Some advice needed

[Millais]

I'm an 18 year old male living in the United Kingdom. I've been losing hair for roughly a year but only recently decided it was serious enough to do something about. I went to my GP and he confirmed I was losing my hair at the crown and on top; he did all the necessary blood tests and told me I was fine nutritionally and that he would refer me to a dermatologist (I have an appointment on the 8th). That was in January and I have since bought and started taking finasteride (18/2/13). I also started using Minoxidil (5%) probably around the end of February or the beginning of March.

However, I'm not sure how to continue with my regime. I'm not sure if the finasteride I'm using is genuine as I bought it from an online pharmacy that didn't require a prescription (http://gogettabs.com/) - lack of research I'm afraid - and it was produced by genpharma, which I've read mixed reviews of. I think I've experienced some additional shedding since around the time I started using minoxidil, which I'm trying to take as a good sign (difficult though that is), although it could just as well have been due to the minoxidil rather than the finasteride. So, do you think it would be worth taking the financial plunge (remember I'm 18 and so funds are limited) and getting some finasteride I'm sure is genuine from somewhere like ukfinasteride.info or from a pharmacy after I've seen the dermatologist and hopefully got a prescription, or should I just stick it out with this suspicious batch until I need to re-stock? Oh, and so far I've had no side effects.

Thanks in advance

[chrisdav]

Welcome Millais.

Ukfinasteride is very good-I use it and the all-round service is excellent.

Alternatively you could get finasteride from Boots. I think it is £30 a month there.

Another suggestion might be to contact the Farjo clinic. They are the only Uk clinic that is a member of the IAHRS listed surgeons.

Dr Bessam or Nilofer Farjo can look at your hair up close, supply you with medication if appropriate and give you good guidance which in the UK is hard to find. I am pretty sure it will be more expensive there.

Just remember Finasteride and Minxodil are long term commitments.

[Millais]

Thanks for the response Chrisdav. Yeah, I think I'd go for ukfinasteride, I think it works out roughly £17 a month there which is more than the £11 I paid at that other site but is still pretty reasonable and seems like a dead cert in terms of reliability from what I've read. How long have you been using finasteride may I ask? Have you had good results so far?

You're right, it's a pain that I'm looking at making such a long term commitment but, considering my age, I'm looking for a fairly long term solution. I had thought, though, that maybe after using the minoxidil/finateride combination for a few months to a year, and reaching a level I'm comfortable with, I could stop taking the minoxidil and still retain what I've gained by keeping the finasteride up. Do you think that sounds realistic?

[chrisdav]

I have been using finasteride for 6-7 years now. I never had regrowth in my temple areas and later had hair restoration surgery but it has helped maintain my native hair.

It depends on how you react to the medications.

Some will end up with regrowth in balding areas, some just maintain what they have and slow down considerably or halt the hair loss completely and then there will be some that do not react well and continue to loss hair.

Just make sure you fully read up on the medication weighing up all the positives and negatives. There are a lot of threads on this forum good and not so good.

Any gains you make taking them will be lost when you come off them.

I attached a link from Dr Bernstein's website, which has a lot of before and afters of using medication and a very well-known surgeon in the industry.

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

[Millais]

You never experienced any side effects I take it? Did you experience regrowth on the top at all? Thanks for the link also, seems like a great source of information. I just wish there was a way of working out for sure whether the medication I've got is genuine, can't believe I rushed into such an important purchase like I did!

[chrisdav]

I have never have experienced side effects but I do recognise that some people have.

No I have not experienced any regrowth. My hair loss was in my temples which were bald except for some poor work I had done in the past.

Finasteride can regrow in the frontal areas but it is not very common and more well known for the crown and mid-section. Regarding Minoxidil, I don't use it and will possibly introduce it into my regime at a later date. A Combination of the both will give the so called "synergistic " affect.

Male pattern baldness in general is progressive, so if you can slow down the rate of loss to a snails pace or halt it completely and maintains what you have, then as far as I am concerned, it is doing its job.