Nickie,
There are a number of issues here. The key in your first statement was you took the meds on/off over time. Not sure what the exact implication is, but one of the issues I find in the younger men with male pattern baldness is that they do not take their meds "consistently" or "as directed". I see them try a whole host of products, many of which you mentioned. But they tend to lose patience with them over a short or inadequate period of time, and then they jump to the next product desperate for anything to work. I am not saying that was the case with you, but if any of it does apply tp you, then that could be why you are not experiencing consistency with the results.
Now let's talk about Avodart. In all of my expereince making clinical observations, the men who do not respond well to many of the hairloss meds do not have good results with Avodart. There are some exceptions though because dutasteride does inhibit both types of DHT, where finasterdie (Propecia) only inhibits Type I. Still, taking finasteride "as directed" is the most efficient drug that I have observed. If you have taken finasteride as directed for one solid year withpout resolve, then you certainly can see your doctor about getting on Avodart or some other form of low dose dutasteride.
Now please listen to me carefully on this next issue you are facing. Just because the meds may not work for you, surgery may not be the resolve and in many cases it is not when the meds don't work. You cannot answer the question of moving ahead with surgery until you have thought through a couple of more areas of concern.
First, how old are you? If you are young and in your twenties, and already seeing class 3 come upon you, DON'T JUST JUMP INTO SURGERY! why? Because guys who do not respond favorably to hairloss meds usually almost always experience dramatic and even permanent shockloss from surgery. Guys who have male pattern baldness progress rapidly in the early twenties usually end up in the advanced classes of hairloss UNLESS they respond favorably to meds, AND GET ON THEM EARLY. These guys usually have very advanced classes of hairloss in their family history. I mean this is a genetic disposition that we are dealing with.
So that leads to the other isuue. What is your family history of male pattern baldness on both sides? With a little more info, then we can better give you an opinion as to surgery. Without that information, you would be taking an uncalculated RISK. Does that make any sense to you?
