Three and a half months into Fin - still miniaturising hairs?

[Highlander]

Three and a half months into using Fin 1.25mg per day and I still have miniaturising hairs along the hairline. It is a bit depressing, and has me wondering whether fin is going to do anything for me.

I know you are supposed to wait a long time for this (12-18 months), but I mean even after the initial "shed" things don't appear to have halted. I've still lost a bit of ground whilst taking this stuff.

Is this a bad sign? I have heard a lot of stories about people seeing huge changes starting at the three month mark so it has me worried.

[mark-1]

Can we see pictures?

[Tracy C]

Originally Posted by Highlander

Three and a half months into using Fin 1.25mg per day and...

It takes 12 full months before you will know if Finasteride is working for you. It takes much longer before you will know how well Finasteride is working for you.

[Highlander]

Originally Posted by Tracy C

It takes 12 full months before you will know if Finasteride is working for you. It takes much longer before you will know how well Finasteride is working for you.

I should say, these miniaturising hairs were present when I started, but I would expect that if fin works then at some stage my hairline should strengthen and there won't be any.

Also, no pics.

[25 going on 65]

The response timeline for fin varies a lot from person to person. It's possible that the miniaturized hairs will thicken up in time, but it's also possible they will just stop miniaturizing and remain the way they are. If you're not already using minoxidil, this might also help grow thicker hairs where the miniaturized ones are, but initially those hairs have a good chance of being ejected out of the scalp (med shed) and it will take some time before you get back to where you were (and beyond, with any luck). Although on average, I seem to remember reading it takes less time to recover from the initial minox shed than from the fin shed (don't quote me on that).
After a year if you seem to still be losing ground you could consider switching to dutasteride, which might cause another med shed at first and also doesn't have the same established safety profile that fin does as a hair loss treatment. (Blocking the type I 5-ar enzyme in the long term could have side effects that blocking type II does not) You can also switch to dut preemptively but a lot of people would suggest treating it more as a last-ditch option after you're quite certain finasteride isn't enough to stop your MPB.

[PatientlyWaiting]

3 months is nothing.

[Tracy C]

Originally Posted by Highlander

...but I would expect that if fin works then at some stage my hairline should strengthen and there won't be any.

It takes at least 12 full months before you will know if Finasteride is working for you. You cannot accurately determine if it is working for you in less than 12 full months.