General Consensus ?

[Maxifoot]

Hi all,

Is there a general consensus regarding the fact that Propecia users should expect their hairs to deteriorate first and then to get better after several months (6 to 12 months) ?

You won't be suprised by the fact that I'm a propecia user that has been taking it for 7 months and who is well below baseline and who is worried about how things are progressing.

Of course I know that it is important to be patient and that 7 months in the treament is quite a short time for anyone expecting results but I was just wondering if there is a general consensus about how things are supposed to progress while taking propecia.

Many thanks,

Maxifoot

 

[Brains Expel Hair]

I am not fully up to speed with the timeline of propecia's effects however from everything that I have seen you will shed some when you first start taking it and your hair will get temporarily worse. If you want more information about this shedding process I suggest you check out the board specifically targeted towards Shedding a few clicks down on the main forum page.

 

[cuebald]

I would be hoping that Finasteride would be starting to work by 7 months. At any rate, the deterioration of your hair should be lessening.

It could very well be that Finasteride doesn't work well on you; alternatively Finasteride could be working and you might just have severe male pattern baldness.

I'd still wait a year and see how things progress then. It started to work within 4 months on me, I'd say.

 

[global]

I agree with Cuebald, you should give it at least a year before deciding if it is helping or not.

If you have stabilized at least you could say it is helping you to maintain now.

 

[Maxifoot]

Hi guys,

Thnks for yours answers. I know that one should at least wait 1 year to see if Propecia works for him or not.

My question was more about if there is a consensus on the fact that once starting a treatment a propecia user should expect his hair to look worst in first place (from month 1 to 6 or 9) and then expect them get better until the 1 year or 2 years mark ?

Cheers,

Maxifoot

 

[curiouscharles]

I've heard multiple accounts of people not noticing real improvements until well after a year and upwards of two years. I think it really depends on the length of your particular hair cycle, and when you start taking finasteride along that cycle. I know personally I have a fairly long cycle, based on periods of normal shedding I'd experience before male pattern baldness set in.

If after a year you don't see any improvement, don't give up hope - somebody recently posted about seeing drastic improvements at 14 months, and said he would have really screwed himself if he had given up after a year.

I also recall hearing accounts of people's temple loss going up and in, and then filling back in (thicker), every period of 4-6 months or so...

This question you're asking concerns me as well, as I'm about 11 days away from a year, and have only had slight improvement, and good maintenance, and am wondering if I'll see any improvement in the next few months since I caught myself at NW1 and am only 25.

 

[Brandon Mthson]

We have no knowledge of what our hair loss would have been if we hadn't started propecia (maybe 2x as much loss?), and the science is good, so I believe the prudent course is to continue taking it and don't give it another thought.

 

[curiouscharles]

Brandon's right - no point in discontinuing finasteride unless it's making your penis flacid and your brain brumey.