10 Month Update On Finasteride And Minoxidil
- Thread starter MKP05
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can you take another picture with your hair styled the same? In the last one it looks like you just finished a tough workout. Definitely looks like you declined but looks over exaggerated due to the way your hair is styled (lack of styling) in the last pic.
Also the lighting is very different in pic 1. Take pics in same lighting.
And your dermatologist apparently told you your hair looks terrible now. I am assuming he is the one that prescribed you finasteride in the first place. What did he tell you to do? There is no way he told you your hair looks like sh*t now and didn't give you any advice on whether you should continue/discontinue treatments.
Also the lighting is very different in pic 1. Take pics in same lighting.
And your dermatologist apparently told you your hair looks terrible now. I am assuming he is the one that prescribed you finasteride in the first place. What did he tell you to do? There is no way he told you your hair looks like sh*t now and didn't give you any advice on whether you should continue/discontinue treatments.
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All 3 pictures are taken from the same angle, very slightly wet and “styled” the same way. Pictures 1 and 3 are even taken in the exact same room with the exact same lighting. I think the fact that my hair in picture 3 looks like I’ve “just finished a tough workout” compared to picture 1 illustrates how drastic and quickly it has gone downhill. The texture and density of my hair is completely different than it was before I started treatment. Unfortunately, I don’t have enough density or the nearly the same hairline level to make my hair look the way it did in picture 1. All I know is that it looks and feels brittle, stringy and lifeless.
My dermatologist didn’t outright tell me that it looked terrible but I hadn’t seen her in three months and she said something along the lines of “yeah I definitely can tell it’s looking worse than the last time I saw you.” Which I knew already. Her advice was to continue taking the finasteride for another 6 months and to start considering PRP treatment (which she keeps saying is showing great results despite everything I’ve read to the contrary).
Maybe I would’ve ended up here anyway but as another poster commented the last picture looks like years of hair loss with no treatment rather than 10 months on the most “proven” FDA approved hair loss medicine. Maybe I just got hit with super aggressive hair loss. Maybe the finasteride exacerbated the situation. I suppose I’ll never know. And now I really have no choice but to continue.
Yeah I would quit the minoxidil for sure then. It’s kind of a tough call on the finasteride. I had similar results on finasteride and minor when starting treatments and things seemed to have slowed down after years on AR inhibitors now but the first year I lost a lot of ground and it made my hair texture sh*t and I still haven’t recovered 4 years later
I see that you’re on dutasteride. Did the switch help? I so badly would love to stop minoxidil but I’m afraid of losing whatever hairs that are depending on it at the hairline. On the other hand I keep receding so I guess it’s a question of how fast I want to lose it. Do you think the minoxidil is actually doing my hair a disservice?
I’ve added an additional picture. This one my hair is bone dry so to compare to the others is not fair but it does look much better than the previous one. But even bone dry you can see how much I’ve thinned at the hairline compared to the first picture which has damp hair. And that thinning now exists all over my scalp. It’s fairly hidden for now when dry because I keep my hair length long. But that gets harder to do with each passing week.
The reason I think I’ve had a bad reaction to finasteride is that I had zero thinning outside my of my hairline and temples prior to starting. Between month 4-6 I suddenly got thinner across the entire scalp and my hairline continued to recede. Im convinced that my hair loss is due to an underlying autoimmune issue as I’ve had Areata since I was 25 and this sh*t started when I had a bad flare up last year.
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Your hair looks much better in this last photo though, comparing it w/ the first one, you can see the hairline retreating upwards but you can't see through like in the damp ones. That means that you have enough strong/thick hairs to allow you good styling options at certain lengths. The true test though remains the wet/damp hair where the true situation is revealed. How to the sides of your head look? That is usually (not always) a telltale of how your hair might progress. Duta users have much better input than mine here but I've read a bunch of duta reports of harm to hairline and temporal hair. I don't think I will ever start the AAs road as I am not finding the risks worth it really but honestly, since you've already started the Fina road and do not have unbearable sides, I think the only thing u can do to have a chance at keeping hair is ensuring 12-16 months of Fina treatment and only then you can come w/ a verdict. I understand your fear of making it worse but you will get there anyway. I believe that if indeed you have male pattern baldness you have zero chances of keeping a good head of hairs without treatment.
You are probably right and I’ll likely stick with finasteride for the next 6 months which will put me at 16 months. I’m not expecting any improvement at this point as I’ve seen very little evidence of people suddenly responding this far into it. but I don’t have any sides and
I probably don’t have much to lose at this point.
I haven’t applied minoxidil for two days now so I guess I’ll see what happens there. Today (like most days) my entire scalp felt dead. It’s the only way I can describe it. Like the hairs on my head have just dried up and died. Sides and back are fine right now since i don’t currently have any arreata patches. I usually buzz the back and sides with a 4.
I’m not ready to throw in the towel just yet but I’m getting close. Its frustrating that finasteride has not even allowed me to maintain what I started with.
Hello MKP05 , i know some of guys here mix dutasteride and finasteride during the week . Like 1 or 2 days with duta , and the rest of the week with finasteride . Its maybe a good alternative for you , or switch to duta . But for what ive learn here , don't leave finasteride if you dont have a other option !
Bye
Im concerned that I’ve had a negative reaction to finasteride. My hair loss accelerated dramatically after starting treatment. I’m hesitant to try another DHT blocker when the one I’m on has potentially made my situation worse. Plus I wouldn’t even know how to get duta. My wife thinks I should see a specialist in NY to advise me but i have no idea what any doctor can do for me other than tell me that im already “doing all i can”. I’m so close to just giving up.
Most of the people would say that dutasteride is not finasteride and i read some guys have switch to duta and have greats result .
After 1 year of fina and minoxidil … i think you should already have some kinds of positive result . Or your bad luck and the 2 treatments doesnt work for you .
Dont give it up , as i said , the better is to have a other treatments before stop fina . Think about it .
I was applying minoxidil twice a day for 8 months and then once a day for the last 3 months at the hairline and forelock only. It continues to recede anyway and now my forelock is in the worst shape it’s ever been. I stopped applying 7 days ago. Haven’t noticed any change other than my hair is considerably less dry. If I wasn’t seeing any regrowth from it does it stand to reason that I shouldn’t see a shed?
Unfortunately I am still losing hair on dutasteride. Whether it is more effective or not for me is hard to say. Your hair loss looks like male pattern loss to me. Usually people who respond poorly to finasteride don’t respond very well to dutasteride either, but doesn’t hurt to try as it is shown to be more effective to combat hair loss.
I am a complete nonresponder to minoxidil tho, and if you are as well, it is probs just doing more harm than good.
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Did your libido go up during on finasteride?
Libido has stayed relatively level. If anything maybe a slight uptick. At this point my forelock is in the worst shape. If I could get density back there I think I could hang on for a bit longer. But it just keeps thinning. I tried needling for 2 months but it made my temples and forelock worse.
Hmm if i were to speculate i would say like the vast majority of us you had shedding at the start of the treatment (months 1-4) . The lucky amongst us then get regrowth which brings us back above baseline and can continue to get better for up to 2 years. In your case it looks like you had the initial shed but then didn't benefit from the regrowth. The fact your loss stabilised after the middle stage supports this idea as well. I would imagine you're now stable. If you're lucky you might get thickening and growth in the coming hair cycles beyond the 1 year mark.
I would love nothing more for that to be true. I’d say I’m stable in the sense that the hair loss has slowed drastically since that 4-6 month period. But I’m still receding and thinning in the forelock area. Ive been patient and stayed consistent with my regiment for 11 plus months already so I suppose it’s just a matter of pushing through the next few months to see if things improve. I’ve also just added alternating every two weeks with clobetasol and clindamycin at night before bed. After two weeks of clindamycin I definitely notice less scalp acne and I feel like there is less inflammation. Thanks for giving me a shred of hope. I’m way past the point of expecting a drastic turn around but if I could get even a tiny bit of density back I’d be happy.