Jump to content

Fin 1mg/day for 5 months, no results.


Drugs110

Recommended Posts

  • Senior Member

Usually you need to take finasteride 1mg daily for 1 year to assess fully if it's working or not. 

Having said that, I think starting dutasteride should be fine. It's a LOT more potent than finasteride so I usually start my patients off on 0.5mg daily. I would also use topical minoxidil.

Good luck

My advice does not constitute a patient-physician relationship nor as medical advice and all medical questions/concerns should be addressed to your medical provider. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Regular Member
29 minutes ago, Dr. Suhail Khokhar said:

Usually you need to take finasteride 1mg daily for 1 year to assess fully if it's working or not. 

Having said that, I think starting dutasteride should be fine. It's a LOT more potent than finasteride so I usually start my patients off on 0.5mg daily. I would also use topical minoxidil.

Good luck

So should I drop the fin and use dut only?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Senior Member

I think switching meds will be fine. Obviously talk to your doctor about switching over. You should also be using minoxidil. 

Edited by Dr. Suhail Khokhar

My advice does not constitute a patient-physician relationship nor as medical advice and all medical questions/concerns should be addressed to your medical provider. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Regular Member
2 minutes ago, Dr. Suhail Khokhar said:

I think switching meds will be fine. Obviously talk to your doctor about switching over. You should also be using minoxidil. 

Topical min doesn't work for me. I had tried  it for 6 months when I stopped.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Senior Member

It's not going to regrow hair...it's used to try to maintain existing hair. Remember, 5-alpha reductase inhibitors like finasteride and vasodilators like minoxidil are used mainly to keep hair from falling out, not growing it.

My advice does not constitute a patient-physician relationship nor as medical advice and all medical questions/concerns should be addressed to your medical provider. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Regular Member
6 minutes ago, Dr. Suhail Khokhar said:

It's not going to regrow hair...it's used to try to maintain existing hair. Remember, 5-alpha reductase inhibitors like finasteride and vasodilators like minoxidil are used mainly to keep hair from falling out, not growing it.

Not true from what I've read and been told by docs. Minoxidil does regrow hair, it's a hair growth stimulant, not a DHT blocker.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Senior Member
25 minutes ago, Drugs110 said:

Not true from what I've read and been told by docs. Minoxidil does regrow hair, it's a hair growth stimulant, not a DHT blocker.

Yes, minoxidil is a vasodilator, not a DHT blocker.

My advice does not constitute a patient-physician relationship nor as medical advice and all medical questions/concerns should be addressed to your medical provider. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Senior Member
3 hours ago, Dr. Suhail Khokhar said:

Usually you need to take finasteride 1mg daily for 1 year to assess fully if it's working or not. 

Having said that, I think starting dutasteride should be fine. It's a LOT more potent than finasteride so I usually start my patients off on 0.5mg daily. I would also use topical minoxidil.

Good luck

You start patients off at 0.5mg daily of Dutasteride? What dose do you work up to?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Senior Member

I just start at 0.5mg and don't go higher. It's a lot more potent than finasteride with a similar side effect profile. I haven't seen studies using a dose higher than 0.5mg and am leery to go higher than that. Also, given the fact it's more potent the chances of side effects are higher. 

My advice does not constitute a patient-physician relationship nor as medical advice and all medical questions/concerns should be addressed to your medical provider. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Regular Member
1 hour ago, Dr. Suhail Khokhar said:

I just start at 0.5mg and don't go higher. It's a lot more potent than finasteride with a similar side effect profile. I haven't seen studies using a dose higher than 0.5mg and am leery to go higher than that. Also, given the fact it's more potent the chances of side effects are higher. 

Do you use oral minoxidil?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Senior Member
15 hours ago, Drugs110 said:

Do you use oral minoxidil?

I personally don't. Low dose (2.5mg to 5mg) oral minoxidil has been used successfully to treat androgenic alopecia with a low side effect profile:

https://www.jaad.org/article/S0190-9622(19)30685-1/pdf

  • Like 1

My advice does not constitute a patient-physician relationship nor as medical advice and all medical questions/concerns should be addressed to your medical provider. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Senior Member
9 minutes ago, Drugs110 said:

How common is edema and dangerous heart arrythmia at those doses?

Not common at all. I'd start off at 2.5mg obviously (lowest dose) and the most I'd go up is 5mg. Obviously talk to your doctor since everyone reacts differently and you might have other comorbidities that would put you at a higher risk for side effects. 

  • Like 2

My advice does not constitute a patient-physician relationship nor as medical advice and all medical questions/concerns should be addressed to your medical provider. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Senior Member

Hello Dr. Khokhar, I really appreciate your contributions here, great to have a medical professional weigh in on topics.

I'm thinking about starting up 1.25mg/day dosage, already saw my doctor and have a script for 2.5mg pills, cut in half per day. There's a doctor clinic up in Canada that has some blog topics on oral minoxidil in the links below, and the dosage ranges for results start lower, even below that 1.25mg. It sounds like from your last reply that you start prescriptions at 2.5mg. Is that based on your patient results not responding to lower doses? or fellow doctor results/literature etc?

 

This is on my radar because I have a scarring alopecia (LPP) that has thankfully been in remission and was pretty mild even when it was active -and some scalp sebhorrheic dermatitis. So I stay away from topical medicines since I can't predict skin irritation flareups. The idea of stopping the minoxidil to deal with sheds while I get things back under control is a non-starter for me.

 

https://donovanmedical.com/hair-blog/oral-minoxidil-topical-allergy

https://donovanmedical.com/hair-blog/topical-to-oral-minoxidil

https://donovanmedical.com/hair-blog

 

Edited by ciaus
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Senior Member
On 8/14/2020 at 2:17 PM, ciaus said:

Hello Dr. Khokhar, I really appreciate your contributions here, great to have a medical professional weigh in on topics.

I'm thinking about starting up 1.25mg/day dosage, already saw my doctor and have a script for 2.5mg pills, cut in half per day. There's a doctor clinic up in Canada that has some blog topics on oral minoxidil in the links below, and the dosage ranges for results start lower, even below that 1.25mg. It sounds like from your last reply that you start prescriptions at 2.5mg. Is that based on your patient results not responding to lower doses? or fellow doctor results/literature etc?

 

This is on my radar because I have a scarring alopecia (LPP) that has thankfully been in remission and was pretty mild even when it was active -and some scalp sebhorrheic dermatitis. So I stay away from topical medicines since I can't predict skin irritation flareups. The idea of stopping the minoxidil to deal with sheds while I get things back under control is a non-starter for me.

 

https://donovanmedical.com/hair-blog/oral-minoxidil-topical-allergy

https://donovanmedical.com/hair-blog/topical-to-oral-minoxidil

https://donovanmedical.com/hair-blog

 

Great question. I start off at 2.5mg based on published literature, as well as results from other physicians and my own practice. 

Use the following to guide your research:

https://www.practiceupdate.com/content/effectiveness-and-safety-of-low-dose-oral-minoxidil-in-male-androgenetic-alopecia/83335

https://www.jaad.org/article/S0190-9622(19)30685-1/pdf

  • Thanks 1

My advice does not constitute a patient-physician relationship nor as medical advice and all medical questions/concerns should be addressed to your medical provider. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Senior Member
17 minutes ago, Dr. Suhail Khokhar said:

Great question. I start off at 2.5mg based on published literature, as well as results from other physicians and my own practice. 

Thanks Dr. Khokhar, I started the 1.25mg and I have a follow up with my doctor in November. Assuming I have no side effects in the meantime I'm going to print those pages out and talk with him about the 2.5 dosage.

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...