I need something stronger than finasteride.

[WastedYears]

My balding is too aggressive. Finasteride isn't helping. I'm taking 1.25 mg daily.

What about oral spironolactone. I heard that works. Tell me guys, what better guns are out there?

 

[HairGuru22]

try dutasteride once a week in conjuction with finasteride every day. Oral spironolactone is too dangerous and is probably not effective as finasteride or dutasteride. Besides, I have not seen many people having results with oral spironolactone other than a dude on HLH forum.

 

[Night]

.25mg of dutasteride 3x a week?

 

[Beingbaldsucksass]

Be patient it takes time

 

[upyours]

I've lost some ground on finasteride myself,and the ground I lost was crucial to making my hair loss become obvious.**** this ****.I've been on it for almost 7 months now with nothing to show for it.

 

[ohmanohno]

7 months is laughable.....stay on it for at least a year before making a decision and even then it may take more time.

 

[upyours]

7 months is laughable.....stay on it for at least a year before making a decision and even then it may take more time.

What's laughable is how I LOST precious ground on finasteride,that little ground I lost made quite a bit of difference as it pretty much plunged me right below 60/50 percent density compared to my original hair.

 

[Beingbaldsucksass]

What's laughable is how I LOST precious ground on finasteride,that little ground I lost made quite a bit of difference as it pretty much plunged me right below 60/50 percent density compared to my original hair.

Hair you lost during finasteride wii come back, hair you lost wiout it will not

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What's laughable is how I LOST precious ground on finasteride,that little ground I lost made quite a bit of difference as it pretty much plunged me right below 60/50 percent density compared to my original hair.

Hair you lost during finasteride wii come back, hair you lost wiout it will not

 

[FiniMin]

7 months is just the intro phase to taking finasteride. I've heard of countless members on here who didn't see positive results with finasteride until after 12-18 months of treatment. Don't focus all of your energy on your hair now but look forward to the way it look several months from now because the vast majority of those that take finasteride completely stop their hair loss and any hair that was shedded during treatment not only grows back but also grows back thicker and fuller. Everyone will tell you that treatment takes time my friend.

You can add dutasteride to your regimen but I would wait (perhaps .5 two to three times a week and continue finasteride on the other days but I would wait until at least 10 months and that's only if you aren't seeing positive results at all but even that maybe be a little premature)

 

[abcdefg]

It helps but if propecia stopped male pattern baldness in majority of people then it seems to me most men would be able to prevent male pattern baldness and hair transplant guys would be out of jobs. So it seems propecia does not work perfectly and most hair transplant guys say that even with propecia you generally still slowly lose ground over the years and genetics wins out. I dont know if they are lying or not but that is what a lot of doctors say

 

[Dr Tom]

What is your complete treatment regime?

Unfortunately, no treatment has a 100% success rate but I have never had a patient not have at least a reduction in the rate of hair loss.

I think that finasteride, minoxidil and ketoconazole are a minimum but I also recommend bimatoprost and retin-a (to improve minoxidil absorption).

As everyone else said, you should persist for 1 year before changing the dose or adding dutasteride.

 

[WarLord]

It helps but if propecia stopped male pattern baldness in majority of people then it seems to me most men would be able to prevent male pattern baldness and hair transplant guys would be out of jobs. So it seems propecia does not work perfectly and most hair transplant guys say that even with propecia you generally still slowly lose ground over the years and genetics wins out. I dont know if they are lying or not but that is what a lot of doctors say

These "transplant guys" encounter people, in whom the treatment doesn't work. This is why their perception of the drugs' efficiacy is perversely skewed. (Something similar like on this forum.)

Recently, I discussed it with a transplant surgeon, who said that according to his experience, the anti-hairloss treatments lose their efficiacy after 3-5 years. For Goodness sake, all 5-years' studies on finasteride demonstrate that 90% men keep their hair after 5 years! And in the Rossi et al.'s study from 2011, 86% men persisted in their improvements even after 10 years!

As a "proof", this surgeon sent me a fresh email from his patient, in whom the treatment by finasteride allegedly "stopped working". But what I saw was a case of a man, who was gradually losing hair on finasteride for 10 years, and one day he suddenly lost an unusually big amount of hair. In other words, the treatment has never really worked in him, and one day it stopped "working" completely.

I am really disgusted to read this crap over and over again - after 16 successful years on anti-hairloss treatments. There are people using these treatments successfuly for 15, 20 or even 25 years (Beach man from HairlossHelp). Baldness is not an inevitable state. It has no direct relationship with the aging process. It is a hormonally induced problem. If you eliminate this hormonal influence, it won't happen. How could you lose hair on finasteride or dutasteride, when your DHT is on the level of a 15-years' old kid? Almost everytime, when I see some unsuccessful case and hormonal data are available, it's crazily hyperandrogenic guys with total testosterone around 1000 ng/dl and DHT 100 ng/dl. Naturally, they can't succeed with finasteride, because it will only lower their DHT on the level of an average man, and if they use dutasteride, their testosterone will explode like in men on steroids.

And remember that the majority of men are simply ignorant. Recently, I went to my local doctor and asked her for a prescription for finasteride. She heard this word for the first time in her life!

 

[Dr Tom]

These "transplant guys" encounter people, in whom the treatment doesn't work. This is why their perception of the drugs' efficiacy is perversely skewed. (Something similar like on this forum.)

Recently, I discussed it with a transplant surgeon, who said that according to his experience, the anti-hairloss treatments lose their efficiacy after 3-5 years. For Goodness sake, all 5-years' studies on finasteride demonstrate that 90% men keep their hair after 5 years! And in the Rossi et al.'s study from 2011, 86% men persisted in their improvements even after 10 years!

As a "proof", this surgeon sent me a fresh email from his patient, in whom the treatment by finasteride allegedly "stopped working". But what I saw was a case of a man, who was gradually losing hair on finasteride for 10 years, and one day he suddenly lost an unusually big amount of hair. In other words, the treatment has never really worked in him, and one day it stopped "working" completely.

Completely agree with the above. I deal with male and female patients with hair loss and the success rate of the simple treatments are very high.

It is a hormonally induced problem. If you eliminate this hormonal influence, it won't happen. How could you lose hair on finasteride or dutasteride, when your DHT is on the level of a 15-years' old kid? Almost everytime, when I see some unsuccessful case and hormonal data are available, it's crazily hyperandrogenic guys with total testosterone around 1000 ng/dl and DHT 100 ng/dl. Naturally, they can't succeed with finasteride, because it will only lower their DHT on the level of an average man, and if they use dutasteride, their testosterone will explode like in men on steroids.

I would change that to "It is a problem that is greatly influenced by hormones". For example, some people can take DHT related agents for bodybuilding purposes and not suffer hair loss. There are other variables such as genetic predisposition, stress, etc.

Recently, I went to my local doctor and asked her for a prescription for finasteride. She heard this word for the first time in her life!

If it wasn't for this sort of doctor then I would be out a job! I am only joking, but unfortunately many in my profession do not see hair loss as important (until they have some hairloss themselves!)

 

[chicknlittle]

If you are not yet on Minoxidil, consider adding that daily to finasteride. It has been shown (in small studies) to have an additive effect with finasteride. Best used twice a day, but once a day is better than nothing. Minoxidil foam is available, and is much more convenient than liquid (but more expensive) http://ukpmc.ac.uk/abstract/MED/12227482 .

If you are not using Nizoral shampoo a couple of times a week you should... It has some androgen receptor blocking effects, and does improve hair size/count.. It's effect might or might not be additive to finasteride. http://inhumanexperiment.blogspot.com/2009/03/2-nizoral-shampoo-increases-hair-growth.html

If those (big 3) are ineffective, the next step might be to block more DHT than finasteride can... consider use dutasteride. If after reading about dutasteride you are fearful, consider taking less than the usual dose. Adding dutasteride to current finasteride is one option. There is at least a case report that adding as little as one pill a week might have benifit over finasteride alone http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1440-0960.2012.00909.x/abstract. This approach is gaining acceptance on hair loss boards. If braver try twice a week (gaining acceptance) Or daily (has phase II studies, not often done, off lable), or even 5pills a day(studied Phase II, but in real life not often done to fear of side effects, cost). Studies do show a dose related decrease in DHT up to 2.5mg/day dutasteride (but more than .5mg a day is more than commonly used for issues such as prostate). Higher doses are expensive and experimental. A small subset of people may require this degree of suppression, however this isnt entirely proven/studied beyond phase II trials.

Beyond those treatments advice really tends to lack the support of good studies or widespread acceptance. Some try topical anti-androgens like sprionolactone, which does block androgens topically, but is certainly not proven to the degree that finasteride is. Would it have additive hair growth benefit to finasteride? maybe. Not proven. It will, however, smell sort of bad : ( RU topical, topical cetrizine, vitamins, laser comb, and many other treatments are being tried with anecdotal support from some users, but anecdotes are not proof. Some might be worth trying, but I would recommend adding those to a foundation of proven treatments rather than relying on them alone...

 

[LawOfThelema]

It helps but if propecia stopped male pattern baldness in majority of people then it seems to me most men would be able to prevent male pattern baldness and hair transplant guys would be out of jobs. So it seems propecia does not work perfectly and most hair transplant guys say that even with propecia you generally still slowly lose ground over the years and genetics wins out. I dont know if they are lying or not but that is what a lot of doctors say

Not necessarily. Some wait too long before pursuing treatment, or didn;t know treatment exist. By that time a hair transplant is the only thing which can give them a cosmetically satisfying result. As such, I don't see hair transplant doctors going anywhere, especially with so much negative press in the media for finasteride currently.