What Does A Poor Reaction to Propecia Tell Us?

Hi, i’ve been on Propecia for 10-12 months now, and I would say that it has slowed it down maybe 90-95%.

However there’s something that i’ve been wondering for a while now. If the rate of loss AFTER one has been on Propecia for this long was still quite fast *even though it would be a lot better than not being on it at all*, would this indicate:

1) That without Propecia, the hair loss would have been very aggressive?
2) That the person has not been very receptive to the drug.
3) Both.

I’ve always wondered, what does a less than average reaction to the drug tell us?

The answer to your three questions is Yes, Yes, and Yes — all are possible.

There is no guarantee that Propecia will work. We see better results with the drug on young men with more relatively short term hair loss. This is a drug that is known to be effective at slowing down, stopping or reversing the hair loss, but what that means is clearly uncertain. Here’s stats from the official Propecia website’s FAQ:

A 5-year clinical study demonstrated the effectiveness of PROPECIA.

What’s more, in the first year of the study, 86% (587 out of 679) of men on PROPECIA maintained hair or increased the number of visible hairs vs 42% (282 out of 672) on placebo.