What I thought was propecia shedding was aggressive MPB.

[Dispare]

Hi All,

Wish I could post under better circumstances.

I started Propecia in April, as I had significant crown thinning and was advised to start it as I was a 'perfect' candidate, as I was not bald but just had miniaturised hairs on the crown. From the front you couldn't tell I had any MBP.

Within a month of starting it I noticed more hair loss and scalp irritation. By scouring the net I thought it may be a shed. But it hasn't subsided and I have lost all density on top and the quality of my hair all over has deteriorated markedly, especially at the front and temple areas.

I went to see the Consultant again and he said he isn't aware of a propecia shed and that it's probably not working for me but I should stick with it for a year.

Well it's got so bad that I'm going to have to shave or get a buzz-cut.

I keep thinking hoping that it may still be a shed but it doesn't tally with the reality.

I'm worried now that I won't have enough or even any decent donor hair.

I'm not sure what I hoping to achieve with this post. I guess I'm looking for someone who has had similar experience and what my options are.

Thanks in advance.

[TotallyScrewed]

In exactly the same boat, except I think I'd rather be dead than shave my head. It's so much worse than it was when I started in April, I can no longer hide it the way I could before (easily). Our next choice is to try Dutasteride, and if that doesn't work, we're ****ed. Granted, you COULD try RU, minox etc, but that's a pain in the ass. I tried Rogaine and it didn't do shit for me. Might help you, though.

Dutasteride according to one study helped 75% of men who propecia failed.

That said, I'm still not sure I'm optimistic. I think my hair follicles are probably pretty sensitive, and if propecia helps 90% and dut helps another 75%, that means ~39/40 men are "saved" by dut. But if I had to guess, I'd say my T levels are a HELL of a lot higher than 39/40 men (97.5%ile). Probably closer to 1/10,000 (excluding the ****suckers who use steroids).

[Notcoolanymore]

Got any pics to show the condition of your hair. Sometimes when judging ourselves we think it is worse than it actually is. Also shedding at 6 months isn't unheard of. If you want to make the jump to Dut then it is your choice, but right now I think your best bet will be to stick with fin.

[burtandernie]

ive never been totally convinced that DHT causes 100 percent of hair loss and that T plays no role on its own. How can one androgen that is stronger cause hair loss but the weaker one - T not do anything?

[TotallyScrewed]

Well, for one thing I think(?) that the general consensus was that T does affect hair loss, but not nearly as much as DHT (pretty sure that's not just bro science, but honestly I can't remember all the places I've read that so maybe it is), however, and take this with a grain of salt as I'm not a biochemist/doctor/scientist of any kind, given that T is NOT DHT, and it therefore obviously has a different molecular structure than DHT does, it seems perfectly possible that hair follicles could have binding/receptor sites for DHT but not T. I mean that just makes sense, right?

But again, I think there are sites for both T and DHT, or maybe T can even bind to the same sites DHT does. I have no idea, I know very little about how this stuff works.

[TotallyScrewed]

If you're talking to me, then yeah, I do, but there isn't much point in bothering. It's continued to thin and recede and where I could hide hair loss before, now I can't. I even had a coworker mention he could tell the difference between now and a month ago.

[rdawg]

In the same boat,Propecia did nothing but slow the loss for me, been on it two years and my hair is just a little thinner everywhere.

Been trying to get on DUT but can't find a place that will prescribe it for me!

luckily DUT is about to be approved for hairloss!

6 month results of phase III only saw one person continue to lose hair out of (i believe) 120 they showed.

http://hairlosscure2020.com/glaxosmithkline-publishes-japanese-dutasteride-hair-loss-study-results/

the final results should be out within a month i'd assume, the study completed in August. **Should note those results are from a study from a while ago, not the GSK study, GSK's study is much bigger i believe.

[Dispare]

Is there any way of telling if it's a propecia shed or just aggressive MBP?

[Dispare]

Anyone?

[rdawg]

Is there any way of telling if it's a propecia shed or just aggressive MBP?

Basically if after shedding, and 2-3 months later you dont see it getting back to what it was and you've been on propecia for 9-12 months then it's definitely just agressive MBP.

that and how old you are, if you're late teens early 20's and already NW2-3 youre an aggressive hairloss sufferer almost 100%