stopping propecia question

dw99 · Apr 12, 2005

i'm not about to stop taking propecia as i just started it about a month and a half ago; however, i have been wondering something about the effects of quitting. it has been said many times that when one stops taking propecia that within 6 months all of the hair that one had kept through the use of propecia will have fallen out. the way i understand this is that within six months you will look just like you would have had you never started treatment. is this correct?

i can understand why one's hair would start to thin again due to no DHT blocking, but wouldn't it take a while to gradually fall out and then come back in thinner and thinner versus just falling out for good? it seems to me that if you took propecia for 5 years and then quit that you would have bought yourself those 5 years and then continue on down the road of male pattern baldness at your normal pace. however, from what i understand it's like you bought yourself nothing. am i not understanding something?

hairschmair · Apr 12, 2005

I was wondering the same thing once and started a thread on it, but it very quickly deteriorated into something NOT useful. Have a look!

http://www.hairlosstalk.com/discussions ... highlight=

hairschmair · Apr 12, 2005

http://img154.echo.cx/my.php?image=propgraph3uo.jpg

I guess the interesting sentence in that thread is the following from Bryan:

"2) Keep in mind that in the study group that was switched over from the active drug (finasteride) during the first year to the placebo during the second year, at the end of that second year their haircounts had indeed dropped below their original starting baseline count, but they were still AHEAD of the group that had never received finasteride at all during the entire trial! "

So no, when you stop Propecia you won't immediately go to where you would have been if you hadn't taken any.

Hope this helps.

socks · Apr 12, 2005

One of the theories that have been floated around over at HLH has been that by inhibiting 5ar (those reducing DHT) existing hair follicles can become more sensitive to androgens. When Finasteride is discontinued androgen levels shoot up and the hair, now with a increase in sensitivity to androgens, fall out at an increased pace.

Of course this is just a theory!

However, I do disagree that if you discontinue Finasteride your hair will return to where it would have been if you never used it. From studies I saw, men who used Finasteride for 1yrs then discontinued it had a higher haircount after 1yrs then men who never used Finasteride at all.