3 Months in finasteride and crown being destroyed. Thoughts?

[davepeters3345]

Started finasteride 3 months ago. At the time, I was Norwood 1.5 hairline, minor crown/vertex loss. In the past 3 months, My hair has been completely decimated. I am now NW2 hairline and my crown/vertex has completely thinned. It is entirely visible and very bad. I am going to post pics after my exams, but I am seriously worried.

Before finasteride, hairs that would fall out were generally black, somewhat thick and long. Now, I am losing tons of hairs, but they are all extremely thin, almost see through. I am not losing anymore thick black hairs, but my hair is thinning very very quickly. It is thinning out everywhere but mainly in my crown/vertex area.

I am 20 y/o aggressive male pattern baldness genes. Same pattern as my dad who was Norwood 6 at age 23.
Any advice is welcome although I think I am going to go beg my doctor for dutasteride next week anyway.

 

[archdemon123]

Probably awfuly shedding because your hair was miniaturized. Anyways, if that is the case, ride it out.

 

[davepeters3345]

Thing is, I never lost hairs that were this thin/measly. They are all so small and see through. Usually they are thick and black. My crown/vertex is taking an absolute pummelling. (Interestingly, it doesn't seem to be from the hair swirl). My hair "swirl" or whatever you call it is actually not bad. It is more laterally on both sides and in front that its really bad.

Temples: heavy thinning as well and more miniaturization

 

[bilboswaggins]

i highly doubt switching to dutasteride will stop your shedding

 

[Wolf Pack]

Sounds to me like your male pattern baldness still continuing somewhat. If you're on minoxidil it could be a shed. finasteride hasn't been proven to cause a shed. You may continue to lose hair on finasteride or it may take a while to get things under control. Not sure if dutasteride can help but worth a go. For some people once the process has started big time, it's difficult to stop, maybe slow it down.

 

[bilboswaggins]

Sounds to me like your male pattern baldness still continuing somewhat. If you're on minoxidil it could be a shed. finasteride hasn't been proven to cause a shed. You may continue to lose hair on finasteride or it may take a while to get things under control. Not sure if dutasteride can help but worth a go. For some people once the process has started big time, it's difficult to stop, maybe slow it down.

you know every time someone posts about shedding from finasteride they are told it is normal and to ride it out for 1 year

 

[Wolf Pack]

you know every time someone posts about shedding from finasteride they are told it is normal and to ride it out for 1 year

People say all sorts of stuff. I think the key is recognise that hair transplant doctors are not convinced that finasteride interferes with hair cycles like Minoxidil. Also nothing in the literature to say that finasteride causes a shed.

Ride it out for a year? That depends on each person. I would look at the quality of hair being shed and also hair left on my head, is it general shed or in one area. Can be difficult to distinguish say a seasonal shed from male pattern baldness continuing, waiting game is horrible.

My shedding has not gotten less or more since being on finasteride.

 

[BiqqieSmalls]

i highly doubt switching to dutasteride will stop your shedding

I was shedding really badly for the first two months on Finasteride and couldn't take it so I added Dutasteride 0.5mg 3x per week and now I shed 10 hairs when I shower. 3 months minimal shedding

 

[Galway]

If it makes you feel any better, I have the same thing. Noticed my temples thinning so I got a prescription for Finasteride. Over 2 months my crown (except for me it was almost exclusively at the "swirl") took an absolute pummeling. A sizable bald spot appeared out of no where from all the shedding (I have pics to prove it). Buzzed my hair last night and I'll grow it out in 3 months so I don't have the urge to look in the mirror every 20 minutes.

 

[Blessed99]

Maybe you should try the brand Propecia instead of the generic Finasteride. A certain generic of Finasteride made me shed HORRIBLY. I am now on brand Propecia.

 

[Robert11]

Which brand are you talking about?

 

[Rockinlove]

Don't sweat it. I had a shed too 3 months into finasteride. If the small hairs are falling then that is a good sign. Expect to see a significant improvement by the 7th or 8th month mark. Stay on the finasteride.

Started finasteride 3 months ago. At the time, I was Norwood 1.5 hairline, minor crown/vertex loss. In the past 3 months, My hair has been completely decimated. I am now NW2 hairline and my crown/vertex has completely thinned. It is entirely visible and very bad. I am going to post pics after my exams, but I am seriously worried.

Before finasteride, hairs that would fall out were generally black, somewhat thick and long. Now, I am losing tons of hairs, but they are all extremely thin, almost see through. I am not losing anymore thick black hairs, but my hair is thinning very very quickly. It is thinning out everywhere but mainly in my crown/vertex area.

I am 20 y/o aggressive male pattern baldness genes. Same pattern as my dad who was Norwood 6 at age 23.
Any advice is welcome although I think I am going to go beg my doctor for dutasteride next week anyway.

- - - Updated - - -

Nonsense. I had a shed on finasteride as well. It is part of the process.

People say all sorts of stuff. I think the key is recognise that hair transplant doctors are not convinced that finasteride interferes with hair cycles like Minoxidil. Also nothing in the literature to say that finasteride causes a shed.

Ride it out for a year? That depends on each person. I would look at the quality of hair being shed and also hair left on my head, is it general shed or in one area. Can be difficult to distinguish say a seasonal shed from male pattern baldness continuing, waiting game is horrible.

My shedding has not gotten less or more since being on finasteride.

 

[Samson123]

I've been on finasteride for a lot longer than you, OP, around 21 months and it has fried my hair, everywhere, back and sides too. I never had shed hairs that were this sickly, colorless, and thin looking before finasteride. The only explanation that makes any sense is that excessive DHT isn't our problem, it's the sensitivity to androgens that is and no amount of DHT inhibition is going to help, it'll probably just make it worse because your hair follicles will just compensate by increasing androgen receptors. If you are getting worse on finasteride then dutasteride will probably make things even worse.

 

[GiveMeAccessToMyAccount]

Maybe you should try the brand Propecia instead of the generic Finasteride. A certain generic of Finasteride made me shed HORRIBLY. I am now on brand Propecia.

Honestly man that's a waste of money, it really doesn't matter. If your gen finasteride was not working it was probably phony, this is likely due to getting it from a website that sells fakes. If you get generic finasteride from a proper pharmacy/online pharmacy you should be okay in my experience. I have not used Propecia in like 8 years and i'm fine, I get mine from inhousepharmacies, Fincar 5mg from Cipla.

 

[buckthorn]

it's not nonsense to the people it's happened to. Keep a close eye out for it man. I am not trying to fear monger anyone, but finasteride can either help you or completely f*ck you. hair transplant docs hand this crap out like candy, knowing fully well that there's the possibility of it destroying your hair. They don't warn you, or give a sh*t. If you are shedding a lot of thick terminal hairs at 6-8 months still, reconsider.

 

[Rockinlove]

Try not to jump on dutasteride right away. Keep in mind that it is a far more potent dht inhibitor and a dutasteride induced shedding can be pretty frightening. Give your body some time to recover.

You do not want to jump in from one Telogen Effluvium to another.

I'd instead reccommend getting on a topical anti androgen like ru. It might just help you get back to baseline.

Also, taper off the finasteride slowly rather than going cold turkey. If you were to go cold turkey then your Telogen Effluvium might just get even more worse than it already is.

 

[qztwn]

Going through something similar

 

[thatguywelbz]

Ride it out. Do not do what I did the first time I started finasteride. Now I have to wait an extra year before the regrowth I want happens. Do not stop. I use retin-a and people would say, "hey, retin a makes your skin flakey and it always stays flakey. It never stops. They are lying about it stopping after a few months of adjusting." I did not listen and kept on going. People use to look at me as if I had some sort of skin disease and now skin is amazing and no acne + smooth as ****. No scars no wrinkles nothing. It will take time.

I stopped finasteride however looking at online forums and panicking and it became even worse. Now finasteride, minoxidil and nizoral is working but slowly. The shed is also slow. I have a feeling that if I had just kept on taking it I would have ragained a lot more hair and faster too than I am now.

 

[myhairbegone]

Same here man

 

[Axelaxelaxel]

Had the same thing at around 2 months mark. Horrible. But things like the itching and shedding is slowly stabilising now at around 6-7 months.. I would hang in there. Oh and I'm at 0,25 mg / ed and occasionally nizoral