This is an excellent review of the causes and the progression history of genetic balding in the male. Rod Sinclair is an Icon in this field and is senior author on this article.
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1517/14656561003752730
Does this look like 1200 grafts from hair transplant 3 weeks ago? (photo)
This doesn’t look like about 1200 grafts; however, it is almost impossible for me to tell at this stage as some of the grafts may have already fallen out. Ask your doctor for the graft count in your surgical record. Many patients send me such photos and want to to check up to see if their doctor was honest. This is sad, because of the doubts that people like you have about being cheated. Hopefully, you will get your post operative pictures and a copy of your surgical record and be more comforted by what you learn.
Risks of finasteride in pregnancy (from:reddit.com 6/11/2020)
This is a compilation of information gleamed from a Reddit poster who put together a series of articles which may point to risks brought on by finasteride in pregnancy. I will quote the entire post and all of the references for you to draw your own conclusions. I have commented on two of the references. Many of the articles are controversial. We have known for some time, that finasteride can impact the fetus on sexual identification. Many hermaphrodites come from women who have ingested finasteride or any similar compound during the first trimester of pregnancy, so items #1-6 have to my knowledge been previously identified. But to develop such abnormalities women were required to have significant exposure to finasteride with some of it being absorbed in their body during pregnancy. In my own practice, I have seen hundreds of men father normal children while they were on finasteride, so there is no 1:1 relationship when a man is taking finasteride and abnormal children and have not seen any patient come to me complaining of an abnormal child while they conceived a baby while on the drug. Of course, that is just my experience and does not guarantee the safety of this drug. I leave that up to the FDA. The rest I will leave for you to judge after reading the material below.
Risks of Finasteride Exposure in Pregnancy
Finasteride, Propecia and Duasteride labels warn that pregnant women must not be exposed to the drug. This includes by taking it, touching a tablet, or by being exposed to semen from a man who is taking it.1
This is because if the active ingredient in Finasteride is absorbed by a woman who is pregnant with a male baby, it can cause the male baby to be born with abnormalities of the sex organs. Finasteride blocks DHT, which is necessary for male baby organs to form and grow. Prenatal Finasteride exposure has also been shown to affect cognitive function in both male and female babies.
What are the specific problems? According to the research they include:
Higher rates of miscarriage
A small penis
Hypospadias
A small underdeveloped scrotum
A prominent midline raphe (scrotum doesn’t join normally)
Ectopic testicles (which don’t reach the scrotum)
Cognitive problems in both males AND females
Memory problems in both males AND females
Three sources detailing these effects are provided below.
Source 1: S. Prahalada (1997) Effects of Finasteride, a Type 2 5-Alpha Reductase Inhibitor, on Fetal Development in the Rhesus Monkey2
In this study pregnant female monkeys were orally given 2mg/kg/day. Every single one of their male babies had genital birth defects.
“The male external genital anomalies were characterised by hypospadias which were confined to the glans penis (5/6; 83.3%), preputial adhesion to the glans (6/6; 100%), a small underdeveloped scrotum (6/6; 100%), a small penis (5/6; 100%) and a prominent midline raphe (6/6; 100%).”
“An apparent incidence in the fetal loss rate was observed in the 2mg/kg/day (23.1%) and the 800ng/kg/day (20%) finasteride treated groups when compared to concurrent controls…”
Source 2: Christopher Bowman, et al (2003). Effects of in Utero Exposure to Finasteride on Androgen-Dependent Reproductive Development in the Male Rat3
In this study Finasteride is shown to impact testicular descent: “Prenatal finasteride exposure significantly impaired testicular descent. Approximately 3, 23, and 73% of the adult males displayed ectopic testes in the 1.0, 10, and 100 mg/kg/day dose groups, respectively… The data from the current study suggest that the conversion of T to DHT in the developing gubernaculum is necessary for normal testicular descent.”
Even in the smallest dose of 0.01 mg/kg/day in the last stages of gestation there were genital issues affecting anogenital distance (AGD) of the males after the rats were born. “Late gestational exposure to finasteride significantly decreased AGD of male offspring in a dose-responsive manner… the AGD of male offspring displayed significant decreases of 8, 16, 23, 25, and 33% in the 0.01, 0.1, 1.0, 10, and 100 mg/kg/day dose groups, respectively.”
“The dose-response curves for finasteride-induced malformations fell into two groups. External structural changes such as decreased AGD and increased nipple retention had similar dose-response curves. These external changes were almost linear over the entire dose range (0.01 to 100 mg/kg/day) and approached 100% incidence by the highest dose.”
The authors note that “The lack of a no observed effect level (NOEL) in the current study was consistent” with the study by Clark (1990) which showed effects at doses down to 0.003 mg/kg/day. (DR RASSMAN’S COMMENT: THIS STUDY WAS DONE IN MONKEYS ADMINISTERED FINASTERIDE IN VARIOUS DOSES DURING PREGNANCY. THIS IS NOT THE SAME AS THE MALE MONKEY BEING ON FINASTERIDE WHEN THE FEMALE MONKEY BECAME PREGNANT)
Source 3: Jason Paris et al (2012) Inhibition of 5?-reductase activity in late pregnancy decreases gestational length and fecundity and impairs object memory and central progestogen milieu of juvenile rat offspring4
“Finasteride significantly reduced the length of gestation and the number of pups per litter…”
“Prenatal finasteride treatment significantly reduced object recognition, decreased hippocampal 3?,5?-THP content… inhibiting the formation of 5?-reduced steroids during late gestation in rats reduces gestational length, the number of viable pups per litter, and impairs cognitive and neuroendocrine function in the juvenile offspring.” (THIS STUDY WAS DONE IN RATS, AGAIN IN PREGNANCY AND DOES NOT CORRESPOND TO A MALE RAT TAKING FINASTERIDE WHEN THE FEMALE RAT BECAME PREGNANT)
While some of these research exposures were a lot higher than would be expected from semen exposure, don’t risk exposing a baby to any amount of this extremely dangerous US FDA pregnancy category X drug.5 Studies have demonstrated fetal abnormalities and there is positive evidence of human fetal risk.
Links:
2.https://www.docme.su/doc/1721148/effects-of-finasteride-a-type-2-5-alpha-reductase-inhibi…
3.https://academic.oup.com/toxsci/article/74/2/393/1716348
4.https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3196810/#__ffn_sectitle
2020-06-11 17:43:082020-06-11 17:43:08Risks of finasteride in pregnancy (from:reddit.com 6/11/2020)
More on Donald Trump and his Propecia secret from NY Post
https://nypost.com/2018/05/01/trump-doc-says-presidents-men-raided-his-office-after-he-revealed-use-of-hair-growth-drug/
Rogaine on the Hairline — Worth a Shot?
Dr. Rassman:
I recently met with a new dermatologist after I noticed significant and abrupt patterns of shedding. I am 30 years old, and I’ve been on Propecia for 10 years and was thrilled with it up until about a year ago. It was then that I noticed a ton of sheddin in the shower, pillow, etc, etc.
I asked my doctor about Rogaine, and told him I had been using on the crown of my head for about 8 months, as a preacautionay measure, in case Propecia stopped being effective for me. He said to use it on my hairline as well. He said that although Rogain is not FDA approved to be effective on the hairline, that doens’ mean that it isn’t. He said “its worth a shot”. What are your thoughts on this?
Thanks
There have been reports of minoxidil being effective on the frontal hairline, but they are few such observations with significant hair growth. I suppose it is worth a shot.
2009-08-06 08:35:592009-08-04 09:50:45Rogaine on the Hairline — Worth a Shot?
Donor Zone shows less graying in the back (photo)
Search Results for “italian topical finasteride” | WRassman,M.D. BaldingBlog
Dr. Rassman’s Comments: I saw Dr. Insalaco present these findings at a meeting last month in the United Kingdom. About 200 hair restoration surgeons attended the meeting. Her results (combining Finasteride and minoxidil in a drug formulation) was very impressive, reversing hair loss in various parts of the scalp over an 18 month period of […]
2019-06-19 09:00:292019-11-06 15:04:54The use of topical finasteride with minoxidil produces remarkable results in a study on 300 male patients with genetic balding (photos)
Dr Bernstein’s Comments About SMP
Snippet from the article:
For readers that are not familiar with it, Scalp Micropigmentation (SMP) is a permanent cosmetic tattoo that mimics the very short hairs of a closely shaved scalp. I think that Scalp Micropigmentation (SMP) is a useful new adjunct to hair transplantation with interesting potential and I am pleased to see that doctors in our field, particularly Dr William Rassman and Dr. Jae Pak, are spearheading the development of expertise in the technique and promoting the technology to make it more widely available to patients.
One of the things that was apparent from their presentation at the ISHRS is that SMP is an “art†and that proper technique is extremely important in getting an aesthetically satisfactory result. This includes: the angle that the instrument is inserted, depth control, the amount of pigmented deposited, and color match – not to mention proper patient selection.
Read the rest — Scalp Micropigmentation at the 2012 ISHRS Scientific Meeting – Dr. Robert Bernstein Provides His Input
I meant to post this last month, but better late than never…
Our friends at the Hair Transplant Network posted a good bit of feedback from Dr. Robert Bernstein relating to his thoughts on SMP and our presentation at the ISHRS (International Society of Hair Restoration Surgery) Scientific Meeting, including the applications and the planning that should be considered for those that are interested in having the technique done.
Saw Palmetto’s Effect on BPH
I’ve read that there haven’t been many (if any) conclusive studies about saw palmetto’s effect on hair loss. But what about saw palmetto’s effect on BPH? Do you know how effective it is for that? The Mayo Clinic grades saw palmetto as an A (on a scale of A to F) in terms of effectiveness for BPH.
If saw palmetto has weak DHT blocking ability, and it’s just a berry, why not take like 10 pills a day (instead of the usual 2)?
The impact of saw palmetto on prostate problems has a lot of history that goes back hundreds of years. The product has been studied, but although there is no doubt an effect on BPH (benign prostate hypertrophy or swollen prostate) at reducing symptoms with difficulty in urination, it does not seem to work on DHT. It has been suggested that its mechanism of action is something other than DHT effects and that is why it may not help in hair loss.
2008-07-18 12:33:262008-07-15 15:35:31Saw Palmetto’s Effect on BPH
Dr Rassman, You Are So Pessimistic!
Dr william
i need to ask you something. why don’t you give people any hope in life? your OPINIONS are so pessimistic. like the one i read that if a father has a balding gene he may not express male pattern baldness in his whole lifetime. so how did you know at the first place that he got a balding gene? and if you know the balding gene please say it’s name to the people here. of course if you have a balding gene you will certainly go bald unless you have a proof. thanks
If you think that I am negative, that is an interesting observation. Throughout my life, I have been called an optimist, but I must be pragmatic and realistic when writing this blog every day. For example, I can not say that hair cloning will come about shortly as others might say, because my research pointed to a troubled view on the timelines for cloning. Likewise, you state that I’ve said something like, “if a father has a balding gene he may not express male pattern baldness in his whole lifetime.” Using the “if“, I was discussing possible considerations. If you call this pessimistic, the language speaks to itself. It has long been said that writers are accountable by their words. Mine are right in your question. Do you have a personal problem with me?
There are well over 100 genes controlling hair loss and hair growth and hair cycles and hair death. Hair is one of the more complex organs in the body, because it has elements that arise from all three of the germ layers of the embryo and the control and coordination of those three layers and their contributions to grow a single follicular unit is so complex, that we still don’t command it or understand it all. That is the crux of the research going on. I hope that this helps.
2007-10-04 15:33:382007-10-04 15:33:45Dr Rassman, You Are So Pessimistic!