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What Is the Speed of Balding for Men in Their 20s?

I know there is a better chance for reversal for men in early 20s, but what I meant to ask… Are men in their early 20s (more likely to have rapid hair loss) more likely to not respond well to finasteride than men in their late 20s or early 30s? As a doctor, have you ever encountered men (after the age of 25) who didn’t respond well to fin (couldn’t maintain) and still lost their hair due to generics winning the battle? If so, is it more uncommon for men after the age of 25?

Generally speaking, balding men in their 20s have more hair loss than balding men in their 30s. Men with advanced hair loss patterns have most of the hair loss occur before they are 25. If you are over 25 and don’t have an advanced pattern of balding, you are probably not one of the aggressive balding patients. Finasteride works well in men in their early 20s or late teens, still well in their late 20s, and then less well the older you get. Nonetheless, it still works.

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Spectral RS

Please refer to this link and comment please on this product now for sale by Target. Is this something you have heard of? Is it worthwhile/proven?

please take the time to review: Spectral at Target

From what I’ve read, Spectral RS is the same as Spectral DNC, apparently just without minoxidil. More has been written about it on the HairLossHelp forum. The manufacturer of this product states, “When used alone, Spectral RS is not meant for androgenic alopecia (genetic male pattern baldness). For maximum results in the treatment of androgenic alopecia we recommend the use of Spectral DNC — a topical treatment containing Minoxidil.” In other words, it is a fancy hair lotion that by their own admission does not regrow hair. They’re telling you that you need to add their other product (the one with minoxidil) to actually see results.

There are only two medications as yet that are FDA approved and proven to grow hair for male pattern baldness — Propecia (finasteride) and Rogaine (minoxidil) — and even these drugs have great limitations. It seems millions (if not billions) of dollars are spent on the elusive cures for hair loss. As always, it is a buyer beware market.


2008-05-20 14:17:05Spectral RS

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South Africa Doctor Recommendation?

im from south africa. im 22 years old and losing hair from the front to the back.im busy using minoxidil.its working a little bit but not to much.do you know of any good hair doctors in south africa as good as you for hair implants? i would really appreciate your help. thank you and best regards

Rogaine / minoxidil does not work well for the frontal area, while Propecia does work nicely at preventing hair loss in a person of your age. The effects of Propecia will probably impact the entire head if you catch it early enough.

I do not know of any doctors in South Africa that I could recommend. I always go to the ISHRS (International Society of Hair Restoration Surgery) website for physician searches, but after such a search there, it did not turn up a doctor recommendation. That does not mean that there are no good doctors in South Africa. If you do find local hair doctors, please remember to conduct interviews with each physician before making any decisions about having surgery. You might also consider coming to the US, but frankly at 22 years old, I would expect that your response to Propecia is worth exploring BEFORE you consider a hair transplant.


2005-12-29 14:43:36South Africa Doctor Recommendation?

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Soriatane and Hair Loss

Hello, I am a 49year old female and experienced hair loss on my scalp for about a year but much more noticeable in the last 6 months. I have been on Effexor for about 4 years and have been up and down in dosage as high as 225mg and as low as 75mg. I also started taking soriatane for my psoriasis about a year ago. My dermatologists thinks that it is the soriatane that is causing the hair loss, not the Effexor. Can you tell me what the more likely medication would be?

Many medications have the potential for hair loss as its side effect. Before changing any medication regimen you should consult your doctor. There is no way to tell which medication may be the cause of your hair loss, and in fact, it may not even be the medication. You may also consider if there are any medical causes of hair loss. These are the things that you should be discussing with your doctor (see the Female Hair Loss category for more).

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“Something I hate about the hair market” from Reddit

Every once in a while, once a month, I simply search “hairloss treatments” to see if anything new happened, or maybe a new treatment, but all I get is recent articles like “does ___ cause hairloss?” “can vitamins help with hairloss?” “can saw palmetto halt hairloss?” Bull**** articles like these make me pissed off, not because of the articles themselves, but because they are repetitive articles that i see every month when I search this shit. What happened to Breezula? WAY-1001? Guess we’ll never have a good safe, non-fearing treatment. Guess everything comes with a price.

Back in the 1980s, there was a ‘product’ called the Helsinki Hair Growth Forumlae that may have been the first modern product claimed for the hair growth pitch to hit the US market for magic hair growth cures. As the first, it sold like ‘hotcakes’ and it took more than 10 years for it to lose its unique market position because the FDA dinged them for claims that could not be proven. I look them up, and they are still selling hair products, just no magic claims.
If you look at newspaper in the late 1800s and early 1900s, you will see a lot of products selling cures for hair loss like magnetic hats that you wear at home. People never liked the idea of being bald so they easily reached out to anything that was offered. Today, with the internet, we have the ability to discern the difference between fact and fiction, but many people have realities that they want to believe and will often buy into anything that sounds ‘reasonable’ with low risk and possibly low cost solutions for hair loss.
There are now many doctors who have become the salesmen for sometimes shady cures, but because they wear a white coat, or have the MD after their name, they become believable. I have to be careful how much I say about the doctors who are making promises that they can’t deliver on but I can tell you, the readership, ‘Let the Buyer Beware’ as there is no fast, cheap fix for hair loss that I know of.


2019-12-16 09:08:35“Something I hate about the hair market” from Reddit

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Some return of my hairline on finasteride

So I started fin about 10 months ago. The last two months i’ve started to notice a lot of new hairs sprouting at the front of my hairline and it has moved forward a considerable amount. The only problem is that behind my hairline, the hair in front has only begun shedding more and is now very thin. Can I expect my hair to fill in where I see regrowth, or will I likely only maintain or lose more density?

It is hard to predict what will happen. Give it a full 18 months and then you will know


2020-11-02 12:12:03Some return of my hairline on finasteride

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Some People Say Hair Loss Occurs Because of Reduced Blood Flow. This Is Incorrect.

When a man loses hair the blood flow to the scalp reduces, not the other way around. Reduced blood flow occurs when the need for oxygen and nutrients goes away with progressive balding. This is because there is less hair growth and the hair is the second highest use of blood flow to the brain.


2019-12-05 13:04:20Some People Say Hair Loss Occurs Because of Reduced Blood Flow. This Is Incorrect.

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Some People Prefer the Stubble Look with Real Hair (with Photos)

I believe Dr. Rassman I can shed some light on a recent post. You have answered the question many times in regards to BHT and short cut hair. I agree that it does seem somewhat pointless to shave ones head after recieving a hair transpant however I do understand the logic behind it. With a short cropped haircut (even a #1 clipper shave) you can still see a visible hair line that defines the face much like the tattooing service you are now offering. With a completely shaved head it is not visible.

Many people such as myself would prefer real hair on their head rather than ink although I must admit that the results do look pretty good. None the less body hair is different than scalp but cut short can offer a more realistic illusion of stubble that in this day and age appears acceptable if not attractive. Counter argument it is very expensive for just stubble. Agree?

Why would you bother with body hair transplants (BHT) when you can use your scalp hair? Body hair tends to be texturally different. If you truly want a stubble look with real hair, using Scalp MicroPigmentation (SMP) with scalp hair extracted with FUE is a good way to accomplish this. On the flip side, patients who’ve had a hair transplant and want the closely cropped look would already have stubble, so SMP is a great option to add the appearance of fullness.

Here’s an FUE patient who had very little restoration work done — under 600 grafts to the front corners — and later decided to shave his head. On the top of his head, the hair is miniaturized so it appears thin and lighter in the picture. The following result shown is immediately after the first SMP session. This will fade slightly as the color sets and the client will return in 3 to 4 days for a touch-up. (Note that because the photo was taken immediately after the SMP session, you can still see some initial redness.)

Before SMP on left; After SMP on right. Click photos to enlarge:

 

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Some Men Still Want to Take Propecia “Just In Case”

Say if, hypothetically, finasteride would be effective for me between the ages of 20 and 30, would starting propecia at the age of 30 mean that it’d be effective until I’m around 40, or would the age of 30 just be the definite age where the drug stops working? I was wondering because I am unsure if I am losing hair or not, but thought that taking propecia would be a good precaution. However if it turned out I wasn’t experiencing any hair loss, but then later in my life started to thin out, would I have wasted my ‘effective propecia years’?

I have had some patients on finasteride (Propecia) for more than 13 years with benefits that still haven’t subsided since they first began. There’s no definitive timeline that you’ll see benefits, but the best time to start it is when the hair loss is in the early stages. Some men notice some hair loss again sometime after the 5th year of taking Propecia, and maintaining all of the regrowth for a decade or longer isn’t guaranteed… but each person is different. If you took the medication for years, saw benefits, and then stopped the medication once you thought it wasn’t working anymore, your hair loss would accelerate to the point that you would’ve been at had you not taken the drug at all.

If you are uncertain if you are balding, you should see your doctor. Propecia is a prescription medication, and your doctor will be able to determine if you’re losing hair and are a candidate for the medication. Otherwise, taking a hair loss drug if you don’t have balding makes no sense to me. You shouldn’t take it for preventive measures.