Is Finasteride strong enough to stop a NW 6/7?

[HelpfulFriend]

Hey all,

Been on FIN for about 6 years myself.

My older brother and father are both NW6, Dad is almost NW7. My loss has been NW3 for about 5 years or so (due to fin, I'd assume).

My question, does anyone know if Finasteride is strong enough to slow down hairloss genetics that are this strong?

My concern: that even on meds, I will lose more and more hair, to the point that transplants cannot cover my losses.

I know this is really hard to say for sure, but interested to hear people's throughts.

[1978matt]

This could be total BS but i would look at it this way:

Finasteride reduces DHT by about 65%, so that's about a 2/3rds reduction.

So if you were destined to lose a NW number every 2 years, from say age 21, it will take about 6 years with FIN.

Lets say youre 21 NW2 and were going to be NW6 by 41, You would have lost a NW number every 5 years on average.  With FIN you might potentially hold out to 51 before NW4 and 66 until reaching NW6.

But lets say you were more agressive balding than the above example, e.g NW6 by 31.  In this case FIN might delay full blown NW6 until 51.

Maybe you can do a similar assessment based on dad & brother's progression.

Other than the above, you could look at adding in Dutasteride.

 

Edited February 7, 2022 by 1978matt

[Future Hair Doc]

See your doctor about starting on dutasteride 0.5mg every other day

[HappyMan2021]

if you have no side effects from Fin, you just replace Fin with Dut. 

I myself had no sides from Fin and have been taking Dut every day for 3 years now. Every once in awhile I will get a very brief stomach ache (2 minutes or so long) shortly after taking it, but other than that zero sides. 

[Melvin- Admin]

@MazAB shared his story, he had aggressive hair loss from age 24, presumably he’d be full blown Norwood 6 by now. He was able to maintain his hair for 20+years without much change. 

 

[asterix0]

@Melvin- Moderator gave a good example, even if you are young and losing aggressively fin can hold the fort for many years.

However, I will say if you are losing diffusely and can already clearly see the horseshoe outline before 25 (like me), finasteride will slow things down some but it is a losing battle. Probably only dutasteride will be strong enough if you catch it early enough. 

[MazAB]

One thing also to keep in mind as well guys is that DHT is at it's highest level when you are in your late teens and 20's. Generally speaking the older you get the less free testosterone your body can produce naturally. With that, of course, DHT levels will also drop with age. The key is to protect yourself as much as possible in the younger years in order to prevent further loss and higher norwoods. All I had was fin when I started back in 1997. Took 1.25 mg daily and nothing changed for me for all those years. However, for anyone that wants added measure to reduce the risk factor of further loss, Dutasteride is an excellent option. Now that I'm done with my procedure, I'm going to play it safe and add topical Dutasteride into the mix. My daily will be oral Finasteride and once a week will also take topical Dutasteride. I will also be addiing microneedling when I'm at the 1 year mark with my transplant, and will be taking the topical Dutasteride the day after my weekly microneedling sessions. 

Edited February 7, 2022 by MazAB

[Melvin- Admin]

16 minutes ago, MazAB said:

One thing also to keep in mind as well guys is that DHT is at it's highest level when you are in your late teens and 20's. Generally speaking the older you get the less free testosterone your body can produce naturally. With that, of course, DHT levels will also drop with age. The key is to protect yourself as much as possible in the younger years in order to prevent further loss and higher norwoods. All I had was fin when I started back in 1997. Took 1.25 mg daily and nothing changed for me for all those years. However, for anyone that wants added measure to reduce the risk factor of further loss, Dutasteride is an excellent option. Now that I'm done with my procedure, I'm going to play it safe and add topical Dutasteride into the mix. My daily will be oral Finasteride and once a week will also take topical Dutasteride. I will also be addiing microneedling when I'm at the 1 year mark with my transplant, and will be taking the topical Dutasteride the day after my weekly microneedling sessions. 

That’s a good point, most of my hair loss occurred in my mid-20’s which was when my testosterone was high. 10 years later it’s definitely not as high as it was then. Given the alternatives out there today, if you’re concerned definitely start off with the topical version.

[HelpfulFriend]

Hey guys, 

Thanks so much for the great responses. 

This forum always gives me peace of mind.

I was considering dutasteride, even topically, but it's hard to find a lot of research on it. I believe the half life of DUT is a lot longer than fin, so would one potentially use it ever few days?

I might chat to my local HT surgeon about treatments.

I'm happy to go down the HT route, but I want my loss to stabilise a bit before I do.

Thanks again all.

[Gatsby]

But that's not all! ☺️ Even if you are a Norwood 6/7 finasteride still has it's place also. The drug does help in strengthening the remaining donor hair and can improve the crown area. As a high Norwood 6/7 looking at going into surgery, finasteride can put you in a better position as it still has it's benefits. If you look at @Zoomster his lower crown actually lifted from finasteride. That's quite a few grafts that won't be needed. I'm taking 1mg of finasteride every second day and so far no side effects. I'm hoping that it will help in my crown (to some degree) and prevent any further senile miniaturization (of my hair that is! 😂). 🤘

[Al - Moderator]

I am a NW 7. I was taking finasteride for 11 years. The first few years I saw some minor improvement. The next few years I was probably stable. The last few years I was losing hair again. After 11 years I was at the point where I obviously had less hair than when I started. At that time I stopped using it.

 

[HelpfulFriend]

On 2/9/2022 at 7:16 AM, BeHappy said:

I am a NW 7. I was taking finasteride for 11 years. The first few years I saw some minor improvement. The next few years I was probably stable. The last few years I was losing hair again. After 11 years I was at the point where I obviously had less hair than when I started. At that time I stopped using it.

 

This is my concern, to be honest.

That within 10 years or so I will be back to losing my hair, and if I follow my family history, I won't be able to cover it with transplants

[NARMAK]

I have people that ended up higher Norwoods probably 5+ around their 50s onwards and no medication used, and tbh, there's literally no clinical data on generation's that did use medication and those that didn't to compare the progression of hair loss. 

I believe 1mg of Finasteride per day blocks circa 41% of scalp DHT, Dutasteride 0.5mg blocks 51% but tanks your body DHT serum levels which is why people say it could give you more side affects. 

Personally i went nuclear and straight to Dutasteride 0.5mg every day. The sides eventually reduced down but were never imo at a level beyond what i was willing to accept and in fact, after my body adjusted to the huge drop, i'd say i've rebounded in some areas. 

I personally believe that it's not a perfect science but if you have say 40-50% DHT resistance already naturally in the typical hair loss areas, taking Finasteride can boost you to circa 80%+ including with Dutasteride but there's literally no tests or anything out there as far as i'm aware that can measure what natural resistance the top hair usually prone to hair loss has. For those on medication and still losing ground strongly, it wouldn't be a stretch to say their DHT resistance for those follicles could be as low as 5-30%. Without the medication it would probably be even more aggressive but that's an unfortunate genetic lottery we all face. 

That's why it's really important to assess your hair loss individually and take action according to what you think it might be like and as mentioned above, maybe consider adding Dutasteride if you feel you need a booster every 2 days instead of the Finasteride.