Can Propecia Just Stop Working Abruptly?
Hi Dr.
I have a quick question. I apologize in advance if you have already answered it as I tried searching. I am 30 yrs old and I have been using Propecia for almost 1.5 years. When I started it worked great, within a few months it stopped hair loss and I even noticed a bit of regrowth on the temples. Recently I got a hair cut and noticed that my hair is thinning again. And I have started to see my scalp.
My question is that is it possible for Propecia to stop working abruptly ? If yes should I consult my doctor again for options ? or is this the end of the line.
Also I might add that there has been added stress in my life recently do you think that this maybe a temporary thing where the effectiveness of propecia may bounce back ?
Thanks in advance
Hair loss can be a very subjective thing. Just to look at your hair and to judge how thick or thin it is can depend on lighting and perspective. It also depends on your hair cut. I would think that getting your hair cut short would make one’s hair look thinner (more light allowed to the scalp) anyway. Besides that… Propecia does not just stop working. Hair grows in cycles, so I would think when hair is actively in a shedding cycle, the impact of Propecia may be lessened – albeit this is somewhat of a stretch.
The best advice I can give you is to stay on the drug even if you think it is less effective. But in any case, talk to your prescribing doctor.
It’s important to get an accurate assessment from your doctor, with bulk measurements and detailed photographs if you can. I think a lot of it is psychology. If you are feeling happy you can actively decide your hair is looking better and conversely you can have bad days where you are ‘convinced’ you are losing hair again.
During a very stressful period of my life when my sporting career started to come to an end I was convinced propecia had stopped being effective and the regrowth had reversed, but my Doctor could measure it against previous baselines and show me that I actually had regrown MORE hair than a few years before. So even though I was convinced my hair wasn’t looking great – everyone else would have seen an even better hairline than before.
It’s amazing – as soon as I heard that, I could actually see the regrowth. It’s amazing the power of the mind to see things better or worse than they really are.
Of course it is possible that propecia has become less effective for you but I wouldn’t give up. At the very least it could be slowing down the process a great deal.