I totally related to Zero_Confidence_Balder's thread on regretting having not acted sooner to do something about mpb. Specifically, I wish I had started finasteride much earlier. Given some obvious family history with mpb i always knew it would be something i would experience at some point. I made it though all of my 20's with my hair pretty well intact and then started rogaine somewhat pre-emptively around 29. i thought I had noticed some very slight temporal recession on one side. About the same time i started on saw palmetto and green tea capsules after reading "The Bald Truth." I had always felt that taking propecia/finasteride was just going too far so I had just reflexively ruled that out as an option. About mid-way through my 30's, I started to notice what seemed like a little diffuse thinning on top so I opted for the Hairmax Lasercomb and religiously did that 3 times a week for 10-15 minutes.
I'm in my late 30's now and the last few years have been relatively stressful in terms of having young kids, alternating work schedules with my wife so we can manage all the childcare ourselves, moving, etc. Over the last few months the diffuse thinning has become more noticeable to me. I finally went to see a dermatologist last month and he confirmed after a brief inspection of my scalp that i had a lot of miniturized hairs mixed in with terminal hairs throughout my scalp. I had planned on asking him about propecia. I was a little nervous about asking him if he'd prescribe generic proscar 5 mg to be split into fourths for the cost savings and was relieved when he presented that as the first option specifically because it was cheaper. I've been on finasteride since mid-November and have had no side effects.
It was so easy that I am really kicking myself that I didn't do it so much sooner. Time will tell if this helps me keep and possibly enhance what I've got, but man i wish I could have held on to what i had about two or three years ago when i instead opted to start up on that ridiculous lasercomb.
Taking finasteride actually seems like the cheapest and most efficient option compared to the other things i was doing. The annual cost of the saw palmetto and green tea is actually more than the finasteride and the lasercomb was expensive up front along with a significant investment of time each week. Compare that to popping a tiny quarter of a pill each morning. Since starting finasteride I stopped the lasercomb, saw palmetto and green tea. I never really thought they were doing anything. It was more or less the psychological salve that i was at least doing "something" rather than nothing about hairloss. i still also use the Rogaine foam twice a day and have started to get more consistent with using nizoral 2% two to three times a week. So I've whiddled it down to the big 3.
It certainly could be a whole lot worse, and yet the mind tends to so get caught up on the "if only" and "look what could have been" perspective. I sometimes fantasize that i had done the finasteride more pre-emptively much earlier and preserved my hair more fully until a fantastic new cure is developed at some point in the future.
At the same time, I have much older brothers that were significantly balding at 10 years younger than i am now. Relative to them, I've done really well and I still have pretty decent coverage on top. So I have to acknowledge that i have been fortunate. I feel a little more reassured now too that i've finally gone with the finasteride and hopefully have a much greater chance of effectively arresting the progression of mpb. I'll be very eager to monitor it over the next year or so.
It's good to relate to others on this and I really enjoy this forum.
 Regret and OptimismPrintable View
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