hair replacement vs. young age

[alex_21]

hi,

I'm alex and I'm 21. Why am I here writing this post?...there are 2 reasons why:
1st I've been losing my hair since I was 16
2nd I live in Romania and here I can get no help concerning my problem; in fact when I was 16 I went to the doctor to ask for help and after examining me she told me that I should go home and try to deal with my problem beacuse it's something genetical and she cannot do anything to help me. I think you can empathize with me hearing that from a doctor.

So how am I dealing? I've started to wear hats since I was 18...and now I do not imagine myself going outside without wearing one. I am a 3rd year medical student here in Bucharest and you can imagine I had many bad times trying to explain to my teachers my problem...most of the times I ended up embarassed in front of all my collegues (yes, all of my teachers are doctors so they should have been able to understand what I'm going throgh...but no)

Now I'm asking for your help because I cannot hide from others for the rest of my life and I really wanna solve, at least partially, my problem & a hair system seams to me the best option that I have now.

Where should I start? I cannot afford a trip to US so can I do everything in front of my computer and in the end to receive the hair system via. mail or something?

I am extremely happy I got the chance to find this forum on the internet and btw please excuse my english!

I'm waiting for your feedback soon!

alex.

[Paul Straub, MD]

First and most important, you must begin to take one mg. of finasteride daily. This will stop or retard the progression of the balding, In double blinded studies 99% of the patients who took it daily lost no hair in the first five years whereas 100% of the group who were taking the placebo lost hair.

You are a medical student therefor you will understand this. Male pattern balding is an inherited trait. It is a sensitivity to the male hormones, particularly dihydrotesterone. Testosterone is converted to dihydrotestosterone by an enzyme called 5-alpha-reductase. Finasteride blocks type 2, 5-alpha-reductase.

In America this is sold under the brand name of Proscar (5 mg.) and Propecia (1 mg.)

Later, when you have completed medical school, and are older hair transplantation will be indicated.

[alex_21]

Thank you for your prompt reply. I will have in mind the possibility of starting the treatment but first I have to consider all my options : propecia / hair replacement systems & others (if there is something else to be considered as hair transplant is not indicated for my age group).

[River]

In double blinded studies 99% of the patients who took it daily lost no hair in the first five years whereas 100% of the group who were taking the placebo lost hair.

Wasn't that closer to 80%?

[alex_21]

Wasn't that closer to 80%?

"In a 5-year study of men with mild to moderate hair loss, 48% of those treated with Propecia (finasteride 1 mg) experienced some regrowth of hair, and a further 42% had no further loss." quote wikipedia

so that makes 90% efficacy as far as this source says. Anyway 80%, 90% and 99% make a good average and shows that finasteride might really help. The bad news is that in 6-12 months after ceasing the therapy the hair gained or maintained is lost.

[Paul Straub, MD]

The actual statistics are after five years in double blinded studies, with hair count measured by computer rather than estimated by appearance,

the group using finasteride: 66% had more hair than measured at the starting point.
33% had the same hair count
1% had less

the group using the placebo (same as not using the product)
100% had less

Clearly the negatives must always be discussed but would be extremely rare in a 21 year old.