Hello Everyone
About 10 years back started noticing extreme harifall. Went to a doctor, he prescribed finasteride 1mg + minoxidil 2.5%, which was later increased to 5% then 7.5% and then eventually 10%. Used them for about 2-2.5 years with no results at all. Luckily there were no side effects either. Minoxidil did help grow those tiny babyish hairs but they never grew more than that. The shedding was extreme when it was started and when I stopped the medications and I don’t think that the shedded hair were recovered, this makes me very scared of the shedding phase.
Then after studies got stuck in a 9-6 job. I used to exercise whenever I got time and my diet was mostly clean. In the end of 2019, went for a transplant and got about 2000 hairs transplanted because I only wanted to cover the receeded areas in the front. Went to a small clinic rather than those big one’s due to budget issues. They didn’t prescribe finasteride or minoxidil to maintain and I was okay because I didn’t get any results with them in the first place.
Then covid hit hard. During the lockdown it was found that I have a congenital heart issue and my valve had to be replaced. I am on blood thinners and a medicine which keeps the heart rate low for life. And lo and behold this valve replacement has given me an ed for life. Went to an extreme depression phase due to this and due to some other personal stuff and my therapist prescribed some anti depressants few years back, though I have stopped taking them now.
Fast forward to today, loosing native hair. My heart doctor says that I can take finasteride and use minoxidil, but told me to start from the lowest finasteride from the lowest dose and to monitor it regularly. But I just don’t want to take the oral one. Few queries
a. Does it make sense to apply topical minoxidil which has finasteride in it? Has this combo given results to anyone and does it get absorbed in the blood?
b. Is topical min + fin solution having any shedding phase when it is started or stopped?
c. I used to use minoxidil which used to come in an oil/serum form but nowadays people are using the same in a foam form. Which one is better out of the two? And should it be applied only on the affected area or the whole head?
d. Do PRP sessions really help? Is there any scientific research behind it? I have stopped taking them because a. the price have increased by like 5x and b. earlier the clinic used to run the blood sample in that machine for 15-20 mins and nowadays they run it for less than 5 mins. When I asked about it, they said that they have a new machine which processes it in less time, which I think is a crappy reason.
e. Using baby shampoo like every alternate day as told by the clinic. Do I need to change this too after starting minoxidil? How does nizoral/keta shampoo help one here and how often should it be used?
f. I have seen many people using a solution which has minoxidil + finasteride + dutasteride (or either one of them) + tretonin. Is fin + duta + tret combo needed? How does tret help one in a situation like this?