propecia 4 years, hair loss recently increased significantly

[hairlossquestions]

I've read that stress can cause an increase in hair loss. Otherwise, I'm not sure what else it could be. Propecia has effectively kept the hair on my head for the past four years. The last four to six weeks, however, there are big indications that it isn't working now. I'm due to lose most of the hair directly on top of my head, one of the classic hair loss patterns.

What other options are there? Is surgical restoration a reasonable option if I lose nearly all my hair on top?

Can I - and will it make a difference if I - increase the amount of Propecia I am taking?

I appreciate any help. My timetable is looking shorter and shorter each day.

 

[bubka]

i would keep on it for a while, could be a result from having a high fever a while back? also, did you change your pills? get some generics online? you may have counterfeit?

if you can rule those out, sometime increasing the dosage can help, or starting up on the dutasteride?

even with surgery, meds are still used

 

[MPBWarrior]

4 years is around the time finasteride stops being so effective. i would first try increasing the finasteride dosage to 2.5mg, then 5mg, then id try dutasteride every 3 days or so. good luck!

 

[bubka]

4 years is around the time finasteride stops being so effective. i would first try increasing the finasteride dosage to 2.5mg, then 5mg, then id try dutasteride every 3 days or so. good luck!

where is the proof of that? i know that things change and some people know longer have success on finasteride after a specific time, but i think thats an individual thing and not something you can claim, per say "4th year" i would say my regrowth probably continued until year 4

 

[CCS]

4 years is around the time finasteride stops being so effective. i would first try increasing the finasteride dosage to 2.5mg, then 5mg, then id try dutasteride every 3 days or so. good luck!

finasteride reaches baseline then, but the hair loss rate is much slower than placebo, and that is what matters when measuring effectiveness.

If your rate speeds up, then you need to take dutasteride or get on the topicals. I don't mind diluting my 5% minoxidil with fatty acids and the right anti-oxidants, and anti-inflammatories. And my hair is touchable after an hour or two.

 

[Guest]

4 years is around the time finasteride stops being so effective

ugh this isn't true as bubka said. first of all everyone is different and it's not like clockwork. oh ok 4 years in it's losing effectiveness.

if i were to get on finasteride at age 14(bad idea), would i start losing on average at 18? No.

It just so happens that finasteride may only be effective for a few years for some people because most people get on it once they see some noticeable hair loss. And the average number isn't 4 years. If you look at the Merck graph:

You will see that hair counts are still a bit above baseline for the average Propecia responder at year 5. The graph shows that people's hair count increass for about 2 years on AVERAGE, but since the average person gets some solid regrowth, their overall hair count stays above baseline for somewhere between 7-9 years. After that the average propecia users are back to where they started and will continue to thin, but only at about 20% of the rate of the average placebo users, as you can see from the graph. So to explain it better, if i'm an average propecia responder and you're an average placebo guy, for every 5 follicles of yours that die, only 1 of mine will in the same time period, on AVERAGE. That's phenomenal and I don't know why people criticize finasteride for it. As college said, losing your hair at only a fraction of the pace you normally would is still great. If you are NW3 at 35 and you start to thin after being on propecia for awhile, you may reach NW4 in your late 40s instead of 37 or 38 on the placebo. That's pretty good. Certainly buying time till better stuff comes out is a good idea. Most of the stuff we use now has come out in the past 20 years, but most within the past 10. So 10 years from now we may have HM and this will all be irrelevant.

Obviously adding dutasteride when you start to thin could add a few years of maintenance and possibly regrow the hair that just started thinning on finasteride.

 

[Nathaniel]

Re: propecia 4 years, hair loss recently increased significa

I've read that stress can cause an increase in hair loss. Otherwise, I'm not sure what else it could be. Propecia has effectively kept the hair on my head for the past four years. The last four to six weeks, however, there are big indications that it isn't working now. I'm due to lose most of the hair directly on top of my head, one of the classic hair loss patterns.

What other options are there? Is surgical restoration a reasonable option if I lose nearly all my hair on top?

Can I - and will it make a difference if I - increase the amount of Propecia I am taking?

I appreciate any help. My timetable is looking shorter and shorter each day.

If you can rule out your finasteride as being counterfeit or you having been ill, wait a few months. If your condition keeps worsening (btw, take pictures so you can really judge if you are worsening), there are a few things you could do, but depends on your situation:

1) Switch to dutasteride.

2) Consider adding topical anti-androgens.

#1 would seem the most logical but in any case, with either choice you could also add copper peptides (tricomin/folligen) and/or minoxidil, specially if your situation keeps worsening. BTW, are you on NIZORAL shampoo?