Hello all,

For the record I have been on Estrofem, Spironolactone and Avodart for 11 months and I was thinking about stopping Avodart.  I will explain why:


I started thinning when I was around 20 or so and ever since then it has been rather slow and almost unnoticeable at times.  I do have a few people in my family who suffer from MPB as well so I believe it is genetic.  I was hoping that Avodart combined with Spironolactone would supress enough DHT production that my hair would be able to withstand the amount that did reach my follicles.  I had heard of shedding and I wanted to give it ample time to work, but I think I am pretty much out of luck when it comes to my hairline. I do expect it recede to a horseshoe pattern which I was mildly upset about but I forced myself to deal with it.

My hairline will go through periods of fallout where and entire section will slowly thin and then within 2 weeks or so fall out with no regrowth.  Since I have not regrown any I was highly doubt it is just simple shedding.  The loss occurs every few months and is certainly cyclical in nature. 

Does anyone have any input?  It seems pretty clear to me, but I figured I would post my concerns.

Charlotte

My father had MPB but so far none of his children do.  I understand it comes from the mother's side of the family.  The men on my mom's side have lots of hair.  I haven't had my hairline recede but I do lose a lot of hair when I color or wash it.  Somehow there's always plenty of it.  I have heard of people using Rogaine with HRT but I don't know the results.  If you haven't done so already a consult with a dermatologist.  They may have some ideas for you.

Quote from: Claire de Lune on May 07, 2008, 05:59:19 PM
I understand it comes from the mother's side of the family. 

I keep hearing that but my grandfather on my moms side died at 90+ still with a full head of hair.  Everyone in my family has hair except for my dad and me. It sucks when I look around and see other men my age with hair, and yet here I am losing mine 

I have been taking Aodart for 3 months and Retin-a for the last 6 weeks this seemed to really help. I been on Minoxidil for 6 years it just slowed it down. In September I started hrt that seem to help with my hair a little but it would take forever to grow my hair back at that rate. So you might want to look in to Minoxidil and Retin-A together. If you try Minoxidil make sure it dry when you goto bed and change your pillow case often I had problem with hair growing where it shouldn't be I think it's from the Minoxidil.

Anna

Quote from: riven_one on May 07, 2008, 11:27:20 PM

Quote from: Claire de Lune on May 07, 2008, 05:59:19 PM
I understand it comes from the mother's side of the family. 

I keep hearing that but my grandfather on my moms side died at 90+ still with a full head of hair.

This is still possible with it being linked to the X chromosome. Namely, your mum got the MPB-carrying X from her mum, and you got that instead of the clean one she got from her dad. In this scenario, your baldness is completely unrelated to your father's.

  Nfr

Quote from: Seshatneferw on May 08, 2008, 01:26:47 PM

Quote from: riven_one on May 07, 2008, 11:27:20 PM

Quote from: Claire de Lune on May 07, 2008, 05:59:19 PM
I understand it comes from the mother's side of the family. 

I keep hearing that but my grandfather on my moms side died at 90+ still with a full head of hair.

This is still possible with it being linked to the X chromosome. Namely, your mum got the MPB-carrying X from her mum, and you got that instead of the clean one she got from her dad. In this scenario, your baldness is completely unrelated to your father's.

  Nfr

One funny thing is now we both look just alike from the back. I was looking at some pictures and saw one of the back of my dad and said "funny, I don't remember dad being there" whereupon my wife said "he wasn't, that's you" 

I'm crossing my fingers for hair cloning.

Seriously though, I have an extremely unfortunate hair line, I'll be keeping an eye on this thread. ^_^

May be cheaper in the long run to just get a hair transplant. Advodart is soo exspenisive. I know women especially ones that just gave birth that lose a lot of hair...then it all comes back. There are a lot of ways to combat the MPB, but I think a one time permanent deal would be cheaper in the long run. You could still take propecia or proscar to keep DHT levels low and do it at 1/2 the price.

I think the main problem with transplants is that they take it from your own existing hair.  So if you have a severe case of mpb, the result will be very thin and not look natural.

Also, while the transplanted hair stays in place (at least until it's time for the hair in the donor area to disappear), the overall MPB marches on. You'll end up with a strip of transplanted hair, followed by a bald strip, and then hair again. So even with transplants you're stuck with some sort of anti-DHT medication to prevent this (although SRS takes care of most of the testosterone, which may well be sufficient).

  Nfr