Prescription Renewal

This past Monday, I made me yearly trip to the Medical Hair Restoration Clinic in Chevy Chase, Maryland. I needed to see Dr. Jonathon Ballon to get my Propecia prescription renewed. Propecia is a hormonal drug which blocks a certain male hormone that affects the hair follicles on men's heads. By blocking the release of a certain hormone (I don't remember its name), the hair follicles stay active and, men taking the drug are able to stop going bald as in my case. According to the folks at the clinic, the drug is 90% effective of those who take it. The drug does have one potential bad side effect in that in 1 of 250 cases, the man taking the drug will lose the ability to perform sexually. However, if that happens, I think you can take another drug (Viagra?) for that.

Anyway, I called the clinic for an appointment and found out Dr. Ballon is no longer with Medical Hair Restoration. I don't know why he left though I was saddened to hear he did. He was a very nice doctor and easy to work with. Dr. Christopher Varona has taken over for him at the clinic. Dr. Varona was kind enough to fit me into his schedule. My appointment was at 2 p.m. though I showed up early. I left early to make sure I made my appointment. I wasn't sure how long it would take me to reach the clinic. You can never be too sure about traffic in Washington D.C. and its outskirts. I played it safe and arrived early.

Dr. Varona reviewed my medical file and could see the Propecia was working. As I still have too much hair to need transplants (thankfully considering what that costs), all I needed was to take Propecia. He wrote me a new prescription and gave me 2 weeks worth of free samples which was really nice of him (it saved me $42). As he wasn't going to make any money off my visit, I bought some of the hair vitamins the clinic sells so I could repay him for seeing me. According to Dr. Varona, the REVVup supplement WON'T cause new hair growth but, it WILL make the hair you have healthier. We'll see. The clinic was offering a special where the vitamins were a 1/3 off which was nice.

Dr. Varona informed me that the clinic would be moving from its current location 5454 Wisconsin Avenue to a new location close by. He didn't tell me why they were moving. As long as my Garmin GPS can find the new location, I wasn't concerned. My GPS was real handy in finding the clinic.

So, I'm set for another year as far as Propecia is concerned. I found Dr. Varona very nice and look forward to meeting him again next year. That's all for this post. Cheers all!

Dr. Ballon

I got to see Dr. Jonathan Ballon today. He's the hair restoration surgeon at Medical Hair Restoration's Bethesda office in Washington D.C. I had to see him to get my Propecia prescription renewed. The prescription is only good for 1 year. I don't know why it doesn't stay good longer. Also, I wanted to buy a laser comb from him. His office treated me really well my previous visit and I was grateful. I know I'm not one of their usual high profile clients.

In regards to the laser comb, I found out that you must use it 3 non-consecutive days for 10 to 15 minutes each time every week. You have to have the teeth of the comb touch your scalp so the laser reaches your scalp. If the laser doesn't reach your scalp, it won't work. As I understand it, what the laser does is break up the male hormone DHT in the scalp. The less DHT you have in your scalp, the more hair you'll have. Using the comb more than 3 days won't have any increased effect according to Dr. Ballon. As I previously blogged, the comb is supposedly between 30% and 90% effective. I guess they haven't been able to come up with a definite percentage like they have with Propecia. Dr. Ballon showed me one example where the comb did work. It did make a very noticeable difference. We'll see how it does on my head. Cost wise, the comb cost me $577. The comb will reportedly last for 15 years.

Concerning Propecia, I have found this drug to work. According to the folks at Dr. Ballon's office, Propecia is 90% effective in stopping any further hair loss. However, it won't cause any NEW hair growth. Propecia is also EXPENSIVE. A 3 month supply of it costs me $178.37 at Costco. According to Dr. Ballon, Merck & Co. is offering a $25 rebate for those who get a 90 day supply of the drug. According to the Merck website, the $25 rebate will be good till June 30, 2008. I hope they continue it after that.

IMPORTANT NOTE: Women and children are prohibited from taking Propecia and pregnant women should avoid all contact with Propecia as it supposedly can be absorbed through the skin.

Personal Propecial Trial Update

I felt it was time to post an update on Propecia. Propecia is a drug that decreases the amount of DHT hormone in people. For men, what this drug does is stop hair loss. This means it can prevent a guy from going bald. As far as I know, it the only drug on the market that is 90% in doing this. The drug also has very few side effects. There are three downsides I've seen to the drug. First, there is the cost. The drug is very expensive. A 3 month supply will cost you $182 from Costco. You may be able to find it cheaper elsewhere. Vanity in this case isn't cheap. Second, you must take the drug at the same time every day. I have to watch the clock every morning to make sure I take it around the same time. This can be a bit annoying. The reason for this presumably is to ensure you keep a steady low level of DHT and thereby ensure your body continues to grow new hair to replace lost hair. The third downside I've seen is that you must take it for life. If you stop taking it, your DHT levels will go back up to where they were before you started taking the drug and you'll start losing your hair again.

After 3 months of taking the drug, I can see that I'm not going any balder. Appearance wise, I appear to have a normal head of hair which is nice. It's only when you push aside some of the hair that you can see scalp. In the future, I hope to try a laser comb. The comb isn't as effective as Propecia but, it reportedly can start new growth. I'd like to get my hair thicker if possible. To any who may read this blog, if you suspect you are going bald and you don't want to, you need to see about getting yourself on Propecia as soon as possible. The reason I say that is because, the sooner you start taking the drug, the sooner you stop your hair loss and the more hair you'll retain. This is the only regret I have in my case. I could see I was gradually going bald but couldn't decide whether to really pursue the matter or not. Fortunately, I saw Dr. Ballon about the matter before I needed a more radical and expensive solution which is hair transplants. Those can cost you up to a whopping $4,000! Serious ouch!!!!!

FYI, I'm not an expert in hair loss matters nor Propecia. I'm merely stating what I know and what I've observed using Propecia. You may have different experiences with the drug. Propecia is not recommended for women or children. Before taking the drug, definitely talk to a doctor about it so you know what you're doing.

Update March 9th, 2014: Two generic versions of Propecia have come out in the United States making the drug a LOT cheaper (see blog entries about them). My latest refill cost me $72.50 for a 3 month supply at Sam's Club. However, in order to get that price, you must be an Advantage Plus level member.