Consideration before quitting Propecia

[dangermouse]

Hi,

I've been on Propecia for over 8 years now and am considering quitting.
Reasons:
(1) I'm now in the age bracket where baldness is not that uncommon!
(2) Wife/kids who don't care how much hair I have
(3) Getting expensive!!

I'm trying to understand how to determine whether the Propecia has been effective up until now. From what I understood reading the literature, taking Propecia will either (a) regrow hair, (b) halt hair loss, (c) slow down hairloss or (d) do nothing
I have continued to lose hair throughout the 8+ years but at a very slow rate.
I know people lose hair at different speeds and I'm wondering whether the Propecia made any difference in the rate of loss, or whether I would have continued to lose hair at this rate even if I had never taken Propecia.

I'd like to find out its effectiveness (or lack of) on me before making the final decision on stopping. Does anyone have any thoughts?

Thanks

DM

 

[Wuffer]

In almost all cases, propecia will at least significantly slow down hair loss. In many cases, it regrows hair for a short period, then halts it for around 5 years. After that time, the hair loss usually resumes, but at a very slow pace. Some people are able to halt it for over 10 years. It depends on the person, and also how early you caught it.

I can almost certainly say that it has been a significant factor in the amount of hair you have right now. I can almost certainly say that if you quit, you will experience significant loss over the course of the next year. No one knows how much hair you would have lost if you didn't take Propecia; if you quit, you will likely return to that point in a year.

I would recommend you keep on it. If price is an issue, you should get a prescription for 5mg Proscar and cut it into quarters. I do this and spend less than $100/year for treatment. If you live in USA (I am in Canada) you can get this for $30/year at Walmart.

It might be easy for you right now to say you wouldn't mind losing your hair because you are of the age and your family won't mind, but when your hair starts falling out at an alarming rate, you might change your mind again pretty quickly! If you quit and lose all your hair, there is probably no going back.

 

[dangermouse]

Hi,

Thanks for taking the time to respond.
I must query the statement "In almost all cases, propecia will at least significantly slow down hair loss". Looking on the Propecia.com site their opening statement on the effectiveness is "9 of 10 men who took PROPECIA had visible results—either regrowth of hair (48% [134 of 279]) or no further hair loss (42% [117 of 279])—vs 25% [4 of 16] who took a placebo (sugar pill), according to an assessment of photographs by an independent panel of dermatologists."
Unless I have missed something is that not saying 1 in 10 men will have no benefit whatsoever in taking Propecia?

You have said that "I can almost certainly say..." to comments about the effect of Propecia so far and the significant loss I would experience. Would you be able to provide any http links to where you found this out so I can look into it?
Again it comes back to my original question. If the Propecia has had no effect (i.e. I am 1 in 10), then stopping taking it surely would not accelerate hair loss, but merely continue at the rate it has been?

I will continue to look into stopping Propecia as I mentioned in the original post, my hair has continued to fall out at a steady pace for over 8 years now. It is now down to Norwood IV Grade III (I think thats right!), so it's not as if people don't already see a lot of baldness!

Again, thanks for the feedback.

 

[Wuffer]

Hi there,

Propecia 'works' for every guy that takes it.. 1/10 guys will have less hair after 5 years of being on propecia (compared tobaseline) but this isn't to say the treatment hasn't slowed down their hair loss significantly. Even though they have less hair than when they started, propecia still helped slow things down. Slowing down hair loss is still a benefit, even though it isn't considered as one on the propecia website.

Unfortunately I don't have any proof to back up the fact that once you quit, your hair loss will resume at a faster pace. This is one of those common knowledge things we all know, but don't exactly have any studies to back it up with.

You could have been very minimally effected by using propecia, but that's unlikely. Chances are, when you are off for 6 months to a year, you will experience significant hair loss. I'm sorry I can't be of more help to quantify this a bit better for you, but it's likely to be the case.