Long hair and hair loss

[starzstar]

Hi,

I am beginning to see some receding hair line, i visited a doctor he gave me medicine for three months and adviced me to shave my head immediately.

I have couple of question
1.Does the length of the hair matter while curing hair loss?
2.Can I regain my lost hairs?

Thanks
Star

[Lain]

Hey

As far as I understand hairloss and long hair do not correlate with each other. The advice to shave your head is kinda strange.

Lost hair is pretty hard to regain (with Drugs). Mostly you can only keep what you have and buy some time till you lose more hair. Propecia (finasteride) and Rogaine (Minoxidil) have both been FDA approved for treating hair loss. There might be a chance with one of these medications (or both together) to regain some hair. Dont forget: The earlier you start, the better you can cope hairloss.

There sure are many substances and treatments out there that promise to regrow hair. Be always careful what you buy. Do you know by any chance what medicine your doctor prescribed you?

[Mark]

Lain wins! I have nothing much else to say here. I'm curious to know where starzstar is located and what he was prescribed.

-Mark

[ichi999]

Hi...agree with that.. A lot of products out there have a lot of chemicals. Be sure you check with expert first. One more things. You have to take care of your diet too..Take a lot of vitamin B and green powder

[Mark]

Hi...agree with that.. A lot of products out there have a lot of chemicals. Be sure you check with expert first. One more things. You have to take care of your diet too..Take a lot of vitamin B and green powder

Green powder?

[starzstar]

Thanks a lot for all your suggestions.
The medicines doctor has given me do not contain any name on them, it is written that for contents of the please contact the doctor.

Can I use Propecia (finasteride) and Rogaine (Minoxidil) without any medical prescription. Are there any kinds of side effects.?
Can I use both of them or only one?
Mark :I am from Bangalore India, any idea the above mentioned drugs will be available in India?

[Mark]

Thanks a lot for all your suggestions.
The medicines doctor has given me do not contain any name on them, it is written that for contents of the please contact the doctor.

Hrm, that's odd. I'd contact the doctor and find out what he gave you. It's always important for you to know what medications you're taking.

Can I use Propecia (finasteride) and Rogaine (Minoxidil) without any medical prescription. Are there any kinds of side effects.?
Can I use both of them or only one?
Mark :I am from Bangalore India, any idea the above mentioned drugs will be available in India?

I don't know what the laws are in India, so I can't tell you with any accuracy whether you'll need a prescription to buy either of those drugs there. I do know that Dr. Reddy is a pharmaceutical company in India that manufacturers generic propecia and proscar so I'd assume you could get it there. I doubt they only make it for export, especially considering India is the most populous nation on earth.

You can also use them both at the same time, but I think it's smart to start with one or the other, because....

....Yes you can experience side effects from the drugs. If you start on one drug, then you can feel it out and see how your body reacts to the drug. If you start taking multiple drugs at once and you start getting an unwanted reaction, you won't be able to tell which drug caused the reaction.

-Mark

[starzstar]

Thanks
I was thinking is it safe to take these medicines without doctors prescription? Not legally though.
I am consulting Dr. Shahid Shamsher he is a trichologist in Dr. Health Bangalore. The medicines that he has given are Homeopathic and apparently have side no effects.

[sureshk]

I took Dr Shahid Shamsher's treatment for a period of 3 months. It definately helped me to control my hair fall and right now the scalp appears quite stable. But what do I do further. I want to grow back all or atleast most of my hair and he tells me that to get that much growth, I would have to undergo FUE method of transplant. Any suggestions?:)

[Mark]

I took Dr Shahid Shamsher's treatment for a period of 3 months. It definately helped me to control my hair fall and right now the scalp appears quite stable. But what do I do further. I want to grow back all or atleast most of my hair and he tells me that to get that much growth, I would have to undergo FUE method of transplant. Any suggestions?:)

There isn't a medication that can grow hair back that is lost, so yes, the only way you can get hair back is through some form of transplantation.

-Mark

[sureshk]

My concern is that a couple of cousins in US have got transplant done and they have not had a successful experience at all. The problem is that even after the transplant has been done, their natural hair as continued to fall, the result being they now still look bald as ever. Therefore before getting into this further, I wanted an unbiased view of how much growth to expect from transplant. Please let me know.
Thanks for your earlier answer.

[Lain]

The golden standard I think is 90 % of the hairs which are transplanted will grow. It is indeed an dilemma that HT does not mean that your other hair will stay in place. That is why people when having hair transplants (by people I refer to men in this case) should take Propecia. Not only to prevent shock loss but also to prevent further balding. As Mark once said all you can do is cross fingers and hope that balding will not proceed after a HT. Sadly I cannot give better hopes. If you have the cash you can always make further Hair tranplants over the years to cover up what has been lost due genetics until you run out of donor hair. It all depends on how important that full head of hair is I suppose.

[sureshk]

Lian, I appreciate your frank answers. So clearly there are no guarantees here. One more concern is that after the transplant how long does one have to continue with Propecia and what are the potential side effects of the same

[Lain]

Well I know it sounds really annoying but when you start Propecia it basically means you should take it a whole life time (as long as there are no side effects) Once you stop Propecia your hair will get impacted again by DHT and resulting in hair loss. It is however not obligatory to take Propecia after a HT - however strongly recommended if I understand it correctly.

The possible side effects:

* breast enlargement or tenderness
* skin rash
* sexual difficulties (less sexual desire or ability to get an erection)
* small amount of semen released during sex

"The official FDA studies show that the difference between the placebo group and those that actual took Propecia, is less than 1% of men are impacted by a reduction of libido (sexual drive). There is also a very small percentage of men who have ’sexual dysfunction’ (I hate this term because is implies that something is ‘broken’) which can be made worse by Propecia. The risk for worsening sexual dysfunction is in the order of 5%."

Source: http://www.baldingblog.com/2005/07/25/sexual-side-effects-from-propecia/

But it is very very wise to talk to a doctor about it who has long experience with this substance. NOTE: That does not apply to me.

[Lain]

To add to my answer: It is very important to make a so called "Master plan" with your doctor that will indicate when to stop ore move forward on hair transplantation. Read more:

http://www.baldingblog.com/2009/02/17/whats-the-point-of-a-master-plan-and-miniaturization-mapping/

[sureshk]

I consulted Dr Shahid again after reading your last post. He says I will have to continue both propecia and minoxidil application for lifelong. Can you please confirm that minoxidil application has to be continued lifelong as well.
Thanks Lain.
Ps Where has Mark gone?

[Lain]

If you want to get the benefits from Minoxidil you have to take it for a lifetime - that is correct. Hair which grows from this medication gets Minoxidil dependent and therefore you need to apply it daily. When you take Minoxidil for some time (lets say 4 years) and stop it something like a "catch up" hair loss can occur. That means that all hair is lost which Minoxidil maintained. Quiet a good story from Dr Rassman can be read here how Minoxidil can actually maintain the hair and what happens when you stop it:

http://www.baldingblog.com/2009/02/27/hair-loss-from-stopping-minoxidil/

Mark is always around. When someone answers a post and its fine he feels no need of interfering. Only if important things, which have not been mentioned are still missing, he will add his knowledge.

[sureshk]

Thanks for link Lian,
Any side effects of long term usage of minoxidil

[Lain]

Very often people report that they develop dandruff from Minoxidil after a couple of month. For my part I can only confirm that. On a blog post Dr Rassman was once asked if there were any long term side effects from Minoxidil which he answered with "no".

Source: http://www.baldingblog.com/2009/02/10/minoxidil-and-the-prostate/