Question about finasteride

[woodnor]

Hello, I have asked this question before, but it never got answered...
I want to know how long it actually takes for finasteride to stop the hairloss. I have read before that it only takes 48 hours or so to block the DHT. Now I have also read that, while it blocks the DHT in days, you will still lose hair in the first months of treatment because there is some "build-up" DHT in your scalp which was converted before you took finasteride (so you can't get rid of it).
So is this true? Even though finasteride blocks DHT right away, you still lose hair for the first months because you still have "previous" DHT?

If so, how much time (months?) has to pass after you've started taking fin for this "build-up" DHT to go away and actually halt the hair loss? Is it possible to still lose hair after 6 months on fin or should the hairloss stop by months 4-5?

[kobefan234]

It takes about 4 days of everyday usage to achieve a steady-state concentration of finasteride in serum levels. Finasteride begins to achieve close to 90% of it's maximal efficacy after a single oral dose above and including 0.5mg. 0.2mg/day was the least optimal dose to get the same response as a full 1mg dose, in reducing serum DHT. In other words, 1.4mg/week works almost as well as 7mg/week in reducing serum DHT.


-redstack

[woodnor]

It takes about 4 days of everyday usage to achieve a steady-state concentration of finasteride in serum levels. Finasteride begins to achieve close to 90% of it's maximal efficacy after a single oral dose above and including 0.5mg. 0.2mg/day was the least optimal dose to get the same response as a full 1mg dose, in reducing serum DHT. In other words, 1.4mg/week works almost as well as 7mg/week in reducing serum DHT.


-redstack

Okay, so if it blocks DHT really quickly, why do people still lose hair after taking fin? Is it because of the build-up DHT theory I mentioned?

But you answered only part of my question. I want to know how much time it usually takes the build-up DHT to stop being in the scalp (which would mean the hairloss would be halted, right?)

I am asking this because they always say "Only after X months will you see results". What does "results" mean exactly? Let's say I take fin for a year. And in the first 6 months I keep losing my hair. But in the next 6 months (1 year after starting) I notice that between month 6 and 12 I didn't seem to lose any more hair.

Would that be called an "expected" result? Because if you compare your current state to 1 year ago, you would say you have less hair, but if you compare it to 6 months ago, you would say that it's the same.

I hope I'm being clear.

[kobefan234]

i believe that alopecia multifactorial.Normally, it takes quite a while to see any decent results. A typical timeframe would be shedding and slowing down of hair loss from 0-3 months, hair loss halting or improving starting from 3-6 months, some visible regrowth from 6-9 months, and the final saturated hair condition on the 12-24 month mark. Some treatments work faster than others. For example, ketoconazole and minoxidil typically show results faster than all the others. So don't feel pressured, a follicle can be dormant for three months before growing out again, be patient until the very end before deciding whether they are working for you or not.

just because you block DHT does not mean that your hairless will be completed halted. The general consensus on the 1mg dose has to do with the early MERCK trial in 1998 before propecia hit the markets. Where it showed that this dose provided the best compensation for hair growth and amount of dosage, according the logarithmic dose-response curve getting flat close to 1mg. We will see later on that serum DHT levels and subsequent inhibition, are no real measure for stopping hair loss, they are a proxy for the efficacy of finasteride at best.

[kobefan234]

" All doses possess almost the same efficacy. 5mg and 0.5mg every day will inhibit almost all 5-AR II enzymes, doeses and frequeny are highly irrelevant given the pharmacodynamics of the chemical. Consequently, results won't be faster regardless of the doses as well."

: Half life is a small part of the equation on why finasteride does not work as effectively. Finasteride is not only an inhibitor of 5-ar II enzymes, it's a suicide inhibitor. Meaning that once finasteride binds to a 5-ar enzyme, BOOM, it's gone. It forms an irreversible bond forever. So even though the half life of finasteride is only 6 hours, it takes up to a week for serum DHT levels to get to baseline after a single dose..

Shedding up to 100 hairs a day is normal. You have about 110,000 hairs on your scalp on average. Assuming hair doesn't grow back, this means that you need to shed 100 hairs everyday for 3 years, to go completely bald. Shedding hair more than that is also expected on hair loss treatments. How can new hair to grow out stronger than before if there is another follicle in it's place? Shedding usually means new hair are pushing the old ones out, and that it's working. DHT miniaturizes and sheds hair very progressively, you will not lose a significant amount of hair in only a few months, so it's probably only the treatments working.

What happens with most treatments is this. The follicles must regress, shed the old fiber, rearrange themselves into a bigger hair follicle, and start making a new, improved fiber. This would inevitably lead to a temporary shed phase. You're seeing your hairs respond. Its unfortunate that the first sign of new hair growth is seeming hair LOSS, but that's the way it works, quite often. There is a belief among some dermatologists that an initial shed phase when first starting to use a treatment for hair loss is inevitable regardless of the treatment used. Because of the hair follicle's inflexibility in changing the nature of hair growth mid stream.

For any drug to promote hair growth it must involve hair follicles entering telogen to rearrange themselves into a larger follicle under the influence of the drug. I suggest you form a specific hair regimen and stick to it. Changing doses or frequency might trigger new hair shed cycles. Finasteride and dutasteride especially take a significantly long time to realize the full benefits. In laymen terms, this is because you tend to block all DHT molecules that was bound to the hair follicles, thus hair needs to start repairing and regrowing after taking a new breath of fresh air, which should last a couple of hair cycles to see the final results. Although significant regrowth is not a rule, depending on the severity of hair tissue expression to damage, especially in the temporal region. Experiencing second or third shedding phases is expected as well.

-redstack