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Please give me right advice


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  • Regular Member

Hi to all! :) First, sorry about my english, I'll give my best.

 

I am now 22 years old, and I'm suffering from hair loss from my age of 19. It first started with front corners of my head, but with the time It got worse and I am now losing hair on whole top of my scalp and in back of my head too (that's in area that I circled in one of my pictures, and It bothers me because I am aware that donor grafts should be there). I am using alpecin liquid lotion once a day and alpecin shampoo aproximatly every three days. I am using those products for about one year and a couple of months now. I stopped using it for two times and every time I noticed that my hair was falling of more then when I use it. I also need to use it because of dandruff and itching, especially on the back top of my scalp. When I use alpecin liquid, I don't have those problems. Before that I used Head&Sholders shampoo because of dandruff and I first thought that was the reason of my hair loss, but I now see that I's genetic.

 

In my family my father my uncle, both of my grandparents are/were bold in some point, and I think that my case is most similar with my father who is now NW 5A or NW 6. He has a little hair on his scalp and hair in back of his head has fine density, but he also has that ''hole'' that I circled on last picture.

 

So, I am now 22, and I am aware that I will probably lose more hair in next couple of years, and I am considering on having a HT (precisely FUE, because I don't want a scar, and probably in Turkey) till my age of 28. But I am wondering if I will have enough donor capacity for a solid HT, because I now see that hair on back of my head is sheeding too. :/

 

Considering that I will lose more of my hair on top, my expectations from HT would be to get a look of hair that I have now, because I can get solid hair cut from it (I cut hair on my sides to zero, and hair on top on 3, and I got a lot of compliments since I do so ;) ). I could settle with compensation to have less hair on my crown, and get a solid hairline (I would probably get buzz cut then).

 

What do you guys think? Is it real or I should give up from hair and be reconciled on getting bold? Do you think that I should use some other non-surgical treatments instead of Alpecin (I don't want to use drugs with possible side effects).

 

Bellow are the pictures, the first one is from february 2014, and others are from last month.

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Do you think that I would get more benefits from using Minoxidil instead of Alpecin? I use Alpecin because my dermatologist recommended so.

 

If you would like a good shampoo for the hairloss I would recommend you to have a look at this website:

What is the best shampoo for hair loss? - NiceHair | How To Stop Hair Loss.

the key ingredient here is ketoconazole.

 

I have never heard of Alpecin. However medically proven out of a study done 80% of male got an increased intensity of hair were 80% (32/40) for the oral finasteride group and 52% (13/25) for the 5% topical minoxidil group.

 

link of the study: An open, randomized, comparative study of oral finasteride and 5% t... - PubMed - NCBI

 

I hope you understand my grammar ^^

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  • Senior Member

Without finasteride the outlook is bleak.

 

You have to ask yourself the question: What's more important, keeping my hair or having an additional 1.7% risk of sexual side effects?

 

[clinical trials showed that during treatment with Propecia, 36 (3.8%) of 945 men had reported one or more adverse sexual experiences as compared to 20 (2.1%) of 934 men who did not receive Propecia (received placebo).]

4,312 FUT grafts (7,676 hairs) with Ray Konior, MD - August 2013

1,145 FUE grafts (3,152 hairs) with Ray Konior, MD - August 2018

763 FUE grafts (2,094 hairs) with Ray Konior, MD - January 2020

Proscar 1.25mg every 3rd day

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So what are my options? Taking minoxidil and finasteride together, or taking only minoxidil could help also? I don't want to use medicine with side effect if not really needed, but on other side I don't want to get bald this early.

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  • Senior Member
So what are my options? Taking minoxidil and finasteride together, or taking only minoxidil could help also? I don't want to use medicine with side effect if not really needed, but on other side I don't want to get bald this early.

 

The only things that work:

 

1. Finasteride (Propecia / Proscar and other Generics). Greatly reduces hair loss in about 80% of users and sometimes regrows hair. Effective for many years (10+) but may not completely stop the thinning process. Basically I would score it 8/10.

2. Minoxidil (Rogaine / Regain and other generics). It is quite effective for some people, perhaps 60% of users benefit from it. The effectiveness might only last 2-3 years. I would score it a 3/10.

3. Low Level Laser. Pretty useless in my opinion and not very practicable if you have long hair. 1/10.

 

Supplementary to this you could use:

 

4. Ketoconazole (Nizoral) shampoo 2% once or twice weekly. There is some evidence is can help to slow down the balding process, especially if you suffer from dandruff/dermatitis.

5. Saw Palmetto (Herbal supplement). Supposedly a 'natural' DHT blocker but I don't hold any real faith in its effectiveness.

 

If you are only willing to try one option it has to be option 1.

4,312 FUT grafts (7,676 hairs) with Ray Konior, MD - August 2013

1,145 FUE grafts (3,152 hairs) with Ray Konior, MD - August 2018

763 FUE grafts (2,094 hairs) with Ray Konior, MD - January 2020

Proscar 1.25mg every 3rd day

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Without finasteride the outlook is bleak.

 

You have to ask yourself the question: What's more important, keeping my hair or having an additional 1.7% risk of sexual side effects?

 

[clinical trials showed that during treatment with Propecia, 36 (3.8%) of 945 men had reported one or more adverse sexual experiences as compared to 20 (2.1%) of 934 men who did not receive Propecia (received placebo).]

clinical trials only test those that are in the trial. they mean virtually nothing wen referring to side effects that the general public has experienced from Fin cause the general public didn't participate in the trial.

 

which is exactly why u see all the law firms poping up on TV every day saying.... "If u took such and such product and are now experiencing side effects call our office immediately"

 

so clinical trials mean nothing cause ur only testing 0.001% of the population at best and after thousands of ppl have now used which ever product it is the REAL clinical evidence starts to rear its ugly head.

 

same goes for Fin!

 

its closer to 10% as a realistic number and likely even higher but i do agree its worth a shot. I know I had them and I know 3 others that have had them and I only know 5 ppl who have ever used Fin. so considering 4 out of the 5 ppl including myself have experienced sexual side effects id say that 1.7% number is utter BS!

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I have met 8 or 9 users of fin and none have experienced sexual sides including myself.

 

The clinical trials involved circa 1000 members of the public, none of which had pre conceived views of how they may react to the drug. That is the only fair way the drug could be evaluated.

 

Lets say there are 5,000,000 users of the drug worldwide and 4% suffer sexual sides then that is 200,000 people. Obviously the other 4,800,000 dont feel the need to shout about it on the internet

 

clinical trials only test those that are in the trial. they mean virtually nothing wen referring to side effects that the general public has experienced from Fin cause the general public didn't participate in the trial.

 

which is exactly why u see all the law firms poping up on TV every day saying.... "If u took such and such product and are now experiencing side effects call our office immediately"

 

so clinical trials mean nothing cause ur only testing 0.001% of the population at best and after thousands of ppl have now used which ever product it is the REAL clinical evidence starts to rear its ugly head.

 

same goes for Fin!

 

its closer to 10% as a realistic number and likely even higher but i do agree its worth a shot. I know I had them and I know 3 others that have had them and I only know 5 ppl who have ever used Fin. so considering 4 out of the 5 ppl including myself have experienced sexual side effects id say that 1.7% number is utter BS!

4,312 FUT grafts (7,676 hairs) with Ray Konior, MD - August 2013

1,145 FUE grafts (3,152 hairs) with Ray Konior, MD - August 2018

763 FUE grafts (2,094 hairs) with Ray Konior, MD - January 2020

Proscar 1.25mg every 3rd day

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If I could go back in time to stop my hair loss from the beginning, I would try LLLT first because it has no side effects and once you buy a laser helmet, you don't have to keep shelling out money for refills. I know it's a controversial topic, but there are studies that back it up: Low-level laser (light) therapy (LLLT) for treatment of hair loss. - PubMed - NCBI

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  • 1 month later...
  • Regular Member

Hello again. I was thinking a LOT about geting on meds lately and deep in myself I decided to give it a shot (I even talked with my parents about that and they agreed at some point) because my hair is getting worse and worse and it is coming close to the point where I can not hold it anymore. So I went to dermatologist with expectation that he will give me good evaluation and therapy, but he wont't even give me minoxidil, because he personally doesn't like it. So I didn't even asked him about proscar (finasteride is avaliable in my country only as proscar as far as I got informed about it). Instead of that he prescribed me a ketoconazole based shampoo (I managed to get Nizoral from Germany), some B vitamin capsulas and ''Panthenol'' (it's some lotion I suppose, I did not buy it yet). He also told me not to take any meds on my own, not even minoxidil. I now really don't know what to do. My hair loss is becoming more and more obvious, and I am really worried about it, my usual activities are not like before because of it, it's really depressing to lose hair at age of 22. :( I have found my ways to buy minoxidil (also from Germany) and proscar, but now I don't know who to listen, myself or my dermatologist. Any advice would be great from you.

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My hairline was same like you few years back, I started Minoxidil first and after weeks of research I pluck the courage to take fin.Let me tell you this was the best decision I had taken..

Medicines have really stabilized my hair loss and thicken my hair, hairline has improved just a bit not much, as we know these medicines is not much effective on hairline but still there is some improvement,

Your hair loss is not so severe, so I advise you to start medicines asap, keep monitoring it for year and after year or two you can correct you hairline by having an HT!

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@FUEAsianHairline I really don't know about laser helmet, probably I will try it if medications don't work for me.

 

@Rawkerboi I must ask you did you have side effects with fin, and do you think that is better taking minoxidil 5% immediatly, or to start with 2% for a month or two and then switch to 5%. Also a note that I am still using Alpecin liquid daily for now, untill I decide about minox.

 

Also about telling that my hair loss is not so severe, I am affraid that actually it is and that I am balding over entire NW6 area. About familly history: My father is 55 years old and currently a NW 5A. In conversation with him, he told me that he also started losing hair when he was my age, but probably a little slower than me and he was significatly bald at age of 32. His father was a NW 3 as I remmember. But the thing that worries me the most is that my mathernal grandfather was a NW6 already at the age of 21 as my grandma told me, and later he maybe even became a NW7 (he was always wearing a hat so I don't remmember how his hair looked in general). It's obvious that I am not loosing my hair so aggresivly as him, but it's faster than my father was losing it. My conclusion is that I am probably somwhere beetwen those two.

 

Sorry about big post, but I had to write it somewhere. I expected to talk it with my doctor, but he was not so much interested in details.

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No side effects from Fin, you can start with 5% minox immediately! Remember the main weapon is Fin, so make sure you start both the medicines together. Many users says, Fin and Minox combo works pretty well, But according to my experience, Finasteride helps to stop Hairloss and Minoxidil helps to thicken your follicle

I really have no idea about Alpecian, but I am pretty sure its not FDA approved drug

As, you are young and have decent hair( Not complete slick bald) medicines may work, give a try, alt east it will help to stabilized your loss or prevent it from losing any further..

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  • Regular Member

Thanks Rawkerboi. I was thinking pretty much the same as you, since I am ok if my hair could stay like this, but going slick bald is a nightmare really and I want to prevent it. Regarding meds, I went to my doc because I thought it would be good to be under his advisory while using it, but he seems like he didn't even heard about fin being an option, and most of doctors here don't want to prescribe it. But I got surprised when he told me not to use minoxidil either, especially because I know guys with more hair than me that are using it. I guess that I will have to do things on my own now.

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  • Regular Member

Ashitaka,

 

Ready4Hair compiled a good amount of scientific links/research on LLLT that are worth looking at:

 

Funny the hair counting method(s) in this quite detailed study don't seem suspect at all:

 

OverMachoGrande.com: Long Term (1 year) Results of LLLT - improved hair growth and slowed further progression [with pics]

 

I know some Drs are equivocal, some are downright hostile (and pull the Al Gore trick of calling anyone who doesn't agree dishonest by implication, see Dr. Feller i.e. http://www.hairrestorationnetwork.com/eve/150351-list-doctors-who-consider-lllt-quackary.html), but there are many who do support it:

 

Lasercap

 

a list which includes Dr. Cooley and Dr. Wong.

 

Then of course there is this publication in PubMed which summarizes a dozen studies to conclude that "LLLT for hair growth in both men and women appears to be both safe and effective":

 

Low-level laser (light) therapy (LLLT) for treatment of hair loss. - PubMed - NCBI

 

not to mention this thread of patients who used LLLT IMMEDIATLY after HT successfully:

 

WorldHairLoss.org Forums | Laser use after Hair Transplant OMG

 

and this one:

 

http://www.regrowth.com/hair-loss-forums/topic/close-up-post-transplant-progress-pictures-with-lllt-to-aid-recovery/page/2/ which among other things includes this post:

 

"your healing progress with the lasers parallels my experience last August. With the aid of lasers my transplant healed 5 days earlier. Having gone through 3 transplants I agree that lasers should be a standard post-op procedure"

 

Not to mention dozens of studies on the efficacy of LLLT on post surgical healing and especially dermatological post surgical healing:

 

Low-level laser therapy (LLLT) efficacy in post-operative wounds. - PubMed - NCBI

Low Level Laser (Light) Therapy (LLLT) for Cosmetic Medicine and Dermatology

http://www.rheumatologynews.com/fileadmin/content_pdf/san/scms_pdf/vol27_i4_Light-Emitting_Diodes.pdf

http://lasercap.com/science-efficacy-safety.php

 

I get that 'detractors' will find ways to discredit these studies (and gloss over the ones for their own pet treatments) yet the evidence is pretty solid. The issue as with other treatments is no one every put on LLLT and grew a head of hair. Which for some reason discredits it. Yet the impact of LLLT on the quality of the skin/scalp/hair itself is far better then continued application of minox and it's additives.

 

Now that the thread has been hijacked to (yet another) debate on LLLT can we just get someone without an agenda or axe to grind (LLLT didn't grow me a new head of hair wah!) to weigh in on any good reason to NOT use LLLT immediatly after HT if it's efficacy is based on wound healing?

Edited by FUEAsianHairline
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  • 2 months later...
  • Regular Member

Jast to update. I started using Kirkland Minoxidil 12 days ago, and I also started using Sandoz Finasteride 5mg 3 days ago, cutting it into quarters. Since Finasteride Sandoz is only avalaible brand in my country I have no other option but to use this one. I am little affraid if it could have less effectivnes than original propecia. What are your thoughts about this?

 

Regardles shedding, I find 70-120 hairs each time I apply Minoxidil (I apply it every 12 hours aprox.). Do you guys think that this is rare or too much?

 

And to add that I am also using a shampoo that has similar ingredients like Nizoral, it has ketokonazole, we don't have Nizoral here.

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