Will propecia ever make hairloss worse?

[optimisticyouth]

I'm 20 and been on fin for a short while now, and am on it as a preemptive defense against mpb. However, I'm weary of the stories of people that say fin made their mpb worse. Is this possible? How much evidence of this is there? I just hope that by being proactive I don't end up speeding towards what I'm trying to avoid.

[baldybald]

No it will not make it worse, end of discussion !!

[redy]

it either makes it better, stops it from getting worse, or slows it down.

you have a better chance of it doing nothing at all, which is small, than it hurting your hair.

because it's messing with your hormones, there is a very small chance that it can make other things worse.

[Notcoolanymore]

I have heard a lot of stories, but other than with any initial shed that you may get, your hair should not get worse with treatments. Hair that sheds due to treatments should come back.

[burtandernie]

Its possible anyone saying otherwise is flat out dumb. How much evidence is there? None so its very unlikely to ever make it worse, but MPB is obviously not that well understood yet. There are plenty of things at play no one can explain yet hence MPB not being cured or preventable yet.

[Hector93]

I'd just like to contribute my 2 cents to this topic as I am currently on finasteride and have felt that my hairloss has continued to progress at an increased rate. I have only been on it for 7 months and plan to give it a 12 to 18 months before reaching a final conclusion.

As far as I am aware, there have been no studies done on the rates of hairloss before and during finasteride use in non-responders.

The only way to really know for sure would be to get a good sample of identical twins with MPB who are non-responders to finasteride, monitor their rate of hairloss for a period of time before starting finasteride, then introduce finasteride to one of the twins and continue to monitor the rates of hair loss for both to see the difference. Basically a study that I doubt any of us will see in our lifetime.

Currently, anyone who loses ground on finasteride is given the explanation "it was natural progression of hairloss that the drug couldn't halt, you would probably be worse off without it" but obviously there is no way to prove this.

As mentioned before, MPB is not fully understood. There is no way of knowing whether finasteride could increase the rate of hairloss in some individuals and Merck knows it. Its not exactly in their interest to find out either, so anyone who loses ground is identified as a non-responder in any studies. Howvever, its the best non-surgical treatment around so all we can do is take it and hope for the best.

[BigThinker]

i'd just like to contribute my 2 cents to this topic as i am currently on finasteride and have felt that my hairloss has continued to progress at an increased rate. I have only been on it for 7 months and plan to give it a 12 to 18 months before reaching a final conclusion.

As far as i am aware, there have been no studies done on the rates of hairloss before and during finasteride use in non-responders.

The only way to really know for sure would be to get a good sample of identical twins with mpb who are non-responders to finasteride, monitor their rate of hairloss for a period of time before starting finasteride, then introduce finasteride to one of the twins and continue to monitor the rates of hair loss for both to see the difference. Basically a study that i doubt any of us will see in our lifetime.

Currently, anyone who loses ground on finasteride is given the explanation "it was natural progression of hairloss that the drug couldn't halt, you would probably be worse off without it" but obviously there is no way to prove this.

As mentioned before, mpb is not fully understood. There is no way of knowing whether finasteride could increase the rate of hairloss in some individuals and merck knows it. Its not exactly in their interest to find out either, so anyone who loses ground is identified as a non-responder in any studies. Howvever, its the best non-surgical treatment around so all we can do is take it and hope for the best.

shed

[huawei]

Yeah I started fin just over four months ago with 0.5mg EOD and it has stopped my hair loss by 80% though the hairline is still crawling back slowly so I've upped it to 0.5mg everyday about a week ago.

Honestly, don't believe people on this forum telling you it will only get worse. At the end of the day we can only speak from our personal experience and mine so far has been great (I'm 21 btw). You can always start with a small dose and work your way up to better adjust to the product and in case you do encounter side effects you can always hop down to a smaller dose.

[burtandernie]

A lot of hair transplant docs claim that propecia does not work perfectly at the front so there is still some slight recession over the years, but they are biased so who knows or not. Its the best we got right now so its better then nothing but there are no guarantees on a drug as we all know

[StuckInARut]

Guys everyone will have differing experiences on Finasteride but I can honestly say it HAS made my hair worse. I shed for about 7 months straight on it and am only now noticing a reduction in hair left behind in the shower each day. It is my hope that it will continue to decrease and I will start to fill in with some new regrowth soon although I know that is simply a bonus.

[redy]

Guys everyone will have differing experiences on Finasteride but I can honestly say it HAS made my hair worse. I shed for about 7 months straight on it and am only now noticing a reduction in hair left behind in the shower each day. It is my hope that it will continue to decrease and I will start to fill in with some new regrowth soon although I know that is simply a bonus.

You realized that it takes 12 months maybe more to "stabilize" the loss on fin statistically. So, whatever is going on most likely is the medication's affect on the phases of your follicles as it is stabilizing the loss, or it's just your MPB progressing along with that above point.

[Notcoolanymore]

You realized that it takes 12 months maybe more to "stabilize" the loss on fin statistically. So, whatever is going on most likely is the medication's affect on the phases of your follicles as it is stabilizing the loss, or it's just your MPB progressing along with that above point.

Yup. I think within the first year your hair goes through a series of growths and sheds so it can appear that your hair is getting worse. Unfortunately hair just doesn't go from thin and wispy to thick in one cycle.