Propecia advice please.

[Lukas]

Hi there,
Im 25 and my hair has gone back from a straight fringe to a full on Mcdonalds M and i have noticed the centre of my fringe and crown starting to thin. As my fringe seems to be leaving me i looked into propecia and have found a lot of horror stories involving losing errections, permanantly and losing interest in sex, for me this isnt an option. i just wondred if anyone has had either a hair transplant or uses/used propecia and could let me know there results. Im likely going to save for a hair transplant over the next few years as would not like to be completely bald by 30. Any and all advice would be really handy thanks.

[J_B_Davis]

If you are planning on having a hair transplant at some point, it would be a good idea to try Propecia to see if you can stabilize your hair loss. Hair transplantation does not stop the progression of your hair loss, it only moves hair from one place to another. It really is not an either or situation. If you want to keep your hair, Propecia is your best option at this point.

[walrus]

Propecia is your best option at this point.

If you are accepting of the risks: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4064044/

[macster]

If you are accepting of the risks:

http://www.nature.com/jidsp/journal/v8/n1/full/5640086a.html

[Notcoolanymore]

If you can accept the risks of not taking it: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oyJo-nESlvc

[macster]

Hehe indeed, notcool, indeed...

I'm not sure if anyone clicked my prior post, but it was for an article that shows how 1mg finasteride, when used for hairloss, is actually very effective and well tolerated.

Do not take this drug if you are only comfortable with 0 risk. There is no 0 risk. Even aspirin or advil or chlorine in water has some risk.

But the well conducted, large scale studies show that finasteride works at halting or reversing hairloss for 10 years in about 85% of the cases. And the incidence of side effects is low. Well conducted studies show about 2% will get side effects, with the side effects going away in a year for 1%, leaving us with 1% side effects after 1 year.

It is an effective medication. You can also just use minoxidil if you don't want to take that 1%-2% risk, and get hair transplants and use smp / concealer, but you would be giving up what is probably the best weapon against hair loss out there.

Do nothing but fret and worry and wait and you WILL wind up like the guy in the video.

[Notcoolanymore]

No sorry macster I didn't click your link. I figured it was along the same lines as the one that walrus posted. I agree 100% with your last post. Well said.

[macster]

Thanks notcool. Yes, and I mean it.

You can work yourself up about anything. If you start looking deep deep into anything, into any theoretical risk, you will find stuff, and it will freak you out.

There are rare side effects for aspirin, for almost any drug (just watch ANY prescription drug commercial on tv and their mention of side effects!). Think about what happens when you get on a plane...really...and you will get absolutely freaked.

But we all do it everyday. We take calculated risks, we decide what benefits us most in life, and we move forward.

I am very glad I took the step now 4 years ago to go on rogaine and propecia. I was going bald. Really bald.

And the drugs worked. After about a year, much of the miniaturization on my head reversed, the hair loss stopped, and I grew a considerable amount of hair.

I look pretty good today. I have hair. I don't look like I have male pattern baldness. I have hair like a normal guy.

If you catch it early, you have an 85% chance of doing this too. I may need hair transplants in the future, but medical treatment will be a part of the way to address this condition into the foreseeable future.

If you are towards the start of this process (Norwood 3 max) you have a good chance, an 85% chance, to get a good looking head of hair for the next 10 years of you life without the surgery of a hair transplant.

I think it is a step worth taking to improve one's quality of life.

(nevertheless, I must say that the guy in the video actually didn't look too bad after going bald! The bastige!)

[Pboy101]

Finasteride and Minoxidil my friend, give 'em a try. They work for me and they work for many other men. Yes, there are possible side effects because the legendary stories are out there. However, sides happen in very small percentage of men and if you among these select few men, then you can just hop off and you'll be back to where you were. Good luck.

[Lukas]

Thanks for your advice im still really unsure what to do. It is so tempting to take it but the thought of losing libido etc is such a scary notion. I think i would be more inclined to take it if it said there was a 1% chance my arms and leggs would fall of and then i would die slowly over a 3 week period. You cant even take it and chance it because some peoples side effects continue after use what the fak. Of all of the millions of random things that have occured in millions of years it would be the case that if your going bald the only medication can help could completely destroy your life forever offcourse..

[Notcoolanymore]

At the end of the day you need to decide what you fear most, going bald or the slight chance of sides. I know the internet makes it seem like most get sides, but that is just not the case, but at the end of the day the choice has to be yours. You might be one of those unlucky guys. Just remember that time is not on your side.

[blondetooth]

take a micro dose of FIn, nothing bad will happen. its probably the cheapest and easiest way to try to fix hairloss.

[ParanoiaDestroya]

Personally, I am so unconcerned with side effects that I would even take dutasteride with no hesitation if after one year I seem to have lost ground on finasteride. Every drug has side effects. I got serious erectile dysfunction from Zoloft. All of the various psychiatric medications have far worse potential side effects than finasteride. Finasteride has, and I quote, "an excellent safety profile." It all comes back to the clinical data. Solid studies are all I will consider, and it makes me so sad to see all of the fear mongering actually working, stopping so many guys from going on finasteride and seeing benefits.

[macster]

Yes good point paranoia. Moreover, the lifetime sexual dysfunction thing I believe is a myth. Have these people lived their whole lives already? Wow, that is pretty cool! The lived their whole lives AND they are STILL alive! Cool!

The clinical evidence suggests it is a myth; it has never been proven by good clinical studies.

Again, we are making choices all the time. You are making choices with regards to taking propecia or not. When we make choices, we should use information in order to make choices.

You have good information (based on large scale clinical studies) and then you have less good information (based on just stuff written on the internet).

You pick.

If you do not use propecia, then you will likely go bald over time. You could use minoxidil; that might work for you. But if you use neither, you will go bald over time. You have to accept this.

And heck, that is fine. Lots of people are bald and live their lives just fine. Many people look good bald. Most people look ok I guess. I've never seen a guy who I say oh my gosh he looks repulsive he is bald! It just doesn't go that way. Most people look ok i'd say.

But it is that bald look. If you are cool with it then fine.

[ParanoiaDestroya]

Lots of great points there, macster. I don't know, I guess I just don't worry about this ED thing. Zoloft gave me wicked ED, but when I went off of it I came roaring back. And obviously I care about my dick! I just took it for granted that it would resolve, because it usually does with the various medications that can cause it. So further study of course makes sense, but at this point there's no cause for alarm on the scale that it's happening. Total hysterics.