I had sudden hair thinning a few months ago, caused by a spike in testosterone from a supplement I was taking. The testosterone increase made my hair thin noticeably within just a few weeks.
I went to a trichologist who is also a pharmacist. He prescribed a treatment consisting of a minoxidil 2.5% solution (with several other components included in the lotion) to use five times a week, plus a topical finasteride gel 1% to apply three times a week.
During the first two months everything was fine, completely normal from a sexual point of view. But in the last two months, my morning erections have totally disappeared — I wake up with a completely flaccid penis, zero activity.
Until about a week ago, I didn’t even know that this drug could cause such a side effect, so the nocebo effect can be ruled out.
The interesting part is that after four months of using this gel, my hair situation hasn’t really changed at all — the thinning looks exactly the same as before.
So, does that mean I’m sensitive to DHT changes, but my scalp doesn’t really respond to three weekly applications of 1% topical finasteride gel?
In other words, am I just not the right person for this medication?
Do I have no other choice but to quit it?
I was thinking of reducing the application to once or twice a week, but I’m not sure if that makes sense since even three weekly applications didn’t seem to do much anyway.
I shave my head every three or four days, and I can already see the thinning again after two or three days. It’s been stable like this ever since the initial shedding appeared (again, the thinning happened over about 7–8 weeks). Before that, my hair was totally fine. The sudden testosterone spike — and therefore the DHT increase — apparently accelerated the balding process by about ten years, according to my trichologist. He told me I basically brought forward the hair loss I would have had around age 55.
Do I really have no alternative treatments to replace this medication?
Sorry for all the questions, but I’m feeling quite demoralized.