jww3

Would it make sense to combine the 2 - so do topical and lower oral dosage?

I have been taking oral finasteride since around age 18. Unfortunately, I inherited some bad balding genes from my father's side, it appears, as I started shedding at around age 15/16. Fortunately, the shedding stopped and my hair mostly stabilized around 6-9 months after I went on finasteride. I have started to get really concerned about the side effects/changes this could have caused my body over the course of 10 years (I'm almost 28 now). I recently went to my derm to express my concerns, and he said I could try topical finasteride. He gave me instructions to crush 60mg finasteride/60mg liquid minoxidil and apply it once daily. He said it may be less effective, but if I try this for 1-2 months I would be able to tell if oral finasteride is impacting my libido, etc, without a big risk of major shed (since I'm on the topical). What are your thoughts on this? I'm worried about losing hair, but I am thinking that going on finasteride so early caused me to have less body/facial hair, is now slowing gains at the gym, and causing sexual side effects (watery semen and potentially lower libido).