My brother

[seth9027]

OK, guys, I've been here for a few months and I've already told my story, but this is about my brother. He is only 17 and a senior in high school, and I just saw him again for the first time in a few months (I was away at college), and his hair is definitely a lot thinner than it was when I last saw him.

My hair began thinning very gradually in high school and I was the only one that really noticed it (in fact it actually started to just look drier and stiffer before I really noticed thinning). I was always jealous of my younger brother because he had a full, thick head of hair, even though some people we knew swore that we looked almost identical, I could tell that my hair was thinner. Now that I have been thinning for several years I pay attention to other people's hair more than I used to, and I could really tell that my brother's is getting thinner diffusely, almost exactly like mine has.

What do you think I should do? I talked to my mom about asking the doctor about Propecia for him, as I just started taking it 4 months ago and feel that it is starting to work for me. He has been on various ADD medecines for years, and in the past few years he has taken several anti-depressants to counter the effects of the ADD medecines. I feel like these may have exacerbated the loss, but I don't really know what can be done about that. Also, he is starting Accutane soon for acne, and I've heard that can cause hair loss too.

Is it safe for a 17 year old (almost 18) to take Propecia, and is it safe to take it at the same time as Accutane? I really want to help my brother before his thinning gets really bad, as I don't think he's even noticed the loss yet, and I feel I'm in a unique position to help. I've talked to my mom but haven't talked to him yet. Sorry for the long post, but any advide to help my brother out would be appreciated.

 

[RaginDemon]

you should speak to him and get HIS opinion before you speak to your mom.

 

[KielMcK]

I would leave him alone. Maybe he is one of the many lucky guys that do not care about their hair and just get on with there life. I would certianly love to be one of those guys.

 

[seth9027]

my mom actually spoke to me about it because she noticed it too, i did not go to her. the reason I haven't talked to my brother about it already is because he used to be really outgoing, but ever since he's gotten acne he's gotten really self-conscious, and I didn't want to give him another reason to be self-conscious at this point, especially now that he's starting accutane. so excuse me for wanting to help my brother out without making him feel worse

 

[RaginDemon]

well have a good talk with him, mental support is also very important!

 

[TonyTheTiger]

lol what a shallow family!

my folks dont even care that my bro or me have thinning hair. Everytime I mention it my mom says stop being vane are you a girl? lol

Anyway I always wondered that as well is it ok to take propecia and accutane?

I am one of those unlucky guys who is balding and has adult acne mainly black heads and body acne and I am super clean take 2 showers a day wash my blankets never use the same shirt etc..

If your bro doesnt have body acne I suggest he just use that lotion for the face the derm gives. It helps so he can just take propecia so he wont have to worry bout his liver.

 

[RaginDemon]

lol what a shallow family!

my folks dont even care that my bro or me have thinning hair. Everytime I mention it my mom says stop being vane are you a girl? lol

Anyway I always wondered that as well is it ok to take propecia and accutane?

I am one of those unlucky guys who is balding and has adult acne mainly black heads and body acne and I am super clean take 2 showers a day wash my blankets never use the same shirt etc..

If your bro doesnt have body acne I suggest he just use that lotion for the face the derm gives. It helps so he can just take propecia so he wont have to worry bout his liver.

damn you got a caring family alright lol

 

[TonyTheTiger]

lol what a shallow family!

my folks dont even care that my bro or me have thinning hair. Everytime I mention it my mom says stop being vane are you a girl? lol

Anyway I always wondered that as well is it ok to take propecia and accutane?

I am one of those unlucky guys who is balding and has adult acne mainly black heads and body acne and I am super clean take 2 showers a day wash my blankets never use the same shirt etc..

If your bro doesnt have body acne I suggest he just use that lotion for the face the derm gives. It helps so he can just take propecia so he wont have to worry bout his liver.

damn you got a caring family alright lol

lol they dont like me worrying over superficial stuff.

 

[seth9027]

I'm beginning to wonder if anybody ever tries to actually help anybody else on this site.

 

[RaginDemon]

you can only expect others to help you so much...we will have to learn how to combat this sh*t with a strong mentality. Its never easy.

 

[blaze]

seth,

I think your concern for your little brother is admirable. I gave my bro the heads up when I first started to notice hairloss. I simply told him if he notices anything going on with his hair to come and talk to me about it. Thankfully it appears the Androgenetic Alopecia gene has passed him by, because he is years past the age I noticed Androgenetic Alopecia and he still has all his hair.

As for accutane and propecia at the same time, I would say it depeneds on how much he is taking. I have taken both at the same time before, but I was only on a micro /small dose of Accutane - 10mg twice per week.

Here is a study you might be interested in on Low Dose Accutane -

Low Dose, High Rates of Success


Ultra-low dose isotretinoin is all many acne patients need
Jul 1, 2003
By: Alison Palkhivala
Dermatology Times




Dr. Plewig
San Francisco - Low and ultra-low doses of isotretinoin are an effective therapy for many acne patients. This safer and cheaper solution can even be used continuously.

Gerd Plewig, M.D., believes that the doses of isotretinoin typically used in the United States and Europe are far too high. For many patients, as little as 2.5 mg twice a week, which he describes as "a drop of rain on a dusty road" is adequate.

Dermatologists all over the world already are treating some patients continuously with low doses of isotretinoin, according to Dr. Plewig, director, dermatology and allergy clinic, Ludwig-Maximilian University in Munich.

"When you talk to doctors in this country and other countries of the world, they use 10 mg twice a week or three times a week, which is a low or ultra-low dose. But nobody ever bothered to show and demonstrate that it works," he said. Thus, he and his team performed two clinical trials to assess its efficacy.

Study Spotlights Low Dosing In the first trial, 28 patients with acne conglobata and inflammatory acne took a low dose of isotretinoin: 20 mg/kg, 10 mg/kg, or 0.5 mg/kg body weight daily for six months. In the second study, 11 acne patients took an ultra low dose of isotretinoin: 2.5 mg to 5 mg daily or 2.5 mg twice a week for six months. Both trials involved multiple endpoints, including clinical grading, lesion counts, counts of follicular filaments (believed to be precursors to lesions), bacterial colonization, patients' opinion of seborrhea levels, two objective measurements of sebum levels (Sebutape and Bentonite clay), qualitative assessment of sebum using high power, thin layer chromatography, and biopsies to assess size and configuration of sebaceous glands.

Trials Yield Significant Improvement Results of the first trial in which low doses of isotretinoin were used revealed significant improvements in all parameters tested. Numbers of follicular filaments, and lesions dropped, as did levels of bacteria and sebum. Sebaceous glands shrank, as well.

At the end of the second study, which investigated ultra-low doses of isotretinoin, efficacy was maintained on many of the parameters. There were significant reductions in numbers of active lesions and follicular filaments as well as objective measures of sebum levels. Patients' ratings of seborrhea improved, and levels of P. acnes on the skin diminished.

"The endpoint or the lowest point of a retinoid being effective for the treatment of seborrhea, persistent low grade acne, or maintenance therapy for patients with bad acne probably is around 2.5 mg or 2 mg, or maybe even 1.5 mg," Dr. Plewig said.

The best candidates for low and ultra-low doses isotretinoin therapy, Dr. Plewig said, include patients with severe acne who were controlled with higher doses and require a lower-dose maintenance therapy, individuals whose facial acne has persisted from adolescence into adulthood, and people with sebaceous gland hyperplasia. "Some patients come only because of their oiliness. ... For these patients, I think the low or ultra-low dose is very good, and it's cheap, too," he said.

Severe Patients Still Receive Low Doses Dr. Plewig keeps doses of isotretinoin relatively low in patients with severe acne. "I pretreat patients with severe inflammatory acne with systemic corticosteroids to begin with...about 1 mg/kg body weight for about seven to 14 days, taper it off, and then give an antibiotic, usually an erythromycin, a macrolide," he said. "And then I start with the isotretinoin [0.2 mg/kg to 0.4 mg/kg body weight]. It is so much better. We used to start immediately with isotretinoin or tried antibiotics, but often it takes too long, the patients are miserable, and it is so much better for them because you can have a faster final result, a better final result with cooling down the skin first, then adding your active treatment."

Continuous Use Offers Versatility A great benefit of using lower doses of isotretinoin is that it can be used continuously. There are other important advantages, as well. "In terms of pharmacoeconomics, it is cheaper to use lower doses, it is better tolerated by patients, has fewer side effects, fewer laboratory abnormalities, and of course the patients like it when they have continuous elegant treatment," Dr. Plewig said.

Despite the safer side-effect profile with low-dose isotretinoin, Dr. Plewig emphasized that, at any dose, the drug should still be considered teratogenic and be used with great caution in women of childbearing age.

 

[RaginDemon]

its great u guys look out for your brothers.

If someone gave me more insight about hair loss, I would have started treatment much earlier.

 

[seth9027]

Thanks for the help, that is an interesting study to say the least. I think my brother is taking a relatively low dose of accutane, thankfully. Please disregard my earlier post, as I see instances of people helping each other every time I come here. But your right RaginDemon, there really isnt that much you can do to help in some situations. Anyway, I don't really care if my brother is balding if he is not bothered by it. The only reason I posted this was because I knew he had been bothered by things like acne in the past, and I just wanted to give him a little bit of helpful information in case he is interested in doing something about hair loss. I know I, and probably a lot of people on here, wish they had started treatments a little earlier. anyway, thanks for the help

 

[RaginDemon]

seth, I know where you are coming from.

I myself am bothered by this hair loss crap, but I try not to act it out. I dont talk about it to anyone, people with no hair problem will tend to think I am just making a big fuzz out of nothing anyways.

I admire the guys who just shave it off and go on with their lives. I know that once I start not to care about it, I will be much happier. I learned how to cope with this sh*t over yrs, I don't stress over it no more, but once in a while, it still gets me and makes me depressed. I hope things will turn out great for you and your brother! GL!

 

[Maxpwr]

Yeah I agree, you probably wouldn't want to raise the issue in the way that he's gonna feel even worse about himself. The problem is, if you don't say anything, he's eventually gonna notice by himself or by someone else pointing it out and be just as bad or worse.

If he's sensitive about his acne I doubt he's the sort that's just gonna wave off hair loss and not give a sh*t about it.

Does he know about your treatments? You could possibly have a chat to him and show him... maybe suggest that he will have to look into it in the near future because "he may have male pattern baldness in his genes too" ...you know, sorta get him used to the idea and at least get him clued up on the basics.

Either way it's a tough call... 17 is pretty young to deal with any amount of depression and mental anguish, let alone having to take pills and topicals and all sorts of crap for this and that.

 

[phish]

well id personally help him out and tell him that you take propecia and it works the sooner you get on it, mention to him you got a full head of hair but this is just a precaution so you dont lose any hair. the funny thing is that his acne could prob clean up a lot of he was on a dht blocker like propecia, it would defiantly clear up if he wus on dutasteride but i would never recommend that stuff to a 17 year old. i suffered bad acne from 15-17 and i also know how it can effect you mentally. i wish i knew half the stuff i know now at 22. the sad thing is if he started now he would have a good chance to mantain his hair throughout his 20s with a low hairline, but he wont start on it till he notices for himself by the time hes 20 wich is that time he prob will have lost 50 percent of his desnsity. i will guarantee you this everyone on this board if you ask them their biggest regret they will all say its not starting propecia earlier, even a year or two is big in the hairloss game. its much easier to mantain with propecia then it is to play catchup. i personally think 17 is not to young because usually when your start to lose your hair you been done growing for a few years already.

 

[antonio666]

don't tell your little brother about propecia ,you can act superior towards him whan he is a baldie

 

[hair today gone tomorrow]

don't tell your little brother about propecia ,you can act superior towards him whan he is a baldie

\\ :jackit:

 

[Hans Gruber]

don't tell your little brother about propecia ,you can act superior towards him whan he is a baldie

\\ :jackit:

i concur

 

[RaginDemon]

don't tell your little brother about propecia ,you can act superior towards him whan he is a baldie

dude if I ever see you in person, I'd smack you on the face for saying all the b.s