finasteride for an 18 year old

[Baldingat188]

So I have done some posting on this forum looking for advice , and because my current hair loss is not very advanced yet most of you guys on this forum have said finasteride would be the best option

I'm all for trying it , but I worry about the risks associated . My dermatologist said she wouldn't risk taking it until I am in my 20s because it could mess up development . Also I stumbled upon propeica.net which is a bunch of horror stories about this " poison " as they describe it .


Guess I would just like know the risk - benifit ratio . How likely is it to halt my hair loss ?

 

[br1]

hard to say. I started taking it when I was around 23 / 24. Only thing I noticed is that it retarded my beard / body hair development. No issues on the sexual sides.

And it is all a guess, because, how can I know it affected my beard growth (I have little facial hair) since it never happened? Was it suppressed by finasteride or it would be like that anyways?

My guess it slowed it down was because I stop taking it for 4 months (being 38 yo) and my beard started to come like crazy - never had this before. Some hairs on my chest started to pop out too.


It would probably halt and/or reverse your hair loss. That's what it did for me. Same hairline from 23 to 38. Quit for a while, receded a lot. Got back, hairline regrew (took ~5yrs to regrow my temples). Quit a second time, receded again.

- - - Updated - - -

Now, you want my HONEST opinion on all this finasteride thing?

If I only knew how the drug worked, its effects on hormones and prostate.. I would not take back then, would just buzz my head very low and go lower each year.

Why? Well now, I hate the idea of having to stick with the drug or go totally bald in less than 1 year, instead of 5 or 10 in the natural route. It's a shock.

And, I don't like the idea of what it could have done or will do on my prostate. What if it up-regulated my body, and now it's super sensitive to DHT, to the point that if I stop, my body will go crazy and my prostate start to age and grow in a matter of months, and give me a ****ing cancer? Should I stick with finasteride, since my body is "used to it"? If so, won't the drug give me a cancer? **** man, I want to live more than 50 years.

Honestly, I am stressed as ****, because nobody knows the answers to my questions. Just because nobody has been using the drug for a lifetime yet. Maybe we will all be ****ed, maybe not.

Sorry about the depressing post. Just my current thought on all this.

And, yes, I resumed my finasteride intake.. 0.5mg. Will do it for a couple years, then try to tapper off during a whole year, til I am taking super-micro doses. Because when I quit cold turkey last time, my hair almost fell all at the same time and my prostate gave me issues...

Good luck with your decision.

 

[Eren]

If I only knew how the drug worked, its effects on hormones and prostate.. I would not take back then, would just buzz my head very low and go lower each year.

Why? Well now, I hate the idea of having to stick with the drug or go totally bald in less than 1 year, instead of 5 or 10 in the natural route. It's a shock.

You do know that guys who start to go bald in their late teens don't necessarily lose their hair in 5 to 10 years time? My natural route would have been 3 to 4 years at most (4 years from NW1 to NW7!). Patrick Stewart said in an interview he practically lost everything in 1 year. There is no guarantee that he will have any hair in 2 years. Not even mentioning the loss of quality most hair loss sufferers have to go through. So anyone would pick the option of losing hair over 10 to 20 years, but no one has a choice.

If he is going bald (and I take his word for it) he should give finasteride a try.

@Baldingat188

It is very likely your hair loss will slow down. The risk to benefit ratio is very low (meaning a high probability of having succes). I would take it sooner than later.

 

[abba]

As someone who found out about his hairloss at 16 and only started treating at 20 (21 now) i wish i had gathered the courage to tell my dermatologist to prescribe me finasteride sooner. Between the first time i went to a dermatologist and when i started taking finasteride i went from a NW1.5 to a 2.5, and that made me feel depressed for months.

finasteride more or less maintained what i had (nearing the 6 month mark) and i had ZERO side effects. I'll start minoxidil next month in an attempt to regrow a little of what i lost on my temples (NW2.5). I'm hoping to at least go back to NW2, but if i had started taking finasteride earlier i probably would not need minoxidil at all.


My advice on finasteride: Take 1mg once a day and DO NOT THINK ABOUT SIDE EFFECTS. The human mind is quite powerful and if you believe that finasteride will give you side effects then you will have side effects. I'm 100% sure that most people who complain about side effects were already scared of them when they started finasteride and at the first sign said "welp, here's the side effect. it's finasteride's fault". At the 6 month mark you can make a accurate assessment to whether it helped your hair loss or not.

 

[Baldingat188]

So it seems my choice are : accept I'm going to be bald by 20 or take a potentially risky drug that could mess up my growth

i like these options !

 

[RD03]

Dermatologist prescribed me Finasteride when I was 18. I have since started Dutasteride and my beard/body is still developing.

Consulting a doctor, you're probably alright to start.

 

[Thespain]

I started finasteride at 18, however I finished puberty and had a full beard by 15. If you're done with puberty I'd say go ahead.

 

[Baldingat188]

How would I know if I'm done with puberty ?

I grow some ok facial hair and my height is only 5"6, so maybe I could grow more

Still though , I'd rather stay my height and keep my hair then gain an inch and lose it. Pretty messed up but as long as the side affects don't mess up my health It is worth it for me

 

[br1]

If your parents are tall/short you can have an idea on your height I guess?

 

[Baldingat188]

Mom is 5"2 my dad is 5"10 i beleive

im probly destined to be short. Strangley I care more about my hair then my height

i think its the fact I'm used to being 5"6 however I'm used to having my hair. And I suppose the fact that I will look like an alien bald .

i feel I'm going to go bald quick, I swear it's getting thinner by the week. Pretty desperate to get a perspecription at this point

 

[RD03]

You can have your bone age determined by a scan (I've had that) and they can tell you if your plates have fused or not - growing more or not.

 

[Baldingat188]

I keep seasawing back and forth on whether or not it's a good idea. Every time I start thinking I want to take it I see a post like this

That sucks you got some nasty sides - can weight gain really be a side of it ?

You can inbox if you think there's other stuff I should know

Like I have said before my hair is very important to me so unless I'm dealing with health problem sides I would rather keep my hair even if I experienced some side as long as it wasn't to bad

 

[Pray The Bald Away]

If it sped up the hair loss then that just means you experienced hyperandrogenism and increased the sensitivity of your receptors. I think that's pretty rare though. OP I think the only solution is getting on finasteride, as the other option is losing your hair. We've just got to get on it and pray Samumed/Replicel/Histogen work in the future.

 

[Lefut]

I went to the transplant Dr yesterday and am booked for surgery in a months’ time. My sons of 22 and 25 accompanied me and the Dr recommended that they go onto Propecia/Finpecia as soon as possible to avoid the inevitable. They have no noticeable hair loss at present, but their father, grandfather and great grandfather suffer from major hairloss. The Dr also explained the benefits of the drug and the 1 percentage of side effects.&nbsp;<br>

 

[Baldingat188]

Nice to hear some good news

Although it's only a matter of time before I read something bad about finasteride

I got an appointment for the 12th of this month , going to ask about a prescription

 

[Fall]

finasteride is the best shot to stop hair loss. Benefits outweigh the risks. It is very unlieky to be among the ones who experience side effects. There are a lot who started to take at 18. If your hair loss is progressing it would be best to start with finasteride as sson as possible. I believe that you would not regret taking it...