Miniaturisation accelerated since adding dutasteride, no shed

[BlackClouds]

I'm 20M with hairline recession. I had been on topical finasteride and min for a year and had continued to lose groud, albeit at a slower rate. On doctors recommendation I added oral dutasteride 0.5mg daily(did not stop the finasteride and min), and my hairline miniaturisation accelerated. After 3 months I increased dose to 1 mg daily, and still continued to recede. I tried it for 3 months, then went back to previous dose

Since adding dutasteride my scalp and face has become oilier, my erections became stronger, and my body odour increased. My T is 892.

Right now I'm at 7 months on dutasteride, and I am not sure if it would be safe continuing. Cannot afford RU or pyri, no idea what to do now.

December, before dutasteride

July, 7 months on duty

Ik the pictures aren't perfect, but there definitely has been recession.

 

[BlackClouds]

Also I use ketoconazole solution twice a week

 

[Delriver]

Same thing happened to me, and many others. I also had bloodwork done several times prior tu using 5-AR inhibitors, on finasteride, and on dutasteride. Turns out my DHT is higher on dutasteride (compared to finasteride, not baseline). I know ELISA is not the perfect methodology for studying hormones but 8 different blood tests can't be wrong, specially when they all give very similar numbers.

I also had sides on finasteride and none whatsoever on dutasteride, which further proves the point that the latter doesn't do as much (maybe my body has a biological limit for dutasteride absorption and won't absorb more of it after a certain amount, even if I take more pills). And I was on both for more than a year, so no, this has nothing to do with shedding, I didn't even have that, my hair fall was the same, the hair just got thinner and thinner. Unfortunately none of these treatments stabilize my hair loss so I'm pretty much f*cked.

 

[losingbattle88]

Wtf..... This happened to me too on dutasteride. Took it for 1.5 years and hair got thin as hell despite losing alot less hair. Fuk I regret ever using it.. there are guys on reddit that have picture proof of this too. Edit. Duta gives same side effects as finasteride. Im trying finasteride now instead because some respond much better to it than dutasteride.

 

[Delriver]

Wtf..... This happened to me too on dutasteride. Took it for 1.5 years and hair got thin as hell despite losing alot less hair. Fuk I regret ever using it.. there are guys on reddit that have picture proof of this too. Edit. Duta gives same side effects as finasteride. Im trying finasteride now instead because some respond much better to it than dutasteride.

Well, you would have to take both to know whether it's dutasteride not working or your Androgenetic Alopecia just happened to worsen around the dates you used dutasteride. Maybe the trial with finasteride will shed some light.

 

[losingbattle88]

Well, you would have to take both to know whether it's dutasteride not working or your Androgenetic Alopecia just happened to worsen around the dates you used dutasteride. Maybe the trial with finasteride will shed some light.

My hair thinning slowed down to a snail pace after quitting dutasteride. So I know it accelerated my thinning 100%.

 

[Delriver]

My hair thinning slowed down to a snail pace after quitting dutasteride. So I know it accelerated my thinning 100%.

That's very rare, not doubting your experience but did you by any chance start finasteride right after stopping dutasteride? Or were you off everything while your thinning slowed down? How many months were you off dutasteride before noticing this? Thank you

 

[Tim879902]

I’ve been following the thread and just wanted to share my experience I’ve been using products from MinoxidilMax, and honestly, they’ve worked way better than anything else I’ve tried.
The one I use is this combo:

EssenGen-6 Plus

Essengen-6 Plus is a low strength topical finasteride with minoxidil: 0.05% finasteride and 6% minoxidil. It dries faster, odorless, colorless, minimize any side effects caused by finasteride pill.

minoxidilmax.com

It’s a topical solution with finasteride + minoxidil, and I’ve seen serious results thicker hair, less shedding, and absolutely no side effects for me.
Their lineup is crazy powerful too. They have minoxidil 15%, dutasteride, tretinoin, and everything is topical, so way safer than oral meds.
If you’re struggling and nothing’s worked for you so far, give it a shot.

 

[Delriver]

I’ve been following the thread and just wanted to share my experience I’ve been using products from MinoxidilMax, and honestly, they’ve worked way better than anything else I’ve tried.
The one I use is this combo:

EssenGen-6 Plus

Essengen-6 Plus is a low strength topical finasteride with minoxidil: 0.05% finasteride and 6% minoxidil. It dries faster, odorless, colorless, minimize any side effects caused by finasteride pill.

minoxidilmax.com

It’s a topical solution with finasteride + minoxidil, and I’ve seen serious results thicker hair, less shedding, and absolutely no side effects for me.
Their lineup is crazy powerful too. They have minoxidil 15%, dutasteride, tretinoin, and everything is topical, so way safer than oral meds.
If you’re struggling and nothing’s worked for you so far, give it a shot.

Isn't there any moderation to stop these shills? Nobody paid attention to your post so you're now rubbing it on people's faces?

 

[losingbattle88]

That's very rare, not doubting your experience but did you by any chance start finasteride right after stopping dutasteride? Or were you off everything while your thinning slowed down? How many months were you off dutasteride before noticing this? Thank you

I was off it for months didnt use anything. But I have seen before and after pics on reddit when a guy used finasteride had nice results then switched to dutasteride and hair got thin af. Seen another case too. I think its the spike in T that causes it. Or hormonally. Some believe T can also affect the hair guys who are sensitive to androgens (androgenic alopecia) and dutasteride spikes T more than finasteride. Especially scalp T by 100% and finasteride by 20%. I honestly felt very strong on dutasteride.

https://www.reddit.com/r/tressless/comments/1l04dvt

 

[Delriver]

I was off it for months didnt use anything. But I have seen before and after pics on reddit when a guy used finasteride had nice results then switched to dutasteride and hair got thin af. Seen another case too. I think its the spike in T that causes it. Or hormonally. Some believe T can also affect the hair guys who are sensitive to androgens (androgenic alopecia) and dutasteride spikes T more than finasteride. Especially scalp T by 100% and finasteride by 20%. I honestly felt very strong on dutasteride.

That's an interesting experience. If you dropped dutasteride and stayed drug free for several months, and thinning after 4-5 months was slower, it would mean that dutasteride was indeed worsening your hair thinning. I asked about the time frame because there was a possibility that the effects coincidentally kicked in just as you stopped the drug, but they would not be perceptible at 4-5 months off.


Regarding testosterone spikes. In my case it has nothing to do with T, T is higher on finasteride (because it can't convert to DHT) than it was on dutasteride (which, contrary to research and common sense, doesn't block 5AR as effectively in my body, so testosterone is lower because most of it turns into DHT). In my case at least it comes down to dutasteride not doing its job for whatever reason (genetics probably).


PS: There are many cases on r/tressless, not just one. I might have spoken with 15-20 in the last 2 years that also did worse on dutasteride, and most had been using it for longer than a year.

 

[losingbattle88]

That's an interesting experience. If you dropped dutasteride and stayed drug free for several months, and thinning after 4-5 months was slower, it would mean that dutasteride was indeed worsening your hair thinning. I asked about the time frame because there was a possibility that the effects coincidentally kicked in just as you stopped the drug, but they would not be perceptible at 4-5 months off.


Regarding testosterone spikes. In my case it has nothing to do with T, T is higher on finasteride (because it can't convert to DHT) than it was on dutasteride (which, contrary to research and common sense, doesn't block 5AR as effectively in my body, so testosterone is lower because most of it turns into DHT). In my case at least it comes down to dutasteride not doing its job for whatever reason (genetics probably).


PS: There are many cases on r/tressless, not just one. I might have spoken with 15-20 in the last 2 years that also did worse on dutasteride, and most had been using it for longer than a year.

Ye its a gene thing. We all react differently to drugs. Btw did u use liquid gelatin dutasteride caps? Or in a powdered pill form? I heard that the body absorb the liquid gelatin dutasteride caps much better than the powdered pill form. A guy wrote about this on reddit. The powdered dutasteride pills only blocked like 16% dht. While the gelatin liquid blocked like 90%. I used liquid gelatin generic version. I had the usuall semen and ejaculation problems on it. I quit dutasteride when I only ejaculated 1 drop of semen (litteraly 1 drop) and I had oozing semen too. I recovered after 3 weeks. Then got on finasteride oral and topical and experienced my first (retrograde ejaculation) dropped oral finasteride and used topical for 5 months droped it after seeing no results and contiued ejaculation issues. So both dutasteride and finasteride gives me semen and ejaculation problems. Im on oral finasteride now 0.5mg daily and oral min twice a day. The ejaculation issues arent as severe yet for me to quit finasteride. If I drink alot of water take good vitamins and do kegals it seems to improve. Edit. Before using these drugs I always shot out my c*m far and had alot of semen. Never ever had oozing/seeping c*m. Lower semen and abnormal ejaculation is one of the possible side effects of both dutasteride and finasteride.

 

[Delriver]

Ye its a gene thing. We all react differently to drugs. Btw did u use liquid gelatin dutasteride caps? Or in a powdered pill form? I heard that the body absorb the liquid gelatin dutasteride caps much better than the powdered pill form. A guy wrote about this on reddit. The powdered dutasteride pills only blocked like 16% dht. While the gelatin liquid blocked like 90%. I used liquid gelatin generic version. I had the usuall semen and ejaculation problems on it. I quit dutasteride when I only ejaculated 1 drop of semen (litteraly 1 drop) and I had oozing semen too. I recovered after 3 weeks. Then got on finasteride oral and topical and experienced my first (retrograde ejaculation) dropped oral finasteride and used topical for 5 months droped it after seeing no results and contiued ejaculation issues. So both dutasteride and finasteride gives me semen and ejaculation problems. Im on oral finasteride now 0.5mg daily and oral min twice a day. The ejaculation issues arent as severe yet for me to quit finasteride. If I drink alot of water take good vitamins and do kegals it seems to improve.

Thanks for sharing your experience on both. And yes, I used gelatin capsules, the official brand (Avodart), so unfortunately there's not much else to try.

Btw, I thought you were drug free after dropping dutasteride, but now I understand that you switched to finasteride? Apologize for the insistence but I didn't quite understand the timeline.

And too bad about the retrograde ejaculation issues, though, as weird as this will sound, some people (mostly within tantric sex followers) actually try to achieve that in order to get multiple orgasms and other sexual perks, not sure how much truth there's to it or if you could turn it in your favour in case it's not too drastic. I would also talk with an urologist to see if there's risk of an infection or not. Wish you luck.

 

[losingbattle88]

Thanks for sharing your experience on both. And yes, I used gelatin capsules, the official brand (Avodart), so unfortunately there's not much else to try.

Btw, I thought you were drug free after dropping dutasteride, but now I understand that you switched to finasteride? Apologize for the insistence but I didn't quite understand the timeline.

And too bad about the retrograde ejaculation issues, though, as weird as this will sound, some people (mostly within tantric sex followers) actually try to achieve that in order to get multiple orgasms and other sexual perks, not sure how much truth there's to it or if you could turn it in your favour in case it's not too drastic. I would also talk with an urologist to see if there's risk of an infection or not. Wish you luck.

I was drug free after I trialed topical finasteride after dutasteride. after this I gave up on treatments for many months. I swear if I continued with the dutasteride I would be badly diffused thin today. I continued to bald very very slowly after dropping dutasteride. It was the right decision for me. Now I will just trial finasteride oral+oral min and nothing else. If it dont work then I will accept my hairloss no matter how very hard that will be. But sometimes in life you need to accept things simple as that. Life is far from perfect. So what is your current treatment?

 

[Delriver]

I was drug free after I trialed topical finasteride after dutasteride. after this I gave up on treatments for many months. I swear if I continued with the dutasteride I would be badly diffused thin today. I continued to bald very very slowly after dropping dutasteride. It was the right decision for me. Now I will just trial finasteride oral+oral min and nothing else. If it dont work then I will accept my hairloss no matter how very hard that will be. But sometimes in life you need to accept things simple as that. Life is far from perfect. So what is your current treatment?

I'm using 1 mg dutasteride now, alongside the usual 0.5 mg finasteride (I once used dutasteride without finasteride and the damage was brutal in those 5 months, I'll never do that again). My dermatologist wanted to see if doubling the dutasteride dosage the hair would respond better, but it's been 4 weeks and the thinning hasn't been great.

I'll have a couple blood tests (I know ELISA isn't the best method but it seems to be very accurate in my case) and if DHT hasn't reduced after the dutasteride increase I'll go back to just oral&topical finasteride and try to maximize dosage, probably add topical spironolactone too. My issue with finasteride is melasma and gynecomastia. For the former I use some retinoic acid solutions, but for the latter I might have to get a surgery at some point, with full gland removal to prevent reoccurrence. But that would just delay the inevitable, as I have DUPA and can't seem to stabilize with any treatment.