My Propecia Experience - Looking For Advice

[JSmyth]

Hello,

I have been on propecia for 19 months now. I am not sure if it is making things better or worse. My frontal hair feels very thin and straw like. I am starting to wonder if the propecia is actually making things worse. I was developing a bit of a receding hairline so thats why I started it in the first place. The hair has become thinner than I remember it being. It is specifically isolated to the frontal third (can see a distinct line of scalp separating thin front from thicker back).

I am wondering what are the odds that I am getting some sort of androgenic rebound effects. I just feel like I am very much between a rock and a hard place. If I stop I am worried I will lose and I am also worried that if I stay on it that it will get worse.

Thanks for any advice!

[Buster]

I'm in the exact same position as you. This March it will be 2 years since I've been on Fin. Within the first 3 months I noticed that my hair seemed to have thinned out, because I could see my scalp. I attributed it to the famous "fin shed", but it didn't recover. I wonder if that hair was too minitaurized and weak to be able to return. On the bright side, I don't think my hair has gotten any worse since that shed (over a year ago).

[Notcoolanymore]

Damn, I hear this on this forum pretty often. Sucks big time. And like you said you are stuck between a rock and a hard place. Quit and who knows how bad it will get?!

[JSmyth]

Ya it is really strange. You would think that there would be some concrete research into this by some sort of endocrinologist. I think that I will just stick it out with fin. I am fortunate (by balding standards at least ) that the thinning is mostly localized towards the front. Hopefully this will make me a good HT candidate down the road (I am only 23 right now and don't want to rush into anything until I am at least 26-27).

Let me know if you come across any more info and thanks for the replies!

[Buster]

Ya it is really strange. You would think that there would be some concrete research into this by some sort of endocrinologist. I think that I will just stick it out with fin. I am fortunate (by balding standards at least ) that the thinning is mostly localized towards the front. Hopefully this will make me a good HT candidate down the road (I am only 23 right now and don't want to rush into anything until I am at least 26-27).

Let me know if you come across any more info and thanks for the replies!

As I said, I'm experiencing the same thing. After about 9 months I went to see my doctor who basically said that it was odd and that for all we know if I wasn't on Fin I could have lost more hair. He booked me an appointment with a dermatologist who basically said once again "That's odd" and then he suggested Rogaine. Every once in a while I think that maybe I should quit Fin, but then I decide not to, because for all I know it could be preventing me from losing more hair. Even though my hair loss was pretty much undetectable (styled properly) and I started to recede when I was 17 and am now 38. It just seems odd that after starting Fin my hair would get so much worse.

[Dan26]

Get your DHT levels tested and consider dut. Finasteride does not lower DHT the same amount for everyone.

[ccmethinning]

There is a theory that runs around hair loss forums that frontal hair is susceptible to testosterone, in addition to DHT. Because fin increases testosterone levels, the theory suggests that frontal hair may actually suffer some while on fin.

I am not sure if the theory has any merit, but this same story (frontal thinning while on fin, fine everywhere else) comes up again and again.