qss79's story

[qss79]

hi all...

here is my story...i am 27; have always had long hair and at time spike (long spike)...i knew i have been losing hair but I never thought I lost this much until I went for a hair cut last week and decided to cut my hair short for a change!!...i am practically bald now ...

i wanna start on some regimen or treatmenet ASAP...i have never seen a doctor for my hair- do i have to??...if i do- wht type of doctor do i see for hair loss? (i am assuming a dermatoligist??)...

i have been going thru this forum for past 3 days and am sure some of u will have few suggestions for me that i can start on right away... what do i do...

wht type of hair loss do u think this is??...what are my chances of recovering??...any help will be greatly appreciated!

 

[Guest]

Looks like frontal and top thinning, classic male pattern baldness. I would go to a derm and have him confirm it and then get a prescription for Propecia. Take it once a day and you'll probably be able to get most of that loss back if it's recent.

good luck

 

[qss79]

thanks for your prompt reply JayMan...

a few more questions:

- will u know if this will be covered by my health insurance?

- i heard some of the hair-loss medicines out there can make u impotent- is it true for propecia?

- i am really hoping propecia will do the trick for me...but will i lose hair again if i stop taking propecia after I get my hair bck to a point where i m satisfied?? or will my body eventually become immune to propecia and hence i wont be able to take it any longer??

- will i be able to grow hair LONG or hair from propecia are weaker and thus wont grow long??

*excuse my english and my doubts...

thanks!

 

[Guest]

- will u know if this will be covered by my health insurance?

Probably not but check with your carrier. Most health insurance companies will cover Proscar(5 mg version of finasteride), because it is commonly prescribed for prostate problems, but they will typically not cover Propecia(1 mg version of finasteride).

You can save money by getting your Doctor to write you a prescription for Proscar and cutting the tablets into fourths so you'll be taking 1.25 mg of it per day. This will run you less than $250 a year most likely because there is a generic version of it in the US right now.

Or you can always get a cheap generic version of it from a reputable online pharmacy like InhousePharmacy, located at http://www.inhousepharmacy.com . So I'd see your Doctor and if $250 a year is to much then check into online generics.

- i heard some of the hair-loss medicines out there can make u impotent- is it true for propecia?

Only temporarily if it happens, but side effects occur in less than 4% of men. If side effects occur they may subside with time on the drug and if they don't then you can always stop the drug.

- i am really hoping propecia will do the trick for me...but will i lose hair again if i stop taking propecia after I get my hair bck to a point where i m satisfied?? or will my body eventually become immune to propecia and hence i wont be able to take it any longer??

Genetics will probably eventually overpower the finasteride and you will start to lose your hair again, but it will probably be at a rate much slower than it would be were you not taking propecia.

- will i be able to grow hair LONG or hair from propecia are weaker and thus wont grow long??

Propecia has no effect on hair length. Growing your hair long is entirely dependent on genetics with respect to the maximum length that you can grow it.

I also recommend buying Nizoral shampoo from your local store, and using it in place of your normal shampoo twice a week, or once every 3 days, whatever is easier. Leave it in your hair for five minutes and then rinse it out.

Good luck.

 

[qss79]

thanks again JayMan!...i will see a drem hopefully sometime in a week (depending on when i get the appointmnet)...

also, in the "success stories" thread...i often see ppl talk abt "BIG 3"... what is this big 3??...n any reason why u didnt suggest me big 3??

thanks

 

[Guest]

thanks again JayMan!...i will see a drem hopefully sometime in a week (depending on when i get the appointmnet)...

also, in the "success stories" thread...i often see ppl talk abt "BIG 3"... what is this big 3??...n any reason why u didnt suggest me big 3??

thanks

I suggested you two out of the big three.

The Big 3 regimen consists of finasteride(Propecia, Proscar), nizoral shampoo, and rogaine(minoxidil).

I think you should hold off on the regimen because finasteride may be able to regrow the balding areas for you and if you start minoxidil at the same time then you will never know which drug is giving you the results, if any. And minoxidil is a hassle because you have to apply it twice a day and once you stop you lose your gains, so better to give the finasteride a year first.

People sometimes advise starting off with minoxidil at the same time to people who are much more bald than you are, because finasteride isn't going to do much for them so they'll be on minoxidil eventually. But your loss looks recent and isn't that severe so you should keep your regimen as simple as possible(one pill a day, shampoo with the Nizoral twice a week) so that you will have incentive to stick with it. You can always add the Rogaine in a year and it will be just as effective then, but I'd give finasteride 12 months. Good move on seeing your doctor before starting anything.

 

[roki]

im not sure if minoxidil would be just as effective in one year as jayman says it is possible that you could grow more with it now when the loss is more recent
in my opinion it just comes down to how badly and how fast you want your hair back,the foam is giving very good results(80% they say) and i think that combined with finasteride it must have some effect on almost everyone
plus the fact that you can stop when ever you want or change to applying it only once a day or even less and still keep what youve gaind.

 

[Guest]

im not sure if minoxidil would be just as effective in one year as jayman says it is possible that you could grow more with it now when the loss is more recent
in my opinion it just comes down to how badly and how fast you want your hair back,the foam is giving very good results(80% they say) and i think that combined with finasteride it must have some effect on almost everyone
plus the fact that you can stop when ever you want or change to applying it only once a day or even less and still keep what youve gaind.

minoxidil can be used at any time, and finasteride should hold his hair in place until then, but whatever.

 

[qss79]

thanks again JayMan!...i will see a drem hopefully sometime in a week (depending on when i get the appointmnet)...

also, in the "success stories" thread...i often see ppl talk abt "BIG 3"... what is this big 3??...n any reason why u didnt suggest me big 3??

thanks

I suggested you two out of the big three.

The Big 3 regimen consists of finasteride(Propecia, Proscar), nizoral shampoo, and rogaine(minoxidil).

I think you should hold off on the regimen because finasteride may be able to regrow the balding areas for you and if you start minoxidil at the same time then you will never know which drug is giving you the results, if any. And minoxidil is a hassle because you have to apply it twice a day and once you stop you lose your gains, so better to give the finasteride a year first.

People sometimes advise starting off with minoxidil at the same time to people who are much more bald than you are, because finasteride isn't going to do much for them so they'll be on minoxidil eventually. But your loss looks recent and isn't that severe so you should keep your regimen as simple as possible(one pill a day, shampoo with the Nizoral twice a week) so that you will have incentive to stick with it. You can always add the Rogaine in a year and it will be just as effective then, but I'd give finasteride 12 months. Good move on seeing your doctor before starting anything.

u r my guru JayMan :bow:

i bought the the Nizoral shampoo from Walgreens- will start using it from tomorrow...any conditioner required or not really??...
n hopefully will start on finasteride from next week...

hope to post my experience in success stories thread soon

 

[Guest]

thanks again JayMan!...i will see a drem hopefully sometime in a week (depending on when i get the appointmnet)...

also, in the "success stories" thread...i often see ppl talk abt "BIG 3"... what is this big 3??...n any reason why u didnt suggest me big 3??

thanks

I suggested you two out of the big three.

The Big 3 regimen consists of finasteride(Propecia, Proscar), nizoral shampoo, and rogaine(minoxidil).

I think you should hold off on the regimen because finasteride may be able to regrow the balding areas for you and if you start minoxidil at the same time then you will never know which drug is giving you the results, if any. And minoxidil is a hassle because you have to apply it twice a day and once you stop you lose your gains, so better to give the finasteride a year first.

People sometimes advise starting off with minoxidil at the same time to people who are much more bald than you are, because finasteride isn't going to do much for them so they'll be on minoxidil eventually. But your loss looks recent and isn't that severe so you should keep your regimen as simple as possible(one pill a day, shampoo with the Nizoral twice a week) so that you will have incentive to stick with it. You can always add the Rogaine in a year and it will be just as effective then, but I'd give finasteride 12 months. Good move on seeing your doctor before starting anything.

u r my guru JayMan :bow:

i bought the the Nizoral shampoo from Walgreens- will start using it from tomorrow...any conditioner required or not really??...
n hopefully will start on finasteride from next week...

hope to post my experience in success stories thread soon

Yeah I would follow it up with a conditioner if your hair is longer than an inch. Nizoral is a strong shampoo. The conditioner doesn't have to be expensive. Dove makes good conditioners and they are cheap(like $3-4). Good luck.

 

[qss79]

arritey...i got me self a dove conditioner too...so i have nizoral shampoo and dove conditioner...my appointmnet with the derm is on thursday...will ask him for finasteride...

btw JayMan...can you guess (looking at my pics above) where i am in the norwood chart??...i m just curious...

 

[Guest]

I am not Jayman, but one needs better pictures of your actual hair line to determine your Norwood. With these pics it is really a guessing game. My guess is a Norwood 2 with moderate diffuse thinning. Pull back your hair and show us where your hair actually starts growing and we might give you a better answer.

 

[qss79]

hi Taugenichts...here are my pics...few with dry hair and few with wet hair..btw, when my hair r wet...i m SOOOOOOO bald...how long will it take to recover from it??

pics:

 

[qss79]

more pics..

 

[qss79]

more...

 

[qss79]

n a few more

 

[Guest]

Yes, these are good pics. You are a NW2 V (V standing for Vertex thinning). You have a good chance that meds will close your bald spot in the crown area. Regrowing the hairline will be difficult though. Good Luck with your hair!

 

[Guest]

He looks like a diffuse thinner, very similar pattern to myself. NW2diffuse.

 

[qss79]

hello again!...

just wanted to inform u all...my insurance is paying for the pills...yes, they wouldnt pay for propecia, but my derm agreed to write me a proscar prescription...so now i get 32 day supply (8 pills...8 X 4 =32 days) for a $12 copay...which comes down to less than $140 for a whole year supply- thts kick *** man...thanks once again JayMan for the proscar suggestion...

so as of now, i am on proscar (1.25 mg daily) and Nizoral (2 or 3 times weekly)...

today was my third day of proscar- so still too early to report my progress...from my 3 day long experience- all u really have to do is some how get urself to take the first pill...after tht u will want to take em everyday...break the first day threshold...no, i havent seen any progress within these 3 days, but i definetly feel a lot better now that I am doing something abt my hair loss! I hope it works for me and for everyone with hair problem!

i ask the experts once again- now that I am on a regimen- I want to go full out...u guys think i shud add rogaine foam to my regimen?...as of now i m just on proscar & nizoral...can u tell me wht i maybe missing on by not including rogaine (minoxidil) in my regimen right away?

 

[Guest]

just wanted to inform u all...my insurance is paying for the pills...yes, they wouldnt pay for propecia, but my derm agreed to write me a proscar prescription...so now i get 32 day supply (8 pills...8 X 4 =32 days) for a $12 copay...which comes down to less than $140 for a whole year supply- thts kick *** man...thanks once again JayMan for the proscar suggestion...

bro that is probably insurance fraud. if your insurance would not pay for propecia then there's a 99% chance that they do not cover proscar for hair loss either. your doctor could lose his medical license and you could lose your health insurance and be sued by your insurance company.

just because they covered it does not mean its legal. if your ins will not cover propecia since it's only prescribed for cosmetic purposes, then they probably thought that your doctor wrote you a proscar prescription because you have benign prostatic hyperplasia.

i am really surprised that your doctor agreed to this.

if he did not write "for hair loss" on the prescription then he is complicit.