20 Year old Finasteride story - finally biting the bullet. [Progress Thread]

[Anon587]

I'm making this thread to document my journey with finasteride to hopefully help others make their decision on whether to risk taking the drug. I started noticing my receding hairline at 17, I'm unsure when it truely started but it might be as early as early 16's. I've spent 2+ years now contemplating taking the drug and I've finally decided to order some generic proscar (5mg finasteride) after realising I'm nearly at the point of no return. My father is NW7 bald and my cousins started shaving their heads from balding before 20 so I have aggressive hairloss.

Now for some pics so I can document any progress assuming I don't experience sides:

Hair as of starting Finasteride are in the attached pics


REGIMEN:
1.25mg finasteride (did 1mg the first month)
Nizoral shampoo 1-3 times a week.
// I swapped out finasteride for Dutasteride in 2019 or so.

DATE STARTED finasteride:
Started the 25th February 2015
// I swapped out finasteride for Dutasteride in 2019 or so.

SIDE EFFECTS:
08th March 2015 - Feeling some mild ache in my left pec, hoping its not gyno (high body fat so going to start eating healthier)
18th March 2015 - Nipple ache been going on for the last week. Subsided in recent days. Hair itch still very present on hairline.
No further sides, itch subsided and has been gone for 2 years
2018 - very mild gyno? Am slightly overweight so will have to get in shape to confirm
2021 - I do have some gynecomastia going on. The caveat being I have been very unhealthy in recent years i.e. low vitamin D, bad diet, loads of alcohol, sedentary, I've been approx 25% bodyfat the last few years and so on. It's hard to say whether dutasteride directly caused it but its plausible.

PROGRESS (Will upload pics every other month to document gradual progress if any)
MONTH 1

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MONTH 3

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MONTH 5

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MONTH 10

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MONTH 13

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MONTH 25

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MONTH 45 (started minoxidil the day I took this pic)

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year 5 + 4 months (now on dutasteride)

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year 7 (back on finasteride - suspected sides from dutasteride)

 

[davepeters3345]

Good luck my man! I am 20 and fighting aggressive male pattern baldness as well. My hair is better than yours at temple, but worse crown/vertex. Started finasteride 3 weeks ago. Let's hope for the best, i feel your pain.

 

[Anon587]

Good luck my man! I am 20 and fighting aggressive male pattern baldness as well. My hair is better than yours at temple, but worse crown/vertex. Started finasteride 3 weeks ago. Let's hope for the best, i feel your pain.

Good Luck too Thankfully my crown isnt visibly balding yet (although the first pic shows it probably is in the early stages), I feel the itch sometimes on my crown so I think it'll start to go very soon if I don't start finasteride

 

[davepeters3345]

Get on it right away. Looking forward to an update in 4-5months.

 

[Anon587]

2 weeks in - feeling some definite aches in my left and right pecs, when I lift my arms up and feel around the nipple I can feel a smallish lump at the very top of the areola.. kinda cylindrical in shape

does this mean Im gunna grow man-tits? Should I stop? Should I ride it out?

 

[TD500]

Trying lowering your dose, I've read some people doing this after they experience what could be the beggining stages of gyno.

 

[Kacer91]

Keep at it mate ! a few more months and it may change dramatically

 

[Cue Bald]

good luck man I would tend to agree that you have aggressive male pattern baldness (NW3 at 20)

 

[Anon587]

Approaching month 3 so added a pic, considering adding minoxidil soon to see if thatll help a bit. Theres an extremely small difference but its neglible really, it's not cosmetically significant. I'm hoping to regrow enough so that my recession isnt painfully obvious when It's styled

 

[Anon587]

month 4 uploaded

you can start to see a difference in the angle of my hairline now, I think it's easier to style my hair too so a success so far

 

[wilson2]

How are the sides man?

 

[g.i joey]

What happened to nipples pain did it stop?

 

[Anon587]

I've not felt nipple discomfort since I initially started so I guess I'm all clear in that area at the moment

I thought I was getting brain fog a few week ago because I was feeling very lethargic and I had difficulty concentrating but it must have unrelated as I feel back to my usual self again

Erection wise I'm fine, can get it up fine, I probably get less morning wood etc but I havn't had any sides that have impacted my life yet, it's going alright atm

 

[Supertramp]

I'm considering starting Propecia soon, so this is pretty encouraging. Anyway, good luck, man!

 

[Anon587]

month 5 up - it looks slightly better but honestly it could just be angling and whether there is any product in my hair

with that being said - the itch has all but gone and my hairline doesn't itch anymore so it's definitely doing something

Some peach fuzz is started to grow but right now it's not cosmetically significant.

Overall, I'm positive and I'm hoping in a year's time I will have an improved hairline, my dream would be to have a hairline that doesn't look receding to most people (norwood 2 or so)

 

[TD500]

Looks like its improved to me. Keep it up.

 

[mompo]

Keep it up!

 

[Anon587]

Ok so just a little update, not putting an image on the front page because there's not a significant difference

It's been 8 months so far. It seems I havn't really receded any further as far as I am aware which is great, the receding itch is still very minimal compared to before I started finasteride.

Side effects are still non existent thankfully. There's definitely peach fuzz that didn't use to be there, but the question is whether it will fill in or not

As I said before my ultimate goal is to have a hairline that doesn't look as harsh (receding), but I will be ecstatic to even maintain for a few years, as going bald at 20 is scary to me

 

[Supertramp]

Hey, man. I'm certain I can see a slight improvement. I'm aware that some people don't see improvements until the year mark, so keep it up! Granted that you continue to experience no major side effects, of course.

Anyway, best of luck, bud!

 

[Anon587]

Thanks Supertramp, I'm for sure going to keep at it for a few years because I'll definitely lose a LOT of ground if I stop now