Finasteride Results - 1.5 Years

[hairlossPA]

Hi everyone - I thought I would give back to this forum with my hair restoration journey, since it's provided me a lot of useful information. Long story short: I started losing my hair in my early 20s. I am now 27 and would say I was visibly losing hair at the age of 24. I started using Rogaine religiously, but I did not see any improvement. Like many, I was nervous to try finasteride. My hairloss got to be so bad and I couldn't stand the way I looked in pictures and I was avoiding going out. If I went out, I would wear a hat. People started making comments. All of us know that feeling. I felt depressed. I tried using Toppik but there was no way it could be a long term solution. There were days when I'd run my hand through my head and 20 hairs would fall out. My hairline was receding and my crown was thinning. I was headed towards a NW 5-6.

This past summer, I got consults with H&W, Diep, and Rahal.

H&W - FUT for 4500 grafts

Diep - FUE for 2500 grafts rebuilding the frontal third

Rahal - 3000 grafts rebuilding the frontal third, but was later denied after Rahal took a look.

In June I decided enough is enough and I got a prescription for finasteride (1mg/day) and decided I would give it a try and see what happened (along with Rogaine again.. why not). I swear, from the first day I took that first pill on July 1st to mid-November, I didn't see a single hair of mine fall out. Now ever since Thanksgiving, I seem to be shedding (pretty substantially I might add). I'm hoping this is a shed and those hairs come back bigger and stronger. I still have a nice result from 6 months on finasteride though (assuming my gains continue and stabilize).

Overall, I am very excited about the progress I have made and the regrowth I have had. I no longer worry that much about my hair. I know it is not perfect, but I feel comfortable going out in public again without a hat. My crown has improved significantly, my mid scalp has improved, and my hairline is *decent*. People have actually made comments about how my hair looks much better. It feels great. I am nowhere close to where I want my hair to be, but it's definitely a start. To think I was getting consultations for 4500 grafts is crazy to me now. I think maybe one day if these gains continue, I could get a FUE procedure to address the hairline. My only wish is that I hopped on finasteride sooner

June 2018

July 1st 2018 - First day of finasteride

[hairlossPA]

September 17th 2018 (2.5 months)

Edited January 4, 2019 by hairlossPA

[hairlossPA]

October 14th and October 24th (after a haircut #2 guard on the sides)

[hairlossPA]

November 15th 2018

[hairlossPA]

January 3rd 2019

[Legend007]

Congrats hairlosspa.. glad u a great responder to finasteride... imagine , if u were on it years ago.. u would of kept most ur hair.. but better late than never .. that is a remarkable change .. happy for u 

[LonelyGraft]

Those are really great results. Looks like u got a hair transplant by just using propecia! Nice

[baldlivesmatter]

Super responder! 

Glad it worked out!

[GrowNewHair]

You don't need a hair transplant!!!!!

So glad for you. 😃👍

[yesplease]

Remarkable improvement. Any sides at all?

[Raker]

Very good, they say it can take up to 12 months to fully benefit so perhaps even more coverage. 

[thatoldchestnut]

This just goes to show what makes some of those unbelievable transplant results so magical. Not to diminish the surgeon's influence but this shows just how much impact finasteride can have on its own. No doubt if you'd had 4.5k grafts we'd all be oohing and aahing in large part due to the influence of meds!

 

Congratulations, thrilled for you.

[hairlossPA]

8 hours ago, yesplease said:

Remarkable improvement. Any sides at all?

no side effects. I originally thought I was experiencing some sides but later found out it was due to something else.

Thanks everyone it means a lot!!

My only concern is this shed I’m currently going through since Thanksgiving. I can rustle my hair or comb through it and 10-20 hairs fall out. I’ve read that you can have a shed on finasteride but I didn’t know it would be this late in the game. I also guess the more hair you have the more hairs can fall out? As petty as it is, I’ve definitely noticed less full/dense hair in the mid scalp and hairline since November. 

 

Either way, I will obviously continue the medication and hope that the shed ends and I continue to see gains. Is there any reason to believe the medication will stop working one day? Am I out of the woods for my crown? That was my biggest concern as it would’ve limited my donor capacity. 

Edited January 5, 2019 by hairlossPA

[elduterino]

I would not worry about a shed

the best method to judge if your hair are heading to a positive outcome in the near future  is to use you fingers to feel how the root of the hair resists bending on light pressing- feeling how thick it is - in various area and compare the safe vs balding zones

If there is not not too much difference then your good..

[shookwon33]

@hairlossPA did you mention where you get your finasteride and what strength daily you've been on? Curious as Im 3 months in on finasteride from the company HIMs right now

[hairlossPA]

4 hours ago, shookwon33 said:

@hairlossPA did you mention where you get your finasteride and what strength daily you've been on? Curious as Im 3 months in on finasteride from the company HIMs right now

1mg/day. generic finasteride prescribed by my doc. get it at CVS 

[shookwon33]

14 hours ago, hairlossPA said:

1mg/day. generic finasteride prescribed by my doc. get it at CVS 

oh wow okay. so how much do you end up spending for a 1 month supply getting it filled by CVS assuming your insurance is covering it?

[Pete-from-Farjo]

One of the best responses to finasteride I've seen. Congrats. 

[LaserCap]

You may want to consider doing PRP and laser therapy. The mechanism of action of each of these is totally different and thus, are synergistic when used simultaneously.  Give it a year, photos every 3 months and keep track.  After a year you can decide if the added benefit is worth continuing the  regimen.

[hairlossPA]

5 minutes ago, LaserCap said:

You may want to consider doing PRP and laser therapy. The mechanism of action of each of these is totally different and thus, are synergistic when used simultaneously.  Give it a year, photos every 3 months and keep track.  After a year you can decide if the added benefit is worth continuing the  regimen.

I used a laser comb a long time ago. It was hard to see the benefit from it alone, but now that I have a foundation I agree it would be beneficial. I will think about it, especially PRP

[hairlossPA]

can anyone comment on, or show studies of the efficacy of finasteride long term? I’ve read sometimes the effect wears off?

 

Im trying to understand if I should be “out of the woods” now or not? I know hairloss is progressive and continues, but surely this has to be a good sign for me?

[baldlivesmatter]

52 minutes ago, hairlossPA said:

can anyone comment on, or show studies of the efficacy of finasteride long term? I’ve read sometimes the effect wears off?

 

Im trying to understand if I should be “out of the woods” now or not? I know hairloss is progressive and continues, but surely this has to be a good sign for me?

My understanding is that it doesn't "wear off" per se, but since it doesn't block 100% of DHT you still lose hair over the long term, just at a much reduced rate. The rate of loss depends on the person. 

[Kiwi Guy]

WOW PA, what a great result thus far, happy for you bro, I'm on generic finasteride at the moment and I swear I'm easily losing 20+ hairs a day, I'm wondering if name brand might actually work better for me instead of generic, I've been on it for about 5 years and I believe what it's done is slowed the loss down but it's far from completely halted it as we know happens, good on you for documenting your finasteride journey, posts like this are invaluable for those of us trying to figure out the next step in this process, much credit and respect, keep us posted : )

Oh other than fin do you take anything else? I know you commented on Rogaine but any biotin supps or anything like that?

[hairlossPA]

2 minutes ago, Kiwi Guy said:

WOW PA, what a great result thus far, happy for you bro, I'm on generic finasteride at the moment and I swear I'm easily losing 20+ hairs a day, I'm wondering if name brand might actually work better for me instead of generic, I've been on it for about 5 years and I believe what it's done is slowed the loss down but it's far from completely halted it as we know happens, good on you for documenting your finasteride journey, posts like this are invaluable for those of us trying to figure out the next step in this process, much credit and respect, keep us posted : )

Oh other than fin do you take anything else? I know you commented on Rogaine but any biotin supps or anything like that?

thanks man. I appreciate it a lot. I take a biotin supplement. I think it’s either 10,000mg or 1,000 or something like that? I can’t really give credit to it though but who knows.. I will get the exact dosage when I get home 

[shookwon33]

oh yeah please let us know. im currently taking 10,000 mg of biotin now and Im starting to think its been making my hair really strong but im not sure if its placebo or not