HoldingOn

It is my understanding that within a year of stopping your hair will revert back to where it WOULD HAVE BEEN if you had not started the medication. A few years ago I got lazy and didn't fill my prescription right away...I think I let it go about a month. After about 3 weeks of going off I started to lose hair...lots of hair! I have no doubt that my hair was going to revert back to where I would have been...the loss was rapid and noticable. I went back on Propecia after the month of laziness...and within about 3 months I started to notice short hairs growing back in. I prompty got a really short hair cut and let all my hair grow in together. I learned my lesson and have never been late filling my script again. I don't view this aspect of Propecia as a negative thing. If it's working w/o any side effects...then why would you want to go off it suddenly? Besides, cloning will hopefully be available in the next 10-15 years and we won't have to worry about meds for hair!

I have been on Propecia for the past nine years and have been thrilled with the results. I had overall thinning on the top and front of my head before starting. After about 6 months of Propecia I noticed it was thicker and definitely not falling out as much as before. 9 years later and I am still holdong on and people would never classify be as a guy who is "balding"...but I know better. I recently asked my dermatolgist about the effectiveness of Propecia wearing off over time. He told me that this is a misconception based on a misinterpretation of the Merck study. He explained that the highest regrowth occurred after 2 years...followed by a slight tapering off and stabilization after that. He attributed this to the fact that the hair growth cycle will be "in sync" immediately following the administration of Propecia. After 2 years, the hair cycle starts to return to normal...asynchronous (spelling?) growth...thus giving the appearance that it is not working as well. He told me to relax and to stay on course. According to him, it is extremely rare for Propecia to just stop working for someone. He also told me to imagine what I would look like if I had never started taking Propecia...I agreed and shut up

I'm a long time lurker on this site but I felt compelled to post this. Sorry if it's a repost. This was taken from Reuters 9/11/07 http://www.reuters.com/article/health-SP/idUSN1144867720070912?sp=true Prostate drug cleared of causing aggressive tumors By Maggie Fox, Health and Science Editor WASHINGTON, Sept 11 (Reuters) - A hair-loss drug that can also prevent prostate cancer may offer a third benefit by helping doctors detect the most aggressive prostate tumors earlier, U.S. and Israeli researchers reported on Tuesday. They said they could dispel fears that finasteride might somehow cause the high-grade tumors. Two studies published in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute show that the drug appears to be keeping the prostate gland small, making it easier to find dangerous tumors inside or on the surface. "It appears that a man concerned about prostate-cancer risk, who is having a PSA test on a regular basis, will not only reduce his risk of prostate cancer if he takes finasteride, but will help find the cancers that pose the highest risk," Dr. Ian Thompson of the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio said in a statement. An estimated 219,000 U.S. men will this year be diagnosed with cancer of the prostate, a walnut-sized gland that makes fluid for semen, and 27,000 will die of it, according to the American Cancer Society. Finasteride, available generically but also sold as a hair loss drug by Merck and Co (MRK.N: Quote, Profile, Research) under the brand name Propecia, can reduce the risk of prostate cancer by 25 percent. Diagnosing prostate cancer is tricky. The gland can enlarge naturally, and it also produces a protein called prostate specific antigen or PSA. Doctors can feel an enlarged gland with a finger, or can measure PSA in the blood. PSA goes up as the prostate enlarges, but it also rises if there is a tumor in the gland. A biopsy can find cancer, but doctors take samples randomly and can easily get several pieces of healthy tissue instead of a nearby tumor. When finasteride was studied for its potential in preventing cancer, researchers noticed that the men who did get cancer were slightly more likely to have aggressive tumors. It was feared that finasteride itself somehow made cancer worse if it was already present, although it lowered the overall risk of cancer by nearly 25 percent. Yael Cohen of Gamida Cell in Jerusalem and colleagues found that prostate size in the finasteride group was 25 percent smaller than in men who got placebos -- making it easier to find the tumors. Dr. Scott Lucia of the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center in Denver and colleagues made similar findings. "This report ... should help lessen fears that finasteride somehow causes more aggressive prostate cancer," Dr. Frank Meyskens at the University of Texas Southwestern, who helped coordinate the original trials, said in a statement.

I'm a long time lurker on this site but I felt compelled to post this. Sorry if it's a repost. This was taken from Reuters 9/11/07 http://www.reuters.com/article/health-SP/idUSN1144867720070912?sp=true Prostate drug cleared of causing aggressive tumors By Maggie Fox, Health and Science Editor WASHINGTON, Sept 11 (Reuters) - A hair-loss drug that can also prevent prostate cancer may offer a third benefit by helping doctors detect the most aggressive prostate tumors earlier, U.S. and Israeli researchers reported on Tuesday. They said they could dispel fears that finasteride might somehow cause the high-grade tumors. Two studies published in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute show that the drug appears to be keeping the prostate gland small, making it easier to find dangerous tumors inside or on the surface. "It appears that a man concerned about prostate-cancer risk, who is having a PSA test on a regular basis, will not only reduce his risk of prostate cancer if he takes finasteride, but will help find the cancers that pose the highest risk," Dr. Ian Thompson of the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio said in a statement. An estimated 219,000 U.S. men will this year be diagnosed with cancer of the prostate, a walnut-sized gland that makes fluid for semen, and 27,000 will die of it, according to the American Cancer Society. Finasteride, available generically but also sold as a hair loss drug by Merck and Co (MRK.N: Quote, Profile, Research) under the brand name Propecia, can reduce the risk of prostate cancer by 25 percent. Diagnosing prostate cancer is tricky. The gland can enlarge naturally, and it also produces a protein called prostate specific antigen or PSA. Doctors can feel an enlarged gland with a finger, or can measure PSA in the blood. PSA goes up as the prostate enlarges, but it also rises if there is a tumor in the gland. A biopsy can find cancer, but doctors take samples randomly and can easily get several pieces of healthy tissue instead of a nearby tumor. When finasteride was studied for its potential in preventing cancer, researchers noticed that the men who did get cancer were slightly more likely to have aggressive tumors. It was feared that finasteride itself somehow made cancer worse if it was already present, although it lowered the overall risk of cancer by nearly 25 percent. Yael Cohen of Gamida Cell in Jerusalem and colleagues found that prostate size in the finasteride group was 25 percent smaller than in men who got placebos -- making it easier to find the tumors. Dr. Scott Lucia of the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center in Denver and colleagues made similar findings. "This report ... should help lessen fears that finasteride somehow causes more aggressive prostate cancer," Dr. Frank Meyskens at the University of Texas Southwestern, who helped coordinate the original trials, said in a statement.