Category: Uncategorized

Posted on

I’m Losing Hair Before I Can Even Grow a Beard!

Hi Doc

I am a 22 male with fine blond hair, and ever since I can remember I have always had fine hair (used to be able to pull out chunks of my hair) however since the age of 16 I have become obsessed with my receding hairline. Don’t get me wrong, I accept the fact I’m going bald and just waiting for the day to come where it becomes TOO noticeable so I can get the clippers on them. What I don’t understand is …. why now? I cant even grow a beard.

Surely it cant be normal for my hair to be falling out and I cant even grow a proper beard? I got stumble on the chin and upper lip but nothing else….. I am starting to think maybe I have a underlying illness that I don’t know about. Could it be because I am a smoker and that why my hair is falling out? Is it normal for someone to be going bald that hasn’t properly finished puberty yet? or maybe I am just being paranoid? I don’t know.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated

Kind Regards

Sorry to hear of your hair loss. It seems you have accepted that inevitable. Unfortunately, if you are destined to go completely bald (Norwood 6 or 7) it usually starts very early, possibly as you described.

Growing a beard has nothing to do with scalp hair loss. It is in itself a genetic trait (like balding). Some men just never grow a beard. Also, smoking is bad for you (hey, I’m a doctor — what did you expect me to say?).


2010-02-03 19:34:09I’m Losing Hair Before I Can Even Grow a Beard!

Posted on

16 with early balding

At 16 with a Norwood Class 3 pattern of balding evident, I would want to know more about your family history. Is there advanced balding in the family (father, brothers, grandfathers, uncles) and if so, how young were these relatives when the balding finalized their pattern? Drugs like oral Minoxidil might work. Even drugs like finasteride have been found safe for boys 14 and up, based upon a recent polling I did with about 60 experts in the field. If you are fully grown, then finasteride ss a reasonable option, but you need to have a conversation with a knowledgeable doctor and have your parents present during that conslutation.

Posted on

I’m Seeing Increased Hair Loss After Changing to Generic Proscar

Hello Doctor,
I am 26 years old and have been taking Propecia 5mg for almost 2 years. Till last month I used to get prescription refilled from Duane Reade. Then I came to know about Target Pharmacy they give 30 tablets for 10$ only. To save some bucks, I had last prescription refilled from Target, but for last two days, I am experiencing more hair fall. Is it just a coincidence or something else?

Thanks

I would say it is coincidence, mostly because nothing changes in the matter of days. And generic finasteride 5mg should be same everywhere, unless it is a counterfeit medication that is widely sold through the internet. There was just a segment on the 60 Minutes TV show about the fight against counterfeit drugs. But… seeing as how you bought it at a large New York based pharmacy chain, I wouldn’t think fake meds would make it into their system.

Generic aspirin or Tylenol (acetaminophen) works just the same no matter where you buy it or how much money you spend, but I would assume there is a negative placebo effect where people believe a product is not as good when you pay less. Think about that when you buy expensive brand name shoes or clothes. I have heard from a few readers that say they’ve had similar problems to what you’re experiencing after switching to generic, but there is very little information on it.

Posted on

I am 18 and female, what is wrong with me. Possibly Trangular Alpecia

Thinning hair in young women can be caused by many condition, far to numerous to list here. You need to see a doctor who specializes in hair loss in women to find out why you have this problem. Is this in your family, are you are birth control pills, do you have other medical condition that I need to know about? These are critical questions that a doctor must know to determine the diagnosis. A physical examination will be critical in assessing your situation as a capable doctor will use a hand microscope to look at each area of your scalp and hair. This as well as many blood tests are requires to arrive at the correct diagnosis from which treatment can be started and many of them are listed here: https://baldingblog.com/2009/03/13/woman-with-handfuls-of-hair-that-come-out-every-morning/. The pictures look like a genetic condition called Triangular Alopecia because it is on both sides in roughly the same place. A Hair transplant usually solves this problem.

 

 

18 year old female

Posted on

I’m Worried About This Shedding I’m Seeing After Starting Minoxidil

Dear Doctor,

I am 28 yr old male. I have been losing a few strands of hair here and there for the past couple of years. However, it aggrevated in the past six months or so, with visible thinning of hair on the crown and receding of temples. I consulted a physician and a dermatologist. My reports about anaemia, thyroid function and blood sugar levels are normal. I was informed that I am suffering from genetic male pattern baldness.

I have been prescribed Minoxidil 5%, twice daily, Propecia once daily with Nizoral 1% twice a week. I have been on the above regime for a month. However, I have observed dramatic hair loss in the past month. I am loosing about 300 hair everyday. The most worrying part is that there are times when I loose a bunch of two to three hairs with a single white bulb at the bottom.

I am told that the use of Minoxidil can cause such increased hair loss. From your vast experience, can you confirm if such increased hair loss is common in the first month of treatment?

Also, assuming that this increased hair loss is pursuant to initial reaction to Minoxidil – will the hair lost in the past month grow back to their original length and thickness or is the best case scenario that only small thin miniature hair will replace them?

Thanks

I’ve had some emails over the years of reporting on this site from people asking about minoxidil shedding. I’ve written about it here.

I can’t say for sure how long it’ll persist or if those shed hairs will regrow, but it seems to be a temporary thing that lasts about a month in those that see this initial shedding and the hairs usually do return.

Posted on

18 years old, what to do?

I have have a really bad, receding hairline with dense hair and no crown problems. I was going to start minoxidil and add finasteride in 2 to 3 years since I still haven’t finished my puberty. I really want to try to recover my hairline, the thing is, I am okay with getting a HT in a few years.

I often prescribe finasteride to 18 years old men. This drug often works very well with a high degree of reversal. If after one year it doesn’t reverse, add oral minoxidil to your routine and worst case, add microneedling 6 months after than it it doesn’t work. Actually, I don’t think that the first or second will fail. A hair transplant is out of the question for at least 7 years and by that time, if you don’t treat it now, you may bald far more than you see now.

Posted on

Impotence After a Few Days on Propecia — Is it The Drug or Anxiety?

Hi

I’ve just started on finasteride, and I’m wondering if it is possible to see side effects (impotence) after only a couple of days on the drug. I’m not sure if it’s just my anxiety and over-analysis causing the problem, or if it’s actually the drug itself. I’d really really appreciate a private answer.

Thanks!

(24 year old male)

What you’re experiencing may be due to anxiety and what I generally tell my patients is to continue the medication for a month and try to ignore the erection problem if it is there. I do not know anything about you. I would need to get to know you to assess the anxiety element. The power of suggestion could certainly be in play here.

If you got the drug over the internet, this means that there is likely no professional guiding you on your problem. Consider seeing a good doctor if you do not have one… or if you do, then go back to him/her and ask the questions you posed here.


2010-07-06 11:51:40Impotence After a Few Days on Propecia — Is it The Drug or Anxiety?

Posted on

1mg vs 5mg Finasteride for Hair Growth

Has there been any studies that have shown any increased hair growth taking proscar 5mg daily vs propecia 1 mg daily.

The 1mg dose is just as good as the 5mg dose for treating hair loss. This was determined when the drug company (Merck) did effectiveness testing. I am sure you can get it from the FDA. For urological problems, the 5mg dose is more effective. The question is really about how much finasteride binds to the hair follicles themselves. We know for prostate problems, that there is different binding dynamics than with hair follicles. I am not familiar with any study that directly compares the 5mg dose to the 1mg dose, but I would suspect that like any bell curve, the 1mg recommendation applies to those individuals in the center of the bell curve and that some people most certainly would be better with a higher dose, possibly worth trying if the 1mg dose is not adequate to meet the needs of the patient’s problem. See Pattern-Baldness.com for more.

Posted on

In the News – Are Bald Men More Virile?

Snippet from the article:

“The suggestion that bald men are more virile than their well-thatched contemporaries is probably an old wives’ tale, but it must be conceded that old wives are likely to be unusually authoritative in this matter.”

So said the esteemed British dermatologist John Burton back in 1979 when the topic was first explored in the medical literature. Burton was notably balding at this time.

Since the time of Hippocrates it has been known that eunuchs do not go bald. This link between masculinity and baldness was confirmed by the anthropologist James Hamilton in the 1940s when he studied the hair patterns of prison inmates in the United States. He was particularly interested in the sex offenders who had been castrated by the authorities as part of their sentence.

Read the rest — Are bald men more virile?

So are bald men more virile? Spoiler alert — The answer is “no”.