the same time labioscrotal folds are prevented from developing into the complete female phenotype, i.e. labia majora. Later during topical therapy, the incompletely virilized labio- scrotal folds could have developed into normal scrotal tissue under the influence high concentration of testosterone. This is akin to the development of normal male external genitalia in children with 5a-reductase type 2 deficiency during pubertal testosterone surge.”
This condition is directly linked to 5a-reductase type 2 deficiency. I will get him all of the best medical treatment possible but I don’t believe the guilt will ever leave me. This is still a happy time with a baby but also the most traumatic. Thank you for your offer, I appreciate it. Please publicise these risks as much as possible as well. I look forward to hearing from you more in future.
2020-03-25 07:53:532020-03-25 07:53:53Finasteride is a risk in pregnancy with unprotected sex
Stem Cell Breakthrough? Don’t Believe Everything You Read!
Snippet from the article:
Scientists have found a surprisingly simple way to turn mature cells back into a primitive state. Simply giving mouse blood cells an acid bath is enough to produce so-called pluripotent cells that can develop into any cell type in the body, they report in two new papers this week. The remarkable transformation contradicts many assumptions about cell biology and may ultimately lead to new ways to treat disease and injuries.
Scientists not involved in the work say the technique could be a game-changer if it pans out. “If this new approach is applicable to human cells, it would have great implications for regenerative medicine,” says Hongkui Deng, a stem cell researcher at Peking University in Beijing. “It’s quite surprising” that the technique “doesn’t involve any genetic manipulation,” says Rudolf Jaenisch, a developmental biologist at the Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
Read the rest — Acid Treatment Could Provide Breakthrough Stem Cell Technique
But wait…. the above snippet is from an article that was published and appeared in many publications, but then the scientific community tried to replicate the study. Now there are many other publications that show how the attempts to replicate these results were unsuccessful. Read more about the investigation here.
For those interested in hair breakthroughs, this report could have been significant and prompted considerable excitement for creating stem cells that could be turned into hair cells, but without direct support by the greater scientific community, this was probably another blind end for stem cell development.
2014-04-08 13:26:562014-04-07 10:41:07Stem Cell Breakthrough? Don’t Believe Everything You Read!
Finasteride, minoxidil and microneedling over 9 months
Stimulate Chest Hair Growth?
is there a product out there to stimulate chest hair growth?
No. If you are under age 30, you might be having delayed chest hair growth which might yet appear. Give me more details, like your age. I assuming that you are male — chest hair on women is not exactly socially acceptable in our society, of course.
2006-09-18 14:32:332006-09-18 10:03:02Stimulate Chest Hair Growth?
Finasteride sexual side effects question
I’ve been on finasteride for a little over 6 months now and so far up until yesterday I haven’t been experiencing any sides. But yesterday I was getting frisky with my girlfriend but couldn’t get my dick to get hard. This was the only time that this has ever happened, and there’s also other factors such as me not getting enough sleep the past few days. Was wondering if anyone knows when finasteride side effects supposedly happen. Thanks!
Maybe you are reading too much into it. Most men have days that they are off and maybe this was yours. Most men don’t get sexual side effects out of the blue. Give it some time and stop thinking about it, because you can make it happen
2021-07-20 01:58:362021-01-27 15:06:06Finasteride sexual side effects question
Stopping finasteride after 5 years
I’ve been taking generic finasteride for around 5 years (since I was 25) and I’ve maintained the hair that I had when I started taking it. I also only had a minor side effect (orgasms seem to be a bit weaker, not too much but enough to notice) but the plus of keeping my hair outweighed this negative.
I read a scientific paper yesterday about the long term effects of neurosteroids and 5a alpha reductase inhibitors and it got me a little worried. Then I went down the rabbit hole of posts on places like Medium and Vice about how the drug ruined their lives and it was difficult for me to get some sleep last night and I was seriously considering just going cold turkey but even there you get people saying that stopping finasteride could give you PFS symptoms as well.
Not really sure what to do now, as much as I like having my hair I don’t want to screw up my brain and body over the long term.
Currently, I’m thinking of dropping down from 1mg to 0.25mg a day as I saw a graph showing that DHT inhibition only goes from 68% to 62% but what do you think?
Almost all of my patients who were on finasteride for years and who have stopped the drug for man y reasons, have often seen significant hair loss and regretted stopping the drug.
2019-12-16 04:30:252019-06-22 09:30:44Stopping finasteride after 5 years
Finasteride then dutasteride and my hairline is still receding
I’ve seen a lot of your messages on reddit being very helpful for people combating baldness. If you have a moment I hope you could help me with a small question. In my mid 20’s I noticed my hairline begin to recede and went on Finastride. It seemed to work great. My hair recession slowed down significantly. However, when I turned 34. I began to notice my hair line was receding again. I’m aware that drugs like Finasride, more or less, just slow the process down. But I was alarmed at how quickly my hair seemed to be receding all of a sudden. It was like the drug simply stopped working. I panicked and with some research I found that Dutasteride was an alternative that’s been shown to be slightly more affective. So I switched, from 5MG of Fin(quartered) to 0.5 of Dutasteride. That was approximately 10 months ago and my hair continues to recede and thin, at what feels like an alarming pace.
So here is my question. Have I made a huge mistake in switching? Will I lose all the hair that I kept on Finastride even though I’ve switched to Dutasteride? I thought that if Dutasteride worked it would keep the hair that Fin was holding back. Or perhaps there was no slowing these effects any longer, whether it was Dut or Fin? I don’t know what to do.
Dutasteride and finasteride can be interchanged without negative effects. What you are describing is the inevitable changes in progressive hair loss and I doubt with the history you gave, that any medication will help you at this stage. If your hairline bothers you, a hair transplants is the only option.
2021-06-08 01:49:212021-01-04 14:50:35Finasteride then dutasteride and my hairline is still receding
Strange Breakthrough Reporting a Cure for Hair Loss with Chemical Used in Hair Perfumes
Finer Hairs at Hairline
Hello Dr.Rassman,
I am a 29yr old caucasian male who has over the last few years been dealing with questions of hairloss. Thus far there is nothing dramatic to speak of – no noticably thinning or balding areas. There is however one thing that has led to a good deal of concern – it can best be described as light or whispy hair around the frontal hairline (from temple to temple). My hair has always been quite fine in nature and until a few years ago a light brown color rather than the dark brown it has become. In recent years I have grown my hair out quite long – opting for the ‘rocker’ look as friends call it. If I pull my hair back I dont notice any loss at all – it looks like a regular hairline – but the hairs that make up the first cm (rough estimate) are lighter in pigment and fine in composition compared with hairs deeper in the scalp. Aside from the minor difficulties this phenomenon creates when attempting to style my hair I’ve been wondering if this is an example of the ‘miniaturization’ process that you have described. I have no signs anywhere else of this phenomenon – just the fringe of the frontal hairline. No crown thinning, no overall diffuse thinning, no temple thinning – and that is what is driving me crazy! If it were more extreme I would be prone to take some action be it drugs, topicals or other treatments. With this said however the lack of action kills me just as much because I wonder if I’m not acting when I should be – nipping my possible hairloss in the bud so to speak. Please let me know if you feel this is an example of ‘miniaturization’ or not and any course of action I should consider taking. Thank-you.
To really answer your question directly, you should be examined and have your scalp mapping of your hair for miniaturization, which is best done under magnification with a visualizing high power microscopic tool, like our densitometer. Fine hairs often exist in the very front of the hairline, but in regards to what you refer to, I am not sure if you mean the mature hairline that has probably evolved from your child hairline (age 10 or so), which is often lower and thicker. I would want to see pictures and possibly meet with you in person to make such assessments. If you’d like to send photos, you can email them to the address on the Contact page.
2005-12-07 15:01:072005-12-07 17:03:55Finer Hairs at Hairline