After 18 Months on Propecia, Should I Expect More Regrowth?

Dr. Rassman,

First off, Thank you for the excellent information you provide here on Balding Blog. I have been following your site for years now during college in Ohio, and I must say it has been my primary source of information in my research regarding hair loss. Now that I have moved to Los Angeles after graduating school I’ve had the opportunity to meet you in person, which was exciting for me after following your blog all this time!

Anyways, I am currently wondering how much more regrowth with Finasteride I can hope to see. I have been on the drug since August of 2010 and continue taking it today without fail. My results have been fairly typical. In this time I have seen some minor thickening / reverse miniaturization of my frontal hairline and my crown which had minimal thinning has went completely back to normal. This was indicated by you during my bulk analysis and miniaturization mapping exams.

I would like to add that I had the HairDX Finasteride Response test done in Ohio before starting the drug and my CAG score of 23 indicates I should only have a slight response to the drug, but I did start taking it at age 26 when my hair was only in the early stages of thinning. I know everyone is different but typically/statistically do you see much more regrowth in patients like me after 18 months of Finasteride use?

Secondly, what are the chances I would suffer shock loss at age 28 and having been on the drug well over a year if I had a transplant done to restore my frontal area. (You said I was an early Norwood 3 pattern).

Thanks for everything

I believe that improvement while taking finasteride has been reported for as long as 24 months.

Shock loss is often protected by finasteride… so as long as you stay on the medication, having a hair transplant should not produce shock loss.