Advice about what to do next with Propecia

pulfish · Sep 27, 2004

Here is my situation. I pretty much have a full head of hair, there is only a little thinning on the front hairline only noticeable to me, but I know Im gonna go bald so I jumped on minoxidil and propecia to prolong my hair for years. I have been on them both for going on 3 months. Well, after 2 weeks I started a large shed. My front hairs disappeared where the minoxidil was applied, but within a month I could see them regrowing. Fast forward to now(2 3/4 months into treatment) those hairs are growing back in black and strong it seems. So Im happy with the minoxidil, it seems my front thinning spots responded well and hopefully I will have alot more time to look at them in the future

However, Im still shedding as a result of the Propecia. It is a universal shed so I know its the finasteride. Now, I know that some say shedding is a good sign that your responding to the treatment, but it is still depressing. Like I said I have a full head of hair, the last thing I wanted to see was a drug to prevent hairloss make my full hair thin. So I asked Dr. Lee about it among other things, and he adviced me to stop Propecia. He said it wasnt normal. Well that pretty much killed me.

As of now Im still taking Propecia, going into my 3rd month. My plan is to keep taking it through month 4 or so and see if I stop shedding. If I do then great! If I dont what do you guys think I should do? Drop it in favour of sprio or another topical DHT inhibator?

Also, I got another quesiton. I have looked at some of the hairs I have shed. Around the root is this white crusty covering I guess you could say. Its like a coating around it. I can scrape it off to see the white root below which tells me that its a covering and the hair just doesnt have a very "large" root. I have only noticed this since starting the shed and the treatments. Have you guys ever noticed this stuff covering your root before? If so what is it?

need_hair04 · Sep 27, 2004

Do what the Doctor said and STOP propecia, if you say only you can notice the thinning then its probably all in your head.. TRUST me I was the exact same, and my situation was similar to yours
I WAS recently on propecia for 4.5 months until I quit, although I didnt shed that much my hair still looked the same as I have a full head of hair as well and always did, only reason I was on it was because of sebborea which caused the shedding for me (this is where the white film on your roots is coming from)

I aswell had these white pieces of skin attached to my root, sometimes there would be up to 3-5 hairs attached to them. This of course is dandruff and need attention EMMEDIATELY with such over the counter shampoos as Nizoral, T-Gel, Selsun blue... this will help but not completely take away the problem, you just gotta be patient!

So, my advice to you is to get OFF propecia and see what happens, if shedding persists or worsens go back on, no point in embarking yourself into expensive treatments if you MIGHT not have male pattern baldness!!

pulfish · Sep 28, 2004

Thanks. Well Im fairly certian I have male pattern baldness, though not for sure. Can Propecia cause a sebborea though? Cause Im 100% sure I never had it before starting using Propecia.

Also, if I get off of it, and say in the near future I do realize I have male pattern baldness, for sure, would the effects or time propecia has to be successful be diminished because I already used it for 3 months?

And need_hair04, did the hairs you shed while on Propecia grow back strong when you stopped? And are you facing male pattern baldness, I got the feeling from your reply that your not.

need_hair04 · Sep 28, 2004

First of all Propecia FOR SURE doesnt cause sebborea... in fact while I was on Propecia I actually experienced less effects of sebborea then previously! Can't explain that but thats the way it was... my advice to you regarding sebborea is to try out all the products for dandruff out there and see what is right for you! FOr me Nizoral(2%) and selsun blue(2.5%) worked the best as well as T-gel with Salyctic acid 3%, also using a gentle shampoo on the off days helps alot.

As for you getting off of it, there will be NO effect of how propecia will work for you in the future, this I know for Sure... For me i could tell the effects of propecia were completely diminished after 2 weeks of stopping.. I could tell by my sexual performance that everything was back to the way it was before BUT my sebborea came back REAL bad.. the last few weeks I've been controlling it and my average shedding throughout the day DECREASED since stopping propecia for some odd reason.
As for the hairs that I shed when on finasteride and off of it have always grown back strong and healthy... the only aggrevation I had was the shedding from my sebborea (200+ hairs/day)... actually my hair has only grown thicker after using dietary supplements BUT my dandruff is still very much there and fighting it is becoming a b**ch for the last year!

So, if you choose to get off propecia you will NOT loose any of the effects propecia has had, besides 3 months is WAY to little to notice the full benefit of propecia this takes 12-24 months so your not loosing much. So you can do what I'm doing and waiting to see whether you actually have male pattern baldness or not, OR you can take the risk and keep taking it having the fact that you MIGHT not even need to take finasteride as lowering DHT may have long term effects ..... just read this article http://www.musclemonthly.com/articles/0 ... terone.htm