Why still losing while on finasteride?

[Nick4441]

Soon will be at 6 month point and hair is a disaster, it was acceptable before starting finasteride now hairline has gone and its all diffuse to mid scalp.

I had good faith in finasteride and cannot believe that its been such a disaster...I would have done anything to stabilise. All that blurb on finasteride web site and none of its come true.

I am about to book hair transplant to fix hairline and thicken to mid scalp but I have no confidence that it will grow in before I lose even more and have to go back in for 2nd hair transplant.

I feel I have no choice if I want to look acceptable now. I don't want to wait until I have no hair at all to mid scalp before hair transplant and its obvious finasteride is never going to get me to baseline when 50% has been lost while i've been on it.

I'm really banking on this loss slowing down sometime so I don't lose behind mid scalp. hair transplant will cost a fortune otherwise.

Hope HM is here in next 2yrs as its all a risk taking hair transplant now but I can't wait any longer, getting too depressed and knowing after hair transplant there is hairline to look forward to will make me feel better.

 

[Guest]

getting an hair transplant now would be a terrible idea. clearly your loss is too aggressive for propecia to stop and you are probably headed right for NW6/NW7 land. wait till you stabilize or consider dutasteride.

 

[Pondle]

The Finpecia might be fake... getting it from a reliable source?

 

[jay2K6]

get "merck" branded proscar... dont trust anything else...

 

[PiggyHogDaddy]

Another example of dissapointing results on propecia. Honestly, throughout these forums poeple are doubting that drug more and more. Shouldnt we just face the fact that it doesnt work.

 

[Stu85]

I hate to seem like I'm doubting your word, but do you have before and after pictures? Rarely is it as bad as it seems in your head. If it is, you're in the minority!

I can't help but notice that during my time spent on these forums, most of the people who claim the drugs have made their male pattern baldness worse, or who claim they have lost half their hair in the space in a few months, rarely back it up with pictures...

Shouldnt we just face the fact that it doesnt work.

What facts? Sounds like your opinion is based on anecdotal evidence rather than facts. All the evidence suggests that the drugs work for a majority of men. Merck never claimed their drugs were guaranteed to halt hairloss in every single man. Though some people (like experts such as Dr. Rassman at baldingblog.com) believe that finasteride always helps to slow down male pattern baldness, even if it can't actually stop the inevitable.

6 months isn't really enough time to know whether finasteride is working, give it a little while yet. If you're not happy with the results then try dutasteride or add topicals anti-androgens.

 

[Nick4441]

I changed from the finpecia to genuine propecia about 3 months ago as I did have that concern.

Your right about before and after pics..I havn't done any but I do know how far my hair has moved back and the density and hairdresser confirms as I had to change my hairstyle twice to make it look better.

The hair transplant is a risk but all the loss i've taken is at the front, it is solid from mid scalp back so that's my theory. I just hope loss will slow and finally stabilise a bit, 6 months in on finasteride you would think so if its working at all. I'm just one of the poor responders it seems, I knew nothing was guaranteed but hoped for a slowdown as worst case and still hoping for that.

 

[JDW]

Hey Nick, as someone who can empathise with your situation (I've continued to lose ground every day and have been on it 10 months) I think that the hair transplant would be a bad idea. Considering the finasteride hasn't stabilised anything then the hair transplant would undoubtably cause shock loss in the hair that you do have at the front and you'd be no better off.

I know that it's so depressing to literally watch things deteriorate before your eyes but I think perhaps switching to dutasteride is avodart is worth a shot perhaps?
Start taking photos every 2 weeks as well to properly monitor things and get a third party per4spective.

cheers mate

 

[PiggyHogDaddy]

I hate to seem like I'm doubting your word, but do you have before and after pictures? Rarely is it as bad as it seems in your head. If it is, you're in the minority!

I can't help but notice that during my time spent on these forums, most of the people who claim the drugs have made their male pattern baldness worse, or who claim they have lost half their hair in the space in a few months, rarely back it up with pictures...

Shouldnt we just face the fact that it doesnt work.

What facts? Sounds like your opinion is based on anecdotal evidence rather than facts. All the evidence suggests that the drugs work for a majority of men. Merck never claimed their drugs were guaranteed to halt hairloss in every single man. Though some people (like experts such as Dr. Rassman at baldingblog.com) believe that finasteride always helps to slow down male pattern baldness, even if it can't actually stop the inevitable.

6 months isn't really enough time to know whether finasteride is working, give it a little while yet. If you're not happy with the results then try dutasteride or add topicals anti-androgens.

Duly noted then. I suppose a lot of us are pathological pessimisits. It's just such a gamble...and the dissapointment when it appears not to work is unbearable. As for photographic evidence, well poeple tend not to post evidence of deteriation. I'll start start taking pictures though, and get a second opinion before I decide to give up on the drug

 

[Knendell]

I changed from the finpecia to genuine propecia about 3 months ago as I did have that concern.

Your right about before and after pics..I havn't done any but I do know how far my hair has moved back and the density and hairdresser confirms as I had to change my hairstyle twice to make it look better.

The hair transplant is a risk but all the loss i've taken is at the front, it is solid from mid scalp back so that's my theory. I just hope loss will slow and finally stabilise a bit, 6 months in on finasteride you would think so if its working at all. I'm just one of the poor responders it seems, I knew nothing was guaranteed but hoped for a slowdown as worst case and still hoping for that.

I was in the same situation as yourself with the thinning only in the front. Then last christmas I had a haircut and they gave a free hairwash and she was so rough she pulled all of the hair that was going to fall out eventually all at once. I was in shock when I got home and looked in the mirror. I have not been the same since. I then started finasteride and have been on for nearly 5months and it has doen nothing but I will keep it up. It all happenned so fast I now have the makings of a NW7. Changed everything for me for the worst. Not trying to freak you out just what happened to me.