Propecia for Diffuse Thinners

[pcu83]

Hi all,

I'm wondering if anyone here who was suffering from diffuse thinning could shed some light on whether propecia works or not.

I'm a NW0 (no temples receding, no hairline receding), yet my hair has gotten thin everywhere (sides, top, front). Never shed. Been on Propecia for about 5 months now, rogaine 5% for 6.5 months i guess...hair just seems to be thin all over.

Anyway, I was just hoping someone would have some good news...it's a bit depressing...

 

[rms77]

I've had good results on diffuse thinning

 

[pcu83]

that is good to hear.

do you have before/after pics? also time frame on thickening?

 

[rms77]

Sorry, no pics.
I've been taking finasteride for the last 7 months, noticed evident thickening after 4

 

[jumpedthegun]

i've heard mixed results from diffusers on finasteride.

however, i think there are two kinds of diffusers. those who maintain their hairline and lose equally all over their head, and those who diffuse in the front and crown and work their way to the center. based on pictures of those who claim success, i think the latter group tends to be the ones who respnd well to finasteride.

rms77, how would you characterize your loss? that's great that you are getting results so quickly. that's pretty rare to have evident thickening after only four months!!

 

[Back In Time]

I'm the latter group, losing from the temples and a bit on the crown but diffuse all over. Take a look at my homemade Norwood avatar to the left to get an idea.

I've been on Propecia (generic Proscar) from 4 months, and the temples and crown are definitely showing regrowth, and I've stopped losing hair. The temples are now much better than my avatar, and the crown is all but filled in. I *might* be getting a little thicker overall, but not enough to be sure. Judging from the regrowth I can definitely see in the temples and crown (where it was the thinnest/completely gone), I'm hoping that I get thickness back all over as the months go on. Hairline is getting much better, but that is mainly due to the temples growing in.

 

[jumpedthegun]

that's awesome. keep it up.

 

[Billmartini]

I am in the former group. basically maintained my hairline, but diffusing everywhere. my hair is slowly softening into nothing. anything you can recommend. i've been propecia for almost 3 years. stopped taking it about a month ago. just hasn't been doing anything.

 

[souldoctor]

I'm not quite 'confident' enough to post in the success stories yet because my hair seems to go through ups and downs (sheds and regrowth), but overall my diffuse thinning seems to be a lot better from having taken propecia. I've been taking it almost a year...pretty happy right now but it could go all horribly wrong over the next few weeks...

That's the only gripe I have with propecia. Everyone's different but for me,it makes things really good for a few weeks and then suddenly you shed everything and feel depressed. But then it comes back again, etc etc...when it's good it's very good, but when your hair sheds, it sheds bad... wish it would just stabilise!

Overall though, pretty happy.

 

[jumpedthegun]

they say finasteride is a rollercoaster ride for the first year, but then it stabilizes. i'm coming up on month 11, so we'll see. some weeks my hair looks great, other weeks it's not so great. though, i know it is all an illusion because i don't notice any change in shedding. i think lighting, hair product, good hair days, etc. play the biggest part.

hard to say how much, if at all, finasteride is working. after ten months on finasteride i thought my thinning had gotten no worse (which is good, right!). but then i took a mirror outside and looked at my hair in direct sunlight. talk about a real downer. now i don't know if my hair has always looked that bad, or if it has gotten that bad over the 10 months on finasteride. that's the problem with diffuse thinning, it's so hard to gauge.

 

[btp11]

they say finasteride is a rollercoaster ride for the first year, but then it stabilizes. i'm coming up on month 11, so we'll see. some weeks my hair looks great, other weeks it's not so great. though, i know it is all an illusion because i don't notice any change in shedding. i think lighting, hair product, good hair days, etc. play the biggest part.

hard to say how much, if at all, finasteride is working. after ten months on finasteride i thought my thinning had gotten no worse (which is good, right!). but then i took a mirror outside and looked at my hair in direct sunlight. talk about a real downer. now i don't know if my hair has always looked that bad, or if it has gotten that bad over the 10 months on finasteride. that's the problem with diffuse thinning, it's so hard to gauge.

amen to everything you said. sometimes i tell myself that my hair has always been a certain way, or if its like this now because of male pattern baldness.

i dont have the balls to even look at a mirror outside....hell, unless its dark out, i always have sunglasses on just in case i happen to look at my hair in the rearview mirror.

 

[mcfly]

worked for me initially but after 2,5 years of finasteride i'm pretty much the same or even worse than when i started. :cry:

 

[doubleplay]

coming up on 1 year of use and not only is my hair the worse it's ever been this past year I have seemingly lost more hair than the previously 4 years combined. Not what you wanted to hear but I think diffuse thinning is a diffeerent beast than typical male pattern baldness and it's an all but hopeless cause to remedy.

 

[Back In Time]

I think diffuse thinning is a diffeerent beast than typical male pattern baldness and it's an all but hopeless cause to remedy.

How is this the case? I've seen/heard of lots of diffuse thinners that improved a lot using Propecia. I'm sorry you didn't respond very well to it.

Personally I have completely stopped losing hair in my diffuse areas (and anywhere else), have grown back a lot in the temples and crown, and I *think* even grown some back in the diffuse areas. You can see in my avatar where I am talking aobut. The only real reason I say "think" is it is too early to know what my full regrowth will be, as I've only been taking Proscar for 4 months. The temples and crown were much worse then the diffuse areas, so it's much easier to spot improvement. At the very worst I've stopped losing hair in the diffuse areas, and I'm fairly sure I've already regrown some in the diffuse areas, it's just not as a dramatic of a change.

 

[momo]

I like the Norwood avatar you made. I have a pretty similar Norwood state such a s yours. I had excellent results with finasteride after only 3 months. Had to stop due to side effects.

 

[shh5455]

Back in Time: My head looks exactly like your avatar. I'm a diffuse thinner with crown and temples receding. I was on minoxidil/nizoral for several months without many positive results. I haven't been on anything for about 2 months and it's still coming out like crazy. I just ordered some proscar, so I am going to do that and add the minoxidil/nizoral back in.

I sure I'm a responder!

 

[Back In Time]

momo and shh5455: Thanks, I made that avatar because I didn't see any norwood versions that looked like me. I knew there were other people out there like me that had the same pattern of hairloss, the norwood scale doesn't seem to cover diffuse thinners very well.


shh5455: I hope you respond as well or better than I have. I am nowhere near where I want to be, but I am really a lot better already. My hair is currently about an inch long, diffuse areas are almost to the point where I could grow it out and have it not look bad, except maybe in full sunlight. I don't know yet about growing it out though, it's not quite there. I was kind of thinking about shaving it down this weekend as I can get a better idea of what new growth has been coming in the last month or so. I'm really hoping in the next 6 months to a year it fills in more, and I have no reason to think it won't. I've had my head shaved for quite a while because it was at the point where the diffuse areas were noticeable if I left it long, so I know it's helping my diffuse areas already.

I would guess my temples have gone from a norwood 2 back to a norwood 1.5, same thing with the crown. I can still see that they are thin (temples more than crown, crown is pretty good), and a little further back then they used to be, but they definitely have filled in a lot.

Best of luck!

 

[shh5455]

Back in Time: Thanks for giving me some hope! After some thought, I've decided to do just finasteride and nizoral for the time being. I'm a little skeptical about what minoxidil does to me, so I just want to introduce one new thing at a time and see how that does.

 

[Back In Time]

Back in Time: Thanks for giving me some hope! After some thought, I've decided to do just finasteride and nizoral for the time being. I'm a little skeptical about what minoxidil does to me, so I just want to introduce one new thing at a time and see how that does.

Sounds like a good plan. I'm the opposite, on the minoxidil and finasteride, no Nizoral. Gonna give that some more time then add nizoral eventually if I don't like what I see, perhaps after a full year on finasteride. The minoxidil is pretty easy for me to get cheaply from Costco, (I shop there anyway and it's a bit under 20$ for a four month supply) so that was they way I went for starters.

Today was one of my "better" hair days. I've continued to let my hair grow, and today was one of those days where for some reason my hair looked pretty good. I think unless you caught me under direct sunlight and looked right at the part in my hair I could pass for someone who has barely lost any hair. Some days I think it looks like crap, some days I think it looks better. Today was the best it's looked in a long time, which was a really, really, good feeling. I can't wait for another 7-8 months to go by if my hair is really going to continue to improve.

I'm REALLY tempted to shave my head back down so I can have a better look at what has grown in, but I kind of hate to cut it after not having my hair grown at all for so long. When it was shaved short I could really spot where it was sprouting, especially the temple area. I'm curious what the diffuse area behind the front "patch" I have looks like, I am getting better coverage I think...Oh well, perhaps tomorrow it won't look so hot and I'll go for it. :wink:

Hang in there, and I'll race you back to a Norwood 1.

EDIT: I'm going to add this to my story found here, I think it's better placed there.

 

[hopfensp]

pcu83, I just came across this subject, and I have the same exact problem that you do. My hairline is intact and no recession, yet I keep losing body out of my hair. I've been on propecia and nizoral since last august and they haven't stopped the thinning. My barber tells me that its just age kicking in (now 29), and the dermatologist was unsure if I had male pattern baldness, but gave propecia to me anyway. I just wish I knew one way or the other.