.25mg finasteride journey

[Catagen]

That is why a none sense to take it orally instead of topical .

If you get bad sides, if you dont oral is superior in every single way. 1mg has actual high quality RCTs with long term follow ups, no such things for the topical, we only have what? 1 week study measuring how it affects serum and scalp DHT, nothing on how it compares on efficacy compared to the oral.

 

[jamesbooker1975]

If you get bad sides, if you dont oral is superior in every single way. 1mg has actual high quality RCTs with long term follow ups, no such things for the topical, we only have what? 1 week study measuring how it affects serum and scalp DHT, nothing on how it compares on efficacy compared to the oral.

It really have none sense what you are telling. First learn how 5-alpha reductase works in the body, in how many reaction is part of and how insane is to reduce it a 70 % .

 

[Catagen]

It really have none sense what you are telling. First learn how 5-alpha reductase works in the body, in how many reaction is part of and how insane is to reduce it a 70 % .

You dont understand how DHT and hair loss works. Serum DHT is irrelevant in hair loss. It is hard to quantify how much actual DHT there is in your body. But at your follicle it is reduced more with the dose you take. Look it up, 2.5mg and 5mg finasteride are more effective than 1mg for but not by a large enough extent where the use of 5mg is excused for hair loss.
Oral medication will always be superior.
Even most topicals go systemic and topical finasteride especially goes systemic, and after continued use which you must to do get benefits you get the same serum reduction. But maybe you get less reduction in the prostate maybe, but I have no evidence of that.

Of course 5ar is important in the body, hair is just as important.

 

[Diffused_confidence]

You dont understand how DHT and hair loss works. Serum DHT is irrelevant in hair loss. It is hard to quantify how much actual DHT there is in your body. But at your follicle it is reduced more with the dose you take. Look it up, 2.5mg and 5mg finasteride are more effective than 1mg for but not by a large enough extent where the use of 5mg is excused for hair loss.
Oral medication will always be superior.
Even most topicals go systemic and topical finasteride especially goes systemic, and after continued use which you must to do get benefits you get the same serum reduction. But maybe you get less reduction in the prostate maybe, but I have no evidence of that.

Of course 5ar is important in the body, hair is just as important.

I've wondered if people use both oral and topical. What sucks about treatment is that scalp dht isn't reduced by 70% like serum dht, maybe topical would hit some of the enzymes oral is missing?

 

[jamesbooker1975]

You dont understand how DHT and hair loss works. Serum DHT is irrelevant in hair loss. It is hard to quantify how much actual DHT there is in your body. But at your follicle it is reduced more with the dose you take. Look it up, 2.5mg and 5mg finasteride are more effective than 1mg for but not by a large enough extent where the use of 5mg is excused for hair loss.
Oral medication will always be superior.
Even most topicals go systemic and topical finasteride especially goes systemic, and after continued use which you must to do get benefits you get the same serum reduction. But maybe you get less reduction in the prostate maybe, but I have no evidence of that.

Of course 5ar is important in the body, hair is just as important.

"Serum DHT is irrelevant in hair loss"
That is exactly the oppositive of the big liers from Merck told us .
Of course, more finasteride you take orally, more will arrive ( of course , with a limit ) to your follicles .
Again, you need much lower topical finasteride, wich means you will have less finasteride systemic than if you take it orally. Of couse, if you use a high dose like 1 % of finasteride, even if only a 10 % go systemic , it will lower your systemic DHT as much as using it orally .

 

[Catagen]

I've wondered if people use both oral and topical. What sucks about treatment is that scalp dht isn't reduced by 70% like serum dht, maybe topical would hit some of the enzymes oral is missing?

Maybe topical + oral is very good. But no research on it.

"Serum DHT is irrelevant in hair loss"
That is exactly the oppositive of the big liers from Merck told us .
Of course, more finasteride you take orally, more will arrive ( of course , with a limit ) to your follicles .
Again, you need much lower topical finasteride, wich means you will have less finasteride systemic than if you take it orally. Of couse, if you use a high dose like 1 % of finasteride, even if only a 10 % go systemic , it will lower your systemic DHT as much as using it orally .

The issue is that it is not known how well does the topical prevent hair loss compared to the oral, there is simply no research quite like the original 1mg pill has.

 

[jamesbooker1975]

Maybe topical + oral is very good. But no research on it.

The issue is that it is not known how well does the topical prevent hair loss compared to the oral, there is simply no research quite like the original 1mg pill has.

Of course that there is not, cause Merck patent it as oral . But, there are studies, pubmed it , and what do you think will be faster reach the follicle? since is have a low molecular weight ? Apply direct to the scalp or take it orally, by pass the stomach, the liver , going to all the organs, etc ? Again, is brainless use it orally . Specially cause it have a molecular weight of only 372.549 g/mol . Much more finasteride will reach the active site than if you take it orally, the prove are the studies where it show that orally finasteride supress 70 % of systemic DHT but only around 40 % on the scalp. If you want to reach the follicles, and if you don't need liver convertion and if the molecular weight allow it, the smarter thing to reach the follicle is applying topically .

For example, most topical studies that compare it with oral, are 1 % finasteride . 1 %, if you apply 2ml daily , will be applying 20mg of finasteride to the scalp. See how a none sense it is ? Cause, even if a low dose go systemic, you will have 2mg of finasteride systemic and ofcourse that will eliminate as much as DHT than oral and will cause same side effects ! Now, who pay for this studies ? Merck. Cause they are telling, " keep it use it orally, it is the same and it is easier "
Why they don't do that kind of studies with 0.1 % or 0.01% ? That will be the smarter thing to do . Same results than orally , same local inhibition, but much lower systemic inhibition, aka, less side effects .

 

[CJ97]

There is not really difference between taking 0.25mg or take 1mg . You will lower almost the same amount of systemic DHT, so it will cause the same sides.

Yes there is. I spoke with a hair transplant doctor (UK). And he said anything bellow 1mg is ineffective. He says 1mg daily is the bare mininium to effectively combat male pattern baldness.

 

[corkmeister]

Yes there is. I spoke with a hair transplant doctor (UK). And he said anything bellow 1mg is ineffective. He says 1mg daily is the bare mininium to effectively combat male pattern baldness.

This isn't true. If it were, then why do the dose ranging studies show positive effects on hair count compared to placebo at 0.2mg daily?

You shouldn't take hair transplant surgeons at their word when it comes to hair loss medication. It's not their area of expertise at all, and it often shows.

 

[Catagen]

This isn't true. If it were, then why do the dose ranging studies show positive effects on hair count compared to placebo at 0.2mg daily?

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You shouldn't take hair transplant surgeons at their word when it comes to hair loss medication. It's not their area of expertise at all, and it often shows.

In the 1999 merck study 1mg is better than 0.2mg and it has more side effects than 1mg somehow. That is why 0.25mg is not used.

 

[Diffused_confidence]

In the 1999 merck study 1mg is better than 0.2mg and it has more side effects than 1mg somehow. That is why 0.25mg is not used.

But don't asian countries prescribe it at .2mg?

 

[corkmeister]

In the 1999 merck study 1mg is better than 0.2mg and it has more side effects than 1mg somehow. That is why 0.25mg is not used.

Of course 1mg is more effective, the graph even shows that. But that doesn't mean anything below 1mg is ineffective and that that's the bare minimum to effectively combat male pattern baldness.

For what it's worth, I don't believe that dosages below 1mg only result in less efficacy but an identical side-effect profile. Can't back it up with studies though, it's purely anecdotal. I don't think serum dht gives the full picture either.

 

[BaldingDude]

Thanks for the update. Best of luck.

 

[jamesbooker1975]

In the 1999 merck study 1mg is better than 0.2mg and it has more side effects than 1mg somehow. That is why 0.25mg is not used

Propecia was approved by FDA in 1997 .

 

[jamesbooker1975]

In the 1999 merck study 1mg is better than 0.2mg and it has more side effects than 1mg somehow. That is why 0.25mg is not used.

And Dutasteride is much more effective than Finasteride. Of course more DHT inhibition means more effective in more people but also more side effects.
The thing is how to lower local DHT more than systemic DHT . Using orally you do the other way, you are lower more the systemic DHT than the Local DHT.

 

[Diffused_confidence]

Propecia was approved by FDA in 1997 .

True. However the drug finasteride was first fda approved for bph back in 1992 under the brand name Proscar.

 

[jamesbooker1975]

True. However the drug finasteride was first fda approved for bph back in 1992 under the brand name Proscar.

Yes. What I am explaining here is that posting a 1999 study telling that for that reason they choose the 1mg dose, is a none sense .

 

[Bigchugus463]

I’m taking topical finasteride 6 days a week with one day of dermarolling and propecia every other day to see if topical does anything for me growth wise

 

[JaneyElizabeth]

5mg finasteride and .5mg dutasteride daily is where I am. I have never had a single noticeable side effect from either or both. No hair regrowth either from such moderate to large amounts. People considering reductase inhibitors should know that many people use them effectively and without sides.

 

[Diffused_confidence]

This shedding is killing me. Got a refill of prescription but switched from generics to brand propecia. f*****g 3x the cost but whatever.

Not sure if anyone has experience with this but is the shedding mainly in the regions that are thinning or is it just uniform?