23 years old, finasteride, dustasteride and minoxidil, what do I do wrong?

Treatments
1

Hi fellow hair warriors

I’ve lost my faith and hope, so I would like to share my (hair)story with you.

I was born in 2001, turning 24 this year. In 2019, I started to worry about my hair. I’ve always had some coves, but so then I started reading about hair loss. My dad was also bald at a young age, so I was seriously worried. That same year I went to see my dermalogist and she prescribed me topical minoxidil. Unfortunately, I reacted tremendously badly to the topical minoxidil and my scalp was completely in eczema. So I had to stop this immediately.

I was referred to a doctor and dermalogist specializing in hair problems. In 2020, I went to see her for the first time. She then prescribed me minoxidil in pill form. I started on a very low daily dose. Since the end of 2022 till this day, this dose has been 3.75mg per day. But I don’t really notice any improvement from this. In September 2023, after long hesitation, I started finasteride. I took 3 pills a week. Unfortunately, this also proved to have no effect. Therefore, at the end of May 2024, I changed to dustasteride 0.5 mg every 2 days. So I’ve been taking dustasteride for 8 months now, and again I don’t notice any improvement. My coves are expanding, and my hair loss is enormous. In addition, I have been suffering from oily scalp for several years, and I need to control this as well.

Over the last year I have been to a few doctors who perform hair transplants, but everyone says I am actually too young for a successful hair transplant. Especially since my hair loss is not stable at the moment.

During the last consultation, my dermatologist said I can try taking dustasteride daily instead of every 2 days. Would that be effective? According to my dermatologist, there is little point in trying other treatments. For example, she does PRP, but she does not recommend it to me. Because it is much less strong than minxoidil and dustasteride, what I am taking now anyway.

What should and can I still do? Can the dustasteride still work if I start taking it daily? Or is this a lost cause?

2

dut can take a while to really kick in, like 12–18 months. For the oily scalp, something like ketoconazole or a salicylic acid shampoo could help with the oiliness and inflammation, which might also help slow the shedding. PRP is considered ineffective around here. Have you thought about microneedling?

Read the beginner’s guide and this great post on Dutasteride dosing