Here I am, my story so far:
- 30 years old living in Italy
- started noticing balding spot on top of my head at 25, started using topical minoxidil but couldn't get ANYONE to prescribe finasteride to me
- at 28 I see my temples are receding too and I got overall diffuse thinning on my scalp, it was difficult to notice at first because I have very curly hair but now it was rather visible. Found this subreddit and got topical fin+min from MinoxidilMax
So in october 2024:
- started topical fin (0.1%, 1mg) + min (15%, 150mg) twice a day (in the morning and at night before bed)
- started microneedling with pen and 12 needles cartridges at 1.5 mm depth once a week
Had a constant and massive shedding from december 2024 till march 2025, then stabilized as in the first bunch of pictures. Had no side effects. My eyebrows got somewhat bushier but nothing special.
Kept going with fin+min+microneedling till now, april 2026 (second bunch of pictures).
Now, how do you feel like I'm doing?
I know the pictures aren't the best, my hair being so curly also doesn't help, I tried to take them in the same lighting, same position and right after the shower, while still somewhat wet.
It seems to me like I managed to stop or at least slow down a lot the overall diffuse thinning that was going strong back in 2024.
I'm still shedding quite a lot of hair daily - rather short hair, I wonder if with dutasteride it would keep growing longer.
At this point I'm considering switching to dutasteride, should I?
How do you recommend me to do it - immediate switch or use both fin and dut for a time?
Should I also switch to oral min and dut, or stick with topical?
Should I try a different dosage?
I'm tarting to condsider Hair transplant at some point in the future, too.
Overall, I really wish I had started treatment much sooner - I actually wanted to, but EVERYONE was against me, my doctor, my relatives - out of disbelief more than anything, like it was so unbelievable I had started balding already (both sides of my family have balding guys, my father started balding at ~40).
I feel like it's also very difficult to get finasteride or dutasteride, or even oral minoxidil here in Italy, if anyone has any suggestions on how to do that reliably and maybe cheaply, please let me know.
If you have any other suggestions, feel free to tell me. Thank you for your kind attention.