I've used finasteride and dutasteride on and off multiple times for the past 10 years, but maybe a total of about 2-3 years on during that time. I started it before ever trying gear and ive never experienced a single side effect from it, not one.
It's scary though to think about, either you will or you won't have sexual sides. I remember my first script, doc said it's perfectly safe, less than 1% of males experience sexual dysfunction from using it.
There are forums specifically for guys who have horrible sides long after stopping use but I also think the majority of them have other health issues they are not taking into account or are taking other combinations of drugs. I'm not saying it doesn't happen because I'm sure if it can elevate estro then it can cause loss of libido and gyno.
I remember one guy saying his dick lost size due to use, his testicles shrunk and he had low test and high estro as a result. Well when you have zero libido and can't get hard it's going to appear smaller I'm assuming. A friend helped him by basically running a pct protocol of hcg 1000iu eod with biweekly blood test, after about 2-4 weeks he started producing some test from the hcg injects, then ran clomid and nolva with an AI.
He was fine for about a month, went thru the process again and as far as I know he is fine now but it may be the case that he was hypogonadal to begin with and made the assumption it was finasteride causing his issues, who knows.
I know a guy that's been on it since the clinical trials and has used it for the entire 15-20 years I believe and has zero issues. Knowing now the risk I would have not even tried it but also knowing now that I don't get sides from it , I will continue to use it. My problem is I never stay on it. It works best over time, 1-2 years is working well, 5 years is supposed to be great and from then on you won't lose hair but I run allot of deca and tren and was always advised to come off during those cycles and that it would increase hair loss, actually it most likely just makes deca as harsh as all other androgens.
I have to say it works much better then topicals. I'm using nizoral 1% and rogain foam, both are ok, plus I've been using polysorbate 80 for almost two months, it's an experiment for myself because I read that their were small studies showing it worked better than minoxidil and would regrowth hair on the frontal area but the FDA and some others had it banned from marketing it as a prevention for hairloss, soni guess merk didn't want that cutting their profits and made some donations to have it blocked.
At this point I can't see any difference but their studies showed regrowth at 6 months continuous use, but it was the beginning stages of growth so very fine hairs but they were growing on 60 year old men who had lost the hair some time ago.
Also guys are crushing up finasteride and mixing it into minoxidil the shaking for a suspension of both, and they claim that the alcohol acts as a carrier to get the finasteride into the scalp so it can work but doesnt cause sides because of blood concentrations.
Really WTF, how have we not figured out how to stop hair loss or prevent it or regrowth it. Again , merk is probably paying people off to prevent that so they can continue to profit from monthly sakes for a life time. I tend to thing the drug companies also add things to cause some issues as a "side effect" that would require another one of their products.
And for the people who think their aren't good hair transplants, that's because you can't tell it's been transplanted on a good job. I know a few guys who spent between 2k and 11k to keep their hair and you cannot tell at all, it looks very good. I didn't even believe the one guy because he has such perfect hair, but he showed me the pics of the progression. The old plugs were bad and obvious, hair pieces are obvious, and their are bad transplant docs. Actually a dentist can take a few night courses and now be certified or licensed to transplant hair and do other certain "cosmetic" procedures. Its funny that guys are awake during transplants becauseit looks brutal, they cut a strip off the back of your head, sew it shut, then separate all of that into one, two, and three piece grafts of hair. Then they puncture the skin and push them into the scalp to begin growth. The guy I saw pics of ended up with a scab covering the entire front of his head where he was bald, then over the months you could see it fill in but with tiny little fuzzy looking hair, then it started to grow like normal. It takes some time after having it done to heal and for it to grow but once it does, you should not be able to tell at all. The bad ones are the obvious ones but unless you can wear a hat to work, a week or two is not long enough to have off but I guess if you were already thin or bald people will know anyway.
But they also have transplant patients use finasteride and minoxidil after to ensure it grows and prevent further loss.
I'm not sure I can rationalize 10k on hair, I'm sure I've spent that on gear but at 35 and thinning, it's not abnormal and I keep it very short anyway and I'm fine with how it looks and have a hot girl who is constantly rubbing my head(s) so I think I'll pass on it and stick to topicals and finasteride.