Balding Blog

I have been on Propecia for the last 3 years and it’s worked well. It has come to a stage where I would like to have a child with my wife. I have been researching for answers about effects of Propecia whilst conceiving on the internet and although there are many answers stating that it’s safe to carry on taking whilst trying to conceive, I am still unsure and not convinced. In the end I would not want to jeopardize the health of the child. May I ask, if I was to halt taking Propecia, how long should I wait to be sure that it is completely out of my system and that the sperm count and morphology would be completely back to normal?

This is a difficult question to answer. There are millions of men on this drug and I don’t believe that there is any report of the defect that is known if women took the drug. Also the semen levels are very, very low and the drug really impacts the growing fetus in the first trimester. Most of the warnings are medical-legal ones. The drug fixes to tissues in the body and this tissue fixation lasts about 1 week. If there are sperm reductions, it could take up to 6 months for this to reverse, probably less.

I haven’t taken my fin for a week, i’m getting a new script tomorrow. Is 1 week enough time for noticable hair loss? Kinda worried. thanks

One week of no finasteride will have no impact as it stays in your hair follicles for at least a couple of weeks.

Does anyone have experience with AAPE from Prostemics? A patient asked if I do this.

Dr. Brande Wolfe described AAPE as an abbreviation for “Advanced Adipose-derived stem cells Protein Extracts”, is a mixture of refined growth factor proteins that is extracted from human adipose-derived stem cells conditioned media. With its unique protein formula. AAPE is supposed to maximize the revitalizing effects of skin and hair follicles and consists of human proteins created by stem cells, natural composition with multi-function such as anti-wrinkle, antioxidant, whitening, hair re-growth and even wound healing effect. It is interesting that this AAPE product is approved by the US FDA.”

This is not mainstream clinical hair transplant technology.

I had a patient stand on his head for two hours a day for 6 months to get more circulation to his scalp. He did 1 hour in the morning and one hour in the evening. He still developed progressive balding and did not grow any hair. I ended up transplanting him and he was quite happy.

Has a case ever occurred where a non uniform/asymmetrical form of hair loss had say thinning/hairloss centralized in a small area say 1inch x 2inch and the rest of your hair remained intact for the rest of your life?

Yes, there are inherited patterns like you mentioned and there are a variety of diseases like ringworm and alopecia areata that can do this. If that is a problem, see a dermatologist who can tell the difference for you upon an examination of your scalp and hair.

It seems that there is some secret to actual exposure to sunlight that supplements of Vitamin D does not give you. “In a study of 30,000 Swedish women recruited in 1990 and questioned about their sun-seeking behavior found that the more they had sunbathed, the less likely they were to have died 20 years later. In fact those who did the most sunbathing were hlf as likely to be dead as those who had avoid the sun entirely” said Rishard Weller in New Scientist June 13.

“Other research backs this up. Another Scandinavian study of 40,000 women found that those who went on the most sunbathing holidays were least likely to have died 15 years later…. We have been so distracted by what we see – skin cancer – and have forgotten what maters most. Vitamin D is often used as a euphemism for “healthy sunlight”, but an increasing number of supplementation studies show that the benefits of sunlight cannot all be put down ti it. ”

It also seems that people with pale skin and sun exposure get the worst cancers of the skin such as melanomas, while those with tan skin, get less aggressive skin cancers.

I’ve been on finasteride for over 2 years with good results. But now I’m experiencing some erection issues. The sex drive is there, but the erections are very weak and generally need manual stimulation. In your experience how long does it take for this to go away once stopping the medication? I was also on an SSRI, so it’s hard to say which medication is actually causing these issues. I’ve been off the SSRI for almost two months, and my sex drive came back quite quickly, probably within two weeks of stopping. I’ve been off of finasteride for two weeks now and haven’t really noticed any difference, so I’m getting a little nervous. Anyway, hope to hear from you and have a great holiday!

Give it time and then you will know. Some men have ED problems just as they get older and that is why Viagra and Cialis have done so well as a drug for treating ED. Heavily focusing on sexual performance often leads to some ED, a psychological effect but if your ED is caused by finasteride, then speak with your doctor about finasteride and your ED.