ciaus

That looks more like a light colored mole, or maybe a wart.  It appears pretty symmetrical, doesn't look inflamed. As we age we're more likely to accumulate weird little blemishes like this. If its not painful or itching, its probably nothing. Like has been said you'll need to go to a dermatologist to know for sure.

33 minutes ago, GoliGoliGoli said:

Well, since this is clearly directed at me I suppose I will respond.

You're not accurately representing what I said- classic Strawman argument.

Feel free to continue arguing with yourself. My posts are directed at guys sincerely trying to fight hair loss and minimizing medical speculations from amateurs that cause unnecessary paranoia.

@NARMAKlet the guys that are

-actually struggling with the decision to start medication

-experiencing possible side effect symptoms

-or even the unfortunate guys that are trying to scare other guys into not even trying the medication

initiate these endless side effect discussions. And you/we try to keep them from going off the rails. Especially if you're going to be dwelling on the even more speculative topics like disappearing symptoms or symptoms that start years later. You're giving more opportunity for the kinds of endless amateur opinions that degenerate into even the absence of side effects being a potentially negative thing. Which just adds to the general atmosphere of paranoia and frustration that already exists for guys trying to fight their hair loss. 

The real question here is whether reddit nukes your brain.

Hair loss accumulates, often for years. Estimates are anywhere from 30% up to 50% of hair loss needs to occur before it starts becoming noticeable in the mirror. That's why its important to start the drugs earlier the better when you first notice loss. 

22 minutes ago, zenmu said:

in what ways does our body block dht though?

Again, the body doesn't block DHT. Drugs like finasteride and dutasteride lower DHT. And when your DHT levels are lower, that means there is less circulating around in your body to bind onto your hair follicle receptors and cause hair loss. Some guys have great genetics when it comes to their hair follicle receptor sensitivity, DHT doesn't easily bind to them, so they don't need DHT blocking drugs at all. The rest of us have varying degrees of receptor sensitivity that is high enough that we need the help of the drugs.

45 minutes ago, zenmu said:

we naturally block dht? i heard someone else say that but haven’t found studies to support it, how does that work?

When he talks about resistance to DHT he's not talking about our body naturally blocking DHT. Our body naturally produces DHT. He's talking about how easily DHT is able to bind to your hair follicle receptors, which is what causes you to lose your hair. And that comes down to each person's genetics, family history of baldness.

Finasteride, dutasteride, and minoxidil can all potentially cause temporary shedding when you start taking them. But its just temporary.

If you want straight information on hair loss its better to avoid sites like reddit and just come here.

3 minutes ago, leeC123 said:

what do you think it is ? 

You can read up on shock loss here:

https://hairtransplantnetwork.com/shock-loss-after-hair-transplant-everything-you-should-know

On 7/25/2022 at 6:45 AM, Adier said:

After looking at the recent pictures of Elon without clothes. I am convinced if you are rich hair no hair physique, height etc are all pointless. 

Its about keeping them not getting them. Money can only compensate for ugly so much. And it comes with its own set of profound problems. Which the less financially fortunate usually overlook. Or maybe glimpse, somewhere between winning the lottery and getting bumped off by a greedy relative or spouse. 

Don't apply it in the initial critical healing days after the surgery. More blood flow is not good if you happen to bump your head or fall when you have fresh wounds. The times will vary depending on the doctor, but they all pretty much tell you to stop minoxidil for at least a week before and after the transplant. If you are healing normally, give it least a week, two weeks is better. Some doctors have instructions for waiting longer than that, but there's no medical basis and its more because they know some of their patients are going to try to cut corners to get back to their normal routines sooner.

4 minutes ago, GoliGoliGoli said:

Yep, just to be clear I meant tanning the scalp, and covering everything else. I'm already very tan person but obviously my scalp doesn't see much sun because I use hair fibers or a hat when I go out

Be careful with tanning beds and the sun in general. You're basically coloring your skin with radiation. Long term you could find yourself in the skin cancer specialist's office getting cancer lesions cut out of your scalp skin. And you may end up permanently shock-lossing a good amount of surrounding hair from the surgery trauma.

Maybe use a spray tan instead? 

11 minutes ago, HAIRLOSS IS MY LIFE said:

 The GOAT is in da house 

Do you think I'm Kevin Mann because I linked one of his videos, or are you theee one and only????

All I know is finasteride has been approved on middle earth for 1000s of years and Gandalf hasn't shed one hair on his beard yet!

A number of things can cause body hair to thin out, just because you're taking finasteride doesn't mean that's what's causing it.

https://www.webmd.com/a-to-z-guides/ss/slideshow-body-hair-loss-causes

Yea body hair has the reverse relationship with dht, but I haven't noticed any thinning in all the years I've been on finasteride. 

If you had actual noticeable hair loss by age 12, that's very young. Usually the earlier the hairloss starts the more aggressive it is, like norwood 6 or 7 territory. Which means you want to be even more careful and conservative with your donor hair. Just because finasteride may have stabilized your loss for now, you could potentially still lose more. For alot of guys finasteride just helps to slow down their loss, hopefully a lot. As your hormones continue to change, and any additional loss that's too slow to detect gradually accumulates, you could find yourself needing additional transplants and even running out of donor hair.

And your idea of mixing in vulnerable hair from that area with actual donor hair could end up looking very weird if you eventually lose that vulnerable hair, despite finasteride. The additional procedures to thicken the area back up with more donor hair could also lead to potentially destroying some of the previously transplanted donor hair from the additional surgery trauma. Its called permanent shock-loss. Avoiding that kind of loss can be mitigated to some extent by going to a skilled reputable doctor, but sometimes it can't be avoided depending on how well your body heals.

2 hours ago, Danzig323 said:

Yes, but who do you think is more attractive to womens, jeff bezos in his 20s WITH hair, and today jeff bezos? In the worst scenario it's the same. 

For Elon Musk, you know he was already millionaire in the left picture? He was successful and have good looking lady with receding hair. 

Yes women also tend to put a lot of emphasis on the guy's ability to provide/protect them and their children. But they still have pretty powerful biological wiring that makes them respond to physical attraction cues. Guys neglect or discount those too much at their peril. Leading to the relationships never starting, or ending with expensive separations. 

Sounds like you're leaning towards the acceptance/shaving position. That's cool, its a permanent decision either way that's not easy for any of us. But you're making arguments with billionaires as your examples. Those kinds of guys are going to have flocks of people around them and opportunities that the rest of us will never have because of that.

Caring about our appearance and attractiveness to prospective mates is something we all do, and its generally healthy. But some care more than others, and sometimes so much more that its actually unhealthy. Be honest with yourself about where you are on that spectrum, regardless of what you say on this forum. Alot of guys fall into defeated mindsets, even depressions, when they don't feel like they are attractive to women. 

37 minutes ago, Danzig323 said:

Absolutely, but be honest, how often you see bald men on street and think "poor guy, hair loss made him ugly", if you are fit and care about your skin, lack of hair would not make you unattractive. Good-looking guy would look good with or without hair. You have ugly nose?, make rhinoplasty, weak chin?, do chin implants etc. But the sooner you accept your body, it will be easier for you.  Just look at Jeff Bezos in his 20s, he was a below average  guy with or without hair, but he was at some point the richest and most successful man on the planet!! 

No doubt there's a number of ways to look at this, from my positive pro-active take, to letting nature run its course, to just living in the moment because you could end up dying tomorrow or a few years from now.

But in terms of how important various features are in terms of achieving a more pleasing appearance, you can't beat the versatility that hair can provide. The length and way that you style the hair can help to bring out your better features and de-emphasize your weaker ones more than changes you can make to any other feature. So if you happen to already be a fairly good looking guy, yea you're going to pull it off better since there's less that needs to be hidden or highlighted. But you still won't look as good, and alot of guys out there that aren't blessed enough with those kinds of good looks in the first place. Like Jeff Bezos. And make no mistake, he's not accepting his 58 year old body. lol

With Jeff Bezos then/now we're talking more testosterone, either through TRT or straight up performance steriods. The guy will be eligible for social security in a few years though he doesn't need it of course. But look at these size increases on his arms and neck. And being in shape like that also brings out his underlying facial structure better. If he were able to grow out a beard he'd be really rocking it. But even without that, he's a good example of how you can work around not having hair. On the other end of the spectrum of guys with hair problems and no money problems is Elon Musk. He is making the most of the technology we have today to not accept the situation and is doing pretty good as well.

If you can shave your head and like how it looks, that's the easiest way forward. But depending on your facial features, if that's not in the cards, even if you do eventually become a nw7, having hair in your 20s and 30s can help make the difference in getting the right woman and having your kids. Not to mention advancing and establishing yourself on your career path. Perhaps during that additional time current medication gives you, better treatments come along and you end up never having to spend any time with a bald head.

The 'barber cut' look, when it comes to hairlines and beard lines, tend to look better the darker the person's natural skin tone is. Same goes for guys that get those sharp outlines in their SMP. For those of us with lighter skin the beard and hairlines have to be more subtle and graduated, or we end up with a fake 'doll-like' appearance. 

And that's pretty crazy how much of a shadow he still has after 9 months and shaving it all the way down.  

43 minutes ago, GoliGoliGoli said:

Way to deflect from the matter at hand. Good day to you! 

The matter at hand is seeking professional medical help when you have symptoms that resemble drug side effects.

Thanks for trying to twist that into something personal about me though. We can still make this a teachable moment, as another example of why guys should be going to their doctors instead of forums like this to make their medical decisions. 

20 minutes ago, GoliGoliGoli said:

I work adjacent to the medical field and know a lot of Dr's personally. I will tell you exactly what will happen when OP goes to his Dr: They will look up the side effects of oral Min on Google or WebMD and tell him it's in his best interest to get off of it. 

Amazing how people are so reliant on listening to Dr's at the detriment of their own health. Sometimes a little "first principle thinking" goes a long ways. No one will ever care about your own health more than you. But I think you're strong reaction to OP's thread is coming from a personal place. 

I've already said I don't come here just for my own battle with hair loss, but to also help others deal with it too. And I'm glad looking back that I got on finasteride and minoxidil years before I found the speculative personal stories on this forum and the internet in general when it comes to drug side effects.

My sympathies go out to those that settle for amateurs and people 'adjacent to the medical field' when it comes to treating their hair loss with medication.

3 minutes ago, GoliGoliGoli said:

I'm sorry mate, but you sound unhinged. Swelling/water retention is a known side effect of min. I understand this is a personal topic and yes the placebo/nocebo thing is real, but you don't always need a Dr's diagnosis to explain when the correlation between your side effects and the known side effects of the drug you're taking are so similar. What do you think will happen if he goes to a doctor, that they're going to have a team studying his case 24/7 doing in-depth tests looking at what level of min has gone systemic in his blood system? That's not how medicine works, not in the US and not in Europe/Canada. 

Sorry mate, too many personal stories from anonymous amateur people making medical conclusions without consulting doctors at all. 

Stop the drug immediately, by all means, until further evaluation and consultation under your doctor's advisement. And don't just say everyone should see a doctor immediately when they are experiencing a symptom you are currently, and then not follow that advice yourself. I'll call it out every time I see it. 

1 minute ago, Mike10 said:

Again the patient comes with a bloated  face and chest pain complains to the Dr. You tell me how the Dr is going to confirm the diagnosis and provide proof like yoi said? I have asked you this 4 times now!!!! Yet you keep evading.It seems to me that you just do not know what you'tre talking about. 

What actually happens, is that the Dr will ask whether the patient is on any medication. He will then see if the symtpoms match the medication which is the case here. He will then conclude that the medication could be to blame and recommend the patient to drop the medication. 

Hey Dr Mike10, not being an actual doctor, just like you are not an actual doctor, keeps me from speaking on behalf of the real doctors. Unlike you. Come on back after medical school, and the first couple of brave patients you manage to secure, and you won't have to ask that a 5th time.

1 minute ago, didu911 said:

I hate doctors and especially ERs with a passion, I even didn't go to a doc with serious burn injuries for days. This is something on me and what I decide. 

You seem a little upset to me, for me there are clear signs between the intake of oral minox and the symptoms. That's why I drop the drug and share some 'warning'.

Take it or leave it

 

I know hair loss can be a difficult condition to deal with, suffering from it myself as I do. Helping others deal with it as well as possible is one of the reasons I keep coming here. So yes, it does bother me when someone uses the forum to give advice they don't follow themselves.

Your passionate hatred for hospitals and doctors is interesting, and something others reading your posts here should factor into how much weight they give to your symptoms being caused by minoxidil. You sound like someone ripe for generating placebo /nocebo symptoms. 

Just now, Mike10 said:

This hardly makes any sense to me.

Again how will the Dr be able to provide proof? Any serious Dr will tell the patient to drop the drug and if the sides vansish that is it. You tell me what alternative approach there is. 

You  talk about Placebo seems msiplaced when the guy displays a bloated face. are serious telling that is caused by mental mechanisms. 

 

 

Dude, go to medical school and it will make more sense. Or just start recommending in your 'opinions' that its the drug's fault that they also go see someone that has gone to medical school to help confirm the diagnosis.