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Woman Wants Propecia — Medical Community Needs to Think Outside the Box!

I have been losing my hair for the past 8 years. My nature pathic doctor would like to prescribe propecia but isn’t authorized because my test results indicate a great benefit. I have 3 teenagers and my husband had a vascetomy ten years ago. I also have hirsutism. How can I get a prescription for propecia when the medical community won’t think outside the box???

I am confused what a “nature pathic” doctor is and how he/she is credentialed. Is he/she a medical doctor? Do you possibly mean naturopathic doctor, which is a specialty (does not have to be a person with an M.D. degree)? See Naturopathic.org for more on that.

I disagree with your statement that the medical community is not thinking outside the box. On the contrary, there are a few studies and some women who do take finasteride (Propecia). However, the studies are not well designed and not all women respond to finasteride, because women have a different mechanism of hair loss (see Treatments Available for Female Hair Loss)

Most importantly, there is no study that looks at the potential dangers of finasteride (Propecia) on women with respect to the risk of women’s cancer (such as breast, ovary, cervical). This is more relavant, because finasteride affects certain hormone pathways. Are you willing to risk a potential long term negative consequence (like cancer) for a possible (no guarantee) hope of hair growth? In summary, the medical community is looking out to protect your health, rather than your vanity.

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I Got Rid of Many Stresses in My Life, So Can I Stop Rogaine Now?

Hi I’m a female of 25. I have used Rogaine for men for about three or four years now, and my hair is relatively thick. When my hair loss began I was under a serious amount of stress, Had just come off of the depo shot (which I’ve heard can cause some hair loss), later developed a pretty serious eating distorter (I know also causes hair loss), and was a drug addict and alcoholic. Quite the laundry list I know.

Recently in the past year and a half I have recovered from the eating distorter, drugs and alcohol, and have a stable stress free life. My question is this, since there were so many factors contributing to my hair loss, and there is no way of knowing if it was onset adult hair loss, If i were to start weening my self off of rogaine would the hair loss start again. Is it possible for me to discontinue the use if it wasn’t female pattern balding, or does your hair develop a dependency to minoxidil. Further more is it possible to drop the dosages to the 2% in the woman’s without losing my hair as well. I appreciate any help you may be able to provide.

thank you

I honestly don’t know, but I can provide a mostly theoretical idea for a best case scenario: If there were hairs gained from Rogaine use, then those hairs will likely fall out when you stop using Rogaine. But if the hairs grew back on their own (without the help of Rogaine), then those hairs would stay.


2010-02-09 13:22:37I Got Rid of Many Stresses in My Life, So Can I Stop Rogaine Now?

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Wonder If Your Chest Pain Is A Heart Attack And You’re Alone? WHAT DO YOU DO?

You’re really tired, upset and frustrated, have severe chest pain and the pain is either in the middle of the chest or it moves to one or both of your arms, possibly even your jaw. You might even feel faint and it is highly possible that you are nowhere near a hospital or where you can get help. Essentially, you think “MAYBE I’M HAVING A HEART ATTACK WHEN ALONE”.

Action: Take very deep breaths and cough vigorously. A deep breath should be taken before each cough, and the cough must be deep and prolonged, as when producing sputum from deep inside the chest. Feeling faint might be that you heart is not working right or not working so repeat this process every two seconds without let-up until help arrives, or until the heart is felt to be beating normally again. If all of this fails, you should consider calling 911 or trying to see if someone around you can call 911 for you.

Explanation: Deep breaths get oxygen into the lungs and coughing movements squeeze the heart and keep the blood circulating. Sever coughing might even start a stopped hears or alter an arrhythmia. The squeezing pressure on the heart also helps it regain normal rhythm. In this way, heart attack victims can get to a hospital, alive.

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I had a failed 5000 graft FUE, can I have another FUE surgery?

You can have a second hair transplant if the donor area has a reasonable amount of hair left. Failures are usually the result of technical problems at the time of the surgery. If the first surgery was with FUE, the second surgery should not use FUE or you will have balding in the donor area. Your available donor area depends upon your original donor density that you had prior to the first hair transplant. Did your doctor measure it?


2019-03-09 10:24:49I had a failed 5000 graft FUE, can I have another FUE surgery?

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Would Birth Control Pills Effect Baldness in Men?

This is a purely hypothetical question. Would a man taking female birth control pills have any effect on male pattern baldness? What would be the effects on DHT, Testosterone, and hair health. Thanks!

The following post is by UK-based physician Dr. Bessam Farjo:


Written by:
Dr Bessam Farjo, United Kingdom
Dr Bessam Farjo
United Kingdom

Female birth control or contraceptive pills are most often a combination of synthetic forms of the female hormones, estrogen and progesterone. With regards to effect on men’s hair you may get a decrease in facial and body hair in terms of thickness and growth, although male-pattern baldness may improve somewhat or at least stabilises in a similar vein to finasteride for example. We see this effect most commonly in our practice when dealing with male to female transgender patients who use similar hormones to achieve their transformation.

However, these medications may cause a number of adverse effects in men similar to those seen with the use of other female hormones. You may experience changes in the appearance and function sex organs. Risks may include erectile dysfunction, decreased libido and lowered sperm count. Some men may also develop gynecomastia (man boobs). There may be a negative effect of general body muscle mass. In addition, the bones may develop osteoporosis (brittleness). There are other potential general health side effects of course making this an unreasonable approach to control male pattern baldness.

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Learn more about the author of this article, Dr. Bessam Farjo, on his BaldingBlog profile or at his website.


2012-04-30 10:27:48Would Birth Control Pills Effect Baldness in Men?

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I Had My FUE Done Over a Year Ago and It Is Still Not Fully Grown

Hi Dr

I went thru my fue 15mths ago. Today i am still feeling some stubbles (transplanted graft) on the recipient area. These stubbles do not seems to be growing. Is there a possibility that newly transplanted graft stays as stubble – do not fall off neither grow out and become healthy hair? Or am i just a slow grower?

While it is possible, is highly unlikely that you will start finally seeing growth at 15 months. You should have seen most growth at about 6 to 12 months following your surgery.

More importantly, the new hair growth will not appear as coarse stubble (like a beard). It’ll start off fine and grow as the months go by. Sometimes the stubble can be remnants of the original hair grafts that never fell out, but are just stuck in its place. You can test this by having someone find these stubbles and pulling on them with tweezers… or if you can reach it yourself, you can do this yourself. If the stubble is a dead hair shaft (old leftover follicle from 15 months ago), it should slide / slip right out.

The implication of this is that the surgery may have been a failure. Have you talked to your surgeon for a follow-up since your procedure?

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Would years of microneedling prevent me from getting a hair transplant?

There is a lot that is not known about microneedling. In theory, once you get the hair growing and healthy, you might be able to stop it and then wait a full hair cycle before worrying if the hair will fall out or not. Alternatively, you can significantly reduce the amount of microneedling like once a month or once every other month just to keep the stimulus there. IF any reader has more information about this, I would like to hear from them. Transplants go much needler than the microneedle so scarring should not be a problem, in theory.


2021-03-05 09:55:04Would years of microneedling prevent me from getting a hair transplant?

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I Have a Vitamin D Deficiency and Diffuse Hair Loss.

Hello, as the title says, I have vitamin D deficiency (10.22 ng/mL, below 20 ng/mL) and severe diffuse thinning. I’m talking shitty hair density all around the scalp, the top, front, back and sides. Basically, all scalp is visible. However, I still retain my Nw1 hair line from 18 years old(currently 20) or so. My father is bald but his baldness started out in a classic horse shoe pattern until Nw6-7 and that started in his mid 20s till 30s. My hair loss started by shedding 150-200 hairs every shower starting 13-14 years old which lasted for a few years(stopped at about 17-18 yrs old) leaving me with shitty density all around. Could fixing my vit D deficiency improve the situation on it’s own or do I need to complement it with minox/fin/rolling?

Fix the Vitamin D problem first. As we know, it can cause hair loss if the Vitamin D levels are very low.


2020-06-01 03:54:26I Have a Vitamin D Deficiency and Diffuse Hair Loss.

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Years After a Chemical Burn, Hair Is Still Patchy and Skin is Sensitive

I experienced a chemical burn from a relaxer almost seven years ago and a section in the front of my head is still thin and patchy from the hair loss. It is also still pretty sensitive and itchy. I saw a dermatologist/trichologist and she recommended fluocinonide, which only irritated it further. She was not at all helpful, or professional, and she is supposedly one of the top in the industry. It really bothers me to look at it and I just wear weaves to hide it though it isn’t terribly noticeable. Is there anything that will regrow the hair? Should I try rogaine or hair transplant surgery? I really can’t afford to continue throwing good money after bad! Any advice is greatly appreciated.

You should not treat yourself. If you weren’t satisfied with your dermatologist, get a second opinion! I’m sorry I don’t have a clear cut answer for you, but this isn’t something I can make recommendations for over the web. A good dermatologist in your home town is the person to see.

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I Have Diffuse Thinning and Am Unhappy With Your Last Answer

Hey Doc, I have posted before and you replied, but I was very unhappy with your posted answer so I though I would rephrase my question. I am a 22 year old male who has thinning the kind you see in old women. Its pretty thin, and when i shower or go in the pool you can clearly see my scalp, its embarassing. Is DHT the chemical responsible for my balding. PLEASE dont tell me to see a doctor and leave it at that. I have Truly DIFFUSE UNPATTERNED alopecia. Hypothetically speaking, if you were my doctor, and you determined this what would you tell me to do short, SHORT of a hair transplant. Is Rogaine more effective than Propecia or Avodart for my kind of balding? Does Rogain work well in Women? Thanks for the help, your website kicks ass and has really helped me.

Male hair loss presenting as Diffuse Unpatterned Alopecia (DUPA) is different from male pattern hair loss. If you have a diffuse pattern hair loss, that would include in what we call the donor area, which is the area in the occipital and bitemporal areas (the fringe around your head and sides), then you need to be evaluated first with blood work to rule out hypothyroidism, anemia, hormone imbalance, autoimmune disease, etc. Possibly, a dermatologist can biopsy your head if you have inflammatory disease on your scalp which can cause diffuse pattern hair loss. The process we call DUPA, when there is no metabolic or autoimmune problem indentified, may respond to Propecia (about 50% of men will get a partial reversal in my experience).


2006-03-06 10:31:55I Have Diffuse Thinning and Am Unhappy With Your Last Answer