11 Months On finasteride Update ( Can't Tell If Better Or Worse)

[recedingornot87]

Alright guys so here is my 11 month update on finasteride. I'm using a #1 guard buzzcut to keep as best of a comparison as possible. I tried to recreate the same lighting in the same place in my room but my dumbass forgot if I changed the lightbulb or not over the months and that could have possibly altered the comparisons.
The problem is that in the mirror my hair recently has been super thin especially through the front and it was clearly thinner in person but I dont think the pictures are showing this.


Before:

Now:

Before:

Now:

From these pictures it looks like I havent got worse but the mirror told a different story when the hair is grown out and im 99% sure I am still losing hair. I went to the pharmacy and got 60 5mg pills and im gonna cut them into 4ths but 1.25mg per day shouldnt be too much different than 0.5mg per day right? I think I am going to stick with the 1.25mg per day with minoxidil and dermarolling for another year and see if I should go for dutasteride or not. Ill probably get onto dutasteride earlier if I see it getting really bad in the next year. Also from the back its now pretty obvious my final pattern is norwood 6 like my dad so that was depressing to see.

Any thoughts/advice is appreciated.

 

[Zenya]

In the first two photos it seems there hasn't been any change at all. I'd say it's the same. Now looking at the last two photos it seems that there is a small improvement and not a regression. You've been finasteride for 11 months and judging by the photos there's almost no change (although you say it's worse). Yes, I think dutasteride has to be your next choice, at least I would do that.

 

[recedingornot87]

In the first two photos it seems there hasn't been any change at all. I'd say it's the same. Now looking at the last two photos it seems that there is a small improvement and not a regression. You've been finasteride for 11 months and judging by the photos there's almost no change (although you say it's worse). Yes, I think dutasteride has to be your next choice, at least I would do that.

You don't think I should give finasteride another year? I was using 0.5mg this entire time and now upping to 1.25mg.

 

[Zenya]

You don't think I should give finasteride another year? I was using 0.5mg this entire time and now upping to 1.25mg.

I would give it 6 more months to get a more complete picture of whether or not it's working for you. After that I would add dutasteride.

 

[Allen Li]

How does your hair look when its grown to a 5 or 6 gaurd? Does it look more noticible? Also when your hair was longer and wet could you easily see the diffuse thinning?

 

[recedingornot87]

How does your hair look when its grown to a 5 or 6 gaurd? Does it look more noticible? Also when your hair was longer and wet could you easily see the diffuse thinning?

Its less noticable but still thin. When its wet it is super thin.

 

[Northface32]

Definite improvement....I would even think you had any hairloss tbh...even your first pic. But I can see your second pic looks like alot darker hairs....I would stick with finasteride. I wouldn't even up it as it seems to be working just fine....but it's up to you wish you the best of luck bro.

 

[recedingornot87]

Definite improvement....I would even think you had any hairloss tbh...even your first pic. But I can see your second pic looks like alot darker hairs....I would stick with finasteride. I wouldn't even up it as it seems to be working just fine....but it's up to you wish you the best of luck bro.

Does it really deem like I have no hairloss in that first pic? For some reason my hair does look thinner in the mirror from the front but on top it still looked the same as when I buzzed it. I do think I should give it another year though.

 

[Northface32]

Does it really deem like I have no hairloss in that first pic? For some reason my hair does look thinner in the mirror from the front but on top it still looked the same as when I buzzed it. I do think I should give it another year though.

Yeah your hairs looking great, I wouldn't go any further than finasteride. I think that should continue to help you and your all set. No need for anything.

 

[recedingornot87]

Yeah your hairs looking great, I wouldn't go any further than finasteride. I think that should continue to help you and your all set. No need for anything.

lol idk about that man the diffuse looks pretty extreme to me.....

 

[abdelamine]

You don't think I should give finasteride another year? I was using 0.5mg this entire time and now upping to 1.25mg.

did you have any side effects???

 

[Falsenine]

I definitely see improvements, and you have maintained your hair. I think your hairloss wasn’t that bad to begin with and no one would suspect you have hairloss. I don’t think you need to consider Dutasteride, as finasteride gave maintenance and you’ll probably see continued improvement and your hair looks great right now, I’m really happy for you.

 

[Mushu]

Diffuse is really hard to tell with the naked eye, unless as you already know, lost approximately 50 percent density. Have you had a chance to check with a Derm to check for miniaturization?

It'd also be easier if you grew out your hair a bit longer. Seems like you're worried about diffuse and not the hairline, which it does seem like you have a NW1 hairline. Are you thinning there?

The difference between your most recent picture is the lighting, but both before and after still looks good. I can't recall your previous pictures.

I'm not sure if I'd use minoxidil in your situation.

 

[manda]

You defo have some diffuse thinning going on bro but it looks like you maintained what you have and I can see a slight improvement maybe but I'm not so sure about that. I would increase finasteride to 1 mg and stick with that at least for 6 months before making the next assessment. Hopping on dutasteride is a very big decision to make so you better try everything else first. Before jumping on dutasteride I would also add minoxidil to finasteride but that's my personal preference. Your hair still looks good so no need to hurry up with decisions.

 

[Ikarus]

What if you tried dutasteride?

 

[md2002]

The issue with when people ask "Is it getting better on finasteride" is that it may not be getting better as far as regrowth, thickness, new hair yada, yada, yada but only you know if it's working. Why? Because you know your head better than anyone, how much hair were you losing? How fast was it falling out? Did it seem everyday you felt like you were going more bald? No one knows but you. These pictures may look like it's not working but if you weren't taking finasteride maybe you would have lost more hair? I started taking finasteride because it seemed week to week and month to month I was getting worse.. including my friends telling me "Hey, is that a bald spot in the back of your head? It's looking a little thin." So for me, I had to stop the hair from falling out - which I did. If I looked at a picture I would have probably said it's not working because there was no new hair, but it sure as sh*t was keeping the hair I had on my head. You don't have way to tell what would have fell out if you weren't taking finasteride so you'll never know if it's working until you give it years. IMO.

If you decided to take finasteride, take it and go on with your life, there's no point taking pics every 6 months because it's too tough to tell if it's working. If you were losing hair on a regular basis and in 2,3,4 years you still have your hair then you know it's working.

 

[recedingornot87]

did you have any side effects???

I had and have lowered libido and watery jizz. Thats about all. Whenever I got off of it for a week or so it would all go back to normal right away. Keep in mind I dont have low libido but libido is lower than it was before. The watery jizz is for real but the libido could possibly be psychosomatic but I would never be able to tell.

 

[recedingornot87]

The issue with when people ask "Is it getting better on finasteride" is that it may not be getting better as far as regrowth, thickness, new hair yada, yada, yada but only you know if it's working. Why? Because you know your head better than anyone, how much hair were you losing? How fast was it falling out? Did it seem everyday you felt like you were going more bald? No one knows but you. These pictures may look like it's not working but if you weren't taking finasteride maybe you would have lost more hair? I started taking finasteride because it seemed week to week and month to month I was getting worse.. including my friends telling me "Hey, is that a bald spot in the back of your head? It's looking a little thin." So for me, I had to stop the hair from falling out - which I did. If I looked at a picture I would have probably said it's not working because there was no new hair, but it sure as sh*t was keeping the hair I had on my head. You don't have way to tell what would have fell out if you weren't taking finasteride so you'll never know if it's working until you give it years. IMO.

If you decided to take finasteride, take it and go on with your life, there's no point taking pics every 6 months because it's too tough to tell if it's working. If you were losing hair on a regular basis and in 2,3,4 years you still have your hair then you know it's working.

You are right. I am going to give it a year and see what happens.

 

[recedingornot87]

What if you tried dutasteride?

If it gets significantly worse by the end of 2019 I will go for it tbh.

 

[recedingornot87]

I definitely see improvements, and you have maintained your hair. I think your hairloss wasn’t that bad to begin with and no one would suspect you have hairloss. I don’t think you need to consider Dutasteride, as finasteride gave maintenance and you’ll probably see continued improvement and your hair looks great right now, I’m really happy for you.

Ive only been losing hair since august 2017 so i havent been balding for too long and most of the loss happened between April 2018 to October 2018 and then slowed down and maintained a diffused look. From october to around early february I the hair looked the same and was decently thick for someone that was losing tons of hair. From feb till now there is definately a noticable decline and that is what freaked me out and made me consider dutasteride.

You are right that most people dont think I have hairloss but most people dont consider anyone to be balding unless they are nw3 or above either lol. I feel as if our hair situations are very similiar right now.