Terrible shed caused by finasterid? And a recovery from it!
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hairhaircomeagain said:
Actuall, lookk closely. The hairline is clearly receded.
I am in the same boat. It's gotten so bad, my Doctor now thinks I have male pattern baldness + "mild" alopecia areata. I lose hair everywhere. She doesn't believe that finasteride causes sheds.
hairhaircomeagain
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Weepy said:
hmmm...I dont know..I see the pictures again and it seems the same to me. The hairline is more visible in the second pic because the hair is shorter
sincityslicker
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im going through the same thing...
Neuro
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I've seen two dermatologists; they both say I have telogen effluvium from a febrile illness I had in March. Of course I've gotten sick before, but never had my hair fallen out. I'm convinced Propecia is doing this to me. I began using it in December, I stopped for about 10 day in May and when it began falling out slightly, I immediately started taking Propecia again. In June, it began shedding like crazy. Over four months later and it's still shedding like crazy.
Most of my stress now comes from not knowing what the cause of the Telogen Effluvium is. Another part of my stress comes from the fact that if I hadn't started using Propecia at all (I'm 18 and had a full head of hair, just a slightly receeding hairline), I might not have had such a anxiety-filled summer and first few months of college.
Most of my stress now comes from not knowing what the cause of the Telogen Effluvium is. Another part of my stress comes from the fact that if I hadn't started using Propecia at all (I'm 18 and had a full head of hair, just a slightly receeding hairline), I might not have had such a anxiety-filled summer and first few months of college.
souldoctor
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really dunno wtf to do now. since my last post in this thread, the exact same sh*t has happened, in just 4 weeks - my hair grew back pretty ok after that last post, stuck around for maybe just what seemed like a week and then started to shed AGAIN, such that (no exaggeration) my hair is now even worse than when i made that post..!! this is really f*ckin with me. also, i made the mistake of gettin a short hair cut, which bcoz of the shedding,is starting to make it all look really thin now...god i hate this. i honestly wonder how good/bad my hair would be now if i had never started propecia. will never know now though...
RP
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I know now one thing for sure. I`ll never-ever buzz my hair again. It has now been appr. 2,5 months since I buzzed it to 1mm, so by now it has grown back to its "normal" lenght again.
I can once again do this sort of a "combover" that I have done for years. And I think that it looks almost similar to my baseline when I started finasteride in May. Plus I have definetly grown new hair on my temples. They are maybe so called vellus hairs, but some of them are dark like normal hairs. I think that this is weird, cos my temples have been bald for ages.
Also I think that a good indicator how well treatments are working is the time one spends styling hair in the morning. At the worst point I was late from work all the time becouse I wasn`t satisfied with my hair (sounds lame, I know
) . But last weeks it has took me only regular 5 minutes or so per morning.Dont know if this can yet be called a success, but at least I think there is a good chance that I can hold on to the hair I had 1/2 year ago. And that would be a success in my account.
hans
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I've been shedding like crazy on propecia and Im on my 11th month. It's been shedding for a while now and it doesnt look like it'll stop any time soon =( . And to think, I started propecia just to curb my slightly receeded hairling. Now I feel like my whole head is going bald. =..(
RP
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Simple answer: yes. One thing that I would do differently when starting finasterid is that I wouldn`t stop minoxidil like I did. Starting finasterid did cause a lot of shedding, and stopping minoxidil added to that.
But after an angry shed between weeks 10-12 the shedding stopped and I think that I`m now back to my baseline. At the worst point I lost suprisingly not only hair from the hairline but also from the vertex area in a way that I thought I`d be a nw4 before christmas.
For the time being I`m actually very pleased with the results. I think that my hair is maybe even in a better condition than this time last year.
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Cheers for the optimistci update RP!
I'm sure me and Barnabas from the other topic can take a lot of heart from your post. Really appreciate it as it's esay to just leave when things get better. How long til you had to wait for regrowth after that shed man?
I'm sure me and Barnabas from the other topic can take a lot of heart from your post. Really appreciate it as it's esay to just leave when things get better. How long til you had to wait for regrowth after that shed man?
RP
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Your welcome. I`m just keeping my fingers crossed that I wont shed again, like some who post here have. But _if_ everything works as it should, I´m hoping that will not happen.
I`m not sure, but I think that the hair that I lost last july/august started to grow maybe in october. I just checked some old fotos from three to five years ago, and I´m certain that my hair looks almost exactly the same as it did then.
One product that I strongly recommend to all shedders is American Crews thickening spray. It´s not a concealer (tried some of those also, and I completely hate them), but more like a conditioner. I dont think it does anything to slow hairloss, but it does make your hair look much thicker and just might help you get over the worst part.
RP
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Update
Okay, it has been approximately a month since my last shedding update. The situation seems to be stable. The only part that I`m still worried is the right side of my hairline which is still more diffuse than the left side. During the last month I have added Folligen to my regimen and I`m hoping that it could turn the vellus hairs terminal.
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Okay, it has been approximately a month since my last shedding update. The situation seems to be stable. The only part that I`m still worried is the right side of my hairline which is still more diffuse than the left side. During the last month I have added Folligen to my regimen and I`m hoping that it could turn the vellus hairs terminal.
H/B
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RP said:If somebody is interested to see how bad and sudden a finasterid shed can actually be. Check out these images. The first one was taken in late June or early July and the second one approximately two months later in the beginning of September.
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shedding probably, but these picures dont help much because of the differnt hair length and angles. the first looks thicker because it's longer and strategically combed to hide the recession. not likely as drammatic as you percieve
RP
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H/B said:
Yeah, have been styling my hair that way for nearly 10 years
. Here is for comparison a picture from early october (when I had been on finasteride for 5 months):
Dont know... Maybe not any dramatic improvement, but still I think the last picture shows at least some compared to this one.
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grimes said:
3 words:
NO f*****g WAY.
I'll be back to answer the q. in three months when I'll either be:
a)BALD
b)SOMEWHERE NEAR BASELINE
There is simply NO CHANCE that my hair would've been this bad without finasteride. FUCKS SAKE.
The only thing that gives me hope is the following from Dr.Lee:
"The duration of a telogen effluvium is variable, but rarely lasts more than a few months and there is invariably complete restitution unless another pathologic process also occurs.
As a rule, treatment is not necessary because the hair will grow back. For most patients, there is no evidence of residual loss of hair within a year. However, there have been cases of patients taking finasteride and reporting repeated bouts of excessive shedding. In this situation, it would be advisable to discontinue use of finasteride in favor of alternative anti-androgens."
mine has gone on for nearly 3 months now with no let up. Please to anyone thinking about starting it, make sure you are fully prepared for what might happen. Please ignore some of the ignorant and blindly optimistic posts on this sub forum that things are "just a shed."
I really don't dispute the fact that for some people finasteride works wonders but neither do Idispute the fact that for other people it decimates their hair in a matter of months...it has literally ruined me in three months and that's why I will continue to argue with people who say that "it can't make your hair worse, it just can't"
The rate my hair loss hadbeen progressing it would've taken me a couple of years to get anywhere near the state my hair is currently in.