Dutasteride safety questions

[googler]

I'm thinking of switching from finasteride to dutasteride once my supply of finasteride runs out because I feel finasteride is losing its effectiveness on my hair after nearly 2years.

I know finasteride is approved as a hairloss treatment, but dutasteride is not, why is that? What testing stage is dutasteride at and do you think it will ever be approved as a treatment for hairloss? What are the known side effects, long or short term? What is the typical dutasteride daily dose?

I'm looking for honest opinions to my final question, if you were a healthy 21 year old male would you take dutasteride to fight hairloss?

Thanks for any advice

 

[techprof]

googler, what is your Norwood?
If you are more than NW3, with obvious scalp showing, start dutasteride asap. I wish I had started earlier. I just started. I will update in 3 months.

 

[KipWinger]

i am using dutasteride but i am loosing the same hair or i think more hair than when i was using finasteride. i am using it for a month. i dont know if i continue this or maybe go back to finasteride. i am seeing my hair line becaming so poor, receding. i have read somewhere more users of dutasteride saying that this drug can make you hairline like sh*t. ppl give me some advice here! how many time i need to stay in dutasteride? one month is enought? of course in 1 month i dont want to see my head full of hair again, i think its just enought time to stop shedding like mad in the shower, etc... i just want to stop shedding hairs, if it stops my condicion will go good again with time.

ps: when i started finasteride it was miracle, i never shed one single hair! it was amazing till month 6 , that the shed started again. i stayed in it 1 year and 2 months.

i was expecting that dutasteride would make the same that finasteride did to me.

 

[Jacky81]

@KipWinger: 1 month is nothing!
You have to wait at least 3 month for expecting an visible effekt! Some users shed for 6 month and then get great regrowth.
I just finished my 2nd month and cannot see big difference - perhaps some small hairs in the front.
But it is hard to measure cause i still have hair in the front.

Wait at least 6 month!

 

[KipWinger]

i have hair in the front too, i am not bald, and the other ppl dont know that i am loosing hair. i still have many hair. but the things are getting worse and worse. and this is not helping. maybe i will stay more two months, but if nothing change i will go to finasteride again, becouse dutasteride is dangerous and if this is not going to do what i expect to do, i leave it. another question expert in here. i was wonder about minoxidil. i have many hair but i am loosing density, do you guys advice me to take minoxidil to have more density, or this should be a drug to be taken when you have bald spots or vary few hairs? this is a good time to add minoxidil? or it can increase the f*****g shed? i just want to have a normal life. :cry:

 

[Aplunk1]

Googler,
I'm 20 years old. I started taking Propecia last year. Finasteride started to lose its effectiveness several months down the road-- about 8-9 months I had a nasty shed.

I switched to dutasteride.

The top is thickening up substantially.

The hairline and temples have had a lot of regrowth. They look thicker and I can see a lot of vellous growth there, too. The only downside is that I shed about 5-10 hairs off the hairline and temples daily. Nonetheless, the regrowth is greater than the shedding.

I'm using genuine Avodart, experiencing no sides, and loving it.

I feel it's totally safe.

 

[Lisztman]

The reason why Dutasteride has not yet been officially accepted as a hairloss treatment is because official clinical studies on this specific application have not been performed. That is pretty much it.
Considering the large amount of positive results on this product on hair loss though, I would anticipate that a new drug for hairloss containing dutasteride. will come out in the next year or so.
The biggest concern though is the fact that this medicine has not been on the market long enough for long term effects to be observed. My biggest concern is possible long term sexual side-effects, which could possibly be devastating (reduced DHT in the body might accelerate progression towards impotence, although this is purely my speculation). We do not yet know all the ways in which dutasteride is metabolized in the body.

 

[nervx]

has anyone used both finasteride and dutasteride together?
I'm thinking of adding dutasteride in a few months and since proscar is dirt cheap i was thinking of sticking with it too. The way i see it if the dutasteride works i'll drop the finasteride but if it does nothing at least i wont lose whatever the finasteride has saved me over the last year.

 

[Lisztman]

I think that would be a pointless exercise.
The properties of dutasteride cause it to inhibit both types of 5-alpha reductase.
Finasteride can only block type II.
Save your money.

 

[Aplunk1]

That's unsafe.

One or the other should only be used.

 

[Slartibartfast]

My biggest concern is possible long term sexual side-effects, which could possibly be devastating (reduced DHT in the body might accelerate progression towards impotence, although this is purely my speculation).

The four-year study had some positive news on the side effects front:

"...long-term treatment resulted in a low incidence of drug-related side effects. The incidence of drug-related side effects decreased with duration of treatment. In year four, the most frequently observed drug-related side effects for men treated with Avodart for four years were: gynecomastia (breast enlargement and breast tenderness) (1%); impotence (0.4%); ejaculation disorders (0.1%)."

 

[googler]

The biggest concern though is the fact that this medicine has not been on the market long enough for long term effects to be observed. My biggest concern is possible long term sexual side-effects, which could possibly be devastating (reduced DHT in the body might accelerate progression towards impotence, although this is purely my speculation). We do not yet know all the ways in which dutasteride is metabolized in the body.

This really scares me about starting dutasteride, but as you can see from my pictures below I need to do something but I dont want to become impotent or grow a pair of tits either.

I am 21, I have been taking finasteride 1mg for 15months (I actually thought it was nearer to 2 years until I searched my posts) I use kirkland generic minoxidil 5% twice daily, and nizoral a couple of times a week.


I took a couple of pictures of my hair this morning and I was really devasted at how bad my hair has become. Normally, I try to avoid looking at my hair in the mirror. I usually buzz my hair with a 4 blade every two weeks but I decided to let it grow for two months so I could judge my progress.

I apologise for the poor photo editing.

This picture was taken about ten minutes after I got out of bed. I havent combed my hair in this picture (as you can see the nizoral doesnt seem to be doing much ). I will buzz my hair with a 2 blade tonight, because I never realised it was this bad.

Below are pictures from 16 months ago when I was 19, I hadnt started finasteride at this stage, but I had been using real rogaine for 5 months. I switched to generic kirkland about a month after these pictures. I wonder did the switch to generic kirkland and starting finasteride make my hairloss worse. My brother is nearly completely bald at 28, but my hair now at 21 is worse than his was at 24. All he ever used was rogaine and never touched finasteride. Likewise my fathers hair at 25 was better than mine is now at 21 (and he used nothing to combat hairloss)

What do you guys advise doing? I should probably add that I have never seen a doctor about my hairloss, I dont even think propecia is even known to exist by many doctors in my country. I know a guy who went to three doctors about his hairloss and every doctor told him the only available medication is rogaine :? and when he asked about propecia they had never even heard of it.

 

[Aplunk1]

Your hair looks alright, my friend.

Stick to Propecia, Rogaine, and Nizoral shampoo. Maybe add an extra dandruff shampoo in there.

Has your hairloss become worse since being on your regimen?

As far as switching to dutasteride goes, I would only go there if you don't get any results from Propecia. It sounds like you have aggressive male pattern baldness in your family history.

I have aggressive male pattern baldness in my family history, and I can honestly say that I'm glad I'm on dutasteride now.

 

[Slartibartfast]

Hey googler, any chance you could post another pic of your hair once you've shaved it off, only it would be useful to compare that with your older shaven-headed pics before I offer my advice.

Slarti

 

[iamnaked]

I'd like to add my voice in favour of Dutasteride. I've been using it for 1 yr now and I think it's the business. Together with minoxidil it has with no exaggeration reversed my hairloss.

 

[Aplunk1]

I'd like to add my voice in favour of Dutasteride. I've been using it for 1 yr now and I think it's the business. Together with minoxidil it has with no exaggeration reversed my hairloss.

I'm only slightly passed 3 months... but definitely on the right track. Dutasteride means business.

 

[Jacky81]

:hairy: :agree: :icon_smile_lachuh: hone: :band:

 

[googler]

Slartibartfast, here are 2 current pictures of my hair, what would you advise doing?

 

[Slartibartfast]

Hey googler, thanks for the pics. For me they confirm what seemed likely from your longer-haired photo, namely that the finasteride/minoxidil combo hasn't stopped your loss over the last 15 to 16 months and that it's time for a new treatment. Like others here, I'm quite happy to suggest dutasteride (standard dose of 0.5mg/day) as the next step to take - whilst continuing with the minoxidil. I've taken dutasteride daily for the past 19 months, every other day for the 16 before that, and all without any lasting side-effects - a situation which the 4-year study shows as the norm. Additionally, my crown and mid-scalp have responded extremely well to the drug and at the very least I have stopped any further degradation at the front, possibly with some modest improvement in recent months.

Whatever your choice, good luck,
Slarti

 

[ajax]

Hey I would also like to add my comments about dutasteride.

I've been using it for about 5 months... hadn't seen any positive results, thought my hair line had maybe got a bit worse in that time, but the other day I looked very closely in the mirror at my hair line (was hard to do but i did it lol!) and could see a load of tiny white hairs growing all around the edge of my hair line (porbs a nw2 on right hand side, and Norwood 1.5 on left). I'm hoping these turn into proper thick dark hairs and so will continue my treatment.

Not using minoxidil with dutasteride.... just dutasteride 0.5 every day and nizoral 2% every other day.

Anyone know how likely it is the white velus hairs are likely to turn into proper hair?