Hello everyone,
as a long time silent lurker of this forum, I finally gathered the mental strength to share how my life have taken a 180 degree turn in the most gruesome sense after I hoped I could keep my androgenic hairloss at bay with Dutasteride.
I write this in complete desperation as nothing seems to be helping my condition at this point.
Before taking Dutasteride, the background context
I am currently in my mid 20s., I first noticed the early signs of androgenic alopecia about five years ago - hair was beginning to turn into baby hair along my hairline around the time I entered my 20s. This progressed on for years, although the recession of my temples have became noticeably faster in the last 1 year.
I was already aware of the range of hair loss treatments years ago, however up until last autumn I just couldn't get a dermatologist to prescribe me an 5-alpha-reductase inhibitor, so the only thing I could use up until that point was topical Minoxidil (which of course on its own does not stop the DHT induced hair miniaturization).
My hairline before hopping on Dutasteride:
https://imgur.com/a/yScdAmR
As visible, my temples have receeded from my original near straight hairline I used to have in my teens, but the density remained very good.
Zero signs of diffuse thinning on the top of the scalp, the hairloss was taking place only at my temples: (May 2024)
https://imgur.com/a/YuZo8JC
Original hair length in autumn - notice how the hair is 20 cm + long on the top:
https://imgur.com/a/HSeznyP
Deciding to take Dutasteride
Starting last November, I began taking 0.5 mg of oral Dutasteride daily, in addition to the before mentioned Minoxidil.
I originally was planning to go on Finasteride, however I just couldn't get my hands on it, no matter where I tried, no doctor would prescribe it to me - so I thought... well Dutasteride is a stronger 5-alpha-reductase inhibitor than Finasteride according to clinical data... so even though it would be optimal to start with the weaker first, I had no option, I said go with it.
Aside from a slight tingling in the balls on day 2-3, I haven't really experienced any sympton from the drug up unil 1.5 months into it - zero sexual side effects, change in mood, no shedding etc.
2 months into Dutasteride - the nightmare begins
Then around 6 weeks after starting dutasteride I felt like my hair was thinner than usual after showering but initally I it shrugged off.
Then 2 months into the treatment (middle of January) something began to unfold that I still can't fathom to this day:
During the course of only 1 week the hair on the whole top of my head began to rapidly shrink both in terms of length and in diameter, changing from it's straight texture into lifeless curly one. Yes, this shrinkage took place in real time.
The epicenter of this impossiblly rapid shrinking is the crown area, where I kid you not, hair that was 20 cm+ long shrank into 2-3 cm. Hair began to rapidly shrink everywhere on the top of my head, but near the sides the least and in a narrow strip on the hairline it 'only' shrunk into half of it's original length (into around 10 cm). The shringake was the most extreme on the crown & vertex.
The documentation of the continuing deterioration of my hair in the last few months
January -
when the nightmare began:
extremely rapid thinning on my crown
https://imgur.com/a/gZTYRC4
experimencing burning inflamation on the top of the scalp
The change in hair texture from the middle to the end of January:
https://imgur.com/a/gZTYRC4
https://imgur.com/a/g1EL84w
the rapid thinning on the crown became especially visible with wet hair
https://imgur.com/a/BXaJorU
February
as visible, hair at the hairline area began to shrink in length at varying degrees, leading to uneven length across it
hair on the crown further kinking in texture
https://imgur.com/a/DCeK2ny
March
https://imgur.com/a/DK4Jyyn
hair became curly all over
April
https://imgur.com/a/hnCKLdW
https://imgur.com/a/A5cCIPD
https://imgur.com/a/DzgavJk
up until that point the hair in the hairline area was relatively thicker than on the crown, now it has started to rapidly thin too
May
https://imgur.com/a/WrloYvk
hairline getting worse - hair is getting critically thin in diameter
up until this point hair has only been miniarutizing, now it has also started to shed - mostly without bulb at the end, in rarer cases with black bulb (never white)
hair on the crown became wisp like in texture, extremely thin, near vellus level of
(I ironed the hair meanwhile, that's why it went back from curly to somewhat straight - still completely thin & lifeless though.)
June
https://imgur.com/a/YMHwh4l
my hair is becoming an unstyleable mess - hair is wispy all around the scalp
the hair on the sides & back of the head has also became thin & curly
endless amount of shedding
the scalp (galea) has become incredibly rigid / tight , I could barely move it - recently got scalp botox on it to supposedly ease tension
July
https://imgur.com/a/iddYkSi
Massive crown thinning, hair is getting wispy all over the top
Hopping on Finasteride
Back when all of this started in January, seeing what was happening so rapidly, I decided to discontinue using Dutasteride and instead kept using Minoxidil while changed to 1.25 grams of Finasteride daily + droplets of RU58841 added in along with microneedling. I have been doing this routine ever since, but to this day the situation keeps getting worse with no end in sight.
Trichoscopy scan
The hair on the top of my hair ever since this whole nightmare started almost half a year ago, haven't grown at all. So in the beginning of June, I got an AI-aided trichoscopy scan done on my scalp by a dermatologist, which has shown:
- the ratio of hair in the anagen / telogen phase is 90% / 10%
- as visually visible, the hair while most of it is still terminal, has become incredibly thin in diameter
- no meaningful change in hair density - as expected, since minimal shedding took place, only miniaturization
corresponding to vertex, frontal, temporal areas:
https://imgur.com/a/OM32InW
https://imgur.com/a/OM32InW
Ruling out other possible factors beside Androgenetic Alopecia
During the course of the last few months I made sure to rule out all possible factors which may cause the rapid deteroriation of my hair - I did multiple bloodworks and they have shown:
- no nutritional deficiency (iron, zinc etc.)
- my thyroid is working perfectly
- my androgenic hormone levels are in the reference range
Besides this,
- no change in lifestyle (physically very active, very mindful of nutrition - low carb, lots of protein)
- no other stress factor or negative life event happene
- no massive sheeding took place so it is not Telogen effluvium
Final thoughts
I am sharing this with you guys since it shouldn't have happened - it goes against all avaible medical data & sctientific consensus about 5aRI blockers. At this point I have visited half dozen dermatologists / trichologists and all of them stood with disbelief as of how is this even possible - so do I.
Dutasteride was supposed to suppress scalp DHT, yet in my case it somehow lead to the rapid miniaturization of all DHT sensitive hair on the scalp simultaneously.
I just don't know what to do at this point, I am completely hopeless, my life got ruined.
as a long time silent lurker of this forum, I finally gathered the mental strength to share how my life have taken a 180 degree turn in the most gruesome sense after I hoped I could keep my androgenic hairloss at bay with Dutasteride.
I write this in complete desperation as nothing seems to be helping my condition at this point.
Before taking Dutasteride, the background context
I am currently in my mid 20s., I first noticed the early signs of androgenic alopecia about five years ago - hair was beginning to turn into baby hair along my hairline around the time I entered my 20s. This progressed on for years, although the recession of my temples have became noticeably faster in the last 1 year.
I was already aware of the range of hair loss treatments years ago, however up until last autumn I just couldn't get a dermatologist to prescribe me an 5-alpha-reductase inhibitor, so the only thing I could use up until that point was topical Minoxidil (which of course on its own does not stop the DHT induced hair miniaturization).
My hairline before hopping on Dutasteride:
https://imgur.com/a/yScdAmR
As visible, my temples have receeded from my original near straight hairline I used to have in my teens, but the density remained very good.
Zero signs of diffuse thinning on the top of the scalp, the hairloss was taking place only at my temples: (May 2024)
https://imgur.com/a/YuZo8JC
Original hair length in autumn - notice how the hair is 20 cm + long on the top:
https://imgur.com/a/HSeznyP
Deciding to take Dutasteride
Starting last November, I began taking 0.5 mg of oral Dutasteride daily, in addition to the before mentioned Minoxidil.
I originally was planning to go on Finasteride, however I just couldn't get my hands on it, no matter where I tried, no doctor would prescribe it to me - so I thought... well Dutasteride is a stronger 5-alpha-reductase inhibitor than Finasteride according to clinical data... so even though it would be optimal to start with the weaker first, I had no option, I said go with it.
Aside from a slight tingling in the balls on day 2-3, I haven't really experienced any sympton from the drug up unil 1.5 months into it - zero sexual side effects, change in mood, no shedding etc.
2 months into Dutasteride - the nightmare begins
Then around 6 weeks after starting dutasteride I felt like my hair was thinner than usual after showering but initally I it shrugged off.
Then 2 months into the treatment (middle of January) something began to unfold that I still can't fathom to this day:
During the course of only 1 week the hair on the whole top of my head began to rapidly shrink both in terms of length and in diameter, changing from it's straight texture into lifeless curly one. Yes, this shrinkage took place in real time.
The epicenter of this impossiblly rapid shrinking is the crown area, where I kid you not, hair that was 20 cm+ long shrank into 2-3 cm. Hair began to rapidly shrink everywhere on the top of my head, but near the sides the least and in a narrow strip on the hairline it 'only' shrunk into half of it's original length (into around 10 cm). The shringake was the most extreme on the crown & vertex.
The documentation of the continuing deterioration of my hair in the last few months
January -
when the nightmare began:
extremely rapid thinning on my crown
https://imgur.com/a/gZTYRC4
experimencing burning inflamation on the top of the scalp
The change in hair texture from the middle to the end of January:
https://imgur.com/a/gZTYRC4
https://imgur.com/a/g1EL84w
the rapid thinning on the crown became especially visible with wet hair
https://imgur.com/a/BXaJorU
February
as visible, hair at the hairline area began to shrink in length at varying degrees, leading to uneven length across it
hair on the crown further kinking in texture
https://imgur.com/a/DCeK2ny
March
https://imgur.com/a/DK4Jyyn
hair became curly all over
April
https://imgur.com/a/hnCKLdW
https://imgur.com/a/A5cCIPD
https://imgur.com/a/DzgavJk
up until that point the hair in the hairline area was relatively thicker than on the crown, now it has started to rapidly thin too
May
https://imgur.com/a/WrloYvk
hairline getting worse - hair is getting critically thin in diameter
up until this point hair has only been miniarutizing, now it has also started to shed - mostly without bulb at the end, in rarer cases with black bulb (never white)
hair on the crown became wisp like in texture, extremely thin, near vellus level of
(I ironed the hair meanwhile, that's why it went back from curly to somewhat straight - still completely thin & lifeless though.)
June
https://imgur.com/a/YMHwh4l
my hair is becoming an unstyleable mess - hair is wispy all around the scalp
the hair on the sides & back of the head has also became thin & curly
endless amount of shedding
the scalp (galea) has become incredibly rigid / tight , I could barely move it - recently got scalp botox on it to supposedly ease tension
July
https://imgur.com/a/iddYkSi
Massive crown thinning, hair is getting wispy all over the top
Hopping on Finasteride
Back when all of this started in January, seeing what was happening so rapidly, I decided to discontinue using Dutasteride and instead kept using Minoxidil while changed to 1.25 grams of Finasteride daily + droplets of RU58841 added in along with microneedling. I have been doing this routine ever since, but to this day the situation keeps getting worse with no end in sight.
Trichoscopy scan
The hair on the top of my hair ever since this whole nightmare started almost half a year ago, haven't grown at all. So in the beginning of June, I got an AI-aided trichoscopy scan done on my scalp by a dermatologist, which has shown:
- the ratio of hair in the anagen / telogen phase is 90% / 10%
- as visually visible, the hair while most of it is still terminal, has become incredibly thin in diameter
- no meaningful change in hair density - as expected, since minimal shedding took place, only miniaturization
corresponding to vertex, frontal, temporal areas:
https://imgur.com/a/OM32InW
https://imgur.com/a/OM32InW
Ruling out other possible factors beside Androgenetic Alopecia
During the course of the last few months I made sure to rule out all possible factors which may cause the rapid deteroriation of my hair - I did multiple bloodworks and they have shown:
- no nutritional deficiency (iron, zinc etc.)
- my thyroid is working perfectly
- my androgenic hormone levels are in the reference range
Besides this,
- no change in lifestyle (physically very active, very mindful of nutrition - low carb, lots of protein)
- no other stress factor or negative life event happene
- no massive sheeding took place so it is not Telogen effluvium
Final thoughts
I am sharing this with you guys since it shouldn't have happened - it goes against all avaible medical data & sctientific consensus about 5aRI blockers. At this point I have visited half dozen dermatologists / trichologists and all of them stood with disbelief as of how is this even possible - so do I.
Dutasteride was supposed to suppress scalp DHT, yet in my case it somehow lead to the rapid miniaturization of all DHT sensitive hair on the scalp simultaneously.
I just don't know what to do at this point, I am completely hopeless, my life got ruined.
