7 1/2 months into Propecia and nothing! Any hope?

[mr_xxxplosive]

I'm a 22 y/o with early frontal hair loss which I noticed a year ago. Like the first 1.5-2cm is see through. Now I'm on Propecia for 7 1/2 months and nothing much to see. After 4 months on it I started seeing very little hairs to nothing in the shower and after 5 months saw a little thickening in the middle but at the same time a little loss. Shorty after I started seeing hairs again in the shower although not as much as before! Now after 7 months I saw a tiny little loss again and in the small area I saw improvement. What the hell is going on? I know at this point I can forget about regrowth/thickening but I don't think I'll even be able to maintain my hair. Dr Rassman keeps saying that after 8-9 months you should see your results well I'm about to land on that deadline with nothing! I'm gonna wait till the summer until I'm a year on it and maybe try Avodart!? This is all very disappointing to me as I started treatment right when I saw MPB in the process and plus I read so many stories how men even older then me and worse hair loss get good results with Propecia!

[crisos]

their are different sized doses of propecia.. 1-4mgs ( al ot of people to save money by the 4mg's and break em up) im taking this to mean some people need more or develop tolerances. I imagine if propecia helps to lower your DHT overtime your body might get used to that and produce more? Just like if you take steroids your body will eventually stop producing its own levels of testosterone.

but i know nothing for fact.

[mr_xxxplosive]

First of all you never develop a tolerance to Propecia! It's your genes winning if you lose hair on the meds. And taking more then 1mg won't help it's proven!

[Mark]

Just to correct Crisos, Finasteride usually comes in 1mg and 5mg pills. Sometimes people split the 5mg pills into quarters as it's easier than trying to split it into 5ths.

Now, Mr Xxxplosive, I'm not sure about the ability of the human body to develop a tolerance to the drug. I know, anecdotally, that some people start taking Dutasteride in addition to finasteride. Whether that's recommend or not I don't know.

In good news, if you happen to be one of the small percentage of me that finasteride simply doesn't work on, you may be in luck money-wise. Propecia has a 12 month promise program. (https://www.propecia.com/finasteride/propecia/consumer/about-propecia/12-month-promise.jsp) If you've been taking propecia for 12 months and your doctor signs off saying that you've had no results, they'll refund your money.

Not exactly a solution to your hair loss, but at least you can feel like you didn't spend a bunch of money on something that didn't help.

I'm going to talk with Dr. Rassman about this today and get a better understanding of how finasteride works and whether there is a possibility of building a tolerance to it. I hope to have an answer for you in a few hours.

-Mark

[mr_xxxplosive]

No need to ask him about the tolerance thing...that wasn't my question anyway. Dr. Rassman said it multiple times in his blog that you don't develop tolerance to Propecia it's just your hair genes are taking over that's all. But if are going to talk to him ask him if a guy hasn't seen any regrowth/thickening after 8 months if the chance is still here till the 1 year mark!? Thanks.

[Mark]

No need to ask him about the tolerance thing...that wasn't my question anyway. Dr. Rassman said it multiple times in his blog that you don't develop tolerance to Propecia it's just your hair genes are taking over that's all. But if are going to talk to him ask him if a guy hasn't seen any regrowth/thickening after 8 months if the chance is still here till the 1 year mark!? Thanks.

Will do,

-Mark

[Mark]

No need to ask him about the tolerance thing...that wasn't my question anyway. Dr. Rassman said it multiple times in his blog that you don't develop tolerance to Propecia it's just your hair genes are taking over that's all. But if are going to talk to him ask him if a guy hasn't seen any regrowth/thickening after 8 months if the chance is still here till the 1 year mark!? Thanks.

Alright, I just spoke to Dr. Rassman and he said that you can still see results all the way to two years out, and that he wouldn't advise going to dutasteride.

The big question he had was how you're measuring your hair loss. Are you comparing photos? Doing miniaturization tests? A lot of people look so often and so intensely for changes to be taking place that they end up seeing things that aren't there, or become mistaken about what is going on.

It's very important if you're going to measure your hair loss (or gain) to have proper metrics in place.

[mr_xxxplosive]

Thanks for getting the info for me but 2 years for real? You mean if there was nothing the first year, the second year might start kicking in? Anyways, the only miniaturization test I had was right before I started Propecia ever since then it's been just my eyes. The only thing I saw saw far in those near 8 months was a little thickening in the middle at month 6 and a little loss there as well once at month 6 and once at month 8 and that's all.

[Mark]

Thanks for getting the info for me but 2 years for real? You mean if there was nothing the first year, the second year might start kicking in? Anyways, the only miniaturization test I had was right before I started Propecia ever since then it's been just my eyes. The only thing I saw saw far in those near 8 months was a little thickening in the middle at month 6 and a little loss there as well once at month 6 and once at month 8 and that's all.

What he was trying to say is that he's seen people getting positive results from the drug all the way to two years past when they started taking it. Granted, that's not everyone, but some patients of his have had those kind of results.

I think the big issue here is that you're trying to judge this by memory and eyesight, which is the best way to guarantee that you're unsure about something. Think about whenever you see photos of yourself from years back. I know the first thing I think is "I can't believe how fat/thin I was!" Or "Check out that low hairline!" haha.

With digital cameras being as cheap as they are right now, it's highly advisable for someone like yourself who is interested in accurately measuring your hair loss/gain to get one and take regular photos of yourself, from the same angle, with the same lighting.

Some of our patients come in and one of the first thing the doctors do in a consult is take photos of the patient. That way when they come back for checkups, another procedure, or for whatever reason we can look at the photos we've taken and make an accurate judgment about their level of hair loss/gain.

-Mark

[mr_xxxplosive]

I forgot to mention that it's really the first 1.5cm - 2cm into my hairline I want to fix. That area is just more see through but the temples (hairline corners) have stunted growth and those areas are even more see through. I'm an early NW3 with mid anterior thinning under miniaturization. Is that why it's so hard for Propecia to fix this since it's the hairline? Btw, I started Propecia only 4 months after first noticing hair loss so results I heard are fairly common if you start Propecia soon especially at my age.