Freaking out about finasteride results

[Alkafar]

So I started finasterade about three months ago. I'm 24, I was thinning all over but mostly at the vertex and not really along the hairline. When I started, the thinning was not really noticeable to anyone but me. I had been following it for about nine months and I was barely able to detect a progression during that time. In the three months that I've taken finasteride, it's become visually so much worse. Literally on a weekly basis I'm able to detect a change in the amount of scalp visible. Now it's impossible to conceal how much I've lost, and both the rate of loss and the rate at which my loss has accelerated are incredible. What's going on? Is this a normal shed with finasteride? How is this possible?

Sidebar: I don't know how to measure shedding. Prior to taking finasteride, I mostly noticed shedding when I was sitting at my computer or something and I'd see hairs floating down to the keyboard. Since I started finasteride, I've noticed it on and off--some days I feel like I shed an enormous amount, some days I only actually see a few hairs.

Please advise! I'm anxious about what's going on, it makes no sense based on what I've read.

[Buster]

I'm not sure how it's possible, but I can tell you that I had the same experience, as well as some other guys who I've spoken with on hair loss forums. I started taking fin and within about 3 months of starting my hair thinned out on top to the point where I could see scalp (in brighter light). I have lost hair at a very slow rate before starting Fin (I was 36 and started receding when I was 17, but still had most of my hair). I spoke to my doctor about it and he basically said that there is no way that it could be a result of fin, he also said, (including a dermatologist that I saw), that there is no such thing as a "fin shed", so I don't know what to believe.

[OrdinaryUser]

Some people experience a thinning in the first 6 months or so, possibly longer, when the hair probably transitions to a new anogen phase, which usually results in thicker hair. For me, I had a shed that led to a visible scalp (only had vertex thinning and receding hairline before) when I started minoxidal and finasteride. I cannot isolate which initiated the shed, though, but I quit minoxidal and just take fin now. I've been on it for about 5 months and, after a seemingly interminable shedding period I experienced, I am finally seeing my hair thicken up a bit and the shed decreasing. My scalp is still visible, but much less so, and at this rate I see it returning to how thick my hair was before the shed, but hopefully even thicker with more growth on my hairline. The only real answer is you have to wait it out, and realize that close to 90 percent in clinical trials had either maintained their hair or experienced some regrowth.

[Buster]

Some people experience a thinning in the first 6 months or so, possibly longer, when the hair probably transitions to a new anogen phase, which usually results in thicker hair.

I started Fin over 2 years ago and my hair still hasn't recovered. There are many others who I've spoken with who are in the same boat (been on Fin for a few years and there hair took a hit). I've done a lot of research on hair loss forums and it seems that it's more common than people think.

[Alkafar]

I started Fin over 2 years ago and my hair still hasn't recovered. There are many others who I've spoken with who are in the same boat (been on Fin for a few years and there hair took a hit). I've done a lot of research on hair loss forums and it seems that it's more common than people think.

Are you still taking Fin? Is it possible that your hair took an initial hit (the shedding phase) and then maintained what was left? Or are you still getting worse/were you still getting worse the whole time you took Fin?

I've heard so many horror stories about Fin, including both ineffective or counterproductive results and weird sexual stuff, but every doctor I've talked to and study I've read makes it sound like it works for almost everyone and that side effects are very rare. I don't know whether that's a product of the fact that people who have good results probably won't post on forums or whether there's something bigger happening. For what it's worth, I've had zero side effects.

[Buster]

Are you still taking Fin? Is it possible that your hair took an initial hit (the shedding phase) and then maintained what was left? Or are you still getting worse/were you still getting worse the whole time you took Fin?

I've heard so many horror stories about Fin, including both ineffective or counterproductive results and weird sexual stuff, but every doctor I've talked to and study I've read makes it sound like it works for almost everyone and that side effects are very rare. I don't know whether that's a product of the fact that people who have good results probably won't post on forums or whether there's something bigger happening. For what it's worth, I've had zero side effects.

I'm not absolutely positive, but it looks as though since the first onset of thinning (within a few months of starting Fin), it has stopped. It's as though the Fin pushed out weaker hairs on my scalp and they never returned (just a theory). So I guess that's not all bad news, if my hair doesn't get any worse. But I don't inspect my hair or take pictures, I'm just going by what I see in the mirror everyday.

I'm sure the reasons that you hear a lot of bad things about hair loss meds is because those who have success with them just go on living their lives. The only reason I signed up to a few hair loss sites was because I was trying to figure out what the hell was going on with my hair after starting Fin.

[OrdinaryUser]

I started Fin over 2 years ago and my hair still hasn't recovered. There are many others who I've spoken with who are in the same boat (been on Fin for a few years and there hair took a hit). I've done a lot of research on hair loss forums and it seems that it's more common than people think.

Which is exactly why I stated some people. Not applying a universal generalization here. There is a fraction of people that don't respond to the drug as noted in clinical trials, but this is the minority.

Also, all this worrying provides no utility, OP. You can't possibly know whether you will respond until you've given the medication a proper amount of time-- a full year-- to assess anything about its efficacy for you in particular. People on here will give you conflicting reports, hell even hyperbolic "horror stories", but don't think that these reports will be salient for you just because they are out there on this forum and elsewhere. Just give it time.

[Alkafar]

Fair enough, I just wanted to get some general impressions from everyone. The doctor who prescribed fin for me (apparently a world-famous hair loss expert) said the shed will happen in the first six weeks or it won't happen at all, which is not consistent with what I've read on here. Three months is obviously not a lot of time, but since I have seen a very tangible (negative) change in that time, I wanted to get a feel for other experiences. Everything I've read suggests that mainstream opinion on finasteride isn't the whole story, but it's not clear what else might be true.