Can Dutasteride make things worse?

[askingforafriend]

Ok so i figured out my hairline had some recession back in January. I started using minoxidil in february and I've been on finasteride since May. My hair hasn't gotten worse as far as I can tell, maybe even improved a little (though that just may be in my head)

Anyway I'm in my early 20s and I want to be able to stop my hairloss for the next 20 years if possible. I'm worried that finasteride might not be enough for the long term and I'd like to see some regrowth in my temples that I'm afraid finasteride won't be enough to provide. So I've been looking into Dutasteride for a number of weeks now..

...What I've found has been troubling. Account after account, anecdote after anecdote all saying the same thing: Dutasteride has caused their hairloss to accelerate.

Then I keep seeing all this speculation about upregulation of androgen receptors and how dutasteride might make it worse. Then I see even more speculation that testosterone causes hairloss too, thus lower levels of dht ultimately do nothing since the testosterone just kills hair instead

And yet all of the studies i've seen suggest the opposite: That dht suppression is the best way to keep your hair and that participants in them that used finasteride and (even more so) dutasteride considerably improved their hair loss over those who did nothing

Frankly I'm confused and a little scared I don't know what to believe and I'm struggling to come up with a decision on what to do

Is there anyone out there who has used finasteride/dutasteride 5 maybe 10+ years who can tell how they've faired?

What do you guys think about all this? Is there truth to these claims or is it fear mongering?

[Mpbman]

I think you did the right thing to start with propecia so early. I waited too long to start with the medication (at about 28 or 29, when the hair loss was clearly visible). I've been on propecia for about 7 or 8 years with no serious issues and just started taking DUT (the last 2 months) - with also no serious issues (maybe some decrease in libido, but that might be due to my age).

Propecia clearly stopped the hair loss progression and now I'm starting with dut to see how it goes. I'm also using rogaine for the crown and it seems to work great - no hair loss there.

Anyway - if you don't get any serious side effects and your hairloss doesn't progress, I would stay on propecia for as long as possible. Who knows, maybe in 5 - 10 years there's a better treatment available.

If your hairloss worsens, you can always try DUT. Just make sure you have some high quality photos of your hair available, so you can compare the progression of hair loss every 6 months or so.