Stay with fin or switch to dut

[Mike K]

This is encouraging. Thank you.

[Plan C]

Jotronic - thanks for your wise words. Taking everything into account, how much longer shoud I leave it until I consider using dutasteride? (Currently on month 4 of Proscar).

[Jotronic]

Jotronic - thanks for your wise words. Taking everything into account, how much longer shoud I leave it until I consider using dutasteride? (Currently on month 4 of Proscar).

I'd leave it for a full year. There is no reason to switch to Dutasteride until you know what Proscar can do on it's own. In my opinion, finasteride is very effective and Dutasteride, while stronger, has shown little to no more efficacy in the hairline than finasteride.

[Plan C]

I'd leave it for a full year. There is no reason to switch to Dutasteride until you know what Proscar can do on it's own. In my opinion, finasteride is very effective and Dutasteride, while stronger, has shown little to no more efficacy in the hairline than finasteride.

My only concern is that you mentioned that finasteride isn't particularly effective for the frontal third of the scalp and I presume that the hairline itself is part of this area. Since my main goal is to maintain my hairline (I'm not particularly fussed about my crown etc.) a year seems like a long time to wait.

For the record, I already use Regaine twice daily and Regenepure shampoo daily.

[Jotronic]

Nothing is particularly good at restoring the hairline but Propecia is better than nothing and combined with the other two items you are taking you have the best chance possible. I'm not saying it won't work because I have seen it work, I'm just saying that the chances are lower than they would be if you were trying to build up the back. And believe me, if you have a strong family history for losing the mid-scalp and crown then you'll really care when, not if, those areas start to go. They are MUCH harder to restore surgically not because of any tricks necessary for restoration but because of the numbers of grafts needed to get a cosmetically satisfying result. The key word is "prevention" because that dictates everything else.

Think of Propecia/Proscar as an insurance policy. As long as you're taking it your loss shouldn't get much worse. Also keep in mind, you are still only four months out. You may even still be experiencing the shedding effect and not realize it. Anything is possible at this point so be patient. If you don't give it time it needs to do it's thing then you'll switch things around before you can see if they actually work. That's the part that sucks about hair loss. Any efforts to fight the issue with medication takes a long time to measure.

In the end you can do what you want. Mix things up, switch out to Dutasteride completely or combine the two with your other products. The problem I see with this is that if you change things out now then you'll never really know what is working and what is not working and you may regress even further and faster because of it.

[Plan C]

The only other query was when people usually experience the best results from Propecia and what happens after this point? For example I've seen a few people mention they experienced the best results at a year and a half of use. After this, does the drug begin to lose effectiveness?

[burtandernie]

If you can just keep your hair for the next 3 years by then CB 03 01 will be out which is much more powerful. Combining that with propecia and you might not ever go bald so in the future there could be better options.
I would agree right now its kind of a losing long term fight for most people, but that doesnt mean it cant change in the future. CB is in trials as we speak its just very slow

[Tenma]

The only other query was when people usually experience the best results from Propecia and what happens after this point? For example I've seen a few people mention they experienced the best results at a year and a half of use. After this, does the drug begin to lose effectiveness?

There is a good chance Propecia keeps your hair for a long time:

http://gabelcenter.com/blog/2011/10/...nts-in-oregon/

Also some people use dutaseride with good success. I am using it right now and in my case is much more effective than fin.

Like Burtandernie said, cb and future treatments will be out there within the next 4-5 years.

[goldbondmafia]

There is a good chance Propecia keeps your hair for a long time:

http://gabelcenter.com/blog/2011/10/...nts-in-oregon/

Also some people use dutaseride with good success. I am using it right now and in my case is much more effective than fin.

Like Burtandernie said, cb and future treatments will be out there within the next 4-5 years.

Article basically says it works for those over 30 and not as well for younger users. Too bad Im 22

[Tenma]

Article basically says it works for those over 30 and not as well for younger users. Too bad Im 22

true, works better for older men because as we age androgen levels decrease.

Still, i remember reading on an another forum an exhaustive analysis of the fin study which concluded that half of the 14% of participants with visible hair loss at year 5 stopped losing hair at some point between years 5-10.

Even some of them were back to baseline at year 10.

I had good results with fin for a long time and started taking it when i was 21 y/o.