I read a recent message from a 22 year old who has had a great experience with Propecia in only 3 months. I’m a 22 year old with slight thinning on top/thinning at the crown in the last 15 months and I’ve been on Propecia for 3 months too. BUT I have seen NO noticable difference in my hair density or hair count. Why do some men react better to Propecia than others? (I don’t have massive amounts of testosterone in my body either)

The rate of hair loss differs from individual to individual. The genetic factors vary with the person as well. A DHT blocker only impacts one of the factors that cause genetic hair loss. Unfortunately, not everyone responds to it the same way, but I believe that it has value in every man losing his hair from genetic factors. In some men, it reverses hair loss, in others it just slows it down or stops it, but there is a losing battle here and sooner or later as the genetic factors will dominate the hair loss equation even for those young men with these wonderful results. The goal for the DHT blockers is to alter the natural course of the hair loss (extend the balding process over many more years that it would normally occur). Hopefully, the extra time will allow the next breakthrough treatment for hair loss to become available (whatever it is).

Just wanted to drop a line. It’s been a weird cycle.

Started Propecia back in October 2006. Was around a NW 2.5, with rapidly fading temples and thinner hair on top. Hair also was easily pulled out. Mid December I saw the hair at its worst….temples thinning rapidly. Mid January was when I first saw tiny hairs on the temple coming in. It’s now March 2007. Temples have come back within this short amount of time, the top is considerably thicker. I would deem this a success.

If the hair continues to come back at this rate, I am optimistic that I will get back to NW 1.5. It also helps that no one goes bald in my family, but have receded hair lines and thin hair up top.

Thanks for everything.

Thank you for sharing this with us.

First two years of finasteride use is the best one’s ((for most users). After that the drug is still effective (for most users) but slightly losses it’s effectivity over a period of 5-15 years..

It his is true, should I put my mind into analyze when the right time is for me? I know I have MPB but I think I have the slow version, I started out when I was around 15 years old..and now, almost 10 years later I’ve countinued balding but still has around a NW2 with slightly more damage to vertex (no bald spot though).

Should I start right now with finasteride or wait until the loss gets more apparent?

You should first get your hair mapped out for miniaturization and if that shows early genetic hair loss, then yes, you should go on finasteride. You need a proper diagnosis before you start laying out all of that money and putting yourself on a drug for life.

I FINALLY convinced my doctor to prescribe me proscar instead of propecia, since it costs SO much now for propecia. I noticed however, that when i got out of the office, instead of writing for me to quarter the tablets daily, he wrote a script for only 6 pills with instructions to divide into 1/5ths daily. Geesh—why are doctor’s so reluctant to write a script for proscar!!!!!!

Anyway—since now I have to cut into 1/5ths (which i didn’t want to do), how can i evenly divide a round pill into equal fifths??

(or……..IF brand-name proscar is easier to divide into fifths, maybe I should request the brand-name at the pharmacy!???)

The problem with cutting the Proscar or the generic 5mg finasteride pills into five equal parts is the reality of using this for treating hair loss. The pill has a tendency to fall apart or crack unevenly. For those that do chose to cut the 5mg finasteride pills, I usually suggest making it into 4 pieces so that it is more manageable.