Wishful thinking or is propecia starting to fight my mpb?

[mpb47]

Hi, I have a suggestion.

Why don't you take some pictures with the original camera, using the same lighting, zoom, angle, pose, head-position etc. and try to recreate the same setup as the first picture?
You did say you took those pics in July so I assume you still have that camera?

The first pic was from Feb. The reason or at least part of the reason it looks bigger is because I cropped it. # 2 and #3 were from July. #2 is without flash, #3 is with flash.

And yes I still have the camera and can do that. In the meantime I am uploading a pic taken on the 8th..same day as # 4 but from a different angle.
#4 was basically from the top looking down and this new one is more angled from the back.

Take a look and see if you still think propecia is working.

I know it can be quite difficult to take pictures of the back of your head by yourself (I've tried! lol :-) ). You could just keep reshooting pictures till you get it close to either the first or the second picture. Recreating the second picture might be better actually.

I have been taking pics since I first noticed my crown starting to thin and after this many years it is still very hard to do. What I sometimes did was to just take pics over several days over the course of the week to get some kind of average.

I agree with what 35YrsAfter says, the photos progressively get smaller creating an illusion. Also what he said about dermarolling - I agree, seems likely would change the amount absorbed.

In any case, the propecia does seem to be doing something for you :-)

Thanks..honestly the only one that is intentionally bigger is number 1 because I cropped out my face. In the meantime here is number 5..see if that changes anything.

[James7]

Ahh this is interesting.

I can see what you mean about your head angle.

Pic #5 definately looks more bald than pic #4.


I have another idea.

You could use another mirror to reflect back the image displayed on the camera phone, to help you to see and to position your head like it was in the original picture :-)

This will help with positioning and composition.

You may need to hang this secondary mirror from something.

Maybe also use a print out of Pic #1 (attach next to mirror reflecting phone display).
Try to match the image on the camera phone display to the original image print out :-)

[mpb47]

Ahh this is interesting.

I can see what you mean about your head angle.

Pic #5 definately looks more bald than pic #4.


I have another idea.

You could use another mirror to reflect back the image displayed on the camera phone, to help you to see and to position your head like it was in the original picture :-)

This will help with positioning and composition.

You may need to hang this secondary mirror from something.

Maybe also use a print out of Pic #1 (attach next to mirror reflecting phone display).
Try to match the image on the camera phone display to the original image print out :-)

I already use a second mirror. Look in the last pic and you can see my arm is up. There is a guy, I think he is an scientist that built a mount that rotated around him and had a way to keep his head in the exact same position. He has been taking pictures for 20+ years and then made a time lapse video. It shows him slowly starting to get mpb at first (hairline) then later it shows him rather quickly developing a bald spot. He did a great job, too bad it has to be mpb (he didn't try to stop it).

I am going to be just keep trying to take multiple shots from top and that rear angle. Over time I should know for sure if propecia is working. If that right finger disappears, then I will be sure.

[James7]

I already use a second mirror. Look in the last pic and you can see my arm is up. There is a guy, I think he is an scientist that built a mount that rotated around him and had a way to keep his head in the exact same position. He has been taking pictures for 20+ years and then made a time lapse video. It shows him slowly starting to get mpb at first (hairline) then later it shows him rather quickly developing a bald spot. He did a great job, too bad it has to be mpb (he didn't try to stop it).

I am going to be just keep trying to take multiple shots from top and that rear angle. Over time I should know for sure if propecia is working. If that right finger disappears, then I will be sure.

Ahh I see, you know what, I thought this was all completely the other way round: I thought you had the camera in your left hand (the arm that is up in the air) taking a picture of a mirror behind your head (the reflected image), over the top of your head.

Yeah best thing would be to have a fixed position every time (all measured out beforehand), like the time lapse you mentioned

[mpb47]

Ahh I see, you know what, I thought this was all completely the other way round: I thought you had the camera in your left hand (the arm that is up in the air) taking a picture of a mirror behind your head (the reflected image), over the top of your head.

Yeah best thing would be to have a fixed position every time (all measured out beforehand), like the time lapse you mentioned

I think I tried it a few times the way you described but this way seems to be better as it is a direct shot of the crown, rather than a reflection. I will wait a few more months, post some more pics and wait for the comments. If it is working, great, if not , will up the frequency of dosing. I am on such a low dose right now that I have plenty of room if this amount is not enough.

[mpb47]

2 new pics from tonight:






Also I found a tiny but colored hair well outside my hairline. Hairline has been going back so slowly for so long that I have no idea when my hairline was at this location. I am going to try to capture a pic and so I can will upload that too.

[mpb47]

Ok I got a good shot of the new hair, better than I thought I could. This is right hairline. If you look at the lower right you can see the new hair I was talking about. It was not there when I started on Propecia (I am right at 4 months now). To be fair the photo makes it look bigger than what I see in the mirror But at the same time if you look further back to the right of those outside cluster of hairs, I just noticed there may be a few more trying to pop up. They are very faint and did not notice them till this photo. And that outside cluster of hairs- they were always there but would never grow very long and now they are. Will keep monitoring for hopefully more positive signs.

Whether they will become usable hair is the big if. But I know on Minox alone I was not getting any regrowth there. If you have gradual loss like me, you never realize how much you have lost till you see new hairs outside of your receded hairline.

[mpb47]

Feb 23-14 update:

I saw several posts this weekend by people who don't think low doses of propecia will work, so I decided it was time for an update and you can judge for yourself.

Some notes first: I am completely off Minox now. I never had a major shedding though I did notice some loss of density, probably around the 3 month mark. It was nothing major. The first results I saw on propecia was some minor regrowth up front. I have not see any more improvement up front. That may be due to going off minox or not. Not sure. But crown/vertex continues to improve and in my case, that is a good thing as my mpb spreads in my crown noticeably faster than loss up front. The hair that has regrown is not as thick as the existing, normal hair, but I have seen posts from others that said this can get better in time.

The results I am getting are using .25 1 to 2 times a week. I say that because sometimes I forget to take it 2x a week but have never missed a week since I began in late July. So at least for me, a low dose of propecia works for me, much better than what I was getting on minox . Anyway, take a look and judge for yourself.

First pic - when I first woke up
Second pic - I tried to spread hair out to see the size of the bald area.