quack trichologist

[somone uk]

i just got back after seeing a trichologist (he was on the institute website), he diagnosed me with male pattern baldness and Telogen Effluvium straight away (he said that Telogen Effluvium was causing male pattern baldness to trigger and also caused me to diffuse) seemed competent and plausible and i am pending a blood test (he thinks i am a NW2 which is a little optimistic )

but after that came the discussion of treatment, he said the only 2 that work are propeica and minoixidil but he was saying it like you should only take 1 or the other and i quote "they both do the same thing" but the real nail in the coffin was that he tried to sell me 2% (he argued that there is no evidence 5% is better) minoxidil right there for £124 (with the innocent "i am not making any profit from this) for 4 months :shock: when i pointed out that i could go get some rogaine from boots cheaper he made a claim that it has some proprietary ingredients and just listed some transition metals then tried to subtlely point out he used it despite having a thick NW2 and hair dye (minoxidil and any alcohol topical would wash dye out soooooo quickly)

after this bloodtest he said if i wanted finasteride i would have to go to farjo in Manchester for a consultation (also where he claimed to get this generic minoxidil which farjo don't seem to sell themselves :whistle: ) (well maybe legit finasteride isn't worth it)

idk is this guy breaching the IOT code :dunno: , he certainly didn't seem to have alot of integrity
couldn't help but feel he had an ulterior motive

 

[SuperMeh]

I saw someone from the IoT as well in London, I don't doubt his intent, he didn't try to sell me anything, BUT I was very annoyed at them, the first time I went to see them they put my diffuse loss down to Telogen Effluvium as my loss happened suddenly and violently after I used a hair dye, he said it was absolutely nothing to worry about and to leave it for at least 1 year, I came back almost exactly a year later, and he quickly said I must have AA due to the pattern of my loss (I am still 'NW0' but diffuse in all pattern areas)

Just feel like I wasted a year doing nothing to help it =/

Grr ¬_¬

 

[somone uk]

didn't he even order blood tests or ask about your family history ? :shock:
you seemed to of been in the middle of a bad coincidence but he should of looked down other aisles rather than just assuming it's just Telogen Effluvium
my tricoligest claimed that Telogen Effluvium can make male pattern baldness worse somehow
i just found out it's normal for private practice and doctors in the USA to sell things
call me old fashioned but i like my doctors and such to be Impartial and i can't take him seriously if he is telling me why is product is the best

 

[SuperMeh]

Family history was discussed on the phone before I went to see him, forgot to mention.

The thing is I have absolutely no family history of this anyway so it wouldn't have made a difference to original diagnosis, and I still haven't had bloodwork done which is very silly of me, as now having been on finasteride the results may be hard to decipher, although it would help explain if the hairloss is coming from other sources, as I'm thinking recently it could be thyroid related..

I was also told chronic Telogen Effluvium can "reveal" male pattern baldness, as the diffuse shedding all over reveals the hair loss that was already occuring but was not obvious beforehand, I don't know about this really..

Anyway, I would say if I had the money I would have maybe got consultations from 2 or maybe more different trichologists. Doubt my GP would've been much help whatsoever. I'm sorry to hear you had a bad experience with one though, although I noted the obvious negative, I didn't get anything near the experience you did, it sounds dodgy indeed. =/

 

[Boondock]

It sounds like a joke. Blood tests before jumping on finasteride might be handy for peace of mind, but the prices on his minoxidil are ridiculous. Hell, Boots' prices on minoxidil are ridiculous.