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Taking Expired Propecia, Transplanting Spikey Hair

Thanks for your very informative blog.

Two questions: I’m 35 – MPB runs in my family. I’ve avoided using anything and think I’m ready to try propecia. I actually got a prescription for it about two years ago – just didn’t take it. Is there any harm in taking expired propecia?

I few years back I saw a transplant doctor in San Antonio, TX. He said I would not be a great candidate for a transplant because the hair in the back of my head is kinda spikey and the scar would be noticable. How do you deal with folks with spikey hair to minimize that?

Thanks so much!

If the Propecia was in a sealed bottle, it would probably be ok. I won’t recommend taking it, but I do recommend reading this article from Newsweek published a couple weeks back — Do You Take Expired Medications?. Contact your prescribing doctor for the final word on what you should do.

With regard to your question about spiked hair, I’ll assume that the doctor you saw was saying that your hair was very straight and strong in character. That should not be a problem for transplantation. Asians have strong, straight hair and I do such surgeries on this type of hair quite often with no problems.


2006-11-08 12:45:25Taking Expired Propecia, Transplanting Spikey Hair

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Taking Estrogen Blocker with Propecia

I had a transplant done 2 months ago at a hair transplant office. Right now I’m in the waiting period to see any growth. I’m also on propecia for one month. I love working out, but I have some preexisting gynomastica (not sure how to spell it). I have ordered and estrogen blocker to help prevent anymore possible gyno. I was wondering if taking this product will at all interfere with any propecia results or results from my transplant? Any info would be greatly appreciated. This estrogen blocker also acts as a testosterone booster as well. That is what makes me wonder the most. Thank you for your time.

The permanent hair from the donor area is usually not affected by hormones, so I would expect that it would not impact your hair transplant, but it might impact the other hair in the vicinity (the original hair is at risk here). Any testosterone booster will work against your goal and contribute to more hair loss. Get in touch with your doctor and get his guidance.


2006-05-25 08:38:14Taking Estrogen Blocker with Propecia

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Taking drugs with hair transplant

Doctor, if you get a hair transplant, do you have to take fin and minox? Or are you solid to discontinue?

That depends upon how much miniaturized hairs are at risk of shock loss. Finasteride prevent shock loss. Generally, the older you are, the less the risk of shock loss. Some people don’t want to take drugs so that elect to have a hair transplant which doesn’t require drugs of any type but there can be a loss of miniaturized hairs without finasteride which may reduce the value of the hair transplant for some patients.

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Taking both finasteride and minoxidil

Hello doctor, I was wondering if you could help me with a conundrum I’m thinking about: I see some people start taking fin for a solid 6 months to a year, see if hair loss stabilizes, and then are advising people to take min. My derm prescribed me a compounded fin / min topical , and I’m a little worried about taking fin/ min together in case I stop just the min, and want to continue taking the fin. Would it be wise in any instance to insist on taking both at once, or would taking fin first then waiting for min always be a safe result?

Both may work better in many men (the majority of men respond to oral minoxidil but only 40% will respond to the topical form). These two drugs act differently, so taking them both gives you the best shot at addressing the hair loss

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Taking Biotin to Prevent Hair Loss?

I am a 22 year old male, and have just recently started noticing minor thinning in the front of my hairline. Male-pattern baldness runs in my family. I consulted a stylist who told me that taking a supplement with Biotin can prevent hairloss. I am not worried about regrowing any hair, as it isn’t a problem yet, only maintaining what I currently have. I ordered 3 month supply of Provillus, which contains both Saw Palmento and Biotin. My plan is to see if it has any effect or not. Is this a good approach and also what else could I do if this doesn’t help?

Why experiment when we know that if the diagnosis of genetic hair loss is confirmed, then finasteride works? Every day, every month, and every year you experiment, you will allow your irreversible hair loss to get worse and worse and worse and worse. Stop playing Russian Roulette. Biotin is no answer to your problems, unless you are deficient of biotin.

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Taking Avodart Daily to Treat Hair Loss?

My MD has me on Avodart 0.5 MG once daily for hair loss and I have been taking it for about 20 months now and it seems to work better than the Proscar that I was taking the five years before.I just had my second HTP a couple of months ago and the HT doctor said the Avodart that I’m taking stays in my system fot 5-7 days and that I should not need to take it daily to have the same results. Where do you stand on it?

Avodart (dutasteride) does stay in your system for several weeks (5 weeks are reported for half of the drug to disappear from your system). In other words, if you take Avodart today only, half of the drug will be in your body in 5 weeks. In fact, the drug will still be detectable in your body for up to 6-12 months.

I do not personally recommend Avodart to my patients, because it is not proven safe for treating hair loss in younger men (the drug is a prostate medication, so the FDA approvals were based on tests of those men in an older age group). There are reports of sterility with this drug on men. I do have a handful of patients that choose to take Avodart despite my concerns, but that is on an individual basis. Likewise, my feeling on it is that you need to address these concerns with your doctor and decide on the appropriate treatment plan after understanding all the risks and benefits associated with its use. That stands true for all other drugs and medical treatments.

In general (to confuse the situation even further), the 0.5mg dose of Avodart is not generally used for hair growth, as 2.5mg is shown to produce a better effect. However, the 2.5mg will increase the side effects and the risks associated with it as well. All that is just more to discuss with your doctor. Read this study published in the Journal of the American Academy of Dermatology for more info — Dutasteride vs. Finasteride.


2008-11-06 09:57:51Taking Avodart Daily to Treat Hair Loss?

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Taking Avodart Bi-Weekly To Avoid Propecia-Like Side Effects?

Dr. Rassman:

Prior to reading this, thank you for your time. Your insight and knowledge is of great appreciation.

My situation is as follows:

I started propecia, was on it for a month, then underwent a HT of 1,900 grafts mainly in the front hairline. I continued to use propecia for 2 more months and began to experience some serious sexual side effects. I stuck it out for another 3 weeks however the side effects continued so I stopped the propecia. The sad part is that the propecia began to halt my hairloss however I could not deal with the sexual side effects.

Sadly my hair is shedding. After another apt with my hair restoration doctor, he suggested I take Avodart 0.5mg twice/week. He had mentioned that some of his patients who were having side effects from Propecia took the Avodart bi-weekly, (due to the drugs long half life) and were able to halt hairloss but did not experience the side effects which I was experiencing from my daily 1mg Propecia regiment. I have read all of your posts in regards to Avodart and I understand that it is not FDA approved nor do you prescribe it to your patients.

My main question to you and issue at hand:

I know that when people start taking Avodart they experience a shedding phase which generally kicks in after the first month or two of starting the drug and can last a few months there after. My first question – If I am only taking the drug twice a week and have only been off of propecia for 4 weeks will I also experience a shedding phase? I am confident that the shedding phase is the transition to a greater good…as the weaker hairs fall out months later they are replaced by stronger, new hairs. My problem is that I am in the entertainment industry and will be starting a one month taping of a TV series from June 30th-July 30th. I would like to have as much hair as possible by that time so would I be better off waiting to take the Avodart after the taping is complete, or should I start now and hope that the avodart will not cause a drastic shedding phase and help me stabilize the hair that I currently have? I guess this really comes down to a game of timing.

It will be 5 months since my HT when the taping starts in June so I am hoping that the transplanted hair will already be popping up. Also, most of the hair that I am losing is from the front hairline and temples. The crown seems to be doing ok.

Thanks again for your time and I would also be interested in undergoing a transplant with your team following the taping.

I really do not have a clear answer to your situation. In general, Propecia or Avodart will not be as effective on your front and temple areas. They each work best on the top/crown areas of your scalp. I do not know if you will have more or less shedding as everyone has different results, different side effects, etc. Shedding isn’t seen by all men that start the medication. Really, only time will tell and there is no clear way to predict this.

It would be interesting to know if Avodart did indeed change your sexual side effect issues, as I would expect that it would not make it better. There’s not enough reported about Avodart dosing in the treatment of hair loss for me to suggest that bi-weekly pills are the way to go.


2010-05-06 08:59:29Taking Avodart Bi-Weekly To Avoid Propecia-Like Side Effects?

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Taking Avodart and Propecia At the Same Time?

Hey Doctor,

Thanks for continuing to answer all my questions. I had a consultation with you about 4-5 months ago.

I have been on Propecia for about 7 years now…and it seems to be less effective than it was before. I am losing more hair, especially within the past 3 or 4 months. I have read your comments on Avodart…and it seems for some people, Avodart is more effective than Propecia, especially when Propecia stops losing its effect.

If I want to try Avodart out for a little while (I know it’s not FDA approved), would you continue taking Propecia at the same time?

Thanks again.

If you take Avodart, there is no point to using Propecia. Be careful about dosing, unless you are under the care of a good doctor.

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Taking Avodart and Oral Steroids

Dear Dr Rassman:

I started losing hair at 21 years old and i was prescribed Propecia by a doctor. at 23 i took steroids for a period of 2 months, a oral plan which included Winstrol (Stanozonol), so propecia wasnt really working and decided to change for Avodart taking 0.5Mg a day. Now that i dont work out anymore, i kept taking avodart for more than 1 year and now i think i have reduced sex drive, and reduced amount of sperm.

I believe hair loss has completely stopped since avodart, but the sex drive got worst, 1 year after.

would you recommend to stop completely taking avodart?
would it be effective to take it every 3 days instead?
would you recommend to go back to propecia?

Regards

You are asking for detailed medical advice, but I am not your doctor — for legal and ethical reasons, I can only provide general advice. You need to address these issues with the doctor that prescribed you the anabolic steroids and Avodart (dutasteride). You don’t seem to have a focus on the long term consequences and steps you need to make in your hair restoration process, so the best advice I can give you is to find a doctor that will form a Master Plan for you.

You are correct in stating Avodart causes a low sex drive (much higher occurrence than Propecia). It should be reversible once you stop taking the medication, unless you also have a component of inherent sexual impotence. Mind you that this is all confounded by your anabolic steroid use. This is more the reason why you need a good evaluation and examination by a doctor (face to face).


2008-01-16 19:19:03Taking Avodart and Oral Steroids

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Taking Aspirin Before a Hair Transplant?

Hi,
I am having a hair transplant surgery by the FUE method and I am aware that I should not take aspirin 7 days prior to my transplant, but I completely forgot the 7 day rule and by the time my surgery comes up it will be only 5 days since stopping my baby (low dose) aspirin use. Is this going to affect the outcome of my surgery or during surgery due to bleeding? Is 5 days time for stopping my aspirin use enough time to have my surgery without worrying about it? I am a little concerned and blame myself for not stopping it a little sooner.

Please let me know if OK. Thank you kindly.

Excessive bleeding is always a risk in surgery when the patient is on a medication that can cause major bleeding (such as aspirin). Your surgeon should be made aware and you should discuss your risks with him/her.