How to help my boyfriend (20 yrs old)

[want2help]

yesterday my boyfriend and i got into a big fight over something insignificant. he got really angry- very uncharacteristic of him. he apologized later, saying he's just been extremely frustrated lately. he admitted that his hair was thinning!!! that it was "shedding." i had NO idea.

i want to help him. i'm very aggressive when it comes to things happening to my body but he's the opposite. he hadn't looked up any kinds of treatment. now that i know i've been doing research for him and would definitely appreciate advice from you guys!!

here's his situation. right now his hair thinning is NOT noticeable. at all. i was totally shocked when he told me. i'll pick through his hair later but it has always been thick and honestly if it's thinned a bit he still has fuller hair than most people. further, he told me he is thinning on the top of his head.

from what i've read on the internet it seems he's the best kind of candidate for treatments!! he's at an extremely early stage in his thinning and the thinning is occurring at the most treatable area of the head. if treatment arrests his thinning now people would be none the wiser.

i've already bought him a 4 month supply of Rogaine Extra Strength. but i think he should go on propecia too.

the problem with that is it's VERY expensive and i don't see how he can afford it being a college student barely paying his tuition.

actually my main impetus for coming to this forum is to ask whether or not taking the cheaper generic version of propecia is just as effective?
also, will a doctor be willing to prescribe the generic version?
and on that note which doctors prescribe this kind of stuff!? (i've read dermatologists?)

thanks for the input guys. also i just want to add that i hope i don't come off as trying to push drugs on him for my own sake. he's a handsome guy and certainly it would be sad for me to see his beautiful hair go. but this isn't about him looking good to me it's about protecting his confidence and emotional health. i know firsthand how emotionally devastating it can be to see your appearance "erode" before your eyes... i just went through a battle with acne that came out of nowhere which was finally solved through accutane. i suffered unnecessarily for a year before finally taking accutane and now i'm so grateful for seeing the doctor and taking care of myself. looking back i wish someone had pushed and prodded me to seek drug treatment a lot earlier. i want to be that person for my boyfriend and if it's possible save him from the depression and self-doubt that comes from watching yourself transform into something you don't want to be.

woahh sorry the backstory was totally unnecessary... again i would appreciate any advice on his treatment options!! thanks

[iwannakeephair1674]

I want to first off say how refreshing it is to see that you care enough for your boyfriend to do whatever you can to find answers for him. I'm very impressed that you actually went out and bought Rogaine for him, that's extremely rare.

I understand your boyfriend's exact situation. I'm currently 23 years old and started noticing my hairloss at 19 when I was in college. I, like your boyfriend was really bothered by it and it seemed to cause fights over nothing. You couldn't really tell it was thinning, but I knew it was. I also didn't have money to be spending on expensive treatments, but I put together what I could and immediately got on Propecia. I since then have switched to generic Finasteride, which is just as effective and a hell of a lot more cheaper.

I take a good bit more Finasteride than the standard 1mg, however, you can get your boyfriend to talk to his Doctor and tell him that he is on a limited income and would like to cut the generic Finasteride (5mg). You can get a 30-day supply of 5mg tablets for around $9 through Walmart and cut that up into 1/4ths, which makes the cost practically nothing. It is just as effective and it has saved me a ton of money over the years.

I think the biggest thing you can offer to your boyfriend is that he has hope, especially with the new technology coming aboard. The biggest thing that makes me happy is that I know that the hair I currently have has an extremely high chance of being maintained for life b/c of the various treatments out there: Finasteride, Dutasteride, PRP, Microneedle w/ Nizoral, and future treatments down the pike (Acell, Histogen, etc...).

I also recommend to NOT start Rogaine right away, that's just tough to deal with in college and shouldn't be brought into the mix unless you are 100% sure you will be doing it for life. Just tell him to do the Finasteride and enjoy being in college and knowing that he's doing something extremely positive for himself.

I now work in the corporate world and see many many bald/balding people and it makes me appreciate starting my treatments early and that I'm doing something very empowering that most people seem to let go. Just remember to stay positive and that if he starts treatment now and makes a commitment to himself to do whatever he can to keep his hair, he will keep it. I do believe there will be a cure in our lifetime, and as we have seen recently there seems to be even better treatments coming out in the near near future.

I hope this helps!
Destin

[Notbaldyet]

do not go on propecia

i'm sorry, but i must disagree with propecia. this is too powerful of a drug for a cosmetic condition and the rate of side effects is now known to be much higher than initially published. if you are able to, its important to look through the medical literature and see that initial studies from the early 90s were glowing in their reviews of propecia/finasteride, but now there are a huge number of new studies raising lots of alarms about this medicine. Here is just a small sample of the medical articles from May of last year alone.

Finasteride-associated male infertility.
Chiba K, Yamaguchi K, Li F, Ando M, Fujisawa M.
Fertil Steril. 2010 Dec 28. [Epub ahead of print]

Adverse Side Effects of 5α-Reductase Inhibitors Therapy: Persistent Diminished Libido and Erectile Dysfunction and Depression in a Subset of Patients.
Traish AM, Hassani J, Guay AT, Zitzmann M, Hansen ML.
J Sex Med. 2010 Dec 22. doi: 10.1111/j.1743-6109.2010.02157.x. [Epub ahead of print]

Finasteride-induced depression: new insights into possible pathomechanisms.
Römer B, Gass P.
J Cosmet Dermatol. 2010 Dec;9(4):331-2. doi: 10.1111/j.1473-2165.2010.00533.x.

Efficacy and safety of finasteride therapy for androgenetic alopecia: a systematic review.
Mella JM, Perret MC, Manzotti M, Catalano HN, Guyatt G.
Arch Dermatol. 2010 Oct;146(10):1141-50. Review.

A 5α-reductase inhibitor, finasteride, increases differentiation and proliferation of embryonal carcinoma cell-derived-neural cells.
Shoae-Hassani A, Sharif S, Verdi J.
Med Hypotheses. 2011 Jan;76(1):11-3. Epub 2010 Sep 18.

Finasteride treatment inhibits adult hippocampal neurogenesis in male mice.
Römer B, Pfeiffer N, Lewicka S, Ben-Abdallah N, Vogt MA, Deuschle M, Vollmayr B, Gass P.
Pharmacopsychiatry. 2010 Jul;43(5):174-8. Epub 2010 May 18.


Why so many studies? Because patients are walking into doctors offices with complaints and doctors are now investigating it. propecia does not just block some unimportant testosterone analogue. it blocks the one that *most* active. the rate of side effects has been seen to be anywhere from 15% to 33%. (Principles and practice of endocrinology and metabolism, Page 1166 By Kenneth L. Becker, Uygur MC et al, erectile dysfunction following treatments for benign prostatic hyperplasia; a prospective study. Andrologia 1998). Now there is some question that side effects may be irreversible. There are no studies that have proven or disproven this yet. I would hesitate to believe this, but the risk of this far outweighs losing your hair.

i would venture to say that the kind of studies that are coming out will force the FDA to withdraw approval of this medicine for androgenic alopecia.

i understand the anxiety about hair loss and how it can cause a guy to constantly worry and fret. The most important thing, in my humble opinion, that you can do is to know, and to inform your bf, that hair loss is a normal part of being a man. 25% of men in the their 20s have hair loss. Its ok to lose your hair. if you read on these forums you will see men doing all sorts of unbelievably extreme things to keep hair, and in the end, it damages them. These are people who have serious mental illness. I obsessed about it too, and in retrospect, I wish I was bald now! Jason Statham, Bruce Willis and many others lost their hair and they are fine. Hair is hair. A non functioning or poorly functioning penis is a threat to having a wife, a family and a future. DON'T DO IT.

[SilverSurfer]

It is nice what you are doing for your boyfriend. If I could go back to my college days I would have sticked with the Rogaine, Nizoral and Multivitamins. I would recommend Rogaine Foam (works great and makes your hair thicker) and Nizoral shampoo 3 times per week. Propecia has some side effects that might harm certain aspects of your relationship so, why take the chance. Rogaine, Nizoral, Mega Men Multivitamins, Vitamin C.
Most important vitamins and minerals= Biotin, B vitamins (6,12,etc) Zinc.
Hope this helps.

[JonB.]

I wouldn't take propecia either. For me? It masks simple PSA tests fo prostrate cancer so its a no go ...

Not that I have cancer but I wouldn't want to mask the tests...

[KeepTheHair]

Finasteride is the best treatment. It should be the first.


You can just tell a doctor you are on finasteride, that solves the cancer problem.

[Notbaldyet]

one last thing

finasteride's other 'off-label' use? its used by men who want to have sex changes as part of the regimen to change their hormones from a male to a female profile.

capice?

[JonB.]

No thanks..

I don't want anything masking any cancer marking tests. I have a family history of cancer and my vanity is not going to get in the way of making sure I'm alive..

Tell your boyfiend not to worry. By the time he goes bald there will be cloning and it won't even be an issue for him.

Just rub his head with the minoxidil or rogaine and ..tell him not to sweat it.

By the time he needs a hair transplant the new technology will make this even easier than it already is today....

Tell him to build a hair transplant fund right now...and keep saving on a weekly basis...a few dollars..

By the time he might need a hair transplant...he'll have the money in the bank and more!

[mlao]

yesterday my boyfriend and i got into a big fight over something insignificant. he got really angry- very uncharacteristic of him. he apologized later, saying he's just been extremely frustrated lately. he admitted that his hair was thinning!!! that it was "shedding." i had NO idea.

i want to help him. i'm very aggressive when it comes to things happening to my body but he's the opposite. he hadn't looked up any kinds of treatment. now that i know i've been doing research for him and would definitely appreciate advice from you guys!!

here's his situation. right now his hair thinning is NOT noticeable. at all. i was totally shocked when he told me. i'll pick through his hair later but it has always been thick and honestly if it's thinned a bit he still has fuller hair than most people. further, he told me he is thinning on the top of his head.

from what i've read on the internet it seems he's the best kind of candidate for treatments!! he's at an extremely early stage in his thinning and the thinning is occurring at the most treatable area of the head. if treatment arrests his thinning now people would be none the wiser.

i've already bought him a 4 month supply of Rogaine Extra Strength. but i think he should go on propecia too.

the problem with that is it's VERY expensive and i don't see how he can afford it being a college student barely paying his tuition.

actually my main impetus for coming to this forum is to ask whether or not taking the cheaper generic version of propecia is just as effective?
also, will a doctor be willing to prescribe the generic version?
and on that note which doctors prescribe this kind of stuff!? (i've read dermatologists?)

thanks for the input guys. also i just want to add that i hope i don't come off as trying to push drugs on him for my own sake. he's a handsome guy and certainly it would be sad for me to see his beautiful hair go. but this isn't about him looking good to me it's about protecting his confidence and emotional health. i know firsthand how emotionally devastating it can be to see your appearance "erode" before your eyes... i just went through a battle with acne that came out of nowhere which was finally solved through accutane. i suffered unnecessarily for a year before finally taking accutane and now i'm so grateful for seeing the doctor and taking care of myself. looking back i wish someone had pushed and prodded me to seek drug treatment a lot earlier. i want to be that person for my boyfriend and if it's possible save him from the depression and self-doubt that comes from watching yourself transform into something you don't want to be.

woahh sorry the backstory was totally unnecessary... again i would appreciate any advice on his treatment options!! thanks

The first thing he should do is see a doctor. Sometimes the hair loss is related to something other than MPB and blood tests can help determine this.

Not all dermatologists are as good as they should be when it comes to hair loss so you may have to call around. Hair restoration surgeons are good but sometimes charge a lot and are hard to find depending on where you live. Some doctors even perform a hair miniaturization test which can help predict future hair loss.

Secondly he should look to his male relatives to try and predict if he even will experience any aggressive hair loss at all. A good place to start is your father or your maternal grandfather. Sometimes however genetics for hair can skip a generation so it helps to get out the family photos and examine them closely. He may be worrying over nothing.

Another thing to remember is he is at the age where he would be developing What is called a mature hairline. This is where it recedes a bit and stays the same for quite a while.

In the previous posts there are conflicting opinions regarding finasteride
(also called propecia or proscar) As with any medication there can be side effects. The one that concerns most guys are the sexual ones. Some people get them and some don't. The drug blocks DHT a naturally occurring male hormone. There are websites devoted to incidents of permanent side effects of propecia but you need to consider both sides of this debate carefully.
There are thousands of guys who take it and have no problems. Everyones body reacts differently to meds.

If he decides to go this route some doctors will prescribe Proscar which is a 5mg dose of finasteride as where propecia is a 1mg dose. The 1mg dose is the recommended dose for hair loss. He can break a proscar tablet into 4 smaller pieces and take it one piece per day. Proscar is a drug for prostate health so some doctors may not be comfortable giving a script to a 20 year old. Since they rarely have prostate conditions. But in answer to your question a lot of doctors do this and doing it that way is much cheaper.

In one of the previous posts someone mentioned that it masks the evidence of cancer in a Prostate-specific antigen test. This test is not usually given to men under 50 and when most people who use propecia take the test you simply tell the doctor who is reading the test and they can account for it.

Rogaine is good for growing hair but not the best for maintaining it. It falls into the category of a growth stimulant. It is usually used in conjunction with finasteride to boost results. Alone it probably will not maintain hair forever.

As helpful as anecdotal information on the web can be it does not replace the knowledge of a qualified doctor. So before he enters into any therapy I encourage you to have him see an MD. Who hopefully will give unbiased advice.

I also would suggest that you have a look at Dr. Robert Bernstein's website. He is a pioneer in hair restoration and provides a great deal of useful info on hair loss. Here is the link to his page on hair loss medications.

http://www.bernsteinmedical.com/medical-treatment/medications/

[want2help]

thank you so much guys. he's set up an appointment with a doctor and he will definitely run all your concerns about finasteride past him or her. and yes i agree, the best thing i can tell him now is that even if the treatments don't work balding is natural and he is still an amazing/beautiful guy even without all his hair.

i will probably be hanging around this forum for a while as his treatment progresses and won't hesitate to ask questions. good luck to everyone that's dealing with this, it's scary!!

[JonB.]

He is a vey lucky young man and you are a nice young lady.

Good luck.

JB

[gmonasco]

Why so many studies? Because patients are walking into doctors offices with complaints and doctors are now investigating it.

But of course, 10,000 times as many people walk into doctors' offices with complaints about non-existent "aspartame poisoning," because they've been misled into believing it's a real phenomenon.

[Notbaldyet]

gmonasco

i cannot understand why you are so in denial on the side effects of propecia. The evidence, which I cited, is pretty clear at this point. Just in the last 3 months alone, there are dozens of articles which raise very serious questions about the safety of this medicine. Given what is coming out on propecia now in the literature, and increasingly in the lay press, there is no way that this drug will be allowed to continue with FDA approval for hair loss. I would bet money that within 3 years the FDA will pull the approval for this drug for alopecia. Its just a matter of time before the evidence and the press coverage of this reaches critical mass.

[imbaldinglikeamofo]

DUDE!!!! YOUR HIS GIRLFRIEND!!! Just tell him you will love him no matter what, and the fact he does or DOES NOT have hair is irrelevant to you.

THATS what he wants to hear.

COME ON!!!! Does the fact he has hair really matter to you???


What your doing seems nice and all on paper but not in the relationship world

[gmonasco]

i cannot understand why you are so in denial on the side effects of propecia. The evidence, which I cited, is pretty clear at this point.

Because I understand the difference between anecdotal reports and established causation.

Given what is coming out on propecia now in the literature, and increasingly in the lay press, there is no way that this drug will be allowed to continue with FDA approval for hair loss.

People have been saying the same thing about aspartame for years and years. Still no studies actually demonstrating it to be harmful in its intended use, though.