I have been prescribed Minoxidil/Finasteride compound but am petrified of shedding all my hairline, any suggestions? (Photos)

Although there is risk of shedding from Minoxidil/Finasteride  it is always temporary and is just a sign that the hair is cycling and will regrow thicker than ever. I would suggest using these medications and not worrying about the shedding. Even if there is some in the first few months, the reward with be thicker hair,Dr. Robert Jones

Hi, How are you? Finasteride and Minoxodil will not help for the frontal hair line. They are both only FDA approved for the crown. Adding it to your regimen won't do much for the hairline. I would recommend trying PRP because that treatment is much more powerful than Minoxodil. Minoxodil is like a BB gun while PRP treatments are like an anatomic bomb. Also, If you start Minoxodil you will have to be all in or all out. Meaning if you are sparatic with it or if you miss a few days you run the risk of shock loss and shedding and that is certainly something that we want to avoid. If you haven/t started Minoxodil don't. 

Every treatment has potential risk. The risk you have depends on your personal history and diagnosis so I’d need more information to be able to give real numbers. But these drugs generally have a low risk of massive short term shedding (and a slight risk for mild short term shedding) for most people in terms of the long term risk of shedding and long term detrimental effects. The world spends millions and millions of dollars on incredibly safe treatments that rarely cause shedding. Unfortunately these treatments rarely work either. You’ll want to review with your physician the chance of success vs the chance of shedding and the chance of being worse off in one year without treatment. One needs to weigh all these risks together with the physician and the risks of other even more aggressive treatments such as oral antiandrogens or oral minoxidil. Not everyone can use these nor tolerate them. Generally the better (ie more effective) the treatment the higher the risk. If the risk of more hair loss in one year is 100% without treatment and the risk of minor temporary shedding is 25 %, major shedding 5 % and the chance of success is 50 % one needs to put all these numbers in some “internal calculator” and determine what risk they are willing to tolerate. At the same time, don’t get caught with treatments that simply don’t work. All treatments that truly work have some associated risk. If the risk seems to great, one should not proceed. 

Using these medications together adds to the value of what either can do alone and there is nothing to worry about.  The side effects of both of these medications are rare and well defined. If you are female and using finasteride, be very careful about a pregnancy as this drug is dangerous in pregnant women for the fetus

Dear Eat Sleep Move,Hello and thank you for your excellent question. I suggest that you start Finasteride and Minoxidil, as they are the only two medications for hair loss approved by the FDA. For women of child-bearing age, I use spironolactone instead of finasteride. Both medications have different mechanism of action, and I usually recommend both medications to my patients. Other adjuncts include low-level laser light therapy, PRP, stem cell, or other regenerative medical treatment. Also, you will want to ensure that you are not taking any medications that could be contributing to your hair loss. The main objectives with the combination treatments are to stabilize your hair loss, increase your existing hair fiber diameter, and stimulate some hair regrowth. After those options are completed, I recommend hair transplant, including FUE or FUT. It is best to answer your question during a face-to-face evaluation, when you can discuss your goals and expectations for the procedure, and you can have a physical examination to evaluate for that procedure. I recommend that you find a board-certified, or board-eligible plastic surgeon with whom you are comfortable. Be sure to have all of your questions answered during a face-to-face meeting with your surgeon, and review before and after pictures of similar patients whom have had this procedure. If you have any questions, call our office for assistance. Good luck!

Best,

Jon Ver Halen, MD FACS

Harvard educated plastic surgeon

Texas “Top Doc” 2017, 2018

RealSelf100

America’s Top Plastic Surgeons, Consumer’s Research Council, 2010 – 2018

BeautyAdvisor Top Contributor