Not sure if I'm balding! Should I start propecia?

[davidHair]

Hi,

Is it possible for hairline to recede a little and then stop forever without it actually being male pattern baldness? And what kind of doctor can find out for me?

I don't have any pictures to upload yet but let me just give some basic info.

I'm currently just 20 but have recently noticed that my hairline and particularly my temples have receded a little. In fact nobody, (including myself and the dude who cuts my hair) noticed it until my gf mentioned it to me. Checking some of my older pictures and videos confirmed it though. Seemed like in about 1-1.5 years, my hairline has receded like 1/4 inch. Maybe a little more on my temples.

I've talked with a registered nurse, and I've been prescribed propecia and recommended Rogaine "just" in case.

But I'm too scared to start it after reading about the shedding on this forum, and how some horror stories here about it actually accelerating the baldness instead of treating it!

In all honesty, my hairline still looks pretty good and I still get compliments about having really good hair for a guy. But looking it at really closely, I can see it.

Help and suggestions please. I don't want to fix what isn't broken if I'm not really going to go bald if that's all that's going to recede.

But if it is male pattern baldness, Im only 20 so by the time I'm 30 It's going to be horrible!

How do I know for sure?

 

[MPBWarrior]

Is it possible for hairline to recede a little and then stop forever without it actually being male pattern baldness?

yes, but u never know how much more you'll recede

And what kind of doctor can find out for me?

i don't think any doctor can know how much more you'll recede but doctors for hairloss are dermatologists, although a lot of the time they don't know much about it.

But I'm too scared to start it after reading about the shedding on this forum, and how some horror stories here about it actually accelerating the baldness instead of treating it!

it doesn't accelerate your hairloss. quite the opposite, it's the only way of slowing it down or stopping it. u might get a shed, but that just means it's working. Oral finasteride and dutasteride are the only real ways of stopping or slowing hairloss, unless u come up with some amazing topical combination.

 

[davidHair]

I'm aware that Propecia's suppose to help me keep my hairline. But there's some pretty scary stories on this forum about people shedding beyond what they are suppose to shed and continued shedding for a year and made things a hell lot worse!

Is it possible that propecia alone can make things worse for certain people? And if so, I want to know if it only rarely happens.

Don't exactly like the idea of playing russian roulette with my hairline... :freaked2:

 

[Guest]

No, Propecia won't make your hairline any worse than it would have been without taking the drug.

 

[balderbeware]

ConPecia

I am STAUNCHLY against propecia and the sheer potency of the drug. If there were an experimental drug on the market for men that WANTED to be impotent then this would without a doubt be it. All the sides FAR outweigh the pros. For the promise of maybe (maybe!) a little hair growth in the back and not so maybe in the front but DEFINITELY sexual side effects all around. Hmmm??? Let me see.........NOT!!! This drug should only be targeted towards men over 45 that have gotten a good amount of use out of their penis(or is that pen(i)) not young virile boys and men that are still at "batting practice" and have no clue as to what exactly they are doing to their male hormones at the sake of, MAYBE, vellus hairs that will never go terminal and you have to keep pill popping forever, forever ever ever ever, just to keep them stimulated. The drug companies do not give a SH*T and are basically using us as guinea pigs but were even worse off cuz we have to pay to be tested on. This is not fear mongering but FACT PONDERING. Balderbeware and do your research before diving into the propecia pool headfirst. But bear in mind that no matter how much research you do it all boils down to pros and cons, risks and results. I opted for the propecia route this past summer when the "pain" of hairloss just became too unbearable for me and I became desperate and was willing to do ANYTHING to address the problem. Afer a couple of weeks daily dosage at 1.25 mg and running into some serious sides and some that I had never even read about before I just felt that it wasnt worth it. This is a very powerful drug that is relatively new that there is insufficient data about and I just dont feel that its worth it for a few vellus hairs and maintenance and moreso because there are FAR more safer alternatives out there that do the same thing and in some cases even more to help you maintain and regain while we wait for the future and better solutions to this problem of hairloss. I am and will never tell anyone NOT to use this drug because I know the feeling and sheer pain and sense of isolation that hairloss can induce and at times you are willing to do just about anything. All that I am saying is that there are quite a few "anythings" available to us hairloss sufferers now and propecia should NOT be your first line of defense against hair loss but your LAST alternative to addressing hair loss.

 

[kaner529]

Davidhair....let it be known that the majority of the people on this board that take propecia experience few or no side effects.

Also, I'm 19 turning 20 and I would say that I am pretty sexually active and so far after almost 12 full months on propecia I have seen NO difference in my libido along with no difference with any other aspect of my life except for the new hairs growing on the top of my head

 

[Stu85]

Re: ConPecia

I am STAUNCHLY against propecia and the sheer potency of the drug. If there were an experimental drug on the market for men that WANTED to be impotent then this would without a doubt be it. All the sides FAR outweigh the pros. For the promise of maybe (maybe!) a little hair growth in the back and not so maybe in the front but DEFINITELY sexual side effects all around. Hmmm??? Let me see.........NOT!!! This drug should only be targeted towards men over 45 that have gotten a good amount of use out of their penis(or is that pen(i)) not young virile boys and men that are still at "batting practice" and have no clue as to what exactly they are doing to their male hormones at the sake of, MAYBE, vellus hairs that will never go terminal and you have to keep pill popping forever, forever ever ever ever, just to keep them stimulated. The drug companies do not give a SH*T and are basically using us as guinea pigs but were even worse off cuz we have to pay to be tested on. This is not fear mongering but FACT PONDERING. Balderbeware and do your research before diving into the propecia pool headfirst. But bear in mind that no matter how much research you do it all boils down to pros and cons, risks and results. I opted for the propecia route this past summer when the "pain" of hairloss just became too unbearable for me and I became desperate and was willing to do ANYTHING to address the problem. Afer a couple of weeks daily dosage at 1.25 mg and running into some serious sides and some that I had never even read about before I just felt that it wasnt worth it. This is a very powerful drug that is relatively new that there is insufficient data about and I just dont feel that its worth it for a few vellus hairs and maintenance and moreso because there are FAR more safer alternatives out there that do the same thing and in some cases even more to help you maintain and regain while we wait for the future and better solutions to this problem of hairloss. I am and will never tell anyone NOT to use this drug because I know the feeling and sheer pain and sense of isolation that hairloss can induce and at times you are willing to do just about anything. All that I am saying is that there are quite a few "anythings" available to us hairloss sufferers now and propecia should NOT be your first line of defense against hair loss but your LAST alternative to addressing hair loss.

Pffft. I've been taking it for months now, and I have noticed NO side-effects. None. No loss temporary loss of sex-drive (and certainly no permenant one), no watery ejaculate, and no aches or pains of any kind. Hell, I was hoping I'd get some temporary side-effects so I'd know the drug was actually working!

I'm sorry you're one of the two-percenters who have to deal with serious side-effects, but don't bother trying to scare everyone into believing that they're going to go through the same problems as you. That's utter nonsense.

And to the original poster: the drug cannot make you lose hair faster than you would without it. Shedding is temporary, and as far as I know, will never result in total baldness, or anything even close. You just lose slightly more hairs than you usually would, that's all.

 

[person_123]

many people, like balderbeware say things like "propecia WILL make you impotent".

I'm not saying it can't make your libido drop, but it's an uncommon side effect that can be gotten rid of by stopping the drug.

obviously, people who suffer the sides automatically think "it happened to me, therefore, it happened to everybody else."

this just isn't true.

in the end, you use your own judgement whether or not to take it, it may induce side effects, it may not. it may regrow hair, it may not.

% of hair regrowth is higher than % of side effects.

 

[davidHair]

I'm usually a pretty horny dude so I don't really worry about my sex drive. But given the choice between my sex drive or my hair, I'd go for the hair any day of the week.

So basically just looking at this thread out of the three of you who have used it, only 1 person had the impotent side affect, and nobody had the advancing hairloss one.

Not exactly the biggest sample size but I assume that Propecia shouldn't advance hairloss at all ,and even if it does it's pretty rare...?

 

[melbwest]

hey mate,

I'm one of those who had sides and even I am going to say give Propecia a shot. Hell, I'm even going to try to do it again now that Uni is over for the year!

Good luck bro. There are scaremongers everywhere but the fact remains that sides are statistically rare.