Androgenetic Alpoceia

Question
HI Peter,



I just came back from visiting my Dermatologist.



I have just received the sad news I have androgenetic alpoceia. My dad has it too I guess. It appears my dad went the hair transplant route in the 70's and 80's. It worked for him, but as he is in his late 60's now, the balness has really taken hold on him.



Anyway, I am 34 (and a bit). I take very good care of myself (weight lift and cardio and eat well). My hair is still pretty good, looking at me you could not tell I am going thin. I have just noticed thinning. It mostly looks thin when my hair is wet. So I guess I have caught it at a very early stage.



I have some concerns/questions about my diagnosis;



1.  The Doctor has prescribed me some Proscar. I am to cut the tablet up and take 1mg daily. I am concerned that taking Proscar will cause some side effects. Are there any known long term side effects? We are considering a 3rd child and I am not clear on whether that can cause birth defects.



2.  Is Proscar truly effective? Will it cause re-growth? I have heard that initially it can cause shedding and that terrifies me.



3.  Will I need to take Proscar the rest of my life? What happens if you stop taking Proscar? How quick does the hair fall out?



4.  The Doctor also suggested I use Minoxidil. I was wondering though if I truly needed to use the Minoxidil or if I could just take the Proscar? Is this in the form of a shampoo too? I guess that would not be bad to use (other than cost) as I generally use nizoral. It would just be another shampoo.



5.  Personally I would really prefer to not take Proscar and Minoxidil and would much prefer to use natural supplements. I have been taking Saw Palmetto, Nizoral and natural shampoos the past 2 months. I wish this would work. Maybe it would over time, but I am not sure if I want to chance it.



I am quite anxious about this news today and would really appreciate your advice.



Thanks,


Answer
1. Proscar is simply 5 times the dose of Propecia and it works well to stop hair loss either as 1mg per day or 5mg per day. The side effects are minimal. Only one person in 400 stopped taking Propecia in the drug trial done for the FDA.  You can read more about this at www.Propecia.com



2. Proscar and Propeciai are effective. 85% of men stop going bald after being on them for a year. After one year most men had more hair than when they started. Again you can read about this at www.Proepcia.com



3.When you stop taking the medication you will gradually begin to lose your hair again as you are now. You will not age overnight but will lose hair gradually at the rate you are losing them now.



4. Minoxidil makes the hair grow thicker and longer but does not prevent the hairs from aging and if you were to use it for twenty years and then stopped you would lose all the hairs it kept alive in the next three months.



5.There are no "natural" ways of keeping your hair alive and blocking male pattern baldness from developing. I think you would be wasting your money hoping to see hair grow by using the shampoos you mentioned.