advice

[chance budro]

How we going fellas, new to this place and need advice.

Ummm, im 24 and have started experiencing a slight recession in the temple region, maybe 1cm each side, and i also notice significant "shedding" when drying my hair with a towel post-shower. Also the front region, maybe 5mm from the hairline back has started to go thin and is difficult to style. Apart from that my hair is as always has been.

The funny (well not really) thing is that no other family members have any form of baldness apart from one uncle(50's), and my extended family is fairly large - and at my age, it is unheard of! Dad, brother, cousins, are all a-ok, thats why this thing has me worried sick!!! Im starting to think of it 24/7.

My dad blames my extended use of hair styling products on the loss....possible?

I went to my family doctor(well respected in the medical fraternity) and he had a quick glance and presrcibed mino 5% and propecia 1x daily. He told me to take mino 2x daily for 1 month, then only 1x nightly for 11 months & the propecia 1x daily for 12 months.

He told me there are no side effects of any of the drugs, and after the 12 month period is up and the hair showed significant strengthening i could stop the treatment - he said it isnt long term in my situation. Is he right? This doctor had also prescribed my minomycine for slight facial acne which i have taken for close to a decade - i have the feeling that this drug has something to do with the problem.

After hovering around these forums i get a tottaly different understanding - propecia has certain sexual side effects and mino makes your hair an "addict" to the drug and can never be stopped. Am i right?

Both these drugs scare me to bits, and im considering leaving it for 1 year to see how i go - but i also know dead hair is hard to retrieve.

Im not tying to grow new hair, im happy with my hair at the moment, but would like to maintain it and not regress further.

If you guys can answer any of the above and below questions i would be greatful:

1. Is this male pattern baldness or possibly anything else?

2. Are the side effects of Propecia real and common or only affect a few?

3. Will starting propecia and staying on it for 5+ years have a huge impact on any "internals", or the ability to have children? Also say i started on this drug now, and decided to get off it at 30-35, will i experience a shed so massive that in a few months my head will be as bad as never haven taken the drug, or will getting off the drug put me back at square 1, where i am currently, and the "balding" process will resume?

4. Will using both mino and propecia off the onset leave me without any guns to fightback in 5 years time, when i assume my system will not respond to them?

5. Has anyone been on propecia for a significant amount of time, im talking over 5, maybe over 10-15 years, and have your results been signicant?

6. I hear mino loses its effect in about 2 years, ie it peaks, is this true?

7. Does mino render all your hair an addict to the drug. ie..the new hairs that mino helps sprout are addicted i understand that much, but are the healthy hairs currently on your head addicts as well - im just thinking it could be a mistake getting on this drug so soon, but the dr told me its my best option. Will all my hair fall out immediately say in 3 years time when i stop the use, or will the hairs that would have fallen out in that time frame and the hairs mino helped sprout fall out?

8. Should i begin on one, both or seek a second opinion?

9. I understand this question may vary from individual to individual, but, how long can i expect to have a reasonable head of hair ON or if i NEVER TAKE the drugs. Is 10-15 years expecting to much?

10. Is it possible that this slight recession is my natural hair line? I see some people with slight recession and maintain that for years - but i assume if its going this early it will all go.

11. My brother tells me not to worry, that im over-exagerating and male pattern baldness isnt common in our bloodline, he has a full head of hair at 27, but i feel with the amount im shedding i wont even have half a head of hair by that age. How common is it for only one sibling to lose hair and the other not to?


Sorry for the long post but need some clarification on some issues floating around my head.

 

[Kramer3]

Chance: It's great that you want to take the inititive and do something about your hairloss but you've asked too many questions for me too address them all individually and I feel you can find the answers to many of those questions by simply reading through posts.

First and foremost genetics is a very strange thing. Just because your brother isn't balding doesn't mean that you couldn't possibly bald. I have a friend who has balding throughout his entire family and he has the thickest set of hair I've ever seen.

In the back of my mind I've always blamed extensive use of hair product as an accelerator of my male pattern baldness but scientifically there is no evidence whatsoever.

Your doctor's advice that after a year you can quit your treatments and things will be okay is bullshit. The fight to preserve your hair is a life long fight. Treatments are suspected to have a life-capacity but many people have seen good results for over 10 years. In any case there are alternative treatments such as spironolactone/folligen/Xandrox/Crinagin/Avodart and others if the "Big 3" fail to work.

My advice to you is if your serious about your hair then stop being a pussy and take the recommended treatments. Proscar definetly is the most proven to maintain, minoxidil can provide a nice offset of growth and nizoral helps with scalp conditioning.

Good Luck.
Kramer

 

[Andrew]

complicated

your post is quite complicated.

I will keep it short and sweet.

Just start on propecia + nizoral for 6 months and then reevaluate...

 

[chance budro]

I Know it was a huge post - Thanks for your reply guys, much appreciated.

If anyone else has the time or expertise to answer the questions, it will be very very much appreciated as i am EXTREMELY concerned about these drugs.

How life changes hey! six months ago i was cruising happily through life without a care in the world, now i get this news and bam its like a mack truck hit me...its too early to be going through this sh*t in life.

From being a highly motivated individual with a nearly completed masters degree and excellent job - i now find myself kind of feeling flat and watching the world go by - which is the weirdest feeling, like being on party drugs but without the happiness!

I think im still in a state of denial actually.

 

[viceroy]

Hey Chance - I hear you. I'm going thru a similar thing right now... can't decide if I should start treatment or not, 'cuz I'm not 100% positive that my shedding is fullon male pattern baldness, and the potential side effects freak me the f*** out.

Most of your questions can be answered by researching the posts here. The 'search' feature is helpful. But from my own research here, I can tell you real quick -

1. Anything's possible.... I can't get a straight answer as to whether or not I should start treatment, and I have seen both my doctor and a dermatologist. My plan is to wait for now I suppose. And if this shedding continues for much longer, and my hair more noticeably changes for the worse, I will consider Propecia.

2. Side effects - I guess there needs to be a distinction between 'good' side effects and bad. I think a lot of people get good ones, in that some weird sh*t happens to their body, but nothing TOO sketchy, which goes away after a little while of staying on propeica. Bad ones you need to be careful about... but the general consensus seems to be that if you have bad side effects and get off the drug in time, you'll go back to normal. Eventually. (Some people do say that there is always the tiny risk of permanently f*****g up your body and/or sex drive... but sadly there seems to be a lack of scientific documentation on this... a hot topic that I'd like to see more careful discussion about, so who knows...)

as for #8... a lot of people say if youre in early male pattern baldness, you should try propecia first and then save minoxidil for later, cuz yeah, minoxidil can have a limited efficacy in some or most cases, from what i understand... but then again others only use minoxidil. or use both. i think you need to do more research and make an informed decision from there.

10. another confusing point. some people can have 'mature' hair lines that stay at a reasonable place for many many years... but everyone progresses at a different rate, and generally the earlier you start treatment the better, so you should consider all these things.

and as far as the feeling down about sh*t.... HairLossTalk.com gave me some good advice when i first came here. you may feel down about everything, but you're being proactive. if it is male pattern baldness, you're nipping it in the bud, and you've got good chances to battle it with the proper research and treatment. there's so much good info here. you're a thousand times better off than a lot of guys our age who never find information like this, or do so at a later time when it's not as easy to treat... stay positive, level-headed, and make good informed choices!