When you star losing your sanity... minoxidil and Dutasteride (30)
I suppose it's a good time to start recording my case.
Baldness is a family trait, it simply runs in the blood. On my father's line, they are hair survivalists. The grandfather had clean temples at 40, and today at 90 he still keeps the same hair. His two sons are similar. At 50 one of them gets to keep almost all the hair and my father is fighting with major thinning and bald spots, but overall ok.
What frightens me is my mother's genetics: From my maternal grandfather to my cousins, they all were plagued with early alopecia, all of them bald before reaching 20 years old. When they were 16 all of them were already Norwood III.
So, here starts my story. I'm currently 30, and started to take my hair more seriously some months ago. At twenty I started having reccession on my temples, but otherwise it was ok. My younger brother was not so lucky. Before 20 he was already fighting it with minoxidil for years, and now he is getting close to only half a covered head left. With gigantic temples, he resorted to a Mohawk, almost Mr.T style.
As for me, I tried some snake oil products, but nothing special. Two years ago I started noticing the thinning on my top, and sides getting bigger, so I jumped on the minoxidil wagon. Although it proved to be a big case of "You are doing it wrong", so nothing happened.
Fast Forward to June. I'm getting more and more depressed about my hair. I keep telling my barber to leave enough lenght for covering the temples, but I'm scared. Every time I clean the bathroom, my room, the pillow... There is hair everywhere. I'm having a bad case of miniaturization next to the temples. I can't take it anymore, and decide to actively counter it.
So I set a date with a dermatologist for getting DHT blockers, and in the meantime I check what I was missing with the minoxidil.
In the middle of September I started with dutasteride, 0.5 mg daily, and continued with 5% minoxidil twice per day. I started taking the photos every 15 days. Checking the first one, there was already tiny hairs on the temples and hairline that did not match the lenght from my last haircut, but it's hard to tell if it is new hair or wishful thinking.
At the first month mark, shedding started, and boy, did it hurt (mentally speaking). I think my scalp looks worse now, specially when I have not combed my hair and it groups itself on the center of the head. I think is finally slowing, but at least there is not so many hairs on my pillow. Funny thing is that I had never lost hair on my back and sides, and now I can put my hand there and end with one or two hairs between my fingers.
I have a lot of photos, but I suck at always getting the same exact angle. This is what I can offer for now:
I think it can't be appreciated very well on the camera. The first photo is from two months ago, and the last one from this sunday. I'm not sure, but I think the hairline is where it is working better. Looking at the mirror, I can see lots of new hairs, really spiky. Can't say the same for the temples. They are filling with vellus style hair, but too thin and puny to be usable. Still, my hairline is starting to get more visible on the corners, like a bear shadow.
---------------------------
Initial Status:
- Norwood II close to a III
- Damaged hairline
- Receeded temples
- Miniaturization near the temples
- male pattern baldness thinning on the top of the scalp, loss of volume
- Considerable hair loss
- Massive Depression and Anxiety
---------------------------
Regime:
July 2012: Improved application of Minoxidil 5 % (Regaxidil), two applications per day
September 2012: Added Dutasteride 0.5 mg daily
November 2012: Added Keto shampoo, 2 applications per week.
December 2012: Oral Spironolactone 100 mg daily on two 50 mg doses (Not for hair loss)
If somebody is going to ask about if I am crazy or the dreaded side effects... Nothing. It's an even longer story I can't talk about now.
----------------------------------
01/12/2012 - 2.5 months
This is my current status:
I keep getting tiny hairs on the hairline, but shedding is in overdrive mode since two weeks ago, long and small hairs the same. Overall, my scalp's amount of hair has worsened, and I can see a nice white line of clean scalp when combing. It looks like I am getting closer to a Zinedine Zidane Style of hair loss, with the front area separated from the rest. My anxiety is also to heightened and with all sort of depression and crisis.
-------------------
16/12/2012:
Not a lot going on. Three months on the trip. After the initial "oh my good new hair" things are pretty much the same. I think the shedding has stopped, but I keep the same degree of hair loss as before.
--------------------
http://www.hairlosstalk.com/interac...-Dutasteride?p=1119267&viewfull=1#post1119267
17/02/2013:
February update. Back to square one after suffering hair loss side effects from another drug.
I suppose it's a good time to start recording my case.
Baldness is a family trait, it simply runs in the blood. On my father's line, they are hair survivalists. The grandfather had clean temples at 40, and today at 90 he still keeps the same hair. His two sons are similar. At 50 one of them gets to keep almost all the hair and my father is fighting with major thinning and bald spots, but overall ok.
What frightens me is my mother's genetics: From my maternal grandfather to my cousins, they all were plagued with early alopecia, all of them bald before reaching 20 years old. When they were 16 all of them were already Norwood III.
So, here starts my story. I'm currently 30, and started to take my hair more seriously some months ago. At twenty I started having reccession on my temples, but otherwise it was ok. My younger brother was not so lucky. Before 20 he was already fighting it with minoxidil for years, and now he is getting close to only half a covered head left. With gigantic temples, he resorted to a Mohawk, almost Mr.T style.
As for me, I tried some snake oil products, but nothing special. Two years ago I started noticing the thinning on my top, and sides getting bigger, so I jumped on the minoxidil wagon. Although it proved to be a big case of "You are doing it wrong", so nothing happened.
Fast Forward to June. I'm getting more and more depressed about my hair. I keep telling my barber to leave enough lenght for covering the temples, but I'm scared. Every time I clean the bathroom, my room, the pillow... There is hair everywhere. I'm having a bad case of miniaturization next to the temples. I can't take it anymore, and decide to actively counter it.
So I set a date with a dermatologist for getting DHT blockers, and in the meantime I check what I was missing with the minoxidil.
In the middle of September I started with dutasteride, 0.5 mg daily, and continued with 5% minoxidil twice per day. I started taking the photos every 15 days. Checking the first one, there was already tiny hairs on the temples and hairline that did not match the lenght from my last haircut, but it's hard to tell if it is new hair or wishful thinking.
At the first month mark, shedding started, and boy, did it hurt (mentally speaking). I think my scalp looks worse now, specially when I have not combed my hair and it groups itself on the center of the head. I think is finally slowing, but at least there is not so many hairs on my pillow. Funny thing is that I had never lost hair on my back and sides, and now I can put my hand there and end with one or two hairs between my fingers.
I have a lot of photos, but I suck at always getting the same exact angle. This is what I can offer for now:
I think it can't be appreciated very well on the camera. The first photo is from two months ago, and the last one from this sunday. I'm not sure, but I think the hairline is where it is working better. Looking at the mirror, I can see lots of new hairs, really spiky. Can't say the same for the temples. They are filling with vellus style hair, but too thin and puny to be usable. Still, my hairline is starting to get more visible on the corners, like a bear shadow.
---------------------------
Initial Status:
- Norwood II close to a III
- Damaged hairline
- Receeded temples
- Miniaturization near the temples
- male pattern baldness thinning on the top of the scalp, loss of volume
- Considerable hair loss
- Massive Depression and Anxiety
---------------------------
Regime:
July 2012: Improved application of Minoxidil 5 % (Regaxidil), two applications per day
September 2012: Added Dutasteride 0.5 mg daily
November 2012: Added Keto shampoo, 2 applications per week.
December 2012: Oral Spironolactone 100 mg daily on two 50 mg doses (Not for hair loss)
If somebody is going to ask about if I am crazy or the dreaded side effects... Nothing. It's an even longer story I can't talk about now.
----------------------------------
01/12/2012 - 2.5 months
This is my current status:
I keep getting tiny hairs on the hairline, but shedding is in overdrive mode since two weeks ago, long and small hairs the same. Overall, my scalp's amount of hair has worsened, and I can see a nice white line of clean scalp when combing. It looks like I am getting closer to a Zinedine Zidane Style of hair loss, with the front area separated from the rest. My anxiety is also to heightened and with all sort of depression and crisis.
-------------------
16/12/2012:
Not a lot going on. Three months on the trip. After the initial "oh my good new hair" things are pretty much the same. I think the shedding has stopped, but I keep the same degree of hair loss as before.
--------------------
http://www.hairlosstalk.com/interac...-Dutasteride?p=1119267&viewfull=1#post1119267
17/02/2013:
February update. Back to square one after suffering hair loss side effects from another drug.
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