Hi everyone,
I am trying to come up with the best strategy regarding the use of finasteride.
My current status: I’m a 28-year-old male with a Norwood classification of 2-3 (not sure where exactly). You can judge based on the picture I provided. Over the past 2-3 years, I noticed changes in my hairline; my widow’s peak became more prominent, and my hair looks ‘clowny’ when it’s windy outside. I’ve also started asking barbers to leave some hair to cover my temples, which I didn’t do 3 years ago. I didn’t realize this change due to the curliness of my hair and how sudden it was.
Currently, however, I don’t notice any thinning or active balding. The changes seem to have occurred 2-3 years ago and appear to have stopped. When I compare my current pictures to those taken two years ago, I don’t see much difference. I don’t see any thinning on the crown too (it’s a bit tricky with curly hair, but I don’t think I have any thinning there).
Here’s my family history: all the men in my family are bald on both my mom’s and dad’s sides. My dad started balding in his late twenties, and I’m 28 now.
I asked my doctor for a prescription, and I currently have finasteride on my hand right now.
Here are two plans for how I might proceed, and I need to choose one.
Plan Option A:
Track any current changes and start using finasteride only once I notice further changes. This way, I avoid having finasteride in my system unnecessarily.
Potential Cons:
- I might lose sight of changes, as it’s quite possible that my curly hair could hide thinning that I might not notice until it’s late. I can’t allow any more hair lost. Not sure if this is a reasonable fear though.
Plan Option B:
Start using finasteride right away.
Potential Pros:
- I’m proactively addressing an issue I am likely to face, given my family history.
- Since I’ve already begun treatment, my curly hair won’t obscure any potential problems or spots.
Potential Cons:
- I might have finasteride in my system when I don’t actually really need it at the moment.
- I can’t accurately track progress as there would be no baseline to compare against (I might be wrong about this).
- It makes it difficult to determine the right dosage since I won’t have tracking points to gauge effectiveness.
Which option is better? Am I missing something in the pros and cons I’ve outlined?
Thank you for reading the whole thing and your suggestions!
