Diffuse Thinning and need help on how to reverse/stop this

[cesareborgia]

Hi All,

 

I am a 29 YO Male suffering from diffuse thinning on top of the head for the last 3-4 years and started noticing parts of my scalp when light hits at specific angles especially around crown and midscalp. A local dermatologist that I visited asked me to use minoxidil and see results for 6 months

 

Some photos of my present state:

 

Side of head under normal light:

- Can 

 

Top of the head under very harsh Restroom Light

 

Top of the head when combed down under very harsh light:

 

 

Top of Scalp under Normal Light:

 

 

Also the midscalp is very thin when wet. I have my left side hair thick which kinda covers my midscalp but looks like that is thinning as well.

My questions:

 

- What are my options if I do not want to take FIn as I fear the sides?

- Have I identified early enough or have I lost too much to recover?

- Can I go for a hair transplant now?(Diffuse Thinning) Should I wait more before considering a HT?

- Does Minoxidil really work?  What about just PRP?

- How can I reverse this atleast in the next 3-5 years? 

 

Finances are not an issue. Hair is. Welcoming any suggestions on how to handle this?

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Legend007]

Nothing u can do bout diffuse thinning but stop the thinning with finasteride .. no fin .. lots of bald areas on top of ur scalp within  5 years for u .. that’s how it’s looking to me. 
 

no hairtransplant, because u stil have hair in those area,, just the hair is thinner.. 

u can not take fin n get balder then u can a hair transplant.. 

 

[Eugenix Hair Sciences]

10 hours ago, cesareborgia said:

What are my options if I do not want to take FIn as I fear the sides?

If you do not take finasteride then you will lose more hair in the future. You can try saw palmetto or topical finasteride if you get sides from oral finasteride.

10 hours ago, cesareborgia said:

Have I identified early enough or have I lost too much to recover?

You have not lost too much to recover. With the use of finasteride you can regain some density.

10 hours ago, cesareborgia said:

Can I go for a hair transplant now?(Diffuse Thinning) Should I wait more before considering a HT?

You don't need hair transplant. You already have sufficient hair on your scalp.

10 hours ago, cesareborgia said:

Does Minoxidil really work?  What about just PRP?

Minoxidil does really work. PRP is just injecting growth factors into the scalp. Regular PRP can be helpful too.

10 hours ago, cesareborgia said:

How can I reverse this atleast in the next 3-5 years? 

You should try finasteride and it can help in increasing the density on your scalp and prolonging baldness.

[Gatsby]

10 hours ago, cesareborgia said:

Does Minoxidil really work?

Yes it does and I would strongly recommend you speak with your doctor about finasteride. I know this is a personal choice but you can always stop the drug. All the best!

[cesareborgia]

17 hours ago, Legend007 said:

Nothing u can do bout diffuse thinning but stop the thinning with finasteride .. no fin .. lots of bald areas on top of ur scalp within  5 years for u .. that’s how it’s looking to me. 
 

no hairtransplant, because u stil have hair in those area,, just the hair is thinner.. 

u can not take fin n get balder then u can a hair transplant.. 

 

Understood. Thanks for your response

[cesareborgia]

6 hours ago, Eugenix Hair Sciences said:

If you do not take finasteride then you will lose more hair in the future. You can try saw palmetto or topical finasteride if you get sides from oral finasteride.

You have not lost too much to recover. With the use of finasteride you can regain some density.

You don't need hair transplant. You already have sufficient hair on your scalp.

Minoxidil does really work. PRP is just injecting growth factors into the scalp. Regular PRP can be helpful too.

You should try finasteride and it can help in increasing the density on your scalp and prolonging baldness.

Thank you, Eugenix for your detailed question to question responses. I already kicked off a topical 5% minoxidil and 0.1% Fin solution just now after reading the responses. How many times a day/week should I apply?

[cesareborgia]

14 hours ago, Gatsby said:

Yes it does and I would strongly recommend you speak with your doctor about finasteride. I know this is a personal choice but you can always stop the drug. All the best!

Hi Gatsby, 

Thanks for the response! Kicked off Minoxidil + Topical fin solution today. Wish me luck! I will try to be consistent 

Edited June 28, 2022 by cesareborgia

[Eugenix Hair Sciences]

16 hours ago, cesareborgia said:

Thank you, Eugenix for your detailed question to question responses. I already kicked off a topical 5% minoxidil and 0.1% Fin solution just now after reading the responses. How many times a day/week should I apply?

You should apply Minoxidil twice a day and finasteride once a day. You can apply finasteride two times a day if you want to.

[THE TRUTH]

A hair transplant will do nothing for you at this stage. 

It will destroy your native miniaturized hairs on the midscalp and you will have very poor graft survival. Your grafts will be wasted forever. 

You should immediately get on: 

Oral Dutasteride 0.5mg daily

Oral minoxidil 2.5mg to 5mg daily depending on your bodyweight 

Optionnal add a topical anti androgen of your choice such as RU58841 or fluridil. 

Don't wait. Time is off the essence when it comes to fighting permanent Male Pattern Baldness.

 

Edited June 29, 2022 by Jason Blaha

[cesareborgia]

6 hours ago, Eugenix Hair Sciences said:

You should apply Minoxidil twice a day and finasteride once a day. You can apply finasteride two times a day if you want to.

For now, I have a topical solution with 0.1% Fin, 5% Minoxidil, Hydrocortisone 1%. This is from "Solve Clinics" based out of Chicago. I will be using this twice a day of 1 ml each. Would you recommend oral fin over topiclal? I am skeptical about sides as I mentioned in the post. How long after should I discontinue if I continue seeing sides on fin?
 

Edited June 29, 2022 by cesareborgia
Question was repeated

[cesareborgia]

45 minutes ago, Jason Blaha said:

A hair transplant will do nothing for you at this stage. 

It will destroy your native miniaturized hairs on the midscalp and you will have very poor graft survival. Your grafts will be wasted forever. 

You should immediately get on: 

Oral Dutasteride 0.5mg daily

Oral minoxidil 2.5mg to 5mg daily depending on your bodyweight 

Optionnal add a topical anti androgen of your choice such as RU58841 or fluridil. 

Don't wait. Time is off the essence when it comes to fighting permanent Male Pattern Baldness.

 

Understood. I got started yesterday looking at all the advice here and from the dermatologist. On Fin + Minoxidil topical now. Would oral fin give better results than topical?

[Al - Moderator]

15 hours ago, cesareborgia said:

I got started yesterday looking at all the advice here and from the dermatologist. On Fin + Minoxidil topical now. Would oral fin give better results than topical?

 

Since you are afraid of side effects from oral finasteride and you have already started a topical mixture that includes finasteride, then I would stick with that for 6 months to see if it works. If after 6 months it is working for you with no side effects then you can just stay with it. If it seems like it's NOT working at that time, but you aren't getting any side effects then perhaps then look into oral finasteride which may provide better results.

 

[cesareborgia]

14 hours ago, BeHappy said:

 

Since you are afraid of side effects from oral finasteride and you have already started a topical mixture that includes finasteride, then I would stick with that for 6 months to see if it works. If after 6 months it is working for you with no side effects then you can just stay with it. If it seems like it's NOT working at that time, but you aren't getting any side effects then perhaps then look into oral finasteride which may provide better results.

 

So far no sides for oral fin.(Libido wise). Applied 5 times in the last 3 days. Although feeling a bit light headed after applying which is fine. Would Min 5% + Fin 0.1% help in regaining density?

Edited June 30, 2022 by cesareborgia

[Vann]

On 6/29/2022 at 8:44 AM, The Mann is the GOAT said:

A hair transplant will do nothing for you at this stage. 

It will destroy your native miniaturized hairs on the midscalp and you will have very poor graft survival. Your grafts will be wasted forever. 

You should immediately get on: 

Oral Dutasteride 0.5mg daily

Oral minoxidil 2.5mg to 5mg daily depending on your bodyweight 

Optionnal add a topical anti androgen of your choice such as RU58841 or fluridil. 

Don't wait. Time is off the essence when it comes to fighting permanent Male Pattern Baldness.

 

this ^

If you want to take PRP you can... but for research that I have seen its usually most effective for people who begin losing their hair in the mpb but it is not a stop to them losing hair its only a temporary measure like every other medical therapy you choose to COMMIT to.

As far as finasteride/dutasteride most people who say they feel side effects usually already feel side effects prior to taking it, there could be a nocebo effect after reading about the sides, and you can even get yourself measured by taking hormone tests of your testosterone prior to taking it the drug and after 'x' months to see if you genuinely have a hormonal imbalance. As some people mentioned before you can stop taking the drug or lower the dosages.

 

edit: I also want to note that once you start taking these medical therapies your hair should start to look worse because it causes your hair to sometimes begin a shedding phase. Once this shedding phase begins your hair can come back stronger or remain as smaller vellus hairs that will shed in its cycle and grow back thicker and thicker over time. The drugs (fin/minox) can yield effects even after 2 years... people respond differently. For example, I responded extremely well to finasteride really quickly, my brother on the other hand didnt really respond to fin until 3 years of taking it.

Edited June 30, 2022 by Vann

[cesareborgia]

17 minutes ago, Vann said:

this ^

If you want to take PRP you can... but for research that I have seen its usually most effective for people who begin losing their hair in the mpb but it is not a stop to them losing hair its only a temporary measure like every other medical therapy you choose to COMMIT to.

As far as finasteride/dutasteride most people who say they feel side effects usually already feel side effects prior to taking it, there could be a nocebo effect after reading about the sides, and you can even get yourself measured by taking hormone tests of your testosterone prior to taking it the drug and after 'x' months to see if you genuinely have a hormonal imbalance. As some people mentioned before you can stop taking the drug or lower the dosages.

 

edit: I also want to note that once you start taking these medical therapies your hair should start to look worse because it causes your hair to sometimes begin a shedding phase. Once this shedding phase begins your hair can come back stronger or remain as smaller vellus hairs that will shed in its cycle and grow back thicker and thicker over time. The drugs (fin/minox) can yield effects even after 2 years... people respond differently. For example, I responded extremely well to finasteride really quickly, my brother on the other hand didnt really respond to fin until 3 years of taking it.

Thank you the detailed response. i cant believe that there are so many folks on this forum typing out detailed responses. (r/tresless wasnt this good in explaining stuff)

Understood that I am not a good candidate for HT and some/most of the loss can be reversed with Min/Fin/both in combination atleast. I could see a few hairs in my hand (about 4-5) when I comb after I apply the solution. Luckily, I am not seeing any/negligible amounts on my pillow after I wake up. How long into application might be the shedding phase? 

Any recommendations for PRP? I am in Chicago, USA

[Vann]

4 hours ago, cesareborgia said:

Thank you the detailed response. i cant believe that there are so many folks on this forum typing out detailed responses. (r/tresless wasnt this good in explaining stuff)

Understood that I am not a good candidate for HT and some/most of the loss can be reversed with Min/Fin/both in combination atleast. I could see a few hairs in my hand (about 4-5) when I comb after I apply the solution. Luckily, I am not seeing any/negligible amounts on my pillow after I wake up. How long into application might be the shedding phase? 

Any recommendations for PRP? I am in Chicago, USA

I cannot really say for how long. Maybe most of your hairs right now could be in the shedding phase. Your hairs are always in different cycles which is why you should ‘normally’ see about 50-100 hairs fall out daily. If you don’t wash your head daily expect that to multiply by each day so if you see a ton of hairs fall out when you shower it’s not to be too alarmed about. 
i started to shed hair on fin around month 4 and about month 7-9 I got most of it back. Some people shed on fin around month 6-8 and slowly see that shedding phase recover around month 11-18.

if you’re able to. I would recommend using Dut 0.5mg it’s a stronger drug than fin in that it block 2 phases of the 5 alpha reductase type 1 and 2. Meaning in clinical studies fin at 1mg was found to block about 70% of dht which could correlate to about (41% dht on your scalp a minimum number) vs dutasteride 0.5 mg at 90% (approximately 51% dht block on your scalp). 

in regards to PRP I would look up Groupon deals. I bought a package from my derm who was trying to sell me 4 sessions for $3k for about $750 for 3 sessions on Groupon. Sometimes they could sell you individual sessions for $75 and charge you whatever rate a doctor charges for about 15 mins of actual application as well. 

nonetheless, I wish you the best and hope you see some derma or pcp (primary care physician) who can better address some of the claims you hear online and see if they can match it to your health to best see which fits you.

[Melvin- Admin]

I would suggest getting on the big 3, forget about RU58841, it's not proven like the big 3. What is the big 3? Finasteride, minoxidil, and Nizoral. I would suggest getting on topical finasteride and oral minoxidil. 

[cesareborgia]

2 hours ago, Melvin- Moderator said:

I would suggest getting on the big 3, forget about RU58841, it's not proven like the big 3. What is the big 3? Finasteride, minoxidil, and Nizoral. I would suggest getting on topical finasteride and oral minoxidil. 

Hi Melvin, Thanks for the response. 

Any recommendations for the oral minoxidil. I am hearing the oral form of this for the 1 st time, I have an appointment scheduled with another Dermatologist next week. I will discuss more with him regarding this. 

[Melvin- Admin]

34 minutes ago, cesareborgia said:

Hi Melvin, Thanks for the response. 

Any recommendations for the oral minoxidil. I am hearing the oral form of this for the 1 st time, I have an appointment scheduled with another Dermatologist next week. I will discuss more with him regarding this. 

Oral minoxidil is called loniten. 

[Andres]

22 hours ago, Melvin- Moderator said:

I would suggest getting on the big 3, forget about RU58841, it's not proven like the big 3. What is the big 3? Finasteride, minoxidil, and Nizoral. I would suggest getting on topical finasteride and oral minoxidil. 

Hey Melvin the nizoral is good for what?

[cesareborgia]

On 6/30/2022 at 9:13 PM, Melvin- Moderator said:

I would suggest getting on the big 3, forget about RU58841, it's not proven like the big 3. What is the big 3? Finasteride, minoxidil, and Nizoral. I would suggest getting on topical finasteride and oral minoxidil. 

Hi Melvin, Eugenix, and, others,

As mentioned above, I started applying the solution which has "topical 5% minoxidil and 0.1% Fin solution" and experienced drowsiness and dizziness for about a day. I applied this solution for 5 days and stopped it a couple of days ago. I also saw my morning wood disappearing or not being very strong in the last 2-3 days of the application of the solution. I think this effect has gone today and although I am not completely back, I could see the recovery (libido wise)

 

I stopped applying that solution and jumped on Minoxidil only 5% foam and could feel my heart racing(90 -100 bpm and then slowly stabilizing after an hour) and also experienced dizziness after applying(dizziness lasts for 3-4 hours) for the last 2 days(post quitting the above solution). I may applied a bit too much as well. 

 

I have no other issues healthwise (touchwood)

 

Questions:

 

- What should I do with Topical fin and Topical Minoxidil (Min Only) giving me sides?
- Should I continue with Minoxidil and see if the sides last for a few more days and if they continue, should I stop?
- Can I not hop on either of these 2/3 for life?( I am so sad if this is the case)
- Would oral fin give me further sides?

 

Please HELP!

 

 

[Eugenix Hair Sciences]

53 minutes ago, cesareborgia said:

- What should I do with Topical fin and Topical Minoxidil (Min Only) giving me sides?
- Should I continue with Minoxidil and see if the sides last for a few more days and if they continue, should I stop?
- Can I not hop on either of these 2/3 for life?( I am so sad if this is the case)
- Would oral fin give me further sides?

- If you are experiencing side effects then you can stop the medication.

- You can try it for a couple of days more and observe its side effects. Accordingly you can decide to take it or not.

- If you have side effects with these medications then you should not take them.

- You can try oral finasteride and observe if it has side effects in your case.

[sukh123]

2 hours ago, cesareborgia said:

Hi Melvin, Eugenix, and, others,

As mentioned above, I started applying the solution which has "topical 5% minoxidil and 0.1% Fin solution" and experienced drowsiness and dizziness for about a day. I applied this solution for 5 days and stopped it a couple of days ago. I also saw my morning wood disappearing or not being very strong in the last 2-3 days of the application of the solution. I think this effect has gone today and although I am not completely back, I could see the recovery (libido wise)

 

I stopped applying that solution and jumped on Minoxidil only 5% foam and could feel my heart racing(90 -100 bpm and then slowly stabilizing after an hour) and also experienced dizziness after applying(dizziness lasts for 3-4 hours) for the last 2 days(post quitting the above solution). I may applied a bit too much as well. 

 

I have no other issues healthwise (touchwood)

 

Questions:

 

- What should I do with Topical fin and Topical Minoxidil (Min Only) giving me sides?
- Should I continue with Minoxidil and see if the sides last for a few more days and if they continue, should I stop?
- Can I not hop on either of these 2/3 for life?( I am so sad if this is the case)
- Would oral fin give me further sides?

 

Please HELP!

 

 

You made a mistake not starting with oral finasteride which is proven. Topical fin would of been better to try if you experience sides from oral, but tbh I still think the studies are lacking with topical fin to say it’s as effective as oral and topical unless you apply it to your donor which requires a lot of solution does not protect your donor . Just keep it simple, I would advise using propecia branded Version, I personally don’t touch the generic because all the studies have been done with propecia. And use Rogaine brand foam

[cesareborgia]

2 hours ago, Eugenix Hair Sciences said:

- If you are experiencing side effects then you can stop the medication.

- You can try it for a couple of days more and observe its side effects. Accordingly you can decide to take it or not.

- If you have side effects with these medications then you should not take them.

- You can try oral finasteride and observe if it has side effects in your case.

Thank you!

[cesareborgia]

3 minutes ago, sukh123 said:

You made a mistake not starting with oral finasteride which is proven. Topical fin would of been better to try if you experience sides from oral, but tbh I still think the studies are lacking with topical fin to say it’s as effective as oral and topical unless you apply it to your donor which requires a lot of solution does not protect your donor . Just keep it simple, I would advise using propecia branded Version, I personally don’t touch the generic because all the studies have been done with propecia. And use Rogaine brand foam

Thank you! I will try oral and see how it goes. 

I am using Minoxdil - Rogaine Foam for the last 2 days. I am hoping that the sides subside soon