A plastic surgeon has revealed the hair loss drug loved by presidents and celebrities such as Donald Trump and Rob Lowe that he prescribes to patients struggling with hair loss.
New York City-based Dr. Gary Linkov says that finasteride is his preferred treatment for patients who dare.
Although originally used to treat an enlarged prostate, finasteride is commonly used to treat male pattern hair loss.
The drug works by preventing the body from converting testosterone into DHT, a compound that causes hair follicles to shrink and fall out.
Dr. Linkov said in a YouTube video that he uses it as a “first line of defense” for men, as studies suggest that more than 80 percent of men have significant hair loss by the time they turn 50.
Dr Linkov said: “Most men lose the most hair, usually between the ages of 25 and 35, as far as accelerated hair loss is concerned, and then the hair loss is likely to be more slow even after that.”
“(Finasteride) is what I would recommend as a first-line medical treatment for (hair loss) in men.”
The drug is taken by more than 2.4 million men a year, possibly including President-elect Donald Trump, according to his longtime doctor, Dr. Harold Bornstein, who revealed the president’s list of prescriptions in a series of interviews with The New York Times.
The photo above shows a man’s scalp before (left) and after taking finasteride and minoxidil. Finasteride can help slow hair loss, while minoxidil can help hair grow thicker
Dr. Linkov ruled out other treatments such as lasers and microneedling, saying they may help thicken existing hair, but will not help prevent the hairline from receding.
The plastic surgeon continued: ‘At 20, most people are trying to understand themselves, they’re trying to improve their careers and figure out what job they’re going to have and all that.
‘And that’s not the time when they’re necessarily so obsessed with their hair.
“And when they start to notice, you know, big pockets opening up and the recession and the loss of the crown and all this, well… then in some ways it’s too late to go back to exactly how things used to be.”
Although finasteride does not restore hair that has already been lost, doctors say it can slow any further loss and, in young adults, could delay age-related hairline loss.
Available by prescription, the medication, which costs between $20 and $60 a month, is recommended to be taken once a day in either pill or solution form.
Dr. Linkov primarily prescribes finasteride in pill form.
It is approved by the FDA to treat hair loss and clinical trials A study involving 1,800 men showed that after two years only 17 percent of those taking finasteride lost hair, compared to 72 percent of those not taking the drug.
However, it has been linked to undesirable side effects such as chills, cold sweats and loss of libido, but doctors say these only tend to affect one or two percent of patients.
However, some people have suggested that the drug permanently damaged their bodies, including a 22-year-old man who said it caused his testicles to shrink.
The images above, his, show a man before taking finasteride and seven months after starting the drug.
In some cases, Dr. Linkov will also prescribe Minoxidil at the same time, sold under the brand name Rogaine, which can help thicken hair by increasing blood flow to the hair follicles.
Minoxidil is also available in pill or liquid form and costs about $15 a month. It became the first FDA-approved treatment for hair loss in men in 1988.
Donald Trump’s longtime doctor, Dr. Harold Bornstein, suggested that the president-elect was taking finasteride in 2017, and Trump, 78, has previously been linked to several hair transplants and other procedures to maintain his line. of the hair.
Although the president nor his team have never confirmed the speculations.
Rob Lowe admitted during a May 2019 interview with the The UK Daily Telegraph He started taking the medication as soon as he noticed hair loss.
In the interview, where she said Prince William could have used ‘a pill’ to prevent hair loss, she added: “Honestly, one of the great traumatic experiences of my life was watching Prince William lose his hair.”
‘He’s going to be the bloody king of England! And… and there is a pill!
‘The first hint that a single hair of mine was going to fall out, I had things in my damn veins. And that’s what I did for the next thirty years.
Gary Linkov revealed his preference for finasteride in a YouTube video. He prescribes it to patients along with Minoxidil, saying they can help prevent hair loss.
Nearly two-thirds of men experience significant hair loss by the age of 35, and 85 percent have lost a significant amount by the age of 50.
Women can also suffer hair loss, with approximately one-third suffering from female pattern baldness at some point in their lives.
Female pattern baldness is thought to be related to hormonal changes related to menopause or other conditions.
Dr. Linkov did not comment on how it may be treated for women, but doctors suggest minoxidil to help thicken hair on the scalp. Women can also use finasteride, although it has not been approved to treat group baldness.
More than 2.4 million finasteride are prescribed each year in the United States, although in some of those cases the drug may be prescribed to stop an enlarged prostate.
It was initially used to treat this condition, until doctors also noticed that patients taking the drug had thicker hair.
Dr. Linkov said a more potent version of finasteride, called dutasteride, is available.
This works by blocking two enzymes that convert testosterone into a substance that causes hair loss, called DHT. Finasteride only blocks one.
This means that while finasteride reduces DHT levels by 60 to 70 percent in most patients, dutasteride reduces them by more than 90 percent.
But Dr. Linkov said the more powerful version also has more risks, since a small studio They found that more than three percent of patients had side effects such as decreased libido.
Other hair loss prevention medications are currently being tested and have names including KX-826, GT-20029, and RU58841.
But these are still undergoing clinical trials and have not been approved to treat the condition.
Doctors also observed that in trans women receiving hormone replacement therapy, hair loss was also significantly reduced.
Derek said on Peter Attia’s podcast: ‘Did you get that hair back that you had lost with this protocol? Expecting you to return to baseline would be unrealistic.
“So thinking you’re going to turn things around in 10 years isn’t usually realistic, but trying to avoid further losses and add some degree of fulfillment… can be helpful.”