Balding Blog

I am balding for the last few years. I am NW 4 now. Went to the dermatologist today, and the Doc suggested transplant in bald areas + PRP injection with dermroller for receding hair line. I insisted I wanted to start with medication and see how I progress. So the doc prescribed the following, Finasteride 1 mg every night before sleep Biotin every morning Minoxidil gel apply few hrs before sleep in balding areas Ciclopirox 1% shampoo 3 times a week. The prescription is for coming 3 months. Have to visit once a month to see the progress. Doc insisted that the medication must be taken religiously to see the results. What do you think of this prescription?

This is a reasonable plan. This should go a full year to see if there is the full benefits. Then a decision can be make for a next step.

You have been using finasteride and minoxidil for only 45 days and these photos suggest that your hair is sensitive to finasteride and minoxidil. Your pattern of balding is a Norwood Class 3A with a huge forelock. The hair loss is around the forelock that is solid and not balding. You already show signs that it is reversing with the finasteride and minoxidil. Keep up the good work and make sure that you stay on it and let’s see what it looks like in 6 months from now.

Assuming that you are a Norwood Class 3 at this time and do not have a crown component, it is likely that you will not advance to a significant Norwood Class compared to most people your age. If you take the drug Finasteride, it will not advance the balding pattern. With these factors, it is possible to restore the balding area to a “full level,” provided that your donor area has at least average donor density (which could be a limiting factor). You are asking to restore your recipient site density to near normal in order to cut your hair very short; I think this is worth discussing with your hair transplant surgeon.

I’m on finasteride, but if he’s a Norwood 7 then I will never be able to get my hair back via a hair transplant so I would need something better then a hair transplant.

I keep focusing on the Personalized Master Plan which is geared to keep hair on your head no matter what. That can happen with almost anyone, but you have to get a good, reliable, honest doctor who you can trust to build the plan for you. There have been very few men that I could not achieve this goal with.

Few, if any of our baldingblog readers, may know the name, but this is the man who was the ‘inventor’ of modern hair transplantation in the 1950s. What he taught us, was the hairy skin taken from the back and side of the head, when placed in a bald area, would grow the hair and not be impacted by the balding. He called that ‘Donor Dominance’ and the rest is history. It took almost a decade for the journals, the dermatologists of the time and the medical establishment to accept his pioneering discovery, but because of his discovery, we have possibly a $10 Billion hair transplant business world-wide today that helps hundreds of thousands of people. Read about him in the New York Times here: https://www.nytimes.com/2019/02/21/business/dr-norman-orentreich-dead.html?fbclid=IwAR00A3NAeWyZsU-cLcT288mVH_0dG8u6H-qmpyxDss7fpfG-lEy_8lUmrvY

Regarding the HAIRCHECK test. It says that you take the permanent area as the base to compare. What if the top of an individual has always been thinner compared to the permanent areas? Then how reliable could you call the test?

I believe that people with fine hair often seem to be thinner on top, but it can be an illusion. I have measured many people with the HAIRCHECK instrument and those that are not balding always have the same readings on the instrument showing no balding present

Does my hairloss related to high testestrone?i just got my bloodwork and my testestrone was 1130 ng. I taking finasteride for 8 month. I didn’t take DHT test but I have plan to do it in future. Currently I am in middle of the situation that i don’t know my hairloss is because of finasteride shedding or high testestrone or dht.

Hair loss has not been correlated to normal high testosterone levels. Exogenous testosterone, which changes your normally high testosterone levels or a person’s normal testosterone levels, will produce hair loss.

How many amounts of hair is considered a shed? I have been on finasteride for 2 years, I had some shed in the couple of first months but not ever since. I had 0 hairs, when I brushed my hands through my hair after shower. I noticed in the couple last weeks, that I am getting around 10-30 hairs when running my hands through my hair

Normal shedding is about 100 hairs per day. Multiply that out for 3 years and you will understand the turnover of the average persons hair as the typical anagen cycle would be 3 years. For shorter anagen cycles, the shed will be greater. Some younger women will have significantly less shed if their anagen cycle is longer like 4-5 years.