3 Years on 1mg of finasteride...

[s322]

...but still losing hair, slowly. Should I up the dosage? Maybe haven't hit that magic amount that works. Any input?

 

[9tfrizzco]

got any before and after pics?

 

[GoldenMane]

Try dutasteride

 

[Valiant]

Have you had any bloodwork to see your levels? Are you noting increased loss or has it slowed from pre finasteride and is steady? I would not just switch to dutasteride without trying the big three. I can't see your regimen but are you using min and nizoral?

 

[s322]

Well, no blood work done. What type of doctor would I request that with? I use finasteride 1mg and Nizoral 2% twice a week. Haven't tried minoxidil for two reasons, I hear it's a pain, and more importantly the talk of face aging keeps coming up. Fixing wrinkles is harder to do than replacing hair. dutasteride seems more dramatic and less tested. Increase in finasteride not going to do it? I wonder if I haven't hit that right dosage yet.

 

[Quantum Cat]

it's unlikely that anything higher than 1mg per day will make any difference. You may just not be a responder to finasteride. Or you may have particularly high DHT levels

Dutasteride is an option, even though it isn't officially sanctioned for male pattern baldness. The jury's still out on it, but you could consider it.

Your best bet would be to discuss this with a qualified doctor / dermatologist

 

[rerun]

Maybe your hair loss is a result of something else besides DHT, such as a thyroid issue or maybe you have chronic telogen effluvium.

 

[Valiant]

I would ask my GP. I would include a test for vitamin B12 as well as vitamin D to make sure those levels are okay. If you are below range in DHT on 1mg, then QC's point is right on. Adding more won't do much. If you don't have sides from finasteride, then I would carefully consider switching to dutasteride as it could result in sides. I use min and it is not a hassle any more than shaving. And the premature face aging stuff is a whole lot better than dutasteride sides. You should try it for a few months before thinking of switching.

 

[fml]

Well, no blood work done. What type of doctor would I request that with? I use finasteride 1mg and Nizoral 2% twice a week. Haven't tried minoxidil for two reasons, I hear it's a pain, and more importantly the talk of face aging keeps coming up. Fixing wrinkles is harder to do than replacing hair. dutasteride seems more dramatic and less tested. Increase in finasteride not going to do it? I wonder if I haven't hit that right dosage yet.

s322,

The undesperate truth is that you are unlikely to achieve any better result from here no matter what you try. Forget the blood work, the nizoral blah blah blah. finasteride is you best bet, and if it is underwhelming, which it often is, that is unfortunately where we are in this field. All you can do is manage it, and hope that something like CB lives up to the hype, and is not significantly delayed. Experience tells us that this hope is naive. But its all there is. Sorry, but this is the reality. There is a hell of a lot of delusion on the boards Im afraid.

 

[Wuffer]

Is your hair visibly thinning, or are you just counting hairs?

Keep in mind, finasteride is probably 'working' for you, but is only slowing down your loss. If you were not on finasteride, chances are you would be losing your hair a hell of a lot faster.

I would say talk to your doctor about dutasteride. There isn't a lot of evidence supporting it's effect on hair loss, but the fact that it removes 95% of your DHT as opposed to just 65%, it's pretty much guaranteed to help.

 

[s322]

So topical finasteride instead of minoxidil? Or both?

 

[abhi.r]

Your scalp DHT is probably still very high. Blood DHT has almost nothing to do with hairloss. When oral finasteride works, it's because it reaches the follicles, this is why you should be using a topical. What is guaranteed by having less DHT than a woman is that you'll get feminizating sides sooner or later.

You mean for a person who is not on finasteride it is better to test for DHT in blood before starting finasteride?
DHT in blood can help in predicting side effects of finasteride?

 

[abcdefg]

Most docs do say even on propecia a lot of people still slowly lose over the years. Propecia just is not strong enough to stop male pattern baldness completely and it raises T levels. Its just not as simple as was originally thought back then.

 

[randyray01]

At FML what is "CB"?