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Oral minoxidil for receding hairline - advice please


CEML

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Hello

ive been on finasteride and topical minoxidil 10% for 5 years. Has worked wonders and really strengthened my hair. Thought my hairline was stable until...

last summer I went through lots of stress and lost weight. Few months after started seeing hairs on pillow and in shower. This continued until went to dermatologist who prescribed oral minox (loniten 1.25mg daily) and switched to dutasteride.  

hair shedding on pillow stopped but still notice hairs in shower on hands. Hair seems generally thinner than it used to be.

And just noticing front hairline creeping back further. I’m 27 years old btw.

Recently increased oral minoxidil to 2.5mg daily 2 weeks ago. Do people have any advice if worsens? Will oral mind hold hairline? 

am I out of options?

advice appreciated 

 

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15 minutes ago, CEML said:

Hello

ive been on finasteride and topical minoxidil 10% for 5 years. Has worked wonders and really strengthened my hair. Thought my hairline was stable until...

last summer I went through lots of stress and lost weight. Few months after started seeing hairs on pillow and in shower. This continued until went to dermatologist who prescribed oral minox (loniten 1.25mg daily) and switched to dutasteride.  

hair shedding on pillow stopped but still notice hairs in shower on hands. Hair seems generally thinner than it used to be.

And just noticing front hairline creeping back further. I’m 27 years old btw.

Recently increased oral minoxidil to 2.5mg daily 2 weeks ago. Do people have any advice if worsens? Will oral mind hold hairline? 

am I out of options?

advice appreciated 

 

I'm using 2.5 with no sides.
Researches show great results at 2.5/5 mg.
I'm thinking to rise the daily dose to 3.75 and having some topical minoxidil at night.
If you wish, look at my before and after pics (no hair transplant)

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Oral minox & dut are best suited for mid-scalp/vertex/crown area for stabilization and/or slight regrowth.

Frontal hairline is hard to stabilize if you are losing it steadily.  Can slow it down perhaps slightly - but it's not noted for the ability to regrow frontal hairline or just behind it.

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9 hours ago, duchaine said:

I'm using 2.5 with no sides.
Researches show great results at 2.5/5 mg.
I'm thinking to rise the daily dose to 3.75 and having some topical minoxidil at night.
If you wish, look at my before and after pics (no hair transplant)

Thanks for this. How long until you saw a difference on minoxidil? 

Where can I find your pics, pleasEe?

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The expectation of what the medication can do, shedding, miniaturization.......... It's amazing how misinformed we are about hair loss.

I do realize we need visual confirmation to attest to the fact something is working. If you start with less and eventually have more, the medication worked.  True.  But we all think it's regrowth.  Nothing regrows hair!!!

We typically discuss shedding and miniaturization when dealing with this condition. Let's get into it.

The follicle gets tired of producing hair and goes into a resting phase.  This is shedding and it will happen randomly to every strand on your head.  3-4 months later the hair returns and continues growing until the next "scheduled" shedding phase. Hair loss is different.

Under a bright light look at the hair in your temporal areas.  You'll notice some strands have robust shafts while others are thinner.  Some are even so small you can hardly see them and just don't seem to grow.  This is the process of miniaturization.  Eventually the hair dissipates and withers away.  Similarly, the bulb under the skin atrophies and also disappears.  That's hair loss. So, what's happening with you?

Propecia, Rogaine, Laser and PRP are the modalities we typically discuss when dealing with hair loss.  The medications are intended to retain - not to regrow anything.  Thus, if a year later you look the same, the medications did what they were supposed to do.  From time to time and in a small percentage of cases, (this is you), there can be enhancement of the finer hair.  So being such a positive responder, I would encourage you to continue.  

The more time you do meds, the less visual benefit you'll notice.  Have you maxed out? We'll have to wait and see what happens with the changes you made.  I would suggest you keep taking photos and keep a record of what's happening.

 

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44 minutes ago, LaserCap said:

  Nothing regrows hair!!!

The medications are intended to retain - not to regrow anything. 

 

You are right, but - in my humble opinion - it is just semantic. If you have atrophied bulbs than start to produce healthy hair, a lot of people will say that you regrowth your hairs. And they are not wrong.

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Semantics? 

Atrophied, but still exists, yes there can be improvement.  The hair must still be there, perhaps even under the skin...With the use of meds it could improve.  This is why it is always indicated a young individual has more of a chance of experiencing improvement than a 65 YO that has lost all his hair.  Chances of him having even atrophied bulbs, as you put it, is 0%  It may look like regrowth but it isn't.  It is enhancement of something there.

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16 hours ago, Curious said:

Are you still using finasteride?

What does the dermatologist think about a 27 year old using blood pressure medication, and it's long term impact on your circulatory system?

I stopped finasteride when switched to dutasteride. May switch back 

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2 hours ago, LaserCap said:

Semantics? 

Atrophied, but still exists, yes there can be improvement.  

You said that "nothing regrows hair".
If you have an atrophied follicle not producing anything (or anything visibile) and the X DRUG allow the follicle to produce a new hair, yes, that drug makes you regrowth hair.

In my humble opinion, if you want to be correct, you should say "nothing regrows follicle"

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