Time Course of Hair Growth PRP & HBG: Carlos K. Wesley, M.D.

[Billena]

This man in his 20’s was not a good candidate for surgery. He was opposed to taking Propecia due to concern regarding the sexual side effects. After learning about the option of Dr. Wesley’s topical formula for hair growth, he opted to try this daily spray.

His time course of hair growth can be seen before, 7 months after, and one year after initiation of this topical treatment coupled with a platelet-rich plasma (PRP) session.

[JohnMPB]

Dr. Wesleys hair regrowth solution contains finasteride which only works because it is systemically absorbed into the blood stream. I hope the patient was made aware of this

[Carlos Wesley, MD]

Thanks, JohnMPB, for your comment. It’s an important point that I would like to take time to highlight.

I spend nearly an hour with each of my patients during their initial consult. I do not outsource to a consultant. Yes. I discuss the pros and cons of this alternative medical therapy.

With all due respect, your statement “Dr. Wesleys hair regrowth solution contains finasteride which only works because it is systemically absorbed into the blood stream” is not consistent with what has been demonstrated in published peer-reviewed journals. In 2014, the Int’l Jour of Clinical Pharmacology published findings from their investigation of this specific topic.

1) SERUM FINASTERIDE Levels with TOPICAL versus PILL form.

The finasteride levels found in the serum (blood) of patient who used 0.25% topical finasteride once daily were well below the assay’s ability to detect and quantify at nearly every point. The spike in serum finasteride levels of patients taking the pill can be seen below.



2) SERUM DHT levels with TOPICAL versus PILL form.

Once-a-day use of the 0.25% topical finasteride resulted in much a less severe decrease in DHT plasma levels (19%) that those seen in patients using the pill once a day (70%) or twice daily use of either topical or pill form. Our blend uses a lower percentage of finasteride than that used in this study and our patients only use the blend once (not twice) daily.



3) No significant change in serum testosterone levels detected with either treatment.

4) A follow-up study showed the topical solution reduces scalp DHT levels by about 70%.

Despite these findings, this alternative to the Propecia pill is not necessarily for everyone. Safety profiles of topical finasteride has not been properly investigated at this stage. Not everyone may have the hair growth that we have seen in many of our patients when using the topical blend. It is important to highlight the facts as they have been demonstrated.

For those interested, I strongly encourage you to use the NIH PubMed website to obtain trusted medical information via peer-reviewed journal articles:

[JohnMPB]

Hi Dr. Wesley,
Thanks for the prompt and respectful response. I read thru the study you posted and I wanted to note the following (which is directly taken from their findings):

Plasma DHT was reduced by ~ 68 - 75% with the topical solution and by ~ 62 - 72% with the tablet. No relevant changes occurred for plasma testosterone with either treatment. No clinically significant adverse events occurred.
CONCLUSIONS:
A strong and similar inhibition of plasma DHT was found after 1 week of treatment with the topical and tablet finasteride ormulations, albeit finasteride plasma exposure was significantly lower with the topical than with the oral product (p < 0.0001).

So you are right that plasma levels of finasteride are less in patients using a topical formulation as compared to oral administration. However, plasma dht levels in the group that used topical finasteride is even less than the group taking oral finasteride which directly translates to the possibility of more side effects. In either case you are dropping systemic dht levels by more than 60%. The drug is obviously not working at a local level at the scalp. This is likely due to finasterides flat dose response curve.

Furthermore I don't think this is a strong study to base a medical treatment off of as the sample size of patients is only 24. I'd still feel safer using oral fin as we have multi phase fda studies with thousands of test subjects and years of data to go off of. I just really hope the patients utilizing this treatment realize that it is not side effect free and judging from the studies numbers may give even worse side effects than finasteride.

[Billena]

Hi John MPB Our office certainly shares your concerns. However, as Dr. Wesley stated in his reply, our patients use our hair growth blend only once daily (not twice) whether or not it is coupled with a platelet-rich plasma (PRP) session. I have circled the systemic impact that a once-daily application showed (as opposed to the twice daily to which you are referring). Furthermore, the percentage of finasteride in our topical blend is less than the 0.25% used in this study.

[DD1]

The photos do not appear to show cosmetically significant regrowth. Come on it's 2016 you can do better than this.

[Hicks]

The photos do not appear to show cosmetically significant regrowth. Come on it's 2016 you can do better than this.

LOL you're setting yourself up for disappointments my friend.

[DD1]

I have been fighting hair loss for many years so I'm very familiar with disappointment. So you think those pictures show real progress? I would like to see his entire head to see how he styles such thick hair.