Long term finasteride effect

[Orbital123]

Hi all, 

I've been using finasteride for around 15 years, it has worked great until this year. Now my hair is thinning considerably and the benefits of finasteride appear to no longer work. I started Minoxidil in Jan too but there is no improvement

Does finasteride eventually have no effect? I'm looking at PRP as an alternative, going down the researching route, as there are many different PRP systems 

Whilst I understand we lose around 100 per day, is it normal when washing hair to have around 20 hairs every morning on my hands or is this type of shedding not normal? I'm wondering if the minoxidil is still doing this but I don't see hairs being replaced i.e. Shorter hairs coming through 

Thanks

[A_4_Archan]

1 hour ago, Orbital123 said:

is it normal when washing hair to have around 20 hairs every morning on my hands or is this type of shedding not normal?

The amount of hair loss you're experiencing is normal, but it's always good to monitor it. It's great that you've been on finasteride for so long without any side effects.

If your hair loss progresses, you might consider adding dutasteride to your regimen to help stabilize it. Oral Minoxidil takes more time, so you should stay on it for a full year before evaluating the results.

However, don't do this on your own; it's always best to consult a reputable hair transplant surgeon and create a medication plan under their guidance.

[RajSharma99]

I used oral Finasteride for 1 year and developed gynocomastia of grade 2 so i had to stop this drug, even i was taking only 1 mg every alternate day....currently using 0.1% topical Finasteride mixed wid 10% Minoxidil, 5 mg oral Minoxidil and 800 mg saw Palmetto without any side effect to maintain my 10k grafts hair transplant result....

Still I have to go for grade 2 gynocomastia surgery...using oral Finasteride was the biggest mistake of my life....

[asterix0]

It could be that finasteride is losing its efficacy, remember it really only slows down your hair loss, it isn't a cure to stop it.

A hair transplant might be the route to take to replenish what you have lost, hairs from the donor area are much more DHT resistant as you know, than your native hairs in the recipient area.

[Al - Moderator]

On 7/14/2024 at 7:03 AM, Orbital123 said:

Does finasteride eventually have no effect?

 

I don't know if I'd say it eventually has no effect because you would probably lose hair faster if you stopped using finasteride, so technically it's still working. However, aggressive hair loss can eventually overtake the ability of finasteride to grow more hair and you may eventually start losing hair. But as I said, it will still be keeping more hair on your head than if you stopped.

 

[Orbital123]

Thanks for the responses. It was last year I noticed my hair really thinning and felt like finasteride was losing the efficacy. 

I did at one stage years ago get the start of gyno from fin because I used it with an over the counter/legal gym performance enhancer, so as I stopped it the gyno fortunately fixed itself as it hadn't progressed to an irreversible stage. 

I introduced minoxidil tablets and switched to dutasteride but then I started getting the side effects such as gyno, so I came of dutasteride and back to fin. I also changed to topical min, as I read that the tablet will increase hair growth everywhere rather than just targeted at the scalp.

I also got the topical finasteride, I read it's comparable with the oral form although there is not too much comparable research as far as I have found. 

I don't know whether the minoxidil is causing this shedding still, I had around 40/50 hairs in total yesterday in the shower and rubbing my head a few times 

Edited July 17 by Orbital123