Updates on Effective Treatments These Days?

[it2wi]

Been out of the scene for a few years, loss accelerating and wanted to see what is working for the community these days.

Back in 2015/2016, I experimented with topical seti and dermaneedling, which resulted in a quick halt in hair loss+ real regrowth down to my juvenile hairline. Seti was a gamechanger for me, a literal cure, but way too expensive.
Looks like the clinical trials for pgd2 solutions have been nixed? Sad because I believe the pgd2 / inflammation angle is a real solution.

Is there anything else the community is finding to be effective?
Looking to try ZIX at this point, from what I've read..

 

[WaccWaccWacc]

In terms of experimental drugs, Id take a look at @pegasus2 Hair Today Hair Tomorrow Hair Forever thread.

 

[sonictemples]

zix is more effective than seti

 

[Tamiko]

Have you looked into Hims? They have a ton of treatment options and make it super easy to get prescribed with just an online questionnaire and visit. They can put together a variety of plans to help

 

[it2wi]

Can't tell if Tamiko is a troll or a Hims shill, but finasteride and minoxidil aren't alternative treatments.

@pegasus2 seti definitely worked, I'll upload progress pics, but I know it didn't work for some. Could have been too low of dosage or genetics.
Congrats on your regrowth by the way.

 

[sonictemples]

Can't tell if Tamiko is a troll or a Hims shill, but finasteride and minoxidil aren't alternative treatments.

@pegasus2 seti definitely worked, I'll upload progress pics, but I know it didn't work for some. Could have been too low of dosage or genetics.
Congrats on your regrowth by the way.

What was your dosage

 

[it2wi]

@sonictemples if I remember correctly, it was 10mg / day, topical.
@pegasus2 yeah I saw the placebo results which were surprising, but the issue with the trials iirc is that they were doing oral administration.
Wish they would have done topical.

Here are my progress photos from back then - the first from March 2016 and the second from June 2016 (the second isn't the best pic, but can still see a difference). The seti halted the shedding, and the dermaneedling supported growth to fill in and bring the hairline forward

 

[WaccWaccWacc]

@sonictemples if I remember correctly, it was 10mg / day, topical.
@pegasus2 yeah I saw the placebo results which were surprising, but the issue with the trials iirc is that they were doing oral administration.
Wish they would have done topical.

Here are my progress photos from back then - the first from March 2016 and the second from June 2016 (the second isn't the best pic, but can still see a difference). The seti halted the shedding, and the dermaneedling supported growth to fill in and bring the hairline forward

The difference in photo technique make those 2 very hard to compare. Also thats only a 3 month difference between those photos. If you say it got better than I guess it did, but the photos do not make it out to be all that. Wish the lighting was the same and you were pulling your hairline back.

 

[WaccWaccWacc]

why are you opposed to using an oral AA? Duta/finasteride?

 

[it2wi]

Yeah definitely agree, the lighting + angle + photo quality don't make for the best visual comparison here. But speed of regrowth was quite stunning. I had already tried RU and OC without success. The halt in shedding from seti was very responsive and drastic.

I tried oral finasteride and duta for over a year each, along with topical minoxidil. The sheds were bad, as were the sides. I think net net after 2 years of oral AA I maintained / lost a little hairline, with a more diffuse hair profile. It took me 9 months - 1 year to fully recover from the duta sides, so trying to avoid oral anything tbh.

In general, the route of tackling "inflammation" has shown me results. Cutting out sugar, gluten and getting more sleep help reduce shed somewhat, but think something to help with local inflammation via topical route is needed at this point, which is why ZIX seems interesting.
Pegasus's results are great, just need to see if I can commit to that regimen

 

[sonictemples]

@sonictemples if I remember correctly, it was 10mg / day, topical.
@pegasus2 yeah I saw the placebo results which were surprising, but the issue with the trials iirc is that they were doing oral administration.
Wish they would have done topical.

Here are my progress photos from back then - the first from March 2016 and the second from June 2016 (the second isn't the best pic, but can still see a difference). The seti halted the shedding, and the dermaneedling supported growth to fill in and bring the hairline forward

10 mgs is nothing for seti. People ingested several grams per day

 

[sonictemples]

It also doesn't work topically at similar doses just in case if you were wondering

 

[sonictemples]

Probably dermarolling did all the lifting in your case

 

[it2wi]

Plenty of folks had good results with topical seti in the 10mg - 20mg / day range. Some went up to 50mg a day with topical, but it started getting expensive at that dosage, so they brought it down to 10mg 2x daily because of the short half life.

I've tried dermaneedling alone, I don't get the same results unfortunately. Still losing hairline.
I also tried seti alone, and it halted the shedding. Then added dermaneedling for regrowth, which was a great combo.

I get the seti thing didn't work out for everyone, though. Esp. oral.

 

[WaccWaccWacc]

Keto for inflammation?

 

[it2wi]

I can't speak for keto personally as I'm not strict keto myself, but from what I've read the keto diet can help with inflammation since it's inherently cutting out bad carbs / sugar.

I personally believe managing sugar / simple carbs does have a positive effect (not a cure). In addition to being inflammatory, sugar and simple carbs spike insulin and effect the body's ability to manage other hormones, including DHT. Sugar consumption and increased sebum production has been studied, and anecdotally I have seen an elimination of dandruff and reduction in shedding when I cut it out.

 

[WaccWaccWacc]

I can't speak for keto personally as I'm not strict keto myself, but from what I've read the keto diet can help with inflammation since it's inherently cutting out bad carbs / sugar.

I personally believe managing sugar / simple carbs does have a positive effect (not a cure). In addition to being inflammatory, sugar and simple carbs spike insulin and effect the body's ability to manage other hormones, including DHT. Sugar consumption and increased sebum production has been studied, and anecdotally I have seen an elimination of dandruff and reduction in shedding when I cut it out.

I was talking about ketoconazole shampoo. But yea, Id imagine if you ate less oily, greasy, sugary foods you will have better overall health - including hair texture.

 

[balda]

@it2wi
Thanks for a nice report on Seti. It's really encouraging.

More PGD2/DP2 related blockers, ie fibrosis prevention stuff, if you wanna to try:
OC000459, AZD1981/Timapiprant, Ramatroban/3405, TM30089, MK-8318
And Niacin, yeah. It flushes PGD2 out. Niacin can work well for you, If you are a good responder to Seti.

And would be nice to try something more "heavy" topicals, being able to revert, not just prevent fibrosis in dermal adipose tissue:
ADP355 or ALY688
Have no idea how to administer these stuff.

 

[TurboFixer]

I appreciate the report but like you’d said the photos are not very definitive. It would be nice if they were more uniform in both lighting and position