Started Dutasteride 11/5/18 - Pictures & Updates

[melky1]

I'm 32 and I’ve been on finasteride for about 11 years. Possibly started prematurely, was 21 and concerned about male pattern baldness but hadn't experienced any significant loss at that time.

Maintained all the while, any losses were negligible, rarely had extended sheds of any real concern, moments where I felt I’d lost ground were more likely due to dysmorphic bouts of low self-esteem.

In January of 2017 I engaged in a starvation diet whilst coping with major life shakeups. Lost about 30lbs in three months or so. Hair-fall began in April of that year.

Shedding continued but I did not adjust my regimen of 1.25 finasteride and 2x weekly Nizoral until my despair reached its peak in December 2017. At that point I added 1x daily applications of Minoxidil foam, mostly to the front of the scalp and through the vertex to the midpoint.

I switched to liquid minoxidil after 7 months when I sensed no improvement. It is now three months later and shedding has been constant and more intense than ever. Every day, without letup - I can only describe it as feeling like my hair is “loose.” It just doesn’t stay in my scalp, surrendering at the gentlest touch or tousle. Showers are particularly bad, when I lose upwards of 100 hairs at a time.

Last night I took .5mg generic dutasteride for the first time. I’m going to include this in my regimen on an every other day basis, continuing to take my 1.25mg finasteride for the time being (I still have about 6 weeks worth).

Feel free to check out the attached pictures. The first couple are from early 2017, followed by early 2018, and the rest are from tonight. I plan to log my experience periodically on this thread, and I’d welcome feedback and discussion.

Tldr - started losing lots of ground on long term finasteride and 11 months of minoxidil. Adding .5 dutasteride EOD to see if shedding ceases and renew maintenance

 

[stachu]

 

[Derelict]

your hair looks fine to me, congrats on getting on top of things before it was any worse.

 

[melky1]

Thanks for saying so, @Derelict . I definitely have tried to pace myself and not jump on/off treatments based on emotional whims.

It's true that the shedding I've experienced so much of in the last 3 months could be due to minoxidil, but the general thinning and loss of density even prior to hopping on minoxidil had me contemplating dutasteride even a year ago.

Hopefully this new regimen will help to keep things in check. Though man, I would really love to get off minoxidil. Doing so in the shedding phase seems like a pretty foolish idea, though.

 

[Beowulf]

Wait sorry so you've been back to a regular diet for like 18 months now right?

 

[melky1]

Yes @Beowulf , after about 4 months of extreme dieting I have been back and eating normally since approximately April 2017

 

[centurie]

How has your hairline changed across the 11 years on finasteride? Is the reason you’ve upped your regime due to receding further back or general hair shedding and thinning?

 

[arnoldd]

Dutasteride is a bomb, you will see in the next couples of months how your hairs increase in thickness. Hope it doesnt kill your libido

 

[melky1]

@centurie I've always had a pronounced widow's peak (a "five-head," if you will) but my hair was thick enough and had enough texture to conceal it. I did not notice any significant or sudden changes to my hairline throughout my time on finasteride until this prolonged hair-fall began in April of 2017. Shedding and miniaturization has caused the hairline to retreat some, but more significantly the loss of density on the front and sides has made styling my hair more difficult and revealed the big ol' forehead that's always been lurking underneath...

@arnoldd I sure hope so - on both fronts! I will check out some of your posts to find out, but what is your regimen?

Tonight marked my second dose of .5mg dutas. No changes obviously, and no notable sides.. maybe a little bit of tenderness in the scrotum, but that could be psychosomatic.

 

[arnoldd]

@centurie I've always had a pronounced widow's peak (a "five-head," if you will) but my hair was thick enough and had enough texture to conceal it. I did not notice any significant or sudden changes to my hairline throughout my time on finasteride until this prolonged hair-fall began in April of 2017. Shedding and miniaturization has caused the hairline to retreat some, but more significantly the loss of density on the front and sides has made styling my hair more difficult and revealed the big ol' forehead that's always been lurking underneath...

@arnoldd I sure hope so - on both fronts! I will check out some of your posts to find out, but what is your regimen?

Tonight marked my second dose of .5mg dutas. No changes obviously, and no notable sides.. maybe a little bit of tenderness in the scrotum, but that could be psychosomatic.

I have an incredible bad luck because im allergic to both minoxidil and finas/duta so im fucked and cant take nothing. But when i was on duta and minoxidil i went from diffuse nw4 to nw1..

 

[melky1]

Oh man, sorry to hear that, @arnoldd . What symptoms occurred that made you realize you were allergic?

Very slight ache in my testicles persisting today.

 

[whatintheworld]

Why are you on dutasteride man? Your hair is fine. You're playing Russian roulette with your health for nothing.

There's a saying, if it ain't broke, don't fix it. I don't even see any thinning.

 

[melky1]

Hey @whatintheworld - I totally understand and appreciate where you're coming from. It probably looks like I'm trying to kill a mosquito with a flamethrower by taking dutasteride, but what pictures don't reveal is how bad the last three months have been in terms of hairfall.

I don't know if my regimen became ineffective - because who's to say it was ever the thing that was keeping my hair looking good in the first place - there are so many variables. One thing is clear though, and that is that in the last year my hair has changed and I want to do what I can to keep it from changing more. If taking finasteride for over a decade is not helping (and hasn't caused any side effects), why shouldn't I try something else?

 

[whatintheworld]

Hey @whatintheworld - I totally understand and appreciate where you're coming from. It probably looks like I'm trying to kill a mosquito with a flamethrower by taking dutasteride, but what pictures don't reveal is how bad the last three months have been in terms of hairfall.

I don't know if my regimen became ineffective - because who's to say it was ever the thing that was keeping my hair looking good in the first place - there are so many variables. One thing is clear though, and that is that in the last year my hair has changed and I want to do what I can to keep it from changing more. If taking finasteride for over a decade is not helping (and hasn't caused any side effects), why shouldn't I try something else?

In your pictures I was looking for signs of miniaturization but I couldn't really see any. I think it's just that you don't have a straight hairline. Some people naturally don't.

Do you have clear before and after pictures where you can circle the exact spot where it is worse? In good lighting, with a good camera, it should be apparant, especially if you make sure to cut your hair the same length.

I just think using the nuclear option at this point isn't advisable, especially since your hair seems pretty good to me right now. If you were diffusing across the top, scalp showing, hairs thinner at the root, then it would be something to ponder.

 

[melky1]

Hey @whatintheworld - the best I can offer in terms of photographic evidence is to check out this thread from when I was pondering duta last year: https://www.hairlosstalk.com/intera...uccess-dutas-time-insight-appreciated.107046/

I don't have bald spots but the volume of my hair has changed a lot. If I can regain some of it with dutasteride and avoid side effects, I'll be very pleased.

 

[Oueyy]

Dis you experienced any sides with finasteride during the time you took it ?

 

[melky1]

Hey @Oueyy - no side effects whilst in finasteride. If there were any they were when I’d just started (over a decade ago) and were so minimal as to be forgotten.

Just hit two weeks of .5mg dutasteride EOD and not much to speak of apart from achey testicles (worse the first week, not so bad now) and possibly an increase in acne on scalp, face, and back/shoulders, though that could be from the air getting dry as we head into winter. Sex drive intact.

 

[melky1]

Just over three weeks on dutas (.5mg every other day). Still taking finasteride each morning as I still have a supply. What do you suggest I do once I run out? Scouring this site shows that most believe finasteride is useless once you're on dutasteride.

No real sides.. perhaps the slight ache in the testes that I mentioned, though that is subsiding. Shedding the last few days has been rough... something like three dozen in the shower and then dozens more when drying off/prepping to go out. I'm used to shedding and try to keep my cool, but man, it's discouraging. I don't know what to attribute this to. Continued use of minoxidil (liquid 1x daily)? Dutasteride kicking in? Dry winter air? Or the fact that nothing is working and male pattern baldness doing it's thing?

There's an itching that's coincided with the shed.. mostly on the front of my scalp where I apply the minoxidil, so that's probably the culprit. I keep wondering if I can stop minoxidil, as it appears to have done nothing other than make me itch and shed, and now I've upgraded to dutas. But I know that's probably unwise.

 

[melky1]

Hey all. Just about 5 weeks into dutasteride and figured to update. Again, I've been doing .5mg duta every other day along with daily finasteride and 1x nightly liquid minoxidil. Nizoral 3 times per week.

Shedding has.. not subsided. I'm losing lots and lots of hairs, especially in the shower. Scalp itch where I'm applying minoxidil has been getting worse, perhaps since the winter air is getting drier.

A couple of things I'm wondering about...

1) I'm about to run out of finasteride. Should I refill or discontinue? I've read so much on this site about finasteride being useless once you're on duta, but I have been on finasteride for over ten years and the idea of stopping is quite scary.

2) At what point do I cut bait with minoxidil? I've been on it in various forms for just about a year. Zero positive results. Yes, I only started my current brand of liquid minoxidil about two months ago, but the shedding has been severe and the itching borderline excruciating. This is from once daily application, only to the hairline and front of scalp. Could it be doing more harm than good, and would it make sense to remove it from my regimen to allow my scalp to recover and dutasteride to do its thing?

Thanks for any/all input.

 

[melky1]

Now six weeks into dutasteride. .5mg every other day, still taking 1.25 finasteride every day because I’ve been doing it so long that I’m paranoid to quit, I suppose. Liquid minoxidil 1x daily, before bed.

No sides that I can discern. Ball-ache subsided after a few weeks. PShedding is.. just as bad, worse probably. I dread the shower, and losing dozens and dozens of hairs throughout the day. When I tousle my hair. When I see a what looks to be a stray hair that I want to pat down, only to find it’s loose, no longer rooted to my scalp, just sitting there caught in other hairs. Keeping my hair on the top and in front is long now - it’s the only way I can style it remotely how I’m used to -so lost hairs are really hard to miss when they end up in my hand, on my face, floating onto my desk. Many lost hairs look to be healthy, thick, pigmented strands. Others are wilted, have strange zig-zaggy jagged stretches in them. I had one today that I couldn’t even confirm was a hair, it was so short and so thin and translucent.

Long story short.. things suck. Way too early to call on duta, but minoxidil continues to do nothing but make my scalp itch. I hate it and would really like to stop, but I keep thinking “two more months,” worried that this is a prolonged shed phase that I will never come out of if I don’t persist (full disclosure: I only started this brand of liquid minoxidil in October after 10 months of mostly foam followed by a different brand of liquid).

Pics attached are from tonight’s minoxidil application. Fallen soldiers, the rat’s nest of hair in the front of my hairline, and an example of how my hair can look healthy when bunched up, but if left to its own devices, is struggling.

Fingers crossed dutas is doing its thing... thanks for reading.