11 Months Finasturide (propecia) - Quit or Not?

[yankee]

I'm 43 years old. Been noticing thinning since my early 30's. Last year it became progressively worse (mostly on top directly behind the hairline). I started 1.25 Proscar daily last May. I tried minoxidil for about a month and quickly realized it was just to difficult for me and my hair style. I kind of have a medium length with no real style. Getting the minoxidil to the scalp was very difficult and made my hair look horrible. Not to mention I'm not sold on minoxidil and it's long term results.

Timeline:

From the beginning, my hair has continued to thin (mostly throughout the entire top). When I started it was isolated to a thin spot on the top front and a small area on the crown.

3-4 month in my hairline really started to get worse and continued until about a month ago. Thinning continued and has spread throughout the entire top and widened.

One strange thing for me is that I have never actually witnessed the horrific sheds people talk about. As in, I only see maybe 4-5 hairs in my hand during showering on occasion. Maybe a few in the sink and never really see much on my pillow. Looking at my hair, it is obviously thinning, but rarely am I seeing hair that has fallen out.

So, now 11 months in on finasteride I'm really beginning to be concerned with it's effectiveness. My receding hair line has seemed to stabilized over the past month but everything else is still worse than when i started.

Should I keep going or throw in the towel?

 

[heynow1234]

Hey man, you are exactly the same as me except im 26 so you got me beat there!

Like you I never shed hairs, i think they just spontaniously combust or something, cuase theres never any on my pillow, shower, comb, etc. Yet my hair gets progressivly shittier and thinner.

Ive been on propecia exactly 14 months and same thing as you, I dont think its working, im gonna give it the full two years though and hope for the best, even if thats not likely.

Good luck!

 

[yankee]

Dude! This is crazy. I just replied to your topic.

Good luck to you too.

 

[vellusfarmer]

Exactly the same has happened for me too. I'm 27, 10 months on finasteride, thinned all over, hair is transparent, scalp is visible. But no major shedding - hair just disappears. I'm probably going to wait and see until 13 months have passed and then quit if no improvement has happened. Still hoping for the best...

 

[optimus prime]

I remember when I cut my hair after taking finasteride for abou 5 months and it grew back awful.

I wasn't really shedding, but my hair was pathetic. 2 years later and my hair is thicker.

If you aren't getting sides, stick with it.

 

[vellusfarmer]

I'm wondering what is this disappearing of hair due to finasteride? No shedding, but still huge thinning. Those areas where I had decently strong hair before at front and top are now thin and transparent. What in finasteride is causing this? :dunno:

 

[Nene]

Man same thing with me. I'm about 10 months on finasteride and let me tell you my hair looks much worse than it did a year ago. Before I had thinning in a norwood 3 pattern. Today when I let my hair grow long enough, The entire front part of my scalp is thin except for an island in the front, the back part of my head is still dark and strong. The thinning has progressed at a rate I never thought it would, and this is while on finasteride!!! I told myself I would give it a year though.

 

[yankee]

Sure would be nice to hear from a few more people that have been through this similar situation and came out ok. I absolutely hate to pull the plug too early. Seems like anyone that has been on finasteride up to the 2 year mark have positive results to report.

I would really like to hear from some guys that were still struggling around 12-16 months, stuck it out to saw improvement.

I wonder if:
There are a lot of guys here under the 2 year mark who have quit or are still reporting bad results. But, there are not to many post 2 year users reporting. Could that be because their results have been so good that they don't spend their time here anymore? that's what I'm hoping.

I guess my point is that I haven't found anyone that stayed the course for at least 2 years and regretted it.

blah blah blah...ramble ramble ramble

 

[vellusfarmer]

Yes, yankee, I'm hoping also to get some confidence from other people who were in the same situation. So people speak out!

Vast majority seem to respond in under 12 months with regrowth though, or at least maintaining. I'm getting worse every week. So frustrating, so depressing.

 

[hairandthere]

http://www.propecia.com/finasteride/pro ... esults.jsp

I would wait at least two years.

 

[vellusfarmer]

...on the other hand: http://www.propecia.com/finasteride/pro ... esults.jsp

 

[yankee]

This roller coaster ride is driving me crazy. Just when I'm about to comment that it appears finasteride is beginning to show something positive, things turn. :thumbdown2:

Last week has been pretty decent. Today, crap!! Seems as though my hair always looks good just before it gets worse. If that makes any sense :dunno:

 

[heynow1234]

yankee as feel as though we have the same hair, because the same goes for me

 

[yankee]

12 month update photos. While I feel things have generally gotten worse, the photos seem to show opposite. Bare in mind that the second photos(12 months) is with a different camera and it was taken just after I spent some real effort getting it to hide as much as possible.

 

[TheGrayMan2001]

From what I have read and know about finasteride I would say just stay on it. I would not drop it at all. It's the safest drug, you seem to be fine on it, and you've had some decent results. i don't really know how much minoxidil you are using cause I skimmed the thread too fast..if none, you're doing pretty good.

Honestly, you're 43, and while that isn't old, from what I've read of other people's experiences you can't expect any kind of super regrowth from propecia...some of those hair follicles just might be too far gone.

However, I've seen a few users who are in the late 30s\40s have their best results after a year or two...I'm not sure why, maybe the hair follicles suddenly recover from the lack of DHT (for instance, they're so "bombarded" with DHT that its not until a year or two later they suddenly start to grow again...not sure what the actual science is but just my personal imaging of how it might be)

 

[Spanishlad]

hey guys just stick with the finasteride. I went through the exact same thing throughout the first year my hair continued to thin despite not really seeing any major shedding. I very nearly gave up on finasteride after a year and if i had, im sure i would now be one of those people saying finasteride didn't work for me.
Luckily i decided to stick with it, at 14 months i started to see the first signs of improvement and its got gradually better ever since. Ive now been on it just over 2 years and my hair looks better than it has done for years.
I wonder how many people give up on finasteride too early and then write negative posts about the drug!! I was nearly one of them.
Stick with it for the full 2 years and try to keep positive.

good luck guys

 

[yankee]

Thanks for sharing your inspiring results David. unk:

Gives us hope :bravo:

 

[vellusfarmer]

It's my 1-year mark pretty much today or so on finasteride. No improvement. I'm going to give it another 2-3 months, but that's it then if it doesn't show anything.

I wrote a song.

"Have you ever seen the scalp"

Someone told me long ago
There's Finasteride for the bald
I know
I've been eating that stuff yeah

When you're bald, so they say,
Kiss goodbye your hey-day,
I know
Shedding like crazy, yeah

I want to know, have you ever seen the scalp
I want to know, have you ever seen the scalp
Appearing through sucky hair

Yesterday, and all windy days,
Hair looks damn sh*t always
I know
Been that way for 10 months now

'Til forever, on it goes
Through the shedding cycle and so
I know
It can't stop, I wonder.

I want to know, have you ever seen the scalp
I want to know, have you ever seen the scalp
Appearing through sucky hair

Yeah!

I want to know, have you ever seen the scalp
I want to know, have you ever seen the scalp...

 

[yankee]

14.5 month update: Not good. I'm rolling into my 15th month and just recently had a hair cut. To me, hair is thinner then ever throughout the entire top and impossible to hide. Very frustrated. Hats all the time!

Do I quit or stick it out longer? Increase dose or decrease?

I so do not want to go the minoxidil route.

 

[Vanzzzz]

Hey man I just posted. Been on finasteride and nizoral w/o minoxidil for 6 weeks, feel like my hair is getting thinner. Getting increased shedding in the shower as well, from 30-50 to 50-70. Saw quite a few thick healthy hair as well, and just saw 20+ healthy hair from my donor area shed today wtf....

At this rate I will probably see more hairloss from finasteride that from the last 1 year of male pattern baldness....