hi all.

been taking finasteride for the past few years. on and off with minoxidil, right now i'm using kirkland sig 5% liquid in the morning, let it dry for 5-10 minutes, then put on dermmatch and hairspray everything down. other than using revivogen shampoo daily, that's pretty much it.

last week i bought some nizoral and got really excited because its one of the "big three" and thought it would help. i don't think i've ever had a shedding issue, but i definitely noticed my problem area (crown) get noticeable worse, but i'm sure it's to blame on using it too much (every two&a half days or so, three times). even so, i still don't think i want to use nizoral again.

i looked into Lipogaine because i saw a lot of people posting about it and it looks promising. i feel like it would be a good idea to try it out.

also, after reading this thread ( http://www.hairrestorationnetwork.co...nasteride.html ), i really want to try adding .5mg of dutasteride to my regime and see what happens. my hair loss has slowed/stopped but has been pretty aggressive, and i'm hoping this will also benefit me a lot.

so here are my questions:
1. would using minoxidil twice a day make a big difference or is once a day alright?
2. am i looking at a huge shed by switching brands of minox? (kirkland to lipogaine)
3. will the dutasteride make me shed, or contribute to an even greater shed if it happens with the minox switch?
4. how do you even get dutasteride? when i got prescribed for finasteride, i asked my doctor about it and she shot me down instantly.
5. anything else i should be doing/trying?

i'm almost on track for a HT in January for 3500 grafts, and i'm really excited. i'm just worried that there will be spots that are still noticeably thin after everything is done and grown, so a bit of regrowth would be great!

thanks for your input!

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1. Twice a day is seen as optimal.

2. There should be no difference in switching brands if the concentration remains the same.

3. There is not a great deal of independent information adding dutasteride to a regime with finasteride but a fair amount of anecdotal reports. Some report shedding, some report no shedding.

4. There are doctors that do dutasteride but as it is off label it is not actively promoted. I personally only offer it for patients that are on well established regimes.

5. I recommend adding bimatoprost to treatment regimes as the evidence is building and the mechanism of action is thought to be different to other treatments.