5-Year Propecia Study v. 2-Year

[drinkrum]

An interesting discrepancy I noticed between Merc's 2-year and 5-year studies is this:

In the 2-year, 83% of men taking Propecia maintain or increase hair count. In the 5-year, this number is 56%. So it seems that Propecia begins less effective as the years progress. I wonder if this is attributed to the user developing a tolerance or something else.

Anyway, unless someone can explain this -- this sucks for all our long-term finasteride users. I'm on my 3rd year running ... wonder when the hourglass runs out.

D.

 

[Stabber]

i think someone brought up the point of male pattern baldness getting more aggressive as time goes by. So this could be another factor to consider as well.

 

[Axon]

Also keep in mind that that is just with Finasteride.

 

[Loopydude]

Just part of getting old

This doesn't seem so mysterious to me. You get older, you start going bald. What changed? When you were 20, your body was making as much or more DHT as now, when you're, say, 40. It would appear some people are genetically programmed to respond increasingly to androgens, which would appear to lead to progressive degradation of the hair follicles in the scalp (as well a sprouting hair in weird places and growing a prostate the size of a grapefruit). Since this process is initiated by androgens, it would seem to make sense that this alopecia response is more "sensitive" to androgens as time passes. After all, the older you get, the less testosterone you make. If your sensitivity to androgens didn't change over time, the hair on your head should grow thicker, not the other way around. Taking finasteride. doesn't stop the production of androgens. It doesn't even stop the production of all the DHT your body produces. So, eventually, as your hair follicles become increasingly susceptible to the androgen signal, less androgen is needed to do the damage. Ultimately, finasteride cannot protect your hair sufficiently to stop alopecia. However, it sure slows it down. You're still way better off than someone who never took it over the same period, providing you don't experience any bad side-effects.

 

[bombscience]

I'm with loopy on this one. I've accepted that I'm going to be bald at some point in my life (assuming no medical advances are made from today). I'm just trying to extend a nice full head of hair into my 30s. That's really my ultimate goal.