I've been on finasteride for over 20 months. No improvement, but it seems to have slowed down the hair loss.
Is getting on dutasteride going to make things better as far is regrowth/thickening of vellus hair is concerned?
Anyone here with experience on this?
In theory, and on paper, dutasteride SHOULD be more effective than finasteride because it blocks more DHT.
However, the anecdotal documentation on dutasteride has been horrible. Many people complain about massive sheds that destroy their hairline.
The thing is, people are stupid so if they see a shed from a new treatment they convince themselves that somehow the treatment is making their hair WORSE and they stop early.
Still, there have been some success stories on here with dutasteride.
There are a few theories that I have on dutasteride.
1. Despite being used by many people on here, a final verdict on it's effectivenss CAN NOT be made, because it is unclear whether or not the massive sheds people experience is because the drug is actually WORKING ( sheds happen on finasteride too, it's normal ) because people quit too early.
One theory that's been popular is that excess testosterone can be harmful to hair, and since dutasteride raises testosterone, it accelerates hairloss.
I consider this idea to be nonsense because finasteride also raises testosterone, and the overwhelming majority of individuals who use it see success with it.
Here's a 2nd theory I have that I believe is far more realistic:
Many of the people who do try dutasteride tend to switch over from finasteride. They foolishly believe that at the point of transition that there is no point in taking the finasteride any longer, since dutasteride should do everything finasteride can and more. So they stop the finasteride immediately.
So now this person has lost the built up benifets on finasteride which now dht will attack his follicles PLUS a dutasteride shed as the pill takes months to work. The end result is follicular suicide. Any comeback they could have made from this goes down the drain when they stop taking the dutasteride prematurely.
Again, this is not fact, just my own take on it.
So should you take dutasteride? It's all about how much you have to gain and how much you have to lose. If you have lost the bulk of your hair and have little more to lose, I say go for it ***BUT*** do not stop finasteride right away, I'd reccomend a careful and lengthy transition and wait 10 months to a year before judging results. Also, make sure you're using genuine avodart, not the crap these guys buy online from 3rd world countries where they have no idea what they'r actually taking.
If you decide to do it, keep me up to date with your progress please.