I am moved to India and I was thinking of using the Finpecia manufactured by Cipla which seems to be same as propecia. But I need your advice regarding this. Finpecia is easily available in India rather than shipping the propecia from US. Can you please suggest weather it is safe to switch to Finpecia or not?

Unless Merck has sold the licensing rights to another company to make the exact same thing as Propecia, this is not the same as Propecia.  There are many companies in India that make knock off drugs that are supposed to be the same thing, but you really have no idea what you are taking.

Merck is not likely to allow another company to copy their brand anymore than Microsoft would allow another company to make a knock off version of Windows.  Keep looking for Propecia.  You can buy generic Proscar if you can find a brand that is the real thing.  This is 5 mg of finasteride so you just break the tiny pills into 4 equal pieces and take 1/4 pill each day. This will really reduce your cost.  You might be better off brining that in from a reilable source such as the USA.  The laws here really are intended to protect both the manufacturer and, more importantly, the consumer.

I am now 29 and have been using propecia for around 6 years and my hair sitution has now got worse.
I was wondering With your expertise and vast knowledge if you would recommend me trying avodart to help my situation alongside propecia or take it by itself?

The studies that have been performed show that Avodart does work better than Propecia. The only problem is that we don’t know the long term consequences of taking it. You are blocking both forms of 5 alpha reductase. We don’t know if this will produce problems later on such as depression.

The other problem is we don’t know the proper dose because it has not been studied. People take it once a day or as little as once a week because it has a long half life. There are many patients on it because it works better than Propecia, but I’ve heard a few say that the Propecia worked better than the Avodart.

Shedding probably means it is working for you because hair shedding occurs when resting hairs return to the growing phase and push the old resting hair out. This means that the drug is stimulating growth or Anagen. Of course it could take up to one year before you see a noticable improvement. I think it will always work best when you have some existing hair. If your hair line is bald, don’t expect much benefit. If the hair line still has hair, then the Avodart could stimulate new growth. The main thing all these products do is prolong the life of hair. It is actually rare to see a significant improvement in coverage, but when it occurs, it can be amazing.