Somebody's Story | 25 Finasteride Results | 7 Mo Treatment (pics)

[Mazaza]

Hi guys,

Just back from my dermatologist appointment and a bit upset. In a nutshell:

• The appointment was very short (like maybe 15 minutes totoal)
• She started by checking my crown and temples, saying that there was thinning on the temples / hairline region. She performed a pulling test and asked me when I last washed my hair (I thought she meant shampoo my hair so I said yesterday, even though I rinsed them this morning -- but I think it does not count).
  
• Anyway she told me there was nothing too dramatic and that I should not worry a lot. I disagree of course, since I had much more hair on top before, and I am losing it on the temples/hairline obviously...
• I told her I have been using minoxidil 5% for 4 months now, and basically she told me that it may start showing effect and that's why it seems that the situation is not that bad to her.
• I wanted her to prescibe me finasteride but she insisted for me to keep on using minoxidil for a few months, assess the loss again, and if I am not happy with the results start finasteride.

So I don't know what to think about that...I thought it was quite obvious that I was balding. Maybe my long curly hair hides it well? Or maybe the protocol starts working?

If you were me, would you try to look for another doctor to get finasteride prescribed or would you just wait and see, like she asked me?

Cheers,
Mazaza

 

[SteveTabernack]

Hi guys,

Just back from my dermatologist appointment and a bit upset. In a nutshell:

• The appointment was very short (like maybe 15 minutes totoal)
• She started by checking my crown and temples, saying that there was thinning on the temples / hairline region. She performed a pulling test and asked me when I last washed my hair (I thought she meant shampoo my hair so I said yesterday, even though I rinsed them this morning -- but I think it does not count).
  
• Anyway she told me there was nothing too dramatic and that I should not worry a lot. I disagree of course, since I had much more hair on top before, and I am losing it on the temples/hairline obviously...
• I told her I have been using minoxidil 5% for 4 months now, and basically she told me that it may start showing effect and that's why it seems that the situation is not that bad to her.
• I wanted her to prescibe me finasteride but she insisted for me to keep on using minoxidil for a few months, assess the loss again, and if I am not happy with the results start finasteride.

So I don't know what to think about that...I thought it was quite obvious that I was balding. Maybe my long curly hair hides it well? Or maybe the protocol starts working?

If you were me, would you try to look for another doctor to get finasteride prescribed or would you just wait and see, like she asked me?

Cheers,
Mazaza

Find another doctor.

Even if you're a good responder to minoxidil it's not gonna be enough long term.

 

[Tisumi2333]

hi Alex.Do u have oily skin? my hair is too oily ,i have to wash my hair everyday.It seems like fina didn't help this.

 

[Somebody]

Little question, i've been using my dermaroller for more than 2 month now and i wanted to know how long can i keep it before using a new one.
I wash mine after every use and the needles still looks good to me.

I change mine after 6 month. But I change right away if I lose it on floor, and bend needles. Y

If you were me, would you try to look for another doctor to get finasteride prescribed or would you just wait and see, like she asked me?

Yes, she does not seriously take your problem.

 

[Luke777]

Hey @Luke777, definitely. Getting hairier (hands, chest, beard mainly) is a side effect I am experiencing.

I don't know how to avoid that, but I assume it comes from the fact that I am using too much minoxidil (ranging between 2.5 mL and 4 mL). Perhaps you also are using too much? I am trying to use less but it is not that easy iven the fact that I have long-ish hair right now.

Cheers

I use 1-2ml of rogain foam once a day, so I wouldnt say that too much of minoxidil is the issue.

Nevertheless I see more hairs also on another parts of my body - not only on the chest, but also hands and face. I genuiely start to laugh at this. Several years of effort and money invested resulting into balding head and hairy face and chest ))

Hopefully, if this experiment is not successful, this will be the last straw that will help me to give up this crazy struggle for hair renewal.

I will keep you guys informed how the experiment is going.

 

[infinitepain]

Please get some bloodwork done, you need to show your hormone levels to see how an awesome responder hormonal profile looks like, otherwise we are just wasting our time blind guessing. We need a scientific approach to your case so we can apply it ourselves. Everyone is different so blindly applying your protocol is useless, we need the scientific data!

 

[Kruno]

Hey Alex,Ive just seen some of your youtube videos and I am amazed with your regrowth.My hairloss is mostly caused by inflammation,and constant dermatitis.I have taken your advice and bought some perilla pills,and now when its all under control do you think that I am going to get same inflammation or even dermatitis with dermaroller?

 

[Tisumi2333]

Thanks for the reply,its so kind of u bro,how many hair do u shed daily?I always shed 20~30 hairs daily.I wish u all the best.

 

[michel sapin]

@Somebody ; you are lucky to be exactly the archetype of " the respoonder " to medications
Even if the minoxidil/dermaroller combo allow you to get great regrowth, I really think that the building block of your sucess through the years was the fact that you were a great responder to finasteride .
And we can see this with your first month result .

 

[michel sapin]

if you respond to propecia during the first year of treatment you are basically saved for 10 years !
@Somebody ; during you short try of dutasteride you didn't get more result than with fina ? in terms of thickening ?

 

[Yakitori]

if you respond to propecia during the first year of treatment you are basically saved for 10 years !
@Somebody ; during you short try of dutasteride you didn't get more result than with fina ? in terms of thickening ?

Responds as in regrowth? My shedding probably stopped by 80% if not more 2 weeks into finasteride but things turned to sh*t when I added minoxidil and the possibility of finasteride losing it's effect after 6 months lol. While Finasteride decreased my shedding dramatically, not a single strand of hair was restored.

 

[michel sapin]

if there is regrowth you are sure responding .
But just maitenance and slight thickening of existing hair is also a really good sign

 

[Somebody]

I know I've replied to you before, but man, what a turn around without a hardcore regimen. Never gets old saying that. This comment of yours got to me and how you avoided taking pictures when baldness struck aggressively, it's not nice seeing yourself in that state and social media.

Thanks. Hair loss caused me to become very unmotivated. I also self-sabotage myself at that time. Depressed, incredibly negative, angry, overweighted, etc. Propecia was a life saver. My problem at that time was that hair where huge part of my identity.

I'm aware the same person negged every post of yours (banned a while ago) and I'm dealing with it.

Hair loss is not easy subject. I can understand that it can be frustrerated. By having been myself in very negative state of mind in past, I don't take it seriously.

Such a natural result and why not, it's all your native hair, never give up attitude!

Thanks

@Somebody ; you are lucky to be exactly the archetype of " the respoonder " to medications
Even if the minoxidil/dermaroller combo allow you to get great regrowth, I really think that the building block of your sucess through the years was the fact that you were a great responder to finasteride .
And we can see this with your first month result .

Yes, I did respond well to propecia no doubt about that

if you respond to propecia during the first year of treatment you are basically saved for 10 years !
@Somebody ; during you short try of dutasteride you didn't get more result than with fina ? in terms of thickening ?

Yes. But those side effects I got where unacceptable....

 

[Yakitori]

if there is regrowth you are sure responding .
But just maitenance and slight thickening of existing hair is also a really good sign

Slight thickening? I wish.

 

[michel sapin]

@Somebody ; no onset of gyno when you took duta ?
you don't have your oestradiol level or testosterone ?

 

[Somebody]

@Somebody ; no onset of gyno when you took duta ?

No. I was on it just few month.

you don't have your oestradiol level or testosterone ?

Not yet. I plan to do it now in April

Propecia is also my life saver and has banished all my worries. Truly magical for me. I don't know how I'd be without it. I'd be depressed but continuing like a zombie. It allowed me to keep all my hair and a transplant took me to thick and full.

Awesome, that it did worked out for you.

I can add from my story line, its kind of success, failure, success, failure then finally success. For me giving up was never an option!

 

[infinitepain]

Ok. I found bloodwork I did in 27.01.11 that was when I had extreme scalp inflammation. At that time I had been on propecia since October 2008. In November 2010, was start of inflammation problem.
Timeline great regrow from propecia alone from Oct 2008 to Oct 2010 and inflammation afterwords.
I'm going to take a new test when I'm back in Asia. I wiped my name from sample, but most of you can find me anyway at my facebook profile.

Hard to say since I have not had the same problem myself.

Yes, I have about the same. The number has remained constant, even when I had powerful re-growth in 2014

Thanks. Hair loss caused me to become very unmotivated. I also self-sabotage myself at that time. Depressed, incredibly negative, angry, overweighted, etc. Propecia was a life saver. My problem at that time was that hair where huge part of my identity.

Hair loss is not easy subject. I can understand that it can be frustrerated. By having been myself in very negative state of mind in past, I don't take it seriously.

Thanks

Yes, I did respond well to propecia no doubt about that

Yes. But those side effects I got where unacceptable....

Why does it say vietnam in there? you lived in vietnam?

Unfortunately I cannot see any hormones there which would be the interesting part I think. I can see the thyroid hormone which seemed to be in range, maybe this helped the propecia to work.
No DHT, testosterone or estrogen levels tho... maybe in Vietnam is too difficult to find? Here in France I can get the required hormones easily, I check from time to time to see how I respond to treatments. It would be good if you can get a full hormonal profile for us to check. We must see DHT, free and total T, estrogen, prolactin, progesteron and the rest, and also all the thyroid hormones as well, everything matters in hairloss.

 

[Wiseboi]

Responds as in regrowth? My shedding probably stopped by 80% if not more 2 weeks into finasteride but things turned to sh*t when I added minoxidil and the possibility of finasteride losing it's effect after 6 months lol. While Finasteride decreased my shedding dramatically, not a single strand of hair was restored.

How long after you started finasteride before your shedding stopped?

 

[abovedagame]

Alex
What is ur opinion of high strength minoxidil like 12.5% that belgravia center sells. They have a lot of pictures showing helps regrowth at the front in their patients.

 

[Johnmpb]

Hi Alex,
Any opinion on acetyl-L-carnitine for inflammation? I've read that it can help itching and burning scalp.