I remember seeing the something about the 5 year results of the propecia trials on this site but I can't seem to find it now despite repeated use of the almost invisible seeming impossible to activate search option.
What I remember though is that men taking propecia (who responded) remained above baseline at the 5 year point. The point of maximum regrowth occured at 2 years, followed by a drop off in hair count from there.
I believe this information, along with propecia success rates, is being interpreted waaaay to simplistically by many posters! For instance, I don't even think there's really any such thing as a non-responder (though I used the term above since everyone else seems to). Does it really make sense that 17% of the population are balding for a different reason? Some men are just destined to lose hair quickly despite significant a significant reduction in dht.... there's still some left and the exact mechanism of balding is not understood.
The key pieces of information I was able to remember from the 5 year results were based on averages of hundreds of men who took propecia. The do not mean that propecia "loses efficacy" at two years! Only that across the board, this was the average time of the most regrowth. One guy could have regrown half as much as another but kept it twice as long! The average would be the same. You can't judge or predict anything about your own situation absolutely.
What you can take heart in is that the 83% of the men remained over baseline- there's no way for averages to cover that up, that's an absolute figure. But the graph line between max regrowth and the drop off is totally based on averages of hundreds of men with different genetics.
Also let's not forget some men start off life with denser hair than others. If these men have a similar percentage of follicles that respond as men with less dense hair to begin with, they will have more regrowth.
Lotta factors....[/b]
