wondering what (safe) treatments to start on early on

[ManonAnon85]

Hi all,

A lot of google searches on MPB led to this forum and I thought I'd finally register and ask some questions myself as you guys seem to be really knowledgeable on this topic. Background on me: I'm a 22 year old male with just the early stages of MPB; i had a free consultation at the belgravia centre for hair loss recently where i was told that i'm a norwood stage 2. slightly receding hairline and bits of thinning on the temple/crown.

basically I'd be happy with just halting the hair loss, I don't care about regrowth. but I'm also really worried about side-effects and don't want to take on too much risk. so I was wondering what you guys thought of the following treatment options:

- finasteride: seems like the most effective thing for preventing further loss/treating the actual cause, but the side effects also sound like they could be brutal, and irreversable ones arent worth the risk IMO. but is topical finasteride available/safer/just as effective?

- spironolactone: a topical cream that i can apply, which blocks DHT so tackles the cause like finasteride but without any nasty side effects. almost sounds too good to be true, is it?

- minoxidil: side effects seem minimal compared to finasteride, and i could just stop if they're bad right? however it doesnt seem like it does a good job of preventing hair loss - sounds like it just regrows lost hair but doesnt block any DHT or anything. so i dont know how well it'd work in the long-term..

- lipogaine: 5% minoxidil together with other ingredients that it claims helps to block DHT ( http://www.lipogaine.com/ingredients/ ). can anyone comment on whether it's effective? one of the main benefits seems to be that it would dry faster than generil minoxidil and the vehicle in general seems better. (does minoxidil foam also dry faster?)

- revita shampoo and nizoral shampoo: seem like minimal risk of side-effects from either, and ive heard decent things, so i guess they're a good thing to add to the list

- hairmax laser comb: really no idea on this one! some of the reviews/studies seem promising and it sounds like it could work for some people. what do you guys think?

- saw palmetto: sounds worse than finasteride. similar side effect risk but less demonstrated benefit, am i right here?

- RU: i just read about this on another topic here ( Hellouser's amazing log ) and didn't know anything about it previously. sounds like it could work blocking DHT, but sounds like a pain in the ass to mix every day! and fairly expensive too right? does it carry similar side effects to finasteride?

- fluridil: topical DHT blocker that has a couple of studies supporting its efficacy. how come there's not more talk about this? do you guys think it's another ineffective cream?



so, thats it..sorry for the long post, but i wanted to make sure to cover everything. any advice is really very appreciated! 22 is too young to go bald IMO..i wouldnt mind it later on in life, well not as much, but i'd like to stop it in its tracks for a while. (on the other hand i really dont want any permanent loss of sex drive!)