Male, 18 - Am I balding
- Thread starter Nebula74
- Start date
It's possible that your hairline is ever so slightly beginning to receed (extremely early stages). It's your best decision you'll ever make to not jump onto Finasteride. It has really terrible side effects that are often permanent. Also, Finasteride doesn't work really work for the hairline and may make things worse there.
I would say you're a NW1 so nothing to worry about majorly for now. I can see some thinning around some parts of your scalp. Just try not to stress and be extremely patient for now.
The main thing is to be calm so you don't accelerate hairloss due to being stressed.
Also, if you excessively masturbate, don't. Because it accelerates hairloss, especially if you do in fact have Male Patterned Balding. Since you have family who have male pattern baldness, it's highly likely that you are also susceptible to male pattern baldness which means you are sensitive to DHT. DHT is the hormone that causes hairloss.
Masturbating increases DHT, thereby increasing hairloss and possibly accelerates the receding of you hairline and thinning of your hair.
I would say you're a NW1 so nothing to worry about majorly for now. I can see some thinning around some parts of your scalp. Just try not to stress and be extremely patient for now.
The main thing is to be calm so you don't accelerate hairloss due to being stressed.
Also, if you excessively masturbate, don't. Because it accelerates hairloss, especially if you do in fact have Male Patterned Balding. Since you have family who have male pattern baldness, it's highly likely that you are also susceptible to male pattern baldness which means you are sensitive to DHT. DHT is the hormone that causes hairloss.
Masturbating increases DHT, thereby increasing hairloss and possibly accelerates the receding of you hairline and thinning of your hair.
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infamousrodi
Experienced Member
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masturbating has nothing to do with hair loss thats what i thought at 19. Don't believe this, if anything it is stress relieving and will prevent hairloss.
There's tons of false information on the internet saying that masturbating doesn't cause hairloss. It's bullshit. Scientists themselves claim outright that they don't know everything about Hair Loss so it's actually funny how people claim with such certainty what does and doesn't cause hair loss.
Basically, ONLY if you have male pattern baldness and are susceptible to DHT, masturbation can accelerate hairloss.
Honestly, I myself used to battle to break the habit of occasionally masturbating. But once I found this truth out, it became easy for me to stop. I always suspected masturbating accelerated thinning/hairloss because by the next day after masturbating I could notice my hair get thinner. I was very sensitive to DHT.
But once my hair started getting really thin due to increased masturbation, and I found a thread on a Hairloss Forum about how Masturbation accelerates Hairloss in people susceptible to male pattern baldness/DHT, and the thread had a poll which had a unanimous vote of forum members who voted that masturbation did accelerate hairloss. It confirmed my suspicions and I stopped masturbating ever since. My hair has also thanked me and has since gotten thicker. Slowly.
Not everything is known about hairloss so we can also never rule it out.
All we know is that a large number of male pattern baldness sufferers have reported they felt their hair thinned/accelerated hair loss after masturbating. I believe people know their own bodies better than anyone else. And everyone responds differently, so maybe it hasn't happened to you but doesn't mean it hasn't happened to others.
For example, some people swear by Finasteride not having side effects, yet there are tons of people who get side effects. Even doctors and specialists don't know everything.
Another example of how we can't rule it out, is because take Ketoconazole Shampoo for example, it's still unknown how Ketoconazole helps regrow hair for people with Androgenetic Alopecia (even if they don't have dandruff/ seborrheic dermatitis) but it does help. Scientists still can't find the link and only have theories.
My point is, lack of evidence/studies doesn't mean lack of ability. Even the Admin of this forum used a similar quote in the home page if I'm not mistaken.
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Great decision Nebula, if it's any help I don't think you'll be noticeably bald by the time you're 20 or even 23, unless you've very aggresive hair loss (Losing more than 100 hairs per day). If you add dermarolling with a good 1.5mm dermaroller and a ketoconazole shampoo such as Nizoral (Along with the Minoxidil 5% you're planning to start soon) you should hold up pretty well by the time you're 20. You shouldn't stress too much about your development since puberty ends for most males at 15-16 years old. Many doctors could be willing to prescribe you finasteride and you may be able to get it from online pharmacies too but I don't really think you need it yet, and most users here would probably suggest waiting until you're 19 or 20 at least. If you're a good responder to finasteride you may be able to hold it for 10-15 years, maybe more (I've read success stories here of people who have been 20 years on the pill, not more than that because it was FDA approved in 1998).
Also, I don't think masturbation has much of an impact on hair loss: I used to wank off 4 to five times a week while younger, and I was a solid NW1 like my dad. After I finished high school I stopped masturbating so much due to college, and I started losing my baby hairs by the time I was 19-20. Now I'm 23 with minor recession that only I and a norwood spotter would notice, and I've even lower libido than when I was in high school.
Also, I don't think masturbation has much of an impact on hair loss: I used to wank off 4 to five times a week while younger, and I was a solid NW1 like my dad. After I finished high school I stopped masturbating so much due to college, and I started losing my baby hairs by the time I was 19-20. Now I'm 23 with minor recession that only I and a norwood spotter would notice, and I've even lower libido than when I was in high school.
Hey, thanks for the reply, I appreciate it.
I am a bit confused as to who I should meet with for hair loss, as I live in the UK and wondering whether I should got to a GP or book a private consultation first.
Have you met with a doctor about hair loss yet?
If so, is there anything you have to do before getting prescribed finasteride?
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No problem man, I'm glad to be useful. I've seen a dermatologist who told me to start using Minoxidil 5% and to see a trichologist personally to get my hair loss examined in order to get a finasteride prescription. I also got blood work done and spoke to my GP about it two weeks ago and he recommended me another dermatologist because getting a consultation from a trichologist won't be easy for me now due to COVID lockdown and I'd have to wait 2 or 3 months. I'll be seeing her personally next Wednesday.
Normally you'd go to a dermatologist or a trichologist (A doctor who specialises in treating hair loss) if you want to get your hair loss assesed and a finasteride prescription. A trichologist would be more likely to be willing to prescribe you finasteride if you want to start taking it soon. A good doctor would also order blood work before you start taking finasteride to check your hepatic enzymes, Estrogen, Estradiol, Estriol, Progesterone, Prolactin, Testosterone, DHT , T3, T4, Vitamin D and SHBG. Most dermatologists won't bother ordering blood tests tho because side effects due to finasteride use are pretty rare (2-5% at the most) and reversible by stopping treatment 99% of the time.
Hey Nebula, just to let you know, by you choosing to use Minoxidil and Derma rolling is actually the best first step you can take to treat your hair loss, and you may very well get good results since you're still in the earliest stages of hair loss. Especially since you're Derma rolling it will help you absorb far more Minoxidil than you would without. Google some pictures of the positive results of dermarollling.
The reason I want you do to this, is so that you can see that people actually get good results with just microneedling on it's *own*. With the addition of Minoxidil plus microneedling you will get even better results.
So my point is that we've been conditioned to think, that not using an anti-androgen like Finasteride is wrong (as you have just mentioned yourself). This is just through major false information and propaganda that the hair loss community has been made to believe. Clearly from the microneedling pictures alone you will see people have positive results. Furthermore, anyone who is experienced in hairloss knows that blocking DHT which is what Finasteride does is highly dangerous.
The biggest irony is that some people sing the praises of Finasteride, but when their looking for a hairloss cure in the pipeline, they don't want something that simply blocks DHT like Finasteride because it's dangerous and has loads of side effects. So I'm sure you can see something doesn't add up lol.
Also, I wanted to point out, that this receding hairline that you're experiencing, may not even be Male Patterned Balding and can honestly just be a thing called a "Maturing Hairline" so just be calm.
Basically the perfect low hairline that we all had as a teenager, changes to a more mature hairline, which isn't so perfect. A large amount of people start to experience this maturing hairline around your exact age. Google this "Maturing Hairline" stuff.
Honestly, when I was your age I also thought I was Balding because my hairline was receding from perfect to NW2, but looking back, it held that same hairline more or less with only slight recession for over 10 years. Which is a damn long time. Take Justin Beiber for example, he had a Perfect hairline but now that he is maturing his hairline is not perfect anymore.
Secondly, I wanted to address this false reflex that people experiencing hairloss seem to have when they automatically think they need to use Finasteride. Wrong!
I want you to know exactly what you would be getting yourself into if you go onto Finasteride. I recommend you don't touch that stuff for as long as possible, if not forever.
Just Google the full list of side effects of Finasteride. Check sites like www.Propeciahelp.com, Google search "Post Finasteride Syndrome" .
Sh*t is dangerous as hell. There's literal web pages and forums dedicated solely to the side effects of Finasteride because people end up with permanent sexual and mental side effects. It ain't something anyone should be trialing coz once you get sides, it may be permanent... I'm talking erectile dysfunction, impotence, low libido or diminished libido, that sh*t ruins you for life. Low sex drive effects other drives in your body, like your general motivation/drive.
You gotta remember there's a lot of people on the internet and especially on hairloss forums (because most hairloss suffers come to these forums) who get commission by promoting Finasteride by Big Pharma so don't buy into their bullshit.
Remember, Big Pharma makes multi billion dollars a year from Finasteride, Propecia. So when you make money like that, you have resources and marketing power. Hence you have so many websites and Hairloss Forum members promoting Finasteride as the go-too-drug for Hairloss. This is the power of marketing and proganda, and how just like you, others also are conditioned into thinking that Finasteride is the right thing to do.
But the truth always comes out. Hence the myriad of websites, forum members on hairloss loss forums, websites dedicated solely to the side effects of Finasteride are around. Always be critical about everything and never be a sheep following blindly.
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Regarding the masturbation part, I agree with NickyA to some degree, even with myself, when I was around 18 years old, I used to wank about 8 to 10 times a week, and I barely noticed any accelerated hairloss but this was because my body was still young and I was less sensitive to DHT at the time. And I had no male pattern baldness then. As you grow older your level of male pattern baldness gets more aggressive and your body becomes more sensitive to DHT so things that many people (not just regarding wanking only but things like poor diet, lack of vitamins and no exercise and no hair loss treatment) were able to get away with while they were younger, are not able to get away with when their older because our bodies are constantly changing.
This is a very important point to note. Similarly like how our metabolism is not the same as when we are young compared to when we are older. Simple example, people who were stick thin as teenagers and young adults end up getting chubby or fat over the years. Exactly the same concept applies to how out bodies grow more sensitive to DHT and therefore male pattern baldness.
So masturbation while you're older, can actually accelerate male pattern baldness.
NickyA is still really young so probably by the time his in his mid 20's or late 20's will he only understand what I mean as he might deva rapid change.
However, if you have a aggressive hairloss already, that means you're really sensitive to DHT, so that means at an earlier age your body will be more sensitive to wanking.
It all makes alot of logical sense of you think about it.
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I absolutely must address these extremely false figures that NickyA mentioned regarding the side effects of Finasteride.
There a tons of people on the internet, websites, articles and entire hair loss forums dedicated solely to the side effects of Finasteride which are actually permanent. You will find tons of hair loss forum members, people in comments sections on Hairloss Forums, YouTube videos, websites, all complain about getting permanent side effects from Finasteride.
It is the BIGGEST LIE in the Hairloss industry:
1) That Finasteride has such a high efficacy rate, and
2) That only 4-6% of people get side effects from Finasteride.
Regarding 1) these numbers are enormously falsely inflated. Either big pharma bought off scientists or people in the FDA or its false marketing but the internet alone will show you that atleast 60% of Finasteride users experience side effects and that's being modest. The more realistic number is atleast 70-80% of Finasteride users get Side Effects.
Regarding 2) its definitely not 99% of people whose side effects are reversible. It's more like only 5% of people can reverse the their side effects once stopping Finasteride.
As I mentioned these scammish figures Finasteride posts don't add up with the majority of people on the internet who mention that they've had Finasteride side effects and that all side effects weren't completely reversable. On every single hair loss forum you will find loads of people saying they experienced side effects. Once again, there's literal websites like Propeciahelp.com and Hair loss forums like Post Finasteride Syndrome, which are solely dedicated to the permanent side effects of Finasteride. So there's alot of bullshit and Propaganda that Finasteride has clearly been publishing regarding their falsely inflated efficacy rate and undeniably outright absurd recovery rate from Finasteride side effects. The amount of negative reviews on Finasteride don't add up with these numbers. It's as Simple as that.
Remember, I don't doubt Finasteride works, but it only works with no side effects for a very small percentage of people. They are the actual outliers.
More and more people are beginning to speak out about the negative side of Finasteride.
The only reason Finasteride is in the "Big 3" treatments for Hairloss is not because it's so great but because of lack of other treatments in the market. Until a few years ago Finasteride and Minoxidil were the only 2 treatments available for hair loss in about 40 years. So that's why everyone had to resort to trying it. Because it was literally the only option people had.
But now that technology is improving, if you look at the pipeline for upcoming hairloss treatments, people don't want a treatments that just blocks DHT like Finasteride because it results in major side effects. Even users of Finasteride want a better approach. So clearly something doesn't add up. If they were so happy with Finasteride why are the same people who praise Finasteride, found in the comments section of the pipeline for upcoming hairloss treatments saying they don't want something like Finasteride that only blocks DHT??? LOL. Also, if they were so happy with Finasteride why would they want another treatment if it truly had such an efficacy rate and no side effects??? Lol something doesn't add up. Also every single hairloss treatment in the pipeline mentions the side effects of Finasteride. If Finasteride was so good there wouldn't be so many companies from around the globe looking for alternative solutions.
Also, you must remember that Finasteride had a 20 to 30 year head start on all other new hairloss treatments that's why there's way more stuff on the internet about Finasteride. And it's also the reason why Finasteride is such a reflex for many people like doctors, dermatologists and YouTubers. Because it's all they knew.
You gotta remember, not everyone is so knowledgeable about the new findings about Finasteride and its side effects. Some people write positive articles and reviews about Finasteride just because they have to do a quick review for their boss, yet they don't know much themselves about hairloss. Hence don't believe everything you hear or read.
When Big Pharma makes over a billion dollars a year on Propecia and Finasteride, of course there's going to be millions poured into Marketing, fake positive reviews, scam studies, scam results, bought-off scientists, bought off people in regulatory sectors like the FDA. This is nothing new. This is how the world works. There is corruption in every industry of the world even in every countries government, why do you think there won't be in the Hair loss industry?
Money talks. And losts of people get commission by promoting Finasteride unfortunately, even famous Hair Loss Surgeons, Tricholigists, doctors, dermatologists, YouTubers, Review Companies, but it is expected when they have so much money.
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Justin doesn't have a maturing hairline, he's balding like his dad. It could be that his hair loss is too severe and can't be stopped with treatment, or that he got side effects from his treatment and had to quit. His drug abuse, drinking and party lifestyle hasn't helped either.
This is a wrong approach. If you start a treatment expecting to get side effects or a bad outcome, you could convince yourself you're suffering from side effects or a new condition. This is called the Nocebo Effect and it has been studied for a long time, along with the Placebo Effect. When it happens in a group of people who convince themselves they're suffering from a certain condition, it's called Mass Hysteria and there are many recorded historical events were such a thing happened, the oldest one being the Dancing Plague in 1518.
By checking sites like propeciahelp you're using a biased sample to make conclusions. The people on propeciahelp are a very vocal minority (The forum is very small, I doubt they have more than 100 active users too) who don't represent most Finasteride users. This same phenomenon happens with birth control pills: Nowadays, most women take some form of birth control pill without any trouble whatsoever, but if you start googling side effects, side effect forums or religious forums you could end up convinced that birth control pills are poison. And their side effects are much, much worse than Finasteride too, especially considering many women begin taking them while they're very young (15-16 years old) and unlike men, they cannot synthesize fresh gametes after wearing off a drug, they're stuck with a fixed, depleting number of gametes once they've started puberty. Plus their reproductive system is much more complex than men's. And we're not even talking about libido issues in this case, but thyroid problems or cancer down the line.
I understand and respect your distrust towards big pharma (There has been a sizeable quantity of scandals and controversies in the not so distant past, luckily nowadays things are better) but as I've written earlier, you've used a biased sample to make conclusions. You can go to pubmed if you want, there's a plethora of studies done (Since Finasteride has been in the market for 20 years already) and we can safely assume that if this drug was as bad as some people think it was, it'd be out of the market. And men have been taking Proscar for Benign Prostatic Hyperplasia a lot longer, in a 5 times superior dose (35 mg per week instead of 7 mg per week) with a similar, small side effect profile too. The simplest answer is usually the right one according to science, and the simplest answer is that even though it can cause side effects in a small percentage of people (And this is why science needs to keep working on finding new, better, synergistic treatments) it's reversible by quitting most of the time. The alternative that there's a big conspiracy where science, labs and even the FDA and the European Medicine Agency are working together to hide it from the public is too complicated to be real. Surely, if this was true, there'd be a sizable quantity of anti Finasteride rallies in many cities, right? Yet this isn't common whatsoever.
Sadly we don't have an effective enough, FDA approved DHT blocker yet, since Finasteride doesn't work by blocking DHT but by inhibiting 5-Alpha Reductase 2, one of the two enzymes that synthesize DHT. We know that DHT is the biggest culprit for hair loss in men who are genetically prone to it, and that this hormone isn't so important after men have finished developing (18 to 21 at the latest).
I definitely used a Bad Example with Justin Beiber, I had wanted to edit that out after proof reading my comment but you replied before that lol. But I'm sure you can understand the point I was trying to make about the OP's recession possibly being just a maturing hairline because at this stage its too early to confirm its male pattern baldness. I mainly thought of using Justin Beiber as an example because the OP is young as would have heard of JB.
But just as you yourself had said, JB is Balding like his dad, and surely with the money he has, he definitely tried a hair loss treatment, most probably Finasteride and as you yourself mentioned, he probably got side effects and had to stop. Or maybe he is still on Finasteride which explains why his hair looks so thin now - which is similar to how many people who are on Finasteride hair looks due to the shedding. Which is exactly the point I've been trying to make. Even JB is getting sides and/or Finasteride is not working for him.
Sure one could argue that searching the side effects first could result in a Placebo effect, but the other argument is that a person doesn't search the side effects before hand and then goes onto Finasteride, gets side effects, only then searches the full side effect profile of Finasteride, then realizes oh sh*t I actually do have sides, then stops treatment. It many cases even after stopping treatment this is too late because there have been many reports of permanent side effects.
This is the reason why I would always recommend taking precautions and going with the research first root.
Regarding the size of websites like Propeciahelp or pfsfoundation.org, I definitely wouldnt agree with there being anywhere near 100 members. Hypothetically, if what the company Propecia states is true (which I definitely don't believe) that only 4-6% of users experience sexual side effects, and there's 9 million prescriptions in the USA alone. That means there's 540 000 people in the USA alone that get sexual side effects. That's a damn lot! And those are only the reported cases. Most people are too busy with work or life or trying to fix the side effects to protest.
Then you gotta remember that Finasteride is sold in over 100 countries. That's around 15-20 million people worldwide that have sexual side effects from Finasteride taking into account only 6% of people get sexual side effects.
I mentioned this number was greatly reduced and I felt it was well over 60% of Finasteride users. And this is me spending months upon months viewing all the major hair loss forums, different web sites, reviews, YouTube videos, comments sections in YouTube videos, Comment sections in several Hairloss Forums, various websites that praise Finasteride but their comments section was filled with people saying they had side effects.
So it's really not an inaccurate representation/ "biased sample" or me getting numbers from just Propeciahelp.com of Post Finasteride Syndrome website.
Taking into account that there's around 15 million people globally who experience sexual side effects (if we assume only 6% get side effects from Finasteride), it's safe to say that Propeciahelp.com is easily far bigger than that, probably thousands. It's also easy to say that Post Finasteride Syndrome website has way more members as well.
But besides that, many people even though they get side effects, probably 80% don't even join as members to these forums or websites like Propeciahelp or Post Finasteride Syndrome, they just visit the website, read, confirm their suspicions
And go about their day or go to another website.
A websites size or popularity it's not an accurate measure of how many people are effected by it.
Because many people who use Finasteride that experience side effects aren't vocal about it and aren't even on the internet, they just get sides, stop treatment and go about their day hoping to overcome sides which often are never reversed.
There's many studies around for Propecia or Finasteride sure, but I don't trust these studies. I know there is corruption all over and studies can be manipulated, people are very often bought off and bribed. It literally even happens in Law, where lawyers and judges and the jury are bought off. It happens in the police where police are bought off. It happens where politicians are bought off or bribed. This is how the world works. But the fact that so many people have since come out and spoken off the negative side effects proves there's some real dangerous side effects happening to alot of people that can't be covered up. It's really how the world works, the more money a company or person has, the more influence they have, sure some studies might have been found out to be corrupt but definitely not a majority. People get paid to cover up stuff. This is not just something that happens in the movies.
For Finasteride to be out of the market, it would require private studies to prove that more people actually get sexual side effects and that the efficacy is far lower, but studies cost loads of money. People don't just have the money that Big Pharma has which is Billions or Trillions of dollars, to easily perform studies. Therefore, Insufficient studies or lack of evidence doesn't necessarily mean lack of truth.
Besides getting money for studies, many people don't even have the money to treat their Finasteride side effects or go to the relavent specialists.
The reason why you don't see rallies is because taking America for example with 6% of 9 million prescriptions that get side effects, which is 540 000, only a very small fraction of that amount actually voices their opinion, most are embarrassed that they have sexual side effects and don't want to tell anyone about it in fear of people knowing they have ED for example. Only a small portion of that are even on the internet, because some people are old or have families or busy lives and jobs and don't have the luxury to take it up or talk about it on the internet. And of this remaining small percentage, many of these people are spread out far from each other across the country so they can't gather, apart from not having the time. Furthermore, this small amount makes up an extremely small percentage of a countries population so its not considered an option. Hence I say, lack of action or studies or popularity is not an accurate measure.
But just as you yourself had said, JB is Balding like his dad, and surely with the money he has, he definitely tried a hair loss treatment, most probably Finasteride and as you yourself mentioned, he probably got side effects and had to stop. Or maybe he is still on Finasteride which explains why his hair looks so thin now - which is similar to how many people who are on Finasteride hair looks due to the shedding. Which is exactly the point I've been trying to make. Even JB is getting sides and/or Finasteride is not working for him.
Sure one could argue that searching the side effects first could result in a Placebo effect, but the other argument is that a person doesn't search the side effects before hand and then goes onto Finasteride, gets side effects, only then searches the full side effect profile of Finasteride, then realizes oh sh*t I actually do have sides, then stops treatment. It many cases even after stopping treatment this is too late because there have been many reports of permanent side effects.
This is the reason why I would always recommend taking precautions and going with the research first root.
Regarding the size of websites like Propeciahelp or pfsfoundation.org, I definitely wouldnt agree with there being anywhere near 100 members. Hypothetically, if what the company Propecia states is true (which I definitely don't believe) that only 4-6% of users experience sexual side effects, and there's 9 million prescriptions in the USA alone. That means there's 540 000 people in the USA alone that get sexual side effects. That's a damn lot! And those are only the reported cases. Most people are too busy with work or life or trying to fix the side effects to protest.
Then you gotta remember that Finasteride is sold in over 100 countries. That's around 15-20 million people worldwide that have sexual side effects from Finasteride taking into account only 6% of people get sexual side effects.
I mentioned this number was greatly reduced and I felt it was well over 60% of Finasteride users. And this is me spending months upon months viewing all the major hair loss forums, different web sites, reviews, YouTube videos, comments sections in YouTube videos, Comment sections in several Hairloss Forums, various websites that praise Finasteride but their comments section was filled with people saying they had side effects.
So it's really not an inaccurate representation/ "biased sample" or me getting numbers from just Propeciahelp.com of Post Finasteride Syndrome website.
Taking into account that there's around 15 million people globally who experience sexual side effects (if we assume only 6% get side effects from Finasteride), it's safe to say that Propeciahelp.com is easily far bigger than that, probably thousands. It's also easy to say that Post Finasteride Syndrome website has way more members as well.
But besides that, many people even though they get side effects, probably 80% don't even join as members to these forums or websites like Propeciahelp or Post Finasteride Syndrome, they just visit the website, read, confirm their suspicions
And go about their day or go to another website.
A websites size or popularity it's not an accurate measure of how many people are effected by it.
Because many people who use Finasteride that experience side effects aren't vocal about it and aren't even on the internet, they just get sides, stop treatment and go about their day hoping to overcome sides which often are never reversed.
There's many studies around for Propecia or Finasteride sure, but I don't trust these studies. I know there is corruption all over and studies can be manipulated, people are very often bought off and bribed. It literally even happens in Law, where lawyers and judges and the jury are bought off. It happens in the police where police are bought off. It happens where politicians are bought off or bribed. This is how the world works. But the fact that so many people have since come out and spoken off the negative side effects proves there's some real dangerous side effects happening to alot of people that can't be covered up. It's really how the world works, the more money a company or person has, the more influence they have, sure some studies might have been found out to be corrupt but definitely not a majority. People get paid to cover up stuff. This is not just something that happens in the movies.
For Finasteride to be out of the market, it would require private studies to prove that more people actually get sexual side effects and that the efficacy is far lower, but studies cost loads of money. People don't just have the money that Big Pharma has which is Billions or Trillions of dollars, to easily perform studies. Therefore, Insufficient studies or lack of evidence doesn't necessarily mean lack of truth.
Besides getting money for studies, many people don't even have the money to treat their Finasteride side effects or go to the relavent specialists.
The reason why you don't see rallies is because taking America for example with 6% of 9 million prescriptions that get side effects, which is 540 000, only a very small fraction of that amount actually voices their opinion, most are embarrassed that they have sexual side effects and don't want to tell anyone about it in fear of people knowing they have ED for example. Only a small portion of that are even on the internet, because some people are old or have families or busy lives and jobs and don't have the luxury to take it up or talk about it on the internet. And of this remaining small percentage, many of these people are spread out far from each other across the country so they can't gather, apart from not having the time. Furthermore, this small amount makes up an extremely small percentage of a countries population so its not considered an option. Hence I say, lack of action or studies or popularity is not an accurate measure.
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I agree with your thoughts: If someone's worried about side effects or being side effect prone, research and take precautions (Such as waiting a bit if one is too young, getting blood work done, starting a custom dose of 1 mg of Finasteride thrice a week like some doctors have been suggesting on Youtube, etc). But going to a site like propeciahelp which reflects the reality for a tiny minority is a bad approach that could cause unnecessary anxiety, stress and a Nocebo Effect.
You could argue the same thing about most medicine people take everyday, or the statistics on road traffic injuries and deaths. And yet most people have been taking these meds for years without any trouble whatsoever, and we drive, use taxis and public transit everyday. The ugly truth is that there's a lot of stuff that's outta our control: Genetics, your family, your appearance, the economy, luck, wars, etc. At best, you can take some measures to improve someway, get impacted the least amount possible, or prevent something from happening if you manage to take care of it early or when it's still a minor nuisance.
You could say the same about Finasteride. Heck, many people here believe that it's extremely effective to stop hair loss, but since most of the people who have success using it long term don't bother to spend their time here, or only bother to make one or two posts saying ''Hey, I've been using it for 12-15 years and I still look the same, heh'' then leave, so they don't get to be seen by as many people as the guys who are struggling to fight their hair loss with the whole shebang.
It's okay if you don't trust these studies, and starting a drug long term is a big commitment, which makes me understand your position completely. But maybe Nebula thinks differently, who knows, right? Personally I like to think that science is more objective than Law and that it draws people with a different mindset, and that even though there could be some biased studies, most respectable scientific magazines (The ones which have a high Impact Factor, I'm talking about the 1000+ club here) wouldn't allow many biased studies at all. And that huge organizations in developed countries, such as the FDA and the European Medicine Agency wouldn't allow that sorta stuff to slip by unnoticed either.
Yeah I've noticed my crown is getting thin, weirdly this is the only place where my dad has experienced hair loss, so that's why I'm worried about male pattern baldness, and not a maturing hairline.
My mates at school pointed it out the other day, which also made me more worried.
Do you think I should keep monitoring it, or start treating it?
Remember, I don't doubt that Finasteride helps some people, all I'm saying is that there's a far larger % of people that actually have negative things to say about Finasteride and that the Side effects are far more common and permanent than what is advertised. So I have to advise caution to anyone using it, especially the young guys. I don't want people getting side effects due to lack of knowledge.
Of course anyone has the right to choose what treatment to use.
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Well best you start your Minoxidil and microneedling (as you suggested) ASAP. Good luck, it should be effective at treating any thinning at such an early stage
Thanks for that advice, I have booked a blood test for next week and have started looking for trichologists to see, though they are very costly, and my parents refuse to believe that I may be suffering from male pattern baldness.
If my blood tests come back with good levels of everything I'm pretty sure I'll start taking finasteride.
In regards to the side effects, I really don't care about any of them except for gyno.
This is because the psychological impact of hair loss can basically produce the same effects that Finasteride supposedly has, like anxiety depression and a weak libido.
Also, balding at 18 will basically destroy any chances that I have of a sex life anyway, so I'd rather take it and risk the sides rather than not and risk my hair.
Of course I'd much rather use something that didn't produce such sides, but the ting is that hair loss is progressive, so I don't have time to wait
So I've pretty much made up my mind that finasteride is worth taking if it saves my hair for the next ten years.
If the trichologist gives me a prescription, I am 100% taking it
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Hair loss should always be treated early for maximum gains/maintenance. I suggest you to start researching minoxidil and finasteride. Start with minoxidil first for at least 6 months then add finasteride at whatever dose you're comfortable with. Having your dad loose his hair the same way as you are apparently, is not a good sign at all.
Always remember, consistency and patience are the name of the game.