Preparing For Battle (lab Reports From Bloodwork And Biopsies

[Obsessive]

Hi All,
FIgured I'd share my story since I'm pretty new to the hair loss internet world. I am 40 years old, have a mautre hair line, hair loss in the usual male pattern baldness areas, diffuse frontal thinning and low density on the crown.
Wavy/curly hair is keeping me above water, barely.

June 3nd, 2018, suddenly starting losing 50-60 thick hairs during showering each day, which was in total contrast to only noticing a few each day. It's like a switch was flipped. No idea why it started so suddenly, but a dermatologist friend suggested it was the result of telogen effluvium (now I know that many of us think it is Telogen Effluvium in the beginning). This gave me some hope but just as backup, I started .25 mg finasteride on July 1. Right before starting I had my DHT and Test levels checked: DHT=77 (range 15-79) and Total Test=840 (range 290-1100). After 1 month of0.25 mg finasteride I had my levels checked again: DHT=29 and Total Test=850.

By Aug 20th, the loss had not slowed and thinning was becoming extreme, so I started 1 mg finasteride / day and had 2 scalp biopsies. Biopsy Results: follicular miniaturization indicative of androgenetic alopecia. f***!

I had been using minoxidil daily for >5 years before starting finasteride, but I want to strengthen my regimen before more damage was done. I already confirmed that my DHT had been taken down significantly (from 77 to 29...probably even lower now since on 1 mg of finasteride). Around Sept. 1 I added topical finasteride (formulated with minoxidil) to get local DHT reduction. The result of combined oral finasteride, topical finasteride, and min? Still shedding and thinning like crazy. My research tells me that DHT reduction may only be part of the hairloss problem. I've seen a few RU success stories so I have ordered a batch of the powder, along with estradiol powder to be used topically once formulated. As some have said, RU can stop the shedding in a couple day. I hope this is true for me. As for the estrogen, I will hold off on using it until I am completely desperate. This will be my hail Mary before I cut or shave it. Yes, there's a possibility of side effects but that's the game I'm prepared to play. I've read that some users on this forum are applying topical estrogen with good results. I hope I can write a success story here soon.

 

[Itiswhatitis]

You’re 40 man, let it go

 

[thetdog666]

You’re 40 man, let it go

its never time to let it go haha

 

[Retinoid]

Do you have pictures before starting Finasteride and through your treatment or at least have current pictures?

You are also not giving time for Finasteride to work. You started in July. That means less than 3 months ago and you are already purchasing estrogen and concluding Finasteride does not work.

Something tells me this is another case of BDD.

 

[Obsessive]

You’re 40 man, let it go

How about post something informative?

 

[Obsessive]

Do you have pictures before starting Finasteride and through your treatment or at least have current pictures?

You are also not giving time for Finasteride to work. You started in July. That means less than 3 months ago and you are already purchasing estrogen and concluding Finasteride does not work.

Something tells me this is another case of BDD.

I'm not sure what BDD is, but it sounds negative. I took a couple pics yesterday and have a pre-shed pic; will post soon. I've taken a fairly analytical approach with checking hormone levels both before and during treatment, and also underwent two scalp biopsies, so I'm hoping to get some helpful responses.

 

[InvaderZim]

Prepare for the battle and win the war!

 

[Retinoid]

I'm not sure what BDD is, but it sounds negative. I took a couple pics yesterday and have a pre-shed pic; will post soon. I've taken a fairly analytical approach with checking hormone levels both before and during treatment, and also underwent two scalp biopsies, so I'm hoping to get some helpful responses.

How about you have some patience? You cannot conclude results in less than 3 months. Also serum hormones are almost irrelevant when it comes to hair loss.

 

[Obsessive]

How about you have some patience? You cannot conclude results in less than 3 months. Also serum hormones are almost irrelevant when it comes to hair loss.

According to one study in J. Am. Acad. Dermatol., 1 mg finasteride reduces scalp DHT levels by 64.1%. This is very close to DHT levels seen systemically. Therefore, I would suspect that the % reduction of DHT seen systemically could be a decent proxy for scalp DHT levels. A little patience is good advice-just don't want to be another guy who waited to long to bring out the heavy artillery.

 

[Obsessive]

Prepare for the battle and win the war!

That's right brother, hopefully without totally compromising my masculinity in the process

 

[bluecyclone]

I get that losing your hair young is worse that losing it later is far worse. Either way it sucks and 40 isn’t 70.

 

[abcdefg]

You’re 40 man, let it go

I knew guys that were 40 that had nearly perfect teenage hairlines so I dont really agree that 40 is too old to stop caring. Its up to you. There are 50 year olds that still worry about going bald. I dont think caring about your appearance goes away until your dead.
The only thing you can say is as you get older its gets tougher to stop because male pattern baldness seems to be progressive.

 

[michel sapin]

you have great test level for a 40 yo dude

 

[Itiswhatitis]

I knew guys that were 40 that had nearly perfect teenage hairlines so I dont really agree that 40 is too old to stop caring. Its up to you. There are 50 year olds that still worry about going bald. I dont think caring about your appearance goes away until your dead.
The only thing you can say is as you get older its gets tougher to stop because male pattern baldness seems to be progressive.

I didn’t say you stop caring. The point is going bald at 40 is much more socially acceptable than 20s. In your 40s your social group will generally have some degree of male pattern baldness. It’s not the same at all.

 

[Obsessive]

you have great test level for a 40 yo dude

Thanks. The strange thing is that I've monitored my T levels my whole adult life and this is by far the highest they've ever been. Previous range for total T has been 400-650 since my 20's and up until March of this year!! My free T has always been average at best,usually below average. Also, my SHBG used to be sky high; not sure what it is now but I'm checking it next week, along with another round of T, DHT, and E. I've brought this up to two physicians who didn't seem to give think it was odd for an aging male to suddenly have significantly higher T levels.

 

[Grasshüpfer]

Def BDD

finasteride takes a while. In Androgenetic Alopecia scensecent cells cause an inflammation, that the body has to clean up, before it can replenish the cells.
And only after the healing had taken place the hair will fall out and regrow thicker.

So you are at least looking at another two hair cycles of at least three months until the new hair is visibly thicker. If an individual hair is not damaged much it might as well just run its normal 7y cycle.

 

[Obsessive]

Def BDD

finasteride takes a while. In Androgenetic Alopecia scensecent cells cause an inflammation, that the body has to clean up, before it can replenish the cells.
And only after the healing had taken place the hair will fall out and regrow thicker.

So you are at least looking at another two hair cycles of at least three months until the new hair is visibly thicker. If an individual hair is not damaged much it might as well just run its normal 7y cycle.

Ahh, body dysmorphia. Yea, that's probably accurate; at least I own it.
Thanks for the info! It looks like I'll be using a regimen similar to yours as soon as my RU arrives.

 

[Obsessive]

Just got DHT levels checked after being on 1 mg finasteride (Merck) for ~40 days. DHT has increased from 29 to 38!! I was only on 1/4 mg finasteride (generic) when I tested at 29. I guess there is always some window of error in these measurements, but I am not happy to see this.
BTW-Before starting finasteride DHT = 77.

 

[UgHair]

Checked ur thyroid bro? Before mine started i had no scalp showing but always very thin hair that if i put product in it and t was short u could see my scalp. anyway, one day my pillow was covered like a dog had been on it. lasted a month or 2 then stopped. then about 6 years later i noticed my crown was thinning out.