Glen's catastrophic Finasteride results.. (HELP)!

[vloertegel500]

Firstly I want to apologize for the long story here, but I find that it’s important to give as much information as possible..

Family history
Father: Lost most of his hair (Norwood 5) just like most of his brothers
Mother: Thick hair just like her father who still had a full head of hair (Norwood 1-2) when he was 80 years old. Her brother also had a full head of thick hair.
Cousins: have both been balding, their situation was worse than me, much thinner hair
Sister: thin hair, just like her father

My situation
I am 24 years old and have always have a full head of thick curly hair just like my mother. However I noticed that I was losing year and that my hairline was receeding at the age of 19. I started to use Minoxydil 5% for then and the situation more or less was kept stable (I think). However at the end of last summer I noticed that my hair was thinning a bit and started using propecia 1m a day. My dermatologist said that I could stop with Minoxydil as she believed propecia alone would be enough.

My regime and results
I’ve been on properica since last September and after stopping with minoxydil for 6 months I got back on it. I did not really experience side effects from propecia. I’ve been on it now for 8 months and have not really noticed any improvements. My hairline however seems to have become worse (especially my temples, and my frontal hairline seems to have thinned a bit) and it’s been itching ever since I’ve been on propecia.

My big questions and worry
I added a picture of a hairline that resembles mine (SO THIS IS NOT A PICTURE OF ME). The part that I circled red is where the itching is and where the situation is worse than before. Before going on Finasteride, this was still pretty thick but now I cannot style my hair the way I did it before. So my questions:
1. Is this itch necessarily a bad thing? What could be the reason behind this?
2. Should I quit finasterid? If yes, Would this revert my situation as it was before the finasteride (so would my hair grow back)? Or could it worsen my hairline even more?
3. Should i continue with Finasteride (Is it too soon to judge the effect of Finasteride?)
4. If I would quit Finasteride, should I go for Dutasteride or something else? Or would this also worsen my hairline?

Thanks for everyone who took the time to read this because I know it's a lot to read! I’ve gotten to the point that I don’t go out anymore, I can’t talk to anyone about it and am getting seriously depressed..

Hope you guys can help as this kinda is my ‘last resort’

 

[The Far Side]

Stopping minoxidil (causes massive shedding) and starting finasteride (can cause shedding) is bound to make things temporarily worse. You need to stick with both treatments for a year+ and things should improve unless you're unlucky.

 

[SayifDoit]

Dude you're lucky, you have no sides while on finasteride. Congrats.
Keep on finasteride, perhaps get on minoxidil if you really are willing to keep applying the stuff.

The derma was an idiot you never should of stopped, though she is correct propecia alone can save your hair for many, many years.
Obviously depending on how aggressive your hair loss is.

By going of minoxidil it caused a massive shed, minoxidil is a commitment and must be used every day.

 

[Notcoolanymore]

I added a picture of a hairline that resembles mine (SO THIS IS NOT A PICTURE OF ME).

This isn't going to cut it. You should have mentioned this earlier in the post. I would have stopped reading and clicked away.

 

[vloertegel500]

I am sorry that I only put it at the end, by no means I was trying to fool you so apologies. However, I do not really see how this makes a difference as the picture resembles my hair line fairly accurate and it was just to show where I am having the itch. Would be nice if you could give me some advice (if you have any) as all of us are in the same ****ed up situation :sad:

 

[zzzzz]

1. Is this itch necessarily a bad thing? What could be the reason behind this?

Itch is not important and not strongly correlated with anything

2. Should I quit finasterid? If yes, Would this revert my situation as it was before the finasteride (so would my hair grow back)? Or could it worsen my hairline even more?

Stopping finasteride would be terrible for your hair. It would never make things better to stop it

3. Should i continue with Finasteride (Is it too soon to judge the effect of Finasteride?)

Yes to both

4. If I would quit Finasteride, should I go for Dutasteride or something else? Or would this also worsen my hairline?

Don't stop it

 

[vloertegel500]

Thank you very much for your answers zzzz, it is much appreciated! :turned:

I've seen a lot of members on this forum using 'Nizoral' as one of the 'big three'? I wonder if applying this improves the hair situation much? I myself suffer a bit from dandruff (I hope this is the right word) so I don't know if it would have a big effect on me. Again sorry for all of these questions and for bothering you :turned:

 

[zzzzz]

Thank you very much for your answers zzzz, it is much appreciated! :turned:

I've seen a lot of members on this forum using 'Nizoral' as one of the 'big three'? I wonder if applying this improves the hair situation much? I myself suffer a bit from dandruff (I hope this is the right word) so I don't know if it would have a big effect on me. Again sorry for all of these questions and for bothering you :turned:

nizoral is easily the weakest of the big 3. It is the least important and will only help marginally

 

[vloertegel500]

UPDATE:

Been on Minoxydil for about 2 months now. The itch at the front of my hairline seems to have gone away. I don't know if this is due to the fact that I am back on Minoxydil or due to my body getting used to propecia (you guys got any thoughts about this?)

The situation did not get worse compared to 2 months ago but it did not improve either. I have the feeling that I lose less hairs when showering but I could also be grasping at straws here. Been on propecia for 7.5 months now so I hope that results will come quickly so that I will go back to my initial pre-propecia situation. I am following your advice and sticking with it for at least another half year to judge the situation. Hopefully my hair in the front will thicken up again so I can at least style it the way I used to

Cheers already for the help guys!

 

[GoldenMane]

Propecia really cannot do any harm to your hairline. If you are maintaining then it is working. Not everybody gets unbelievable results. That itch is probably the DHT itch, a common symptom among hairloss sufferers. If it goes away it's a good sign.