10 months on finasteride---I think I'm getting worse

[Jaygee]

Hi. It's been almost 10 months. I wish I'd taken pictures, but I didn't have a digicam in June. However, this guy looks VERY similar to me, except that I have slightly wavy brown hair. (His top is like mine, not his hairline.)

http://www.hairlosstalk.com/discussions ... hp?t=15481

Unfortunately, on the right side of my wide part on top, there is a patch that is almost always transparent now. (similar to the kind of transparancy in that guy's photo) It's not severe, but under light it is definitely there. I'm sure it wasn't always transparant just a few weeks ago, so I don't know what to make of this. I mentioned about two months ago that my daily shower shedding of 150+ every day had suddenly dropped to about 50-70. This is still true, but I don't know if finasteride had anything to do with this. It was at 150+ for almost a year, (before finasteride) but prior to that it was 50-70, like it is now. But even before that, right before I started minoxidil in May 2003, it was about 150. Up and down, up and down.

Please give me feedback. Do you guys think I should prepare to throw in the towel? I'm fighting off tears here , but I want to know what you think. Ever heard of a turnaround after the 10 month or even 12 month mark? And might the Revivogen/spironolactone combo have a chance of working if this didn't? Please help me out. Thanks.

 

[Full Head of Hair]

I would probably wait a little longer and (yes, more waiting) go to 12 months. Or I would go on dutasteride, and I personaly wouldn't care a great deal about the side effects.

 

[Deaner]

What I'm thinking is: Screw you, you have more hair now than I probably have my entire life. Keep on your treatments and see where they take you. You're only @ 10 months, some see improvements well up to the 2 year mark on Propecia.

 

[Jaygee]

Deaner, how's it going for you? I haven't been around in a couple of months. (It's true what they say. I was feeling better for a while, so I avoided this place!)

 

[Deaner]

Well, I'm pretty sure my hair is improving, it keeps getting cut shorter and shorter every time I go in for a haircut and keeps becoming easier and easier to style to my liking. No discernible difference between sides and top in terms of density when styled, so the horseshoe pattern isn't visible (yet). Other than that, I think I'm just unhappy with my god given density, and my terrible hairline.

 

[Trent]

first step: take a deep breath my friend. okay. now, well, in my opinion if you are like the guy in those photos, things are okay for you. you still have a good head of hair. very good. that "transparent" part in the photo that you speak of is very mild, if that is the extent that yours is, again, you are doing okay. take a look around sometime at some other dudes, people that probably aren't balding. people have fine hair sometimes, and when it is parted like it is in the photo in your link, you WILL see scalp, whether you have male pattern baldness or not. I see it everyday sitting my med school class looking down at the huge auditorium at dudes crowns. almost everyone has this "spot" going on back there, everyone! so its probably not noticeable to anyone if yours is a tiny bit thinner than most. so don't read too too much into it.

few questions: how old are you? How would you say propecia is working for you? is it only in the last few months that you feel things have gone downhill? were you maintaining before?

if this is all recent, i would relax. Hair goes up and down, and often the reason you notice it now, is because you are checking all the time. when have you ever looked at your hair this close, ya know? I know HairLossTalk.com, and some others that i have read, spoke of sheds and bad times in the late hours of the year, only to feel quite happy about their hair by about the year to year and half range. Just keep doing your regimen, and stay confident. have faith in science, and no, don't throw in the towel. You may be maintaining that nice head of hair for years and years to come, and i think you know that.

some positive thoughts to keep in your head, to keep your sanity:
a) you caught this very early, you are extremely lucky.
b) propecia works in almost 90 percent of the people. that is huge.
c) many people shed late in the year on treatment. i have gone through some sheds recently in my 7.5 month period. the seasons are also changing, and this affects everyone's hair differently. Treatments are a total rollercoaster ride, at least in my experience. and i don't mean it looks a little better today, oh no, slightly worse this week. I mean, one week i think I colin ferrell hair, and the next I am sure I look totally bald. There's huge swings in perception, that could be for lots of different reasons.
d) you can be somewhat sure that you are not a "non responder" as you have mentioned your hair loss decreased since going on propecia.
e) there's a reason propecia and everyone at HairLossTalk.com says wait a year, because it takes a year, if 10 months was the end all time, we would all say 10 months. why do you think they show the "twins" story on the propecia website at the 2 year mark? because this is when propecia reaches its peak effect.
f) you could maintain for 5 maybe even 10 years on your treatments. If things start to go some on top, you could get a transplant. By that time, they will be even better at them. with good donor hair, that could last at least 7 or 8 years. this leaves you a total of 12 years with lots of hair, and thats a lower-end estimate. Now, they are currently PERFORMING hair multiplication in some areas. it is not perfected yet, of course, but it is being done, they are in phase II i believe of clinical trials. This is a pretty close to a cure when it comes out. Only money will stand in your way. In my personal opinion i think HM will be out in far less than 12 years, perhaps five or six. Of course this is only an opinion. so you have very very good odds of keeping a full head of hair for life. Nothing is for sure, of course, but odds work in your favor on this one. and when you're really worried about something, its always good to have probability working for ya.

keep calm, stay strong.

 

[Fallout Boy]

Trent man keep your positive posts coming! reading them makes me feel better ha.. you make some good points!!

 

[Jaygee]

Trent: Thanks for the encouraging post. I'd just feel better if the transparent patch was right on the part, not on one side of it.
You asked if it appeared recently. From what I can tell, yes. Within the last few weeks, in fact. I think getting a slight haircut, making my hair a little bouncier and less flat, brought it out more, so I can't really be sure.
It's just that given how often I inspect it , I'd think I would have seen it earlier, haircut or no. (It's the kind of thing that disappears when you mash the hair down flat.)

What I've often wondered about sheds is, if someone suddenly notices a cosmetic difference, might that mean that there was not an increased number of hairs shed, but a concentration of shedding in the "trouble" area. Thus someone protesting in confusion that they suffered no shed. Hopefully, that is what has happened to me. If there is a concentrated shed in that area, I can only hope it was finasteride-induced.

Now what's REALLY puzzling is my right temple, which really can look great one day and in big trouble the next. There are so many little factor determing how hair "behaves" that we aren't really aware of, I guess.

Deaner: Glad to hear you can cut it shorter and shorter with confidence!

Any experienced people here ever experience a late-term turnaround?