Propecia experience

[Guest]

Hi, I'm 20 years old and have been taking Propecia for almost 8 months. It seems my hair is a lot thinner now than it was before it started. When you look at it, it probably only looks slightly worse now than it did, but it is just a lot thinner. I noticed a heavy amount of shedding when I started using it and still notice a fair amount. Is this normal? Should I continue taking it? My thinking is that it's gonna fall out anyways so I might as well keep on taking it and hope it works. Thanks for any responses.

[Guest]

Hi, I'm 20 years old and have been taking Propecia for almost 8 months. It seems my hair is a lot thinner now than it was before it started. When you look at it, it probably only looks slightly worse now than it did, but it is just a lot thinner. I noticed a heavy amount of shedding when I started using it and still notice a fair amount. Is this normal? Should I continue taking it? My thinking is that it's gonna fall out anyways so I might as well keep on taking it and hope it works. Thanks for any responses.

[Dr. Michael Beehner]

Huron,

I have heard of extremely rare cases of INCREASED hair loss as you reported, rather than gain, with Propecia, but have never seen myself in the years I have been prescribing it to several hundred different men.

I did want to add one possible explanation for what occurred to you, to make sure you didn't overlook another cause: If by any chance you were using Rogaine for some time prior to starting Propecia, I have heard from others that the abrupt discontinuing of the Rogaine can cause a reactive "fallout" of some of the hair that had been preserved during the time Rogaine was used, even though they immediately started on Propecia. For that reason we usually urge any patient who has been taking Rogaine and wants to switch to Propecia, that they overlap the two drugs for at least two or three months to avoid this happening. Obviously, a man can continue the Rogaine AND add the Propecia to this, but I find only a few men motivated to do both of these things, which also adds up to quite a bit of expense. There is reportedly some slight synergistic effect by using both. I certainly do urge using both drugs in men who come to me in the 17-22 age group.

Mike Beehner, M.D.