Sublingual Minoxidil and Oral Dutasteride | 10+ Months Results

[Viney]

Hey all,

I thought it was a good time to start a thread in the Hair Loss drugs section given I've been on medication for a while now and have a decent bank of photos and data to share. I'll probably provide more details and pictures in other posts below but here's the key stuff:

Medication and Timeline:

• 15 January 2022 - 16 March 2022 - 1mg Oral Finasteride daily.
• 17 March 2022 - 24 July 2022 - 0.5mg Oral Dutasteride daily, 0.9mg Sublingual Minoxidil daily
• 25 July 2022 - 7 February 2023 - 0.5mg Oral Dutasteride daily, 1.8mg Sublingual Minoxidil daily
• 8 February 2023 onwards - 0.5mg Oral Dutasteride daily, 2.7mg Sublingual Minoxidil daily

I was 29 when commencing the medication.

Comparative Pictures:

Here's some pictures taken from my clinic, these are taken with a professional camera with flash on and they try their best to make them as comparable as possible. The cheeky buggers made me pay extra for these photos (they post them to you in the mail via USB lol?) so I hope you enjoy....

The left is March 2022, while the right is January 2023.

 

 

I can post more of my own photos if you want from more angles, but they won't be in as controlled lighting or with a camera of this quality. You can also find more in my other topic which I'll link in the post below.

Side Effects:

In terms of side effects, I haven't noticed anything significant, any bad trends or lingering issues. I don't really think about side effects and try not to read much online, I just focus on ensuring I take my meds every single day and so far that's worked fine for me. Everything still works as it should.

I also don't recall ever experiencing or noticing a shed and I've taken my own pictures of my hair approx every 2-3 months.

Donor Density:

I've got comparative data from when I first saw my dermatologist in March 2022 (prior to any minoxidil or dutasteride) to now. This involves my dermatologist trimming my hair short in 3 donor areas and counting under a microscope the number of hairs per square cm. My dermatologist works at Sinclair Dermatology in Melbourne (under Rodney Sinclair) and has previous experience working at BHR Clinic with Dr Bisanga so I think he should be pretty good at doing this examination.

I wanted to check if I had stopped further hairloss in my donor, given back when I had mine examined in March 2022 mine was below the average of 70-75. Please keep in mind it's basically impossible for my dermatologist to find the exact same location he counted from previously, so given this, there is obviously variability in this hair density data depending on where he counts from, nonetheless he has tried his best to count the same location.

I honestly had no idea increasing donor hair count was even possible, but according to my dermatologist this is a common thing he sees in his patients and he believes it's due to Minoxidil. He says his clinic 'should probably' publish more of their data on this - I think they should - because I've tried to do some research myself but can't find much information. Back in March 2022 I was freaking out about having a poor donor for a hair transplant and now I'm apparently back around the average. Does anyone else out there have their own donor density data and experienced something similar?

The only other factor I've considered is potentially I could have been experiencing a Finasteride shed as I was approx 2 months into restarting it at the time I had my donor examined in March 2022, but is fin known to shed the donor area? I also don't recall experiencing a shed on restarting fin.

Next Steps:

After my last dermatologist apppointment we've increased my sublingual monixidil again, now to 2.7mg daily which I will start on Wednesday. He is hopeful that we can get even more hair gains to increase my mid scalp density. I asked him if there's anything possible he thinks I could add to my routine to improve the hairline but he said he's doesn't believe there's anything else out there proven to produce good results. Regardless I'm very happy with the improvement I've gotten already.

This time last year I was certain I wanted a hair transplant, now I'm still strongly considering it, but I'm no longer certain. I'm curious to see if I can get more gains (particularly around my mid scalp and hairline) out of this medication. Despite experiencing no noticeable side effects I'm still undecided if I want to commit to hairloss medication for the rest of my life and if I pull the trigger on a hair transplant I have to take medication forever.

The concerns I had around my crown balding or being visible are gone and while I still have a lot of thoughts about my poor hairline, I can live with that.. for now.

My dermatologist thinks that if I take the hair transplant route do not consider going beyond 2,000 grafts. He thinks 1500-1750 is adequate. This is a huge shift from the 2500-3200 grafts I was previously quoted prior to commencing medication from some of the recommended surgeons on this forum. I would obtain some updated quotes from these clinics to cross check if he's overly conservative but I don't want to waste their time.

In the next post I might add some extra detail and potentially more pictures, we'll see, but if you have any questions about my experience please feel welcome to ask.

 

 

Edited February 6 by Viney

[Viney]

Sublingual Minoxidil:

For those curious of what Sublingual Minoxidil is, it's simply a sugar tablet which dissolves below the tongue over a space of a few minutes. I'm not supposed to eat or drink anything for approx 30 minutes after taking it. I won't lie it tastes pretty good. I get the sublingual minoxidil made at a compound pharmacy. Here's a picture of it on the left next to Dutasteride (Avodart) on the right. Not sure if this is or will be available outside of Australia.

Here's a 10min presentation on it, if you can sit through it. I believe it's quite similar to oral minoxidil but it bypasses the liver which could result in even more efficacy (I also hope this might also be healthier for the liver): 

 

More info:

More of my experience, pictures and other stuff can be found in my other thread here for those curious.  I started this thread clueless back in December 2021:

 

Edited February 6 by Viney

[sunsurfhair]

Curious why sublingual vs just classic oral Minox? Does the doc explain why?

[Viney]

37 minutes ago, sunsurfhair said:

Curious why sublingual vs just classic oral Minox? Does the doc explain why?

During my first appointment with him I asked about it. I didn't indicate a preference for it, I was just genuinely curious about it. I didn't realise he would prescribe sublingual minoxidil until I looked at the script following my appointment. Anyway since it had been working for me I just stuck to it.

I believe sublingual allows you to administer lower doses and still see a good response given it's converted directly in the blood stream. I also think side effects are even less common than oral so I don't see why I shouldn't take it? Many doctors will say sublingual is actually a better method of delivery for medication, you can see this if you use the search function on this forum.

[sunsurfhair]

2 minutes ago, Viney said:

During my first appointment with him I asked about it. I didn't indicate a preference for it, I was just genuinely curious about it. I didn't realise he would prescribe sublingual minoxidil until I looked at the script following my appointment. Anyway since it had been working for me I just stuck to it.

I believe sublingual allows you to administer lower doses and still see a good response given it's converted directly in the blood stream. I also think side effects are even less common than oral so I don't see why I shouldn't take it? Many doctors will say sublingual is actually a better method of delivery for medication, you can see this if you use the search function on this forum.

Thanks. Sublingual is quite effective in terms of drug delivery - gets into your system faster, but curious if they use it for any other additional benefits vs. just classic oral. Glad it works for you. I’m a big fan of oral minox.