Propecia Past 10 Years?

[windjc]

It's been 7 years for me and still going strong. I have lost a little more hair, but very slowly.

I haven't been on hairloss forums for about 5 years and now that I stopped back by I wanted to see how long I might expect propecia to continue to work for me.

Of course, it's different for everyone, but who here has been on propecia for 10+ years and how it's going. Anyone been on it successfully for 15 years?

I hear that it works up to 10 years for some, but is that really the case? Certainly there are some individuals that it works for up to 15 years or longer.

Thanks for the input!

 

[shadowRX]

I think it is generally acceptable that after 2 years, whatever rate your loss is, it will continue at that rate, maybe speeding up a small little bit though because of age related increases in DHT.

 

[jc444]

Been 9+ years on finasteride.

1-6 Years:
Maintained my hair very well, temple recession continued over those 6 years but finasteride had the effect of making everything happen very slowly to the point where 6 years had passed, and I could pretty much hide all hair loss that had occured in that time.

6-8 Years:
At the 6 year mark for the first time noticed hair was losing volume, This continued until my hair got to a point where it just was not the same, didnt feel like it was my hair! Very thin all over, but still good coverage, hairline still creeping back at same rate.

Year 9:
Complete loss of volume all over top of head. Hairline recession accelerating now rapidly. This is not looking good. People have now started noticing that Im balding, whereas up to say a year ago, I was the only one who could tell.

Summary. Propercia is fantastic for say first 5 years. Then it seems as though its effects are diminshed and continue to diminish, and I feel ultimately when im 50 and look back, Ill be bald, just have delayed it for about 10 years.

Still that was worth it, only now im going through the torment that a lot have in ther early twenties who are not on any meds. Still aint fun, but i guess ive had more time to accept it.

 

[Jokerman]

jc444, have you tried upping your dosage?

 

[Leon S Habsburg]

Or using minoxidil? Whats your regimen?

 

[jc444]

Hi guys,

unfortunately its near impossible to accurately say what exactly has caused my accelerated hair loss. There are a few factors to consider.

About 3 years ago i switched to proscar 1/4s from propecia to save money. This was around the time i started noticing loss of volume in my hair. After 6 months or so, I was concerned the Proscar I had ordered online was fake and so effectively I had stopped finasteride altogether.

After about one year of using meds ordered online, I went back to prescritption propecia from my doctor, just to be safe. Although a million thoughts raced through my head at the time, looking back, everything seems to have been a natural progression. Switching back to propecia did not slow things down anymore. I kind of now feel like the online meds were legit, finasteride was just losing its effect.

I Added 5% minoxidil twice a day about two years ago, and then about 6 months ago added 15% minoxidil. I always wanted to avoid minoxidil as its inconvenient and messy, but I figured this was getting desperate so I gave it a go.

Today I take one propecia per day. 15% minoxidil at night, 5% minoxidil in the morning, and I use Nizoral shamppo twice a week. The minoxidil does not seem to have done a lot for me.

I have not increased my finasteride dose, mainly because its too expensive and I had read that it doesnt help. But this has now got me thinking, maybe it would actually help once the effect of normal dosage has diminisehed. Not sure.

 

[IBM]

This matter should be discussed more often.

I think people should use minoxidil since the beginning to avoid fibrosis. People can use 5% once a day or even 2%.

Have you considered dutasteride? There is a user that switched finasteride to dutasteride after 6 years. He said that finasteride worked great but it was losing the effect so he switched to dutasteride with great success and recovered the loss he had in meantime.

You can also try other things like oral spironolactone. 100mg with dutasteride may hold you a while.

 

[TEDDYRUXPIN]

Been on propecia (merk) for 8 years and only have slight hairloss in the temples. Added minoxidil (spectral dnc lotion) to the regime and it is rather filling up well. Kind of anyway.

As for people stating that it is age related, it is probably true. At the end of the day, hairloss may be as a result of aging.

 

[Jokerman]

I have not increased my finasteride dose, mainly because its too expensive and I had read that it doesnt help. But this has now got me thinking, maybe it would actually help once the effect of normal dosage has diminisehed. Not sure.

Dr. Rassman on the balding blog recommends his patients increase the dosage when the effects start to diminish.

It'd be interesting to know if anyone here has tried this and had success.

 

[HairDont]

I can say my results have almost mirrored JC's experience.

First 6 years were great. (Started the drugs in my early 30s)
Started noticing increased shedding in year 6 to 7.

Years 8 & 9 top density decreased dramatically.

Year 10 thought I had stabilized a bit, but then the loss kicks in at times with a vengence.

have also jumped back and forth from Propecia to proscar and back during times of panic.

And as JC commented, probably just delayed the process for 10 years.

Sucks though.
During this whole time have experimented with diets, vitamins, shower filters,.....

 

[jc444]

I havent been on this forum maybe a couple of years before i replied to this thread. I was just checking to see if the miracle sure was available yet. While the answer still looks to be no (although the thread about sebum and accutane looks interesting) I have to say you guys have re-newed my desire to keep fighting.

To that end, I think I will order some proscar again and use that to supplement my propecia 1mg daily.

Jokerman, did the Dr. Rassman say how much the dose should be increased? I might start with 1mg propecia and 1mg Proscar giving a 2mg finasteride daily dose. I want to keep with the propecia as its from my doctor so I know its legit and i don't want to go through the mind games i had last time i was using only online ordered meds.

IBM, i have actually considered dutasteride, but ruled it out basically because my wife wants another baby in the next year or so, and last time I looked there wasn't a lot of info as to whether it was safe to conceive while on, or after using, dutasteride.

HairDont, I really hate to think that finasteride wont work for us anymore. Are you thinking of changing things up at all?