When to begin dut after fin

[Swoodsy91]

Hi,

Been taking oral fin for 18 month on/off M/W/F and still seeing a fair bit of hair loss when washing or styling hair so thinking of moving to dut 0.5mg once a week to start with. Should I wait a few weeks between stopping fin to starting dut? What would you recommend?

[A_4_Archan]

Firstly, you should be consistent with your treatment and not use it intermittently. Experiencing some hair loss during washing or styling is normal; losing 50 to 100 hairs per day is typical due to the hair growth cycle and it is considered normal. Unless you notice more significant hair loss or clear signs of a developing pattern, you can continue taking 1 mg of finasteride three times a week. If you increase the dosage, you can take 1 mg daily. 

However, whatever approach you choose, it's important not to act independently. Consult a qualified hair transplant surgeon, undergo all necessary tests, and develop a personalized treatment plan that helps your hair while effectively managing the side effects.

I hope this helps you. Best of luck.

[Trichotrophy]

It seems like the next step is to take finasteride more consistently as advised above, not drop it altogether.

Why are you only taking it EOD at the moment? If it's because of adverse side effects, dutasteride will only amplify that.

Even if you wanted to take DUT, it's inadvisable to drop finasteride altogether.

For starters, it takes months to build a steady-state concentration of dutasteride, meaning it'll take a while to reach full effectiveness. If you drop finasteride weeks before even starting, you might have minimal-to-no 5AR effects at all for a while.

Secondly, you can combine both medications. Many have reported successful results taking DUT just once a day and finasteride rest of the weeks, and we even have a scholarly study on the polytherapy.

Plus, as stated above, hair shedding does not necessarily indicate hair loss. As long as the hairs are regrowing without miniaturizing, I wouldn't worry about that. Sometimes I've shed like an autumn tree on the meds, yet I still maintained, if not improved, my hair density. Perhaps take monthly progress pictures of your hair's density to see whether or not you're losing ground.