Please Help, 55 Years Old, Disabled And Now Losing My Hair!

[Quadzilla]

Hi all,
I'm a 55-year-old male and I started losing my hair (mostly on top) back in 2006. I'm also disabled, the result of a 1981 motorcycle accident where my spinal cord was injured. My medical/hair loss history is pretty long so I'll post it down below for anyone interested but if I could get answers to the questions below, I'd greatly appreciate it! I've also posted some pictures, the first one being taken approximately 5 years before I started losing my hair. The others back in October. I've also posted my recent blood test results, so you can see my testosterone levels. FYI, I started taking finasteride one month ago and used Rogaine for a few years but stopped as I don't think it was helping. FYI, I'm also taking a supplement called Nature's Bounty Extra Strength Hair Skin Nails.

1. How long does one have to take finasteride before they see results? My Dr. prescribed 1 mg daily and I've been taking it as prescribed for the most part. I did cut it down to .5 mg for about a week after I noticed a fairly large lump on my cheek that I thought was acne but my doctor says was a cyst and most likely not caused by the finasteride.

2. Does finasteride cause acne breakouts? I haven't done a lot of research on this but it seems there's a lot of conflicting opinions, some say finasteride causes acne breakouts while some threads I read state finasteride can be used to treat acne?

3. Does finasteride have any side effects related to vision? Approximately 2 weeks after I started taking finasteride, I started experiencing eye "floaters", faint, squiggly lines before my eyes. I saw my eye doctor about it and she said it's just part of the aging process but I forgot to ask her about finasteride. I didn't see anything about vision in the side effects but just thought I'd ask because the floaters are getting worse, probably just coincidence though.

4. Does microneedling/derma rolling help all types of hair loss? I saw several YouTube videos on hair loss that recommend this and was thinking of getting a derma roller. I understand it also helps with acne and I have a few acne scars on my face I was going to try it out on. If you think it would help me, any recommendations on a micro needling device?

5. If I were to try minoxidil again, how long would you suggest I give it to see results? I don't remember when I first tried it, maybe around 8 years ago when I first started noticing that my hair gotten so thin that I could see the top of my scalp through my thinning hair. It seems I had good results at first, it seems my hair was growing back but it didn't last very long, maybe one year before my hair started thinning again. I didn't give up right away though, I stopped using it approximately 2 years ago. I noticed, after I had rubbed in the minoxidil (Rogaine foam), I had MANY loose hair stuck on my hand! I'm not saying the Rogaine itself cause the hair loss but I wasn't seeing any growth and was losing too much hair just applying the stuff.

6. Regarding transplants, do you think I'd be a good candidate? This is something I haven't done much research on yet. What's involved? Roughly, how much does it cost? Is it permanent or could the hair fall out again? Again, sorry but I haven't done much research on it.

7. Anyone have experience with Hair Club for Men or Bosley? Do they do just transplants? I made an appointment with Hair Club a while back but had to cancel it and never rescheduled. I did notice they called me back at least 5 times the week after, I'm assuming to reschedule.

8. Does the number of times I wash my hair per week have any effect on hair loss? I got so concerned about losing my hair that I went from washing my hair approximately 3 times a week down to only once a week. Another problem I have is severe dandruff which of course got much worse when I stopped washing my hair so often. While on the subject, are there any shampoos you recommend for men with hair loss? (I currently use head and shoulders)

9. What's the success rate with finasteride, do most guys that use the drug see a noticeable difference?

10. Are there any other treatments for hair loss you all can recommend? I read a couple of articles about Trinov, anyone here have experience with that?

Those are all the questions I have for now, I'm sure I'll have more in the future. I'm trying not to get stressed about the hair loss but it's not easy. I feel like a big enough train wreck already with my disability, it's already hard enough to meet women, etc. Anyway, thanks in advance for any input you all can provide!

Medical & hair loss history (pretty long but I'll try to note info that's related to hair loss and testosterone):
The original injury in '81 was a brachial plexus root avulsion where the branch of nerves going from the spinal cord into my right arm were pulled from the cord. At first, only my right arm was paralyzed, I was fine otherwise. But then scar tissue began to form at the site of the injury causing my spinal cord to become tethered. This caused paralysis in other parts of my body and, long story short, by 1986 I was using a manual wheelchair. I did have 3 cervical laminectomies to correct the problem but unfortunately, I continue to get weaker. Because my spinal cord was never severed, I was still able to get an erection after the injury, the only problem was that I did lose a lot of sensation down there. I think it was sometime in 2002 that I lost the ability to ejaculate. I believe it was in early 2005 that I started getting testosterone injections as my levels were found to be low (was experiencing severe fatigue). The Dr. kept raising the dosage of testosterone as my blood levels weren't responding. But then, sometime in 2006, I broke out in severe acne on my back and also noticed I was losing a LOT of hair. The doctor said this was caused by the testosterone injections and that the acne and hair loss may stop even after continued treatment. I don't recall how long I stayed on that dosage of testosterone but I don't think it was very long, the acne was just way out of hand (I'll try to post some pics of it) and even though I had a pretty thick head of hair, I was afraid of losing it! When I contacted the doctor a 2nd time about the severity of the acne, he said he would lower the dosage. The doctor himself was surprised at just how high a dosage he had put me on, he said he didn't know why he had put me on such a high dose. Needless to say, I switched doctors shortly thereafter. I continued for a short time with the testosterone injections before switching to testosterone patches. I don't recall how many years I used them but it wasn't long, I haven't had any testosterone therapy for the past 6 years or more. Even though my levels were still low, I wasn't experiencing the same constant fatigue I felt back in 2006. Regardless, my hair continued to fall out and get thin. It seems to have happened very slowly, as I mentioned earlier, I think it was 8 years ago that I first noticed a bald spot developing top of my head. It continues to fall out pretty rapidly and I'll try just about anything to keep what I've got and hopefully, grow more back!

Thanks again for any info you can provide!

Dan

 

[layabout]

For Finasteride, you need to wait at least 12 months to see whether you've had any progress

 

[Agustin Araujo]

Hey Dan.

1) You could start seeing results from Finasteride in as little as between 2-3 months, as you should notice that the number of hairs falling out are lessening. I highly doubt Finasteride did anything to cause a cyst on your cheek, I would take your doctor's advice on that.

2) It really is hard to say about the drug causing acne breakouts as there really is conflicting information about it on the internet. Ask your doctor and get her educated opinion. Or you can ask your pharmacist as well.

3) The drug does not cause eye floaters, take the doctor's advice on that as well. You should see an eye doctor if the floaters are getting worse. I have some floaters, and for many years but they're very minor.

4) Please, talk to your doctor about derma rolling. There was a study done on it a while ago showing it can have really good results, but I get skeptical of what really happened since many have tried it themselves for treating hair loss but didn't do a whole lot to help, just a little bit. I tried it myself before a while back but I didn't get much out of it honestly.

5) If you were to get on Minoxidil and it works for you, stay with it as it's really good for your hair, if you're a good respondent. Shedding is indicating that the drug is working something for your hair. It happened to me but the hairs came back stronger and thicker, and should be the case if it works well for you. It's a long term commitment however, I've been on it for over seven years.

6) There are members on here who have had hair transplants with great results! They are the best ones on here to ask about hair transplants. And as always, talk to a medical professional, specifically a hair transplant surgeon, to get their expert advice on this matter. Other than that, it's expensive to get a hair transplant, going into the thousands of dollars range.

7) I don't have any experience with those.

8) The number of times you wash your hair per day doesn't have any effect on hair loss. What ever hair falls out during washing are ones that have already become detached from your scalp. The only negative that can happen to your hair from over washing it is that it will become very dry. I highly recommend to use a Ketoconazole shampoo, it's very helpful towards treating dandruff, plus it's mildly anti-androgenic, so it can be very soothing towards reducing inflammation. The most well known one is Nizoral, but another one which is much gentler on the skin is known as Regenepure DR. You can drop the Head and Shoulders shampoo, I personally don't think you need it.

9) Finasteride has a good success rate, perhaps somewhere around the 80% range. It's hard to give a very solid success rate considering not every man who takes Finasteride for hair loss reports back the results.

10) Finasteride and Minoxidil are the most common and most tested treatments for hair loss. Any experimental treatment can be very obscure. I've tried them before and nothing interesting happened. Supplements are good for your hair, but they won't do much of anything for treating the actual balding itself.

It's really too bad what happened to you from that motorcycle accident. Testosterone therapy could have nasty effects if not done right. Make sure to get your hormones at the optimal level. A certain level of testosterone may be perfect for one man, but could be too low or too high for the other. Please, take good care of your self.

 

[Northface32]

I think the moderator did a great job answering alot of your questions.....as for hair transplant I'm sure it's a real possibility as you look to have plenty of hair left and great donor hair and your already on finasteride. So what ever you choose to do, I wish you the best of luck and hope you get everything figured out!