Doctor Said I Can Quit Propecia After 6 Months

Hi doc. I’m 20 years old and nw 1,5. I’ve been using propecia medication for 6 months with very good response but in the last appointment with my doctor he told me ‘it’s time to quit propecia and you will no more lose your hair.’ I have doubts what should I do? Can it be real, is it possible to beat MPB by taking early medication? If my doc is wrong what my decision have to be? Thanks.

Propecia (finasteride 1mg) works through inhibiting production of DHT, which is responsible for male pattern baldness. By stopping Propecia, you allow the DHT to be made from testosterone again, which can deleteriously affect your hair growth. If you look at this diagram of Propecia effect on hair count, you can clearly see that the rate of hair loss increases in patients who stopped Propecia and were put on placebo (solid circles on graph) and even after restarting them on Propecia after one year, the number of hairs doesn’t reach to the patients who continued using the medication.

The only reason to stop taking the medication is that a diagnosis of genetic male pattern hair loss is not present. To make this diagnosis, your doctor can map your scalp and if there is no miniaturization present, I would agree to recommend that you go off the Propecia; however, if miniaturization is present, then you should stay on the drug for the rest of your life as there is no cure for MPB. Talk to your doctor and make sure there is not any other reason for discontinuing the medication. You can take a copy of this blog posting and go over it with your doctor.