Does finasteride work on younger "aggresive" male pattern baldness sufferers?

[0-100realquick]

You guys need to realize that the purpose of finasteride or dutasteride it's not to improve hair, it's to mantain what you got.

Yes, lots of people will see improvement, maybe you will too, but that's not what you should have in mind when you take it.

By improvement I mean maintenance. My hairline has continued to recede but I feel like at a slightly slower rate. Currently going through a shed. Of course finasteride works, but sometimes "works" isn't enough.

 

[abcdefg]

This is the ideal finasteride candidate generally speaking:

-Older person, above 30
-Recent hair loss
-Early male pattern baldness

Young certainly does not mean better, it's likely to be more aggressive.

I fit this, but im not very keen on taking a pill forever. Also not a big fan of altering my hormones and all the possible issues there. My hair loss is pretty slow so Im not sure I want to mess with that and maybe make it worse.
I also have my doubts finasteride will prevent frontal hair loss completely like a mature hairline or thinning at temples/front. Possible I guess but I think over the years your going to still slowly lose some which to me makes the whole deal not very worthwhile. A few more years I really believe we will see other options though like CB or BIM.

 

[Chromio]

Currently in finasteride 5 months, hairline is still receding and top is still overall very thin :/

 

[Wolf Pack]

I fit this, but im not very keen on taking a pill forever. Also not a big fan of altering my hormones and all the possible issues there. My hair loss is pretty slow so Im not sure I want to mess with that and maybe make it worse.
I also have my doubts finasteride will prevent frontal hair loss completely like a mature hairline or thinning at temples/front. Possible I guess but I think over the years your going to still slowly lose some which to me makes the whole deal not very worthwhile. A few more years I really believe we will see other options though like CB or BIM.

I still can't get over the fact you have been over a decade on this forum and don't take an anti androgen. Either you registered and had/have no hair loss or have not done anything to tackle it over the years despite loss? What Norwood are you? Have you lost any hair?

 

[abcdefg]

I still can't get over the fact you have been over a decade on this forum and don't take an anti androgen. Either you registered and had/have no hair loss or have not done anything to tackle it over the years despite loss? What Norwood are you? Have you lost any hair?

I never felt that comfortable with the idea of taking a drug. I might try it soon though, but my hair loss is very slow and gradual. My hair is very long so after I get hair cut in a week or two I will throw up a thread in general with some pictures. If people think it looks like male pattern baldness maybe I can ask my Doctor next time. I also never had the money or health insurance to ever afford propecia which was 60 a month back then. So generic propecia makes it much more affordable now. Money was a large part of it too. I got a script for it 6 or 7 years ago but decided not to do it.

 

[Wolf Pack]

Fair enough. Would be nice to see pictures. It sounds like you may not even have male pattern baldness, not sure how old you are but a 10 year period of no noticeable hair loss in the 20s is unheard of in an male pattern baldness person. I have a really slow pattern but am Norwood 2.5 at 30. Been that way since 24 basically and only started treatment last Nov.

It is a big decision to try finasteride for some, totally get that.

 

[Tapajer1991]

Wolfpack, you think it too late if I start taking finasteride? My hair loss pattern appears to be aggressive. Every time I cut my hair, I shed a lot.

 

[Wolf Pack]

I haven't seen your pictures. It's not too late if you have hair in that area if that's what you mean. I just meant it's harder for aggressive sufferers to respond very well on Finasteride long term, of course there are exceptions.

 

[Tapajer1991]

I had posted a picture in my intro story. Some people advised me not to do a hair transplant until I'm on finasteride. It seems like if I wait any longer, I will lose all the hair I have. It's really bad right now.

 

[Wolf Pack]

I had a look. I am not very good at looking at African hair, not sure if it's diffuse thinning or if you have cut it short? But you definitely are losing hair at the front. You need to get on finasteride for sure to slow it all down. You can't do transplants unless you have a bald spot, currently you don't have this. Also a transplant on it's own is not a long term solution for most people. We have limited donor hair to use and if you are going all bald on top, it will be difficult to fill it all up to a satisfactory standard. Unless you have a crazy amount of donor hair and/or not an aggressive hair loss pattern (sometimes it does happen).

So basically look into the big 3 and future transplants together. That's called using all the tools at your disposable to maintain good hair. Hope that helps. This would be sensible given your age as you don't know what Norwood you're heading for.

My friend is african origin, 30, with similar hair to you but without the diffuse thinning. He has some frontal loss like you do. He is on Dutasteride and Rogaine and plans a future transplant if needed.

 

[Tapajer1991]

The reason I'm considering a transplant is for my hairline. I've lost so much frontal hair and the hair on my temples are basically gone at this point. I was thinking at the range of 1000-1200 just for my hairline. I need a frame badly because my forehead is huge. Doesn't help when I have a big head. I can't go bald(massive head). Going on finasteride will slow it down but I feel like a transplant to get my hairline back will be needed ASAP!

 

[username425]

been struggling with this a lot lately.

I've been on Finasteride for about 6 weeks, and I can't stop losing ground. I read a lot about Finasteride "sheds". I used to only shed from the back of the scalp, now it seems that I'm shedding all over the place.

I had noticeable shedding for about 4 weeks before hopping on Finasteride.

I'm thinking of switching to Dutasteride this week for peace of mind. I'm only 23, want to delay this for about 5-6 more years, and I want to pull out all the stops.

It does seem like it has been "aggressive" and has not subsided.

 

[Dench57]

6 weeks is WAY too early to be pulling the plug on finasteride and jumping to dutasteride. I really don't understand why people are expecting tangible results within a 2-3 months of starting a treatment. dutasteride won't be any different.