Should I plan to be on Propecia the rest of my life?

[UMan64]

I've been taking Propecia since age 20, if not a little earlier.

Around age 30, I got a hair transplant procedure, with positive results.  At the time, my doctor advised that I continue to take Propecia to prevent further hair loss.

I'm now 40, and it's occurred to me that I've now been on Propecia for half my life.  I don't think I've suffered significant side effects, though it's tough to tell at this point as I've been on it so long.  But still, I'm the kind of person who generally doesn't like pumping my body with chemicals unless there's a good argument for it.

Assuming I want to continue to prevent hair loss, should I pretty much plan to be on Propecia for the rest of my life?  Is there anything risky about that?

As a side note, while my hair transplant procedure has held up well, I might consider doing another round at some point in my 40s.

[TorontoMan]

19 minutes ago, UMan64 said:

I've been taking Propecia since age 20, if not a little earlier.

Around age 30, I got a hair transplant procedure, with positive results.  At the time, my doctor advised that I continue to take Propecia to prevent further hair loss.

I'm now 40, and it's occurred to me that I've now been on Propecia for half my life.  I don't think I've suffered significant side effects, though it's tough to tell at this point as I've been on it so long.  But still, I'm the kind of person who generally doesn't like pumping my body with chemicals unless there's a good argument for it.

Assuming I want to continue to prevent hair loss, should I pretty much plan to be on Propecia for the rest of my life?  Is there anything risky about that?

As a side note, while my hair transplant procedure has held up well, I might consider doing another round at some point in my 40s.

You’re the best person to answer this. Has it been working for you? Is there a trade off for you, and is it worth it ? 

[Eugenix Hair Sciences]

1 hour ago, UMan64 said:

I've been taking Propecia since age 20, if not a little earlier.

Around age 30, I got a hair transplant procedure, with positive results.  At the time, my doctor advised that I continue to take Propecia to prevent further hair loss.

I'm now 40, and it's occurred to me that I've now been on Propecia for half my life.  I don't think I've suffered significant side effects, though it's tough to tell at this point as I've been on it so long.  But still, I'm the kind of person who generally doesn't like pumping my body with chemicals unless there's a good argument for it.

Assuming I want to continue to prevent hair loss, should I pretty much plan to be on Propecia for the rest of my life?  Is there anything risky about that?

As a side note, while my hair transplant procedure has held up well, I might consider doing another round at some point in my 40s.

If Propecia is helping you prevent the progression of baldness then you should continue it further. It is always advisable to prevent further baldness than go for another transplant by losing more hair.

[Future Hair Doc]

If it's working and you're not having any side effects, continue taking finasteride

[Gokuhairline]

if you haven't had any side effects and lost hair  congrats but at the end of the day it is a chemical....there will be side effects at some point and will manifest somehow, the million dollar question is how when . good luck.

[ciaus]

19 hours ago, Gokuhairline said:

if you haven't had any side effects and lost hair  congrats but at the end of the day it is a chemical....there will be side effects at some point and will manifest somehow, the million dollar question is how when . good luck.

 

Thats quite the far-seeing, and yet dark blurry crystal ball you've got. The real question is how many side effects, and worse, are actually being caused by ridiculous diet and other poor lifestyle habits people do everyday, tearing their bodies down prematurely, and without giving those a second thought. And those have much higher side effect profiles than finasteride.

I've been on finasteride since my late 20s, in my mid 40s now, and plan on taking it until I'm so ugly I no longer care about my hair. Side effects from finasteride are real for a small minority of people. Go to your doctor if you think you're one of those, not online forums like this filled with amateurs that have no professional medical training. And be careful of the loud minority of the side effect minority, augmented by scammers and other confused guys that have been scared into not even trying finasteride.  They post alot of BS online, including a good bit of scare-tactic posts even on this forum.

Melvin just caught a guy recently having a side effect 'conversation' with himself using multiple accounts, anything to put nagging thoughts and doubts into guys' heads. For some its a misguided crusade and they believe they are actually doing good. For others its less noble, they don't have the courage to try it and hate the idea of being left behind to face certain loss while others get on with their lives with hair. 

[bald-and-bearded]

On 4/9/2022 at 5:39 PM, UMan64 said:

I've been taking Propecia since age 20, if not a little earlier.

Around age 30, I got a hair transplant procedure, with positive results.  At the time, my doctor advised that I continue to take Propecia to prevent further hair loss.

I'm now 40, and it's occurred to me that I've now been on Propecia for half my life.  I don't think I've suffered significant side effects, though it's tough to tell at this point as I've been on it so long.  But still, I'm the kind of person who generally doesn't like pumping my body with chemicals unless there's a good argument for it.

Assuming I want to continue to prevent hair loss, should I pretty much plan to be on Propecia for the rest of my life?  Is there anything risky about that?

As a side note, while my hair transplant procedure has held up well, I might consider doing another round at some point in my 40s.

These days even people with high degrees of hairloss are getting great results from hair transplants. BHT has become common. If your projected degree of hairloss is not bad, you can avoid taking a hormone changing drug for the rest of your life. As you yourself said, it's tough to tell if you get side effects over time because they can be real or nocebo - no way to tell them apart.