craighair Posted February 1, 2007 Share Posted February 1, 2007 Just wanted a little input. I am 27 and thought I started noticing some thinning of the hair about 2 to 3 years ago. Have always had relly thick hair....tried propecia for a while but was having sexual side effects ie: impotence. Have not been taking for over a year now and always chalked up the thinning hair to just getting older. Well, I decided to shave my head the other day and the result shocked me. I am really, really thinning up the sides of the head and on the crown. I am going to talk to a dermatologist about options but thought I would to get some input from some of you guys cuz I am obsessing over this. A) How long did it take for you to really be noticeable bald? How long from when you first starting noticing it? Did any of you lose some for a little bit only to have the hair loss slow down substantially? Basically, would like to know how things went from once you first started noticing the hairloss. B) What are some personal experiences with Rogaine and Propecia? Have they been successful for you? Thanks for your time and I look forward to reading some of your respones. Here's to hairloss!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Senior Member kamin Posted February 1, 2007 Senior Member Share Posted February 1, 2007 craighair, Welcome to the forum. There is a ton of excellent info out here, so be sure to also use the archives for answers to your questions! A) This is going to be different for everyone. Personally, I started receding at about 30 years old, so it took a while before my MPB started. It receded quickly but pretty much stopped after a few years. I also noticed some thinning starting to occur in the crown, but not enough to be noticeable to other people. I believe that you have to lose at least 50% of the hair in any area for it to be really noticeable (anyone correct me if I'm wrong). B) I've never used Rogaine. However, I've had two HT's and have been using Finasteride (Propecia/Proscar) for 2 1/2 years. It has definitely filled in my crown area, so I can say that it has worked for me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Senior Member hairbank Posted February 1, 2007 Senior Member Share Posted February 1, 2007 craighair- Kamin's right.............everyone's answer to question "A" will be different. Personally, I first noticed a little crown thinning around age 23. Most of my loss was from the crown forward with a visable bald spot around age 27-29, then finally some frontal thinning and temple recision around age 33-35. My loss was gradual, some have very aggressive loss...........my guess would be, at your age, that your loss would be gradual but there's no way to tell. I just officially started propecia after HT#2 1 year ago and it does work for me as I've noticed mild regrowth in the hairline. Never consistently used Minoxidil as the regimen was too messy for me. In reality, Propecia (Finasteride) and Rogaine (Minoxidil) are the only things "proven" to halt hairloss or possibly regrow a little. You may try Propecia again and see how you respond...............I think I noticed a little bit of a decrease in sex drive the first month or so, but it went way and I can't tell any difference at this point. 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...
Senior Member YoungGuy Posted February 2, 2007 Senior Member Share Posted February 2, 2007 Man, I wish my sex drive would decrease a little. Then I could focus on important things! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Senior Member hairbank Posted February 2, 2007 Senior Member Share Posted February 2, 2007 Don't know how young you are YoungGuy but just hang in there......................whether or not you take Finasteride age will tone down the hormones, eventually.... 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 February 3, 2007 Share Posted February 3, 2007 Don't know how young you are YoungGuy but just hang in there......................whether or not you take Finasteride age will tone down the hormones, eventually.... LOL...eventually...I'm 30 and I'm still waiting . Craighair, Welcome to the forums. I started losing my hair when I was bout 22 years old. I thnk I was in denial for awhile, so I didn't really notice for awhile. Then one day I noticed I had a good amount of hair thinning and missing from my crown. I tried Rogaine. It seemed to be working for awhile...but then like a fool, I stopped. I started up again about 6 months later, but it really itched my scalp this time around and so I went to the watered down 2% generic minoxodil. 2% isn't as good as 5% but it was at least something. I stayed away from Propecia just because I knew it was expensive. It was a foolish decision, but at the time I didn't know. I tried many of the gimic "miracle" products out there and then I got smart. By the time I was 27, I started doing some research online after seeing advertisesments for hair transplant by good old Bosley. I found this and other forums and spent some time researching. I'm now on 1/4 Proscar a day (5mg finasteride pill divided into quarters to make approximately 1 mg). It's cheaper than Propecia. I'm sorry to hear that Propecia has given you side effects. If that's the case, you may not want to continue with it, even though it's really the best thing you can be on to help maintain your hair. Maybe the best thing to do for now is keep your head shaved and see if you like the look. If you do, keep it. If you don't...consider researching hair transplantation and consult with a few of the coaltion docs at http://www.hairlosslearningcenter.org/hair-loss-content...s/our_physicians.asp. Depending on your age, family history of hairloss, your expectations, you might be a good candidate. It's usually important to try to get your hairloss under control before you get a HT, but in your case, without the medication, that might not be the case. However, you may be advised to wait a few years (depending on your situation) to see what happens. You may want to consider using minoxodil, however, just to see if it works. Stick with it at least 6-12 months to see if it's doing anything for you. Bill Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Senior Member HK500 Posted February 4, 2007 Senior Member Share Posted February 4, 2007 While I am not discounting the potential negative side effects of Finasteride, I can relate with Craighair and I recall when I first started using it, I was asking myself if I was going to be sexually affected by it and I was quite preoccupied by the thought. Sure enough at first I thought it did affect me then later I realized that maybe it did not???? Too much second guessing, it can play tricks on your mind ... And if you think you'll be losing sex drive then you will set yourself up for it, I happened to me at first then I got over it and I can now say that probably it all was in my head ... The point I want to make is that Finasteride works so well for most of us it's a shame to not use it unless you are absolutely certain it's affecting you negatively. My Hair Loss Website - Hair Transplant with Dr. Siporin Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Senior Member MrJobi Posted February 4, 2007 Senior Member Share Posted February 4, 2007 Hi My hairloss was gradual at the beginning but then just started falling out quite fast. A dermatologist is going to give you 2 options.. Propecia or Rogaine.. That'sit.. I never used Rogaine but have been on Propecia for 7 years with very good results and zero side effects.. Unfortunately, with hairloss, the legit options are limited.. Your challenge is if you do get a HT, you might have future hairloss since you cannot stabilize yours without Propecia.. JOBI 1417 FUT - Dr. True 1476 FUT - Dr. True 2124 FUT - Dr. True 604 FUE - Dr. True My views are based on my personal experiences, research and objective observations. I am not a doctor. Total - 5621 FU's uncut! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Senior Member YoungGuy Posted February 19, 2007 Senior Member Share Posted February 19, 2007 Originally posted by YoungGuy:Man, I wish my sex drive would decrease a little. Then I could focus on important things! Haha - I'm only 27, so not sure where I am on the hormone scale. But after a month of 1/4 Proscar daily, hormones are raging as always. Bah! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Senior Member Gorpy Posted February 19, 2007 Senior Member Share Posted February 19, 2007 Originally posted by hairbank:Don't know how young you are YoungGuy but just hang in there......................whether or not you take Finasteride age will tone down the hormones, eventually.... Well, as a bonified "old fart", I can honestly say that I'm still waiting ____________ 2700 Total Grafts w/ Keene 9/28/05 663 one's = 663 1116 two's = 2232 721 three's = 2163 200 four's = 800 Hair Count = 5858 1000 Total Grafts w/Keene 2/08/07 Mostly combined FU's for 2600+ hairs My Photo Album See me at Dr. Keene's Gallery Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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