Month: January 2023

On average how long do you think hair must’ve gone if Fin even has a chance of regrowing? Like would it only have the possibility of regrowing hair lost in the few months before starting Fin or could it also grow areas that have had minituarized/bald areas for 2 years?

Finasteride in some people reverses miniaturization. It can take up to a year to see the value

I hope this message meets you well! I’d like to ask a question I’m sure you’ve answered hundreds of times. I greatly appreciate your time. I was recently prescribed finasteride, I have only taken it 3 times at 1.25mg consecutive days, and a week later, 3 more times at ~.7mg, spaced 3-4 days apart. I suffered from side effects (low libido, terrible brain fog, difficulty getting erection, and difficulty maintaining one) during this time. I’d like to continue the drug but I’m scared, honestly. Is it likely these side effects will disappear?

For the record, I’m 24, 200lbs 9% body fat and in good shape. I don’t take any other medication. I use minoxidil, I take biotin, and today I purchased zinc. Thank you again for your time, and for your help!

Sound like the drug and you are not good for each other. I would stop the medication

I don’t believe for one minute that this man became gay because he took Finasteride. This man almost certainly was in denial over his sexuality. I have seen men of many ages who have realized that their sexual preferences changed over time. Many have left their wives and entered the gay world. We are living in a fortunate time where judgments on such behavior is now acceptable.

Finersteride made me gay. (help) from tressless

This is an excerpt from the FDA website from 2010 on finasteride (https://www.accessdata.fda.gov/drugsatfda_docs/label/2011/020788s018lbl.pdf). Dr. Ed Epstein, from the Bosley Medical Group is a urologist by training and has kept up on the latest information on the impact or lack of impact of the drug finasteride on risks for an unborn fetus. “I am not aware of new studies on amounts of finasteride in semen or vaginal absorption data” that reflect increased risks for fetal abnormalities induced by finasteride other than what is written in the FDA white paper referenced above.

Some doctors are concerned that patients who go on finasteride should get semen analysis to keep track of semen levels in case these level dropped while a patient was on the drug finasteride. Dr. Epstein said: “Concerning getting semen analysis on child bearing age men starting finasteride, I totally disagree. Typically a male infertility workup is suggested after one year of unprotected intercourse. The subgroup of men who have low sperm counts on finasteride are those with preexisting conditions and appear to respond to discontinuation of finasteride.”

In other words, he feels that a young man should not worry about either low semen counts caused by finasteride, but that they could always stop the drug and if there was a causal relationship, it would reverse. He also suggested than men with low sperm counts while on finasteride, probably had it before they started the drug and should get any low sperm count evaluated by an expert.
The FDA while paper referenced above showed that studies on semen in sperm were either not present or when present were so low as it not cause a risk to a pregnant woman or a woman who is expecting to become pregnant. “Semen levels have been measured in 35 men taking finasteride 1 mg/day for 6 weeks. In 60% (21 of 35) of the samples, finasteride levels were undetectable (<0.2 ng/mL). The mean finasteride level was 0.26 ng/mL and the highest level measured was 1.52 ng/mL. Using the highest semen level measured and assuming 100% absorption from a 5-mL ejaculate per day, human exposure through vaginal absorption would be up to 7.6 ng per day, which is 750 times lower than the exposure from the no-effect dose for developmental abnormalities in Rhesus monkeys and 650-fold less than the dose of finasteride (5 ?g) that had no effect on circulating DHT levels in men”

I have an identical twin brother who never took Fin while I have been on it for four years. He has less hair than I do on his head so I guess the drug is working to stop my hair loss. He has a ferocious beard. I, on the other hand have a pretty light beard with no hair on my cheeks, only on my chin/neck and less body hair than he has. Is it possible that Finasteride could have played a role in this? Did I take Fin at a critical developmental period and miss that window?

Yes, it is possible that finasteride has reduced your body hair and the hair in the beard as it is a known side effect of this drug. If you have an identical twin, talk with him about the timing of your taking the drug and the disappearance of some of your beard hair. By doing this, you can confirm if this is a real finasteride side effect.

I am 33 years old and I have been on Finasteride since 2006 (I took a 10 month break in 2009) and have had great success. In the last 10 months, I have been losing ground though. My hair has started thinning a lot as the result of two massive sheds. I was wondering how you go about assessing whether an increase in dose is appropriate when Finasteride starts to lose effectiveness? I have also been looking at Rogaine foam as an option — but as I am constantly traveling for work, pills are much easier to fit into my routine.

You can try to increase the Finasteride dose and see if that helps. I tend to view the use of Finasateride as a tug of war – the genes and the stressors on your life pulling on one side, and the drug Finasteride pulling on the other side. Maybe an increase in Finasteride dose will weigh more on the pulling against the genes and stress side.

So somebody who continues to take finasteride and does not stop like in the example you gave, it will often continue to provide it’s benefits in retaining hair and won’t necessarily lose its effectiveness?

Correct; however, hair has its own agenda with genetic codes for Apoptosis (cell hair suicide) which is delayed by finasteride but not always a guarantee that each hair may take its own course. Generally, finasteride slows this process down for the time you take the drug. I have had patients on finasteride for 25 years. When they stopped it along the 25-year history, they always lost hair. This tells me that finasteride works if you take it for anyone losing hair.

I’m a 19 year old male who started Finasteride in January 1 because I had a receding hairline. In the past four months or so, my hairline has significantly receded and is becoming really noticeable, particularly around my temples. I thought I’d be able to maintain and hopefully regrow a little given that I’m young, but it seems to have had the opposite effect. Is this a shed? Is there a chance Finasteride is making my balding faster? How long should I wait to see the full effects of finasteride? Reading on websites is hard because most articles are written by companies that either sell Fin or say fin doesn’t work because they offer hair transplants.

You should stick to the finasteride and any shedding phase will pass. Finasteride may not slow down the recessions as sometimes, especially in a maturing hairline, finasteride will not work. Transplants are out of the question at your age. See a an expert like me who will tell you want is going on. See here: https://baldingblog.com/haircheck-test-how-it-is-done-video/