Regular Member Bill_the_bald Posted April 9, 2007 Regular Member Share Posted April 9, 2007 OK, I have read from many threads that when you first start using products such as Finasteride or Minoxidil, you can experience quite a bit of shedding and temporarily look even balder than before. So here is my question: Is it possible, through visual inspection of the fallen hair shaft, to tell whether it falls off because of shedding or hairloss? I am thinking maybe you will see a gel-like bulb at the base of the shaft in one case but not the other. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Regular Member Bill_the_bald Posted April 9, 2007 Author Regular Member Share Posted April 9, 2007 OK, I have read from many threads that when you first start using products such as Finasteride or Minoxidil, you can experience quite a bit of shedding and temporarily look even balder than before. So here is my question: Is it possible, through visual inspection of the fallen hair shaft, to tell whether it falls off because of shedding or hairloss? I am thinking maybe you will see a gel-like bulb at the base of the shaft in one case but not the other. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Senior Member hairbank Posted April 9, 2007 Senior Member Share Posted April 9, 2007 Good question, Bill...........don't know that I've heard it before. I don't think they will look any different. In either case, the "bulb" isn't coming out of your scalp, it's just no longer producing hair. This is evident by the regrowth that occurs when person starts with Finasteride or Minoxidil. The hair that is being lost due to MPB would likely be finer in texture/thickness than a non-MPB susceptible hair since it is slowly degenerating each time during the growth cycle...........just IMO. Hairbank 1st HT 1-18-05 - 1200 FUT's 2nd HT 2-15-06 - 3886 FUT's Dr. Wong 3rd HT 4-24-08 - 2415 FUT's Dr. Wong GRAND TOTAL: 7501 GRAFTS current regimen: 1.25mg finasteride every other day My Hair Loss Weblog Disclaimer: I'm not a Doctor (and have never played one on TV ) and have no medical training. Any information I share here is in an effort to help those who don't like hair loss. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bill - Seemiller Posted April 9, 2007 Share Posted April 9, 2007 Bill_the_bald, Honestly...no....but If you just started on finasteride or minoxodil, shedding to some degree should be expected for the first few months. Anything that continues beyond that or not as a result of medicine, could be suspected as hairloss. However, I must add that hair shedding is part of a natural life cycle of the hair...so really you should be looking for excessive shedding that could be an indication of hairloss. One might suspect that the thicker hairs seemingly disappearing would be shedding rather than hairloss, especially if the hairs look healthy. But thinner (seemingly dying hairs) could be either shedding or hairloss depending on some of the above conditions. The thinner hair may be shedding to make room for a thicker shaft and healthier hair, or it could have fallen out only to grow an even thinner un-noticable hair since it is dying (or not grow again at all). Those are some thoughts to chew on and swallow. Hope it helps bro. Bill Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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