What Percentage of Men Shed Hair When Starting Propecia?

I am a 38 year old male from the UK and i’ve noticed hair on my pillow in the morning. furthermore when my hair is wet or gel’d thinning can be noticed. However during what would be a normal day to day e.g. not wet or gel’d, all appears normal. My concern is if i start propecia will this make matter worse? Hence it is important for me to ascertain what percentage men suffer hair shedding while beginning the course of propecia? if shedding does occur does this mean the shedded hair will be replace during the next regrowth cycle? if so under normal conditions how long would the hair loss be noticeable before recovery? sorry for so many questions! regards

I have had a few patients claim that they go through a shedding phase after starting Propecia (finasteride). This lasts only a month or two and is followed by the expected decrease in hair loss. I believe that this is a small number, but I can not put a figure to it for you as there have been no studies that I’m aware of that reference a percentage to answer your question. There are theories that suggest acceleration of cycling as a cause of temporary shedding, but I do not know much about this other than what other doctors assume could be the cause.

Patients start taking Propecia because they do not want to lose hair. Most people notice an immediate slowing of the hair loss on Propecia.