So I finally paid a visit to my doctor today

[sam90]

After months of plucking up the courage to fight this terrible disease of mpb I finally paid a visit to my doctor today. It lasted all of 3 minutes. I half expected it but he was very dismissive of fin and claimed that the only way forward was to have a hair transplant. He then admitted not knowing enough on the matter, which didn't surprise me at all.

He was bald himself and probably looked at my nw3 hair and thought 'what's the big deal' but it's geting worse by the day and action needs to be taken. I don't want to go bald in my 30's let alone 20's.

Is there anything else I should do? I'm now going to do some research on th best/safest place to buy Finn in the uk.

Some advice would be great.

Thanks :-)

[Notcoolanymore]

I started losing my hair at around 22. I finally decided to see a doctor about it when I reached my mid 20's. I would say I was around NW2 at that point. My experience was pretty similar to yours. The doctor was very dismissive. I asked him about treatments and he said there was nothing that I could do. He pointed at his own head and said it is natural and "happens to all of us". Keep in mind I was in my 20's and this guy was in his 50's. He was very unhelpful not to mention wrong. If I would have gotten on finasteride, maybe even minoxidil, I would possibly be in better shape now. I also assume that the fact that your doctor was bald himself didn't help your cause. Being a doctor doesn't exclude you from being a hater. He probably thought "I am dealing with this shit, so should he".

If you actually want to see a doctor that knows what he is talking about then you should go to a one that specialized in hair. I would even call around and ask specifically if the doctor deals with hair loss patients.

[x4342]

Wow, I didn't know that NCA. That makes your story worse. I think you are only a few years older than me, but at least you tried to do something and were given bad advice. I didn't take initiative until I had already lost a lot. And yes, you would be in better shape now, even with just Minox.
I think you are right about a lot of doctors having an old fashioned attitude. Basically, "It's natural. Just deal with it."
Times change. It's like acne. In the past people had the opinion that acne, even severe acne was a part of life. Today most doctors will tell their patient that they should really do something. I remember when I went to my first adult doctor. I had very mild lingering teenage acne but he jumped on it and basically said "You really shouldn't have to deal with that" and sent me to a derm. He was definitely enlightened in that area, but never once mentioned hair loss in the future (he was bald himself) even as my hair loss became obvious over the years. I think there's definitely a disconnect where many "old school" doctors see balding as something you simply should deal with similar to how old school people saw tooth decay and acne as a part of life.

[RU58841]

Ridiculous. The first dermatologist I went to, I explained I thought I might be losing hair (I was convinced at that point, after reading these forums obsessively for a week leading up to the appointment). She said there wasn't much that I could do. I had to mention Finasteride myself, and she was like, "Well there are a lot of side effects, and sometimes it just doesn't work." She concluded that maybe I was just losing hair because of my seborrheic dermatitis, so she gave me nizoral and some other topical and told me to come back and then re-evaluate.

Obviously I never went back and went to a different dermatologist instead. We agreed the last doctor didn't know what the hell she was talking about, he talked about and prescribed Fin, but that's another story.

I can imagine that dermatology is an extensive field; look how complicated hairloss is, but they have to worry about removing cysts and treating rashes all day too. But with that said, the knowledge about hairloss from one dermatologist to the next is stupidly, unacceptably variable. If you feel like you know more than he/she does about the topic, you probably do. If you're not happy with what a doctor tells you, don't be afraid to find a better one.

[sam90]

Thanks so much for your replies. His lack of knowledge was frightening. It made me laugh that he thought a hair transplant is the answer as if to think it will prevent further hair from falling out too!

There's a massive wait for dermatologist appointments here in the uk. And I don't even know if he/she will even prescribe me finasteride.

I'm ready to start taking fin, I just needed that extra clarification. I'm going to do my research where is best online for uk buyers. I haven't worked out how often I'm going to take the tablet - I've read that starting off with a half a pill twice a week, then every other day and then every day etc

Any advice would be great

[walrus]

Some doctors are still in the school of thought that it is a natural phenotype rather than pathology. Few are likely to have the time to keep up to date with current research in this area.

[burtandernie]

Doctors have opinions just like anyone else. I met a derm who prescribed fin out routinely and said it was a very safe drug which I think he was right about. Other doctors dont like to prescribe medications unless absolutely needed for a serious health issue and I can see that view too. If your healthy why risk messing with that given its impossible to ever undo it or fix it if something goes wrong? MPB is still a cosmetic condition so some doctors probably dont see it as a health risk worth gambling on a drug.