Jump to content

Finasteride longevity.


Recommended Posts

  • Senior Member

This doesn't usually get discussed when people are making a long-term plan to combat hairloss, but can anyone clarify how long finasteride actually works for?

I say this, as I have heard from multiple people, and even a couple of surgeons on this forum, that Finasteride is typically productive for the first 5 years, then slowly tapers off from then.

Perhaps this is the body accommodating for the DHT suppression, to which it works a way around the inhibitory mechanism.

If this is the case, then a patient who may be destined for a NW 5-7, will need to carefully consider a HT.

I.e. for someone like myself, who has a family history of NW 7 - if I was to get a HT, and then fin subsided after half a decade, I would be left with very little hair.

Curious to know what everyone thinks, and whether there is any truth to this :) 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Senior Member

As far as I've been able to ascertain, it will work for as long as you take it.  The problem, and what typically does have an effect is the fact that sometimes you will forget to take the pill or you ran out and now you have to wait to resume taking it.  And, that is honestly all you can do.  Two things to consider here.  Say you start taking the medication at 22.  Unknown to you, you will start losing hair 5 years from now.  So the first thing, when do you start taking the medication?  I would say common sense tells you - you start when you start thinning. But this, necessarily is not true either.  Take my son, for example.  He is well aware of family history so he started taking the medication at 18.  Mind you, he did not have any loss at the time.  

The other side of the coin, obviously, is - suppose he was to start losing hair the very next day.  Good thing he started taking the pill.  Now let's say he stops after 14 years.  He will lose all that he would have lost.  This process typically takes a full year.

With regards to your comment about being effective for about 5 years and then starts loosing some of its effect...I've heard that about Rogaine and not Propecia.  And the time is 7 years.  The suggestion, however, is to keep doing the treatment as you are still getting some benefit...and more so when combined with other modalities.

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Senior Member
21 hours ago, Aftermath said:

I think it depends person to person tbh, I’ve been on it 12 years without any drop off

Well that's good to know, haha :) happy for you! 

20 hours ago, LaserCap said:

As far as I've been able to ascertain, it will work for as long as you take it.  The problem, and what typically does have an effect is the fact that sometimes you will forget to take the pill or you ran out and now you have to wait to resume taking it.  And, that is honestly all you can do.  Two things to consider here.  Say you start taking the medication at 22.  Unknown to you, you will start losing hair 5 years from now.  So the first thing, when do you start taking the medication?  I would say common sense tells you - you start when you start thinning. But this, necessarily is not true either.  Take my son, for example.  He is well aware of family history so he started taking the medication at 18.  Mind you, he did not have any loss at the time.  

The other side of the coin, obviously, is - suppose he was to start losing hair the very next day.  Good thing he started taking the pill.  Now let's say he stops after 14 years.  He will lose all that he would have lost.  This process typically takes a full year.

With regards to your comment about being effective for about 5 years and then starts loosing some of its effect...I've heard that about Rogaine and not Propecia.  And the time is 7 years.  The suggestion, however, is to keep doing the treatment as you are still getting some benefit...and more so when combined with other modalities.

Thanks for another great response, Laser. 

That makes sense, especially regarding when you start taking it. I.e. I'm sure I was thinning long before I noticed.

I'm glad to hear that fin doesn't necessarily taper off. As a prospective NW 6/7 one day, I am looking to go very long term to combat the loss! 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Senior Member
On 7/16/2019 at 11:32 AM, jj51702 said:

Look up the 10 year finasteride study online by Rossi et al. Younger patients aren’t able to hold on as much as the older ones but it still should give you some idea of the efficacy of the drug.

Great study. I think they showed that the best results were seen in people over 30.

I'm similar to you, Greg. It didn't work that well on the front of my hair, but did on the back. 

Where that leaves us I'm not sure 😂

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Moderators

If you have aggressive hair loss that's going to bring you to a NW 7, then your body is probably going to win out over time and start ridding your head of your hair even if you are fighting it with finisteride. You may hold on to it for a few years, but the aggressiveness of your hair loss genes is not going to stop. If you were only going to lose a small amount over 10 years then finisteride may have an easy time beating out your genes for those 10 years or more.

Over a 10 year period if finisteride saves 2000 grafts on someone who was naturally only going to lose 2000 grafts then it did it's job and held on to all of your hair. However if you are going to naturally lose 25000 grafts over 10 years and finsiteride holds on to the same 2000 amount of grafts, is it really worth still taking it? You lost 23000 grafts anyway. Is it worth the side effects? Everyone has different side effects so some may feel it is, yet some may feel it's not.

 

 

Edited by BeHappy

Al

Forum Moderator

(formerly BeHappy)

I am a forum moderator for hairrestorationnetwork.com. I am not a Dr. and I do not work for any particular Dr. My opinions are my own and may not reflect the opinions of other moderators or the owner of this site. I am also a hair transplant patient and repair patient. You can view some of my repair journey here.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Senior Member
2 hours ago, BeHappy said:

If you have aggressive hair loss that's going to bring you to a NW 7, then your body is probably going to win out over time and start ridding your head of your hair even if you are fighting it with finisteride. You may hold on to it for a few years, but the aggressiveness of your hair loss genes is not going to stop. If you were only going to lose a small amount over 10 years then finisteride may have an easy time beating out your genes for those 10 years or more.

Over a 10 year period if finisteride saves 2000 grafts on someone who was naturally only going to lose 2000 grafts then it did it's job and held on to all of your hair. However if you are going to naturally lose 25000 grafts over 10 years and finsiteride holds on to the same 2000 amount of grafts, is it really worth still taking it? You lost 23000 grafts anyway. Is it worth the side effects? Everyone has different side effects so some may feel it is, yet some may feel it's not.

 

 

That's a really good point, BeHappy.

This is exactly my dilemma. My father is a NW 7, and my older brother is a NW 5 and is only 8 year older than me. 

More likely than not, that is where I will end up. I'm currently a NW 3, or so, and have been in finasteride for a year. 

Neither of them would have the donor that would facilitate a procedure, and yet I want one so bad. 

I guess I may just have to wait it out, and hope for the best.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
×
×
  • Create New...