Propecia and Minoxidil

[jack]

Hi

From where i come from it's impossible to do a scalp mapping for minituarization. A prominent dermatologist told that if it were done here it would only be by researchers. I went for a checkup with him and he said that i might be having male pattern baldness after going through my scalp with his hands for a while.

I've thought of doing my own scalp mapping but the handheld microscope only ships in the US and Canada.

The dermatologist prescribed propecia and regaine(minoxidil 5%). However what is worrying me now is that how if i do not have any hair loss problem. I am 18 years old. I noticed that their is a patch on my vertex that looks like balding. However could it be also because of the way i style my hair away from the patch that made it look balding. I do not suffer hair fall of more than 50 strands a day. But i do notice that in that 50 strands maybe half of it are hair finer that the others.

I am worried to start on the propecia and regaine as i fear that i might not have any hair loss issue and that going on the medication would cause hair loss to happen.

Something else i would like to know. What happens to patients that do not suffer from hair loss and takes propecia before finally realising that he or she does not have hair loss and stops the medication?

Thank you.

[DownUnder]

Hi

From where i come from it's impossible to do a scalp mapping for minituarization. A prominent dermatologist told that if it were done here it would only be by researchers. I went for a checkup with him and he said that i might be having male pattern baldness after going through my scalp with his hands for a while.

I've thought of doing my own scalp mapping but the handheld microscope only ships in the US and Canada.

The dermatologist prescribed propecia and regaine(minoxidil 5%). However what is worrying me now is that how if i do not have any hair loss problem. I am 18 years old. I noticed that their is a patch on my vertex that looks like balding. However could it be also because of the way i style my hair away from the patch that made it look balding. I do not suffer hair fall of more than 50 strands a day. But i do notice that in that 50 strands maybe half of it are hair finer that the others.

I am worried to start on the propecia and regaine as i fear that i might not have any hair loss issue and that going on the medication would cause hair loss to happen.

Something else i would like to know. What happens to patients that do not suffer from hair loss and takes propecia before finally realising that he or she does not have hair loss and stops the medication?

Thank you.
I would like to know the answers to this as well...I am in exactly the same situation...though I am 24. Dermatologists just felt my hair and concluded I was balding...I am not convinced so I don't want to start proscar. The only guy who pulled some hairs out and looked under the microscope said I was not balding...but he only did it in once place and I am not sure it was miniturization he was looking for...he talked about the ratio of hairs in growth stages compared to resting stages was good...

I also seem to loose about 50% of hairs which are shorter and thinner...but maybe I am just looking harder now...

I was gonna get the microscope...I am in Australia though. Surely there must be a way to get one outside US & Canada...

EDIT: Do a Google...the device is available from many places...

[Kinky Temples]

No need to question if you're losing hair or not. If hair loss is existent in either your mom or your dad's side. you WILL have some level of loss, even if it's not that bad or obvious. Trash the myth that is only your mom's side has to do with it, though while it is true that it may play a bigger role it isn't like you will have a full head of hair if every man on your mom's side does. If men on your dad's are bald as bowling balls, you are not going to have perfect density.

Though about the minoxidil, I was wondering, and I don't expect to get an exact answer since it's not even on google, but...how exactly does it work? Other than the fact it's supposed to thicken the follicle? What about it makes the follicle thicken? Does it supply it with the nutrients I read the DHT block or does it remove DHT. Or, something else maybe?

[Mark]

Hi

From where i come from it's impossible to do a scalp mapping for minituarization. A prominent dermatologist told that if it were done here it would only be by researchers. I went for a checkup with him and he said that i might be having male pattern baldness after going through my scalp with his hands for a while.

I've thought of doing my own scalp mapping but the handheld microscope only ships in the US and Canada.

The dermatologist prescribed propecia and regaine(minoxidil 5%). However what is worrying me now is that how if i do not have any hair loss problem. I am 18 years old. I noticed that their is a patch on my vertex that looks like balding. However could it be also because of the way i style my hair away from the patch that made it look balding. I do not suffer hair fall of more than 50 strands a day. But i do notice that in that 50 strands maybe half of it are hair finer that the others.

I am worried to start on the propecia and regaine as i fear that i might not have any hair loss issue and that going on the medication would cause hair loss to happen.

Something else i would like to know. What happens to patients that do not suffer from hair loss and takes propecia before finally realising that he or she does not have hair loss and stops the medication?

Thank you.

Going on Propecia (or any other form of Finasteride) will not cause any hair loss if you don't have an actual hair loss problem. However, if you start taking Finasteride and you do have genetic hair loss, if you stop taking it you'll end up losing all the hair that the drug was preventing you from losing over the period of time you were taking it.

Basically, if you want to start taking Finasteride there isn't much of a downside to it, but be careful if decide to stop a few years later, because if you do have genetic hair loss, you may see a drastic and sudden loss of hair.

-Mark

[Mark]

Though about the minoxidil, I was wondering, and I don't expect to get an exact answer since it's not even on google, but...how exactly does it work? Other than the fact it's supposed to thicken the follicle? What about it makes the follicle thicken? Does it supply it with the nutrients I read the DHT block or does it remove DHT. Or, something else maybe?



Nobody really knows the exact way in which Minoxidil works, only that it does. Here's something that I clipped from the ISHRS website about minoxidil. (http://www.ishrs.org/articles/about-rogaine.htm)

How Does Minoxidil Work?

Why does minoxidil halt hair loss and stimulate new hair growth? No one knows for sure, but there are some good assumptions.

The hair-restoration properties of minoxidil were an accidental discovery. Minoxidil was developed first as an anti-hypertensive-a drug designed to lower blood pressure by vasodilation (dilating blood vessels). But minoxidil also turned out to have an effect on the structure and cellular activity of hair follicles, and on the growth rate of hair. Is the vasodilating effect of minoxidil associated with its effect on hair follicles? No one can say for sure. It also is not known why the effects of minoxidil on hair follicles varies from person to person-no effect in some people, substantial effect in others. Since the cause of the hair follicle effects are not understood, they cannot be predicted and no one can say in advance who will benefit from minoxidil therapy and who will not.

[Kinky Temples]

It's kind of strange don't you think...that scientists can discover DHT and finasteride and it's not even known yet how min thickens the follicle lol...

[Kinky Temples]

This is a question about Propecia, or any DHT fighter.

Merck's studies have shown that a number of men taking Propecia not only maintained their hair but regrew some (or thickened up a bit).

Does this mean Propecia has some influence on follicle diameter or is it just that because DHT is impacted the follicle has a better chance of doing what it does normally, like thicken up on an infant head.

[Mark]

This is a question about Propecia, or any DHT fighter.

Merck's studies have shown that a number of men taking Propecia not only maintained their hair but regrew some (or thickened up a bit).

Does this mean Propecia has some influence on follicle diameter or is it just that because DHT is impacted the follicle has a better chance of doing what it does normally, like thicken up on an infant head.

I'm just making a guess here, but I'd assume in the instances where hair was "regrown", what likely happened was the Finasteride just reversed the miniaturization. So the men probably had hair still, it was just so fine as to be practically invisible. They started taking Finasteride which caused the miniaturization to reverse, giving the appearance that hair was re-growing.

Again, just my own guess there.

[Kinky Temples]

I was discussing this with someone earlier and my theory of "dead follices" was thrown out. I think follicles are "dormant" instead of "dead" in a bald person, meaning they can thicken.

How does follicles thicken in babies btw?

[Mark]

I was discussing this with someone earlier and my theory of "dead follices" was thrown out. I think follicles are "dormant" instead of "dead" in a bald person, meaning they can thicken.

How does follicles thicken in babies btw?



You know, this is an awesome question.

I just chatted with Dr. Rassman about this, and essentially he said that scientists don't fully understand the way that follicles die out. The current best guess is that there are genetic steps that take place to create a hair follicle, meaning the actual building of the cellular structure of the follicle itself. Now in bald men, the idea is that somewhere along the lines DHT interrupts one of these many steps in creating the cellular structure of the follicle. If they could find a way to put those steps back in place, the cure for baldness would likely be at hand.

Also interesting when talking to Dr. Rassman about this was that he said he was recently contacted by a research scientist who has been experimenting with using stem cells to regrow follicles in bald men and claims to have had much success. He asked Dr. Rassman if he would like to be part of a clinical study.

Nothing is finalized of course yet and this is all very early, but if the claims of this research scientist are credible and verifiable, it seems quite promising!

-Mark

[crisos]

hey guys, im new here.. just starting to bald this is my first post so i might be way off but;

i noticed when pulling a few hairs that the healthy ones in the back of my head had a large amount of that white stuff on the end, where as the skinny ones up front had almost none. DHT attacks from the root and seems to thin the root and the area around it. (almost like giving a plant bad or no nutrients the roots and then the plant itself will start to shrivel up) Im thinking that when you stop DHT the hair can start to regrow again and get thicker. I dont know if dead/dormant hair sockets (forgot what theyre called) will produce hair again if you stop.

[Kinky Temples]

Cool some weeks ago I praised the future treatment Hair multiplication. It's the one with stem cells/follicles multiplying in an environment scientists make. They get some donor follicles and make them multiply. They then microinject the new follicles in bald areas.

....

I'm not sure exactly how they are injected, but it should have nothing to do with grafts...

What will Merck do then? Lololol

hey guys, im new here.. just starting to bald this is my first post so i might be way off but;

i noticed when pulling a few hairs that the healthy ones in the back of my head had a large amount of that white stuff on the end, where as the skinny ones up front had almost none. DHT attacks from the root and seems to thin the root and the area around it. (almost like giving a plant bad or no nutrients the roots and then the plant itself will start to shrivel up) Im thinking that when you stop DHT the hair can start to regrow again and get thicker. I dont know if dead/dormant hair sockets (forgot what theyre called) will produce hair again if you stop.Stop what? Treatment?

Also yeah in some people Propecia will not only maintain their hair, hair follicles (sockets) can thicken, and this is because of the attack on DHT.

Also, what do you mean by the "back"? The crown? Because it was definitely my thinning hairs that had that white stuff at the roots. Originally, 2 years ago, before I thought I was thinning, I thought they were accumulated sweat because I washed my hair once a week lol. So yeah, your non-thinning hair shouldn't have the white stuff, because occasionally I pluck my underarm hair and I see none of it. Unless somehow armpit hair is different then my theory should be right.

[crisos]

sorry i didnt explain that well at all. The white stuff im speaking of is below the hair line attached to the hair root and only visible when i pluck the hair. I meant when i pluck a healthy hair the root has a larger amount of this white buildup. But when i pluck a whispy hair or in an area that is losing hair (probably shouldnt be plucking them) it has almost to none of that white stuff. Ive done this a handful of times and in all cases the healthy hairs had the white buildup and the non healthy ones had none.

Maybe the healthy hairs just had a better grip in my skin and pulled out some part of the skin with it but i was thinking up till now that it was some indication the hair was healthy and that the DHT was getting rid of this stuff.

i feel kinda weird being this obsessive about this, its not helping anything for me to do this but im trying to understand this more.

[Kinky Temples]

From what I've heard the white stuff is caused by the "ending" of the shaft (hair) growth. In other words when the follicle wants to go to sleep it cuts off the hair and the white stuff form at the root, but this has to do with the non-resisting follicles, not the resisting ones, because the strong follicles...hardly ever shed.

Just what I heard, and it explains my situation. Your situation is new to me.