What Non-Surgical Medicine Works for Hair Loss?

Dr. Anil Shah and Dr. Benjamin Paul discuss common questions that are asked regarding hair restoration treatments and procedures. They dive deep into the topic of non-surgical medicines to help with hair loss. Click on the video below to hear the discussion.

Dr. Shah:

So, if someone came into your office and said, “I want to know, Dr. Paul, what works aside from hair transplant (they're already doing that), what works to maintain my hair? What's out there?” So what have you seen that works that's on your go-to list?

Dr. Ben Paul

So for men, it’s all about DHT control. So, Finasteride is hugely valuable. It has horrible press, but there are ways to make it safer in terms of taking a lower dose and trying to balance it with certain things that help libido at the same time. I found that stress has been incredibly damaging for my patients here during COVID. I'm sure you're seeing the same thing. And there's a lot of talk about ashwagandha and cucurmin as stress adaptogens. And it's really easy to supplement it. And it turns out when you're lowering somebody's stress, not only is their hair better, but their libido is better. So that's been kind of exciting. It's something that I didn't really think about before COVID, but something I've learned a lot about in the last year

Dr. Shah:

Is there a brand you like for that?

Dr. Ben Paul:

I don't have a particular brand yet, but I'm, I'm sort of playing around with the different ones, but we should definitely revisit that in about six months. I'll give you a more solid answer. But I think, and I think the dose is somewhere between two 50 and 500 milligrams a day, working with different patients on dose modulation, but there are studies that it will drop your cortisol 10 to 30% per day, like each day. But that's an awesome reduction. Cause like when you're less stressed, everything is better

Dr. Shah:

For sure. And I have yet to meet someone who's not having some level of stress, you know? Yeah, exactly. You hit my kids who are like 12, 14. That range. They’re still stressed out. I mean, we all have some level of stress and if you can reduce that, if it's going to manifest in your hair.

Dr. Ben Paul:

Totally. And then Topical minoxidil, Rogaine is FDA approved. It's time tested. It works. And then I think that there's a bunch of hair oils that patients individually like that I think may have benefit. What about you? What are your go-to’s?

Dr. Shah:

Yeah, so I like some variant of Finasteride and I love patients where you can tolerate that. I take it, actually every day. Actually I think Proscar (Finasteride), five milligrams. I chop it up into some variation between 0.5 milligrams to 0.8 milligrams, kind of a microdose. It's in your bloodstream for about 24 hours. So I know some people like to go every other with a full dose, but I like having it in my bloodstream at all times, but DST is the main culprit. For the stress, I like Nutrafol. You know, I think it's a little bit a little pricey for what it is, but I kind of take one to three tablets a day on that. It's very well sourced. It has saw palmetto, which affects THC in a different mechanism.

Dr. Ben Paul

So I think it's and it also, and I think you have to be very careful to the viewers who are on full dose Finasteride to add full dose Nutrafol because you're going to lower your DHT, a fair amount between the saw palmetto that's in the Nutrafol. So I think what you're doing, where you're sort of microdosing both of them, is super smart.

To hear this whole interview, check out our podcast, “MASTERS OF BEAUTY” available on Apple Podcast, I Heart Radio, or wherever you listen to your favorite podcasts!