I am a medical student and was wondering how finasteride works to give people a fuller appearance of hair.

In the Journal of the American Academy of Dermatology July 2006, Volume 55, Dr. Vera Price summarized the action of finasteride as follows:

“Long-term finasteride treatment led to sustained improvement in hair weight compared with placebo. Hair weight increased to a larger extent than hair count, implying that factors other than the number of hairs, such as increased growth rate (length) and thickness of hairs, contribute to the beneficial effects of finasteride in treated men.”

This is important, because what she implies is that the miniaturized hairs reverse. That is why it is so important to map out the scalp for miniaturization. The degree of miniaturization prior to starting finasteride (Propecia) gives us a baseline metric to determine the value of the treatment. I have seen people with miniaturization in the 80% range, reduce substantially to almost normal levels (under 20% means that you can not tell miniaturized hairs from vellus hairs). This is why everyone taking finasteride should be evaluated prior to starting the treatment.

Fristly thanks everyone who is working for this site.My question is that L’oreal’ s formula “Aminexil SP94” is really effective on hair loss.If it prevents loosing hair why FDA doesn’t recommend this molecule.

I’ve written briefly about Aminexil before — Aminexil vs Minoxidil.

I don’t know precisely why the FDA has not approved this. Perhaps the FDA doesn’t have the proof? To get FDA clearance, one must conclude a scientific study that is statistically relevant and it must meet all of the clinical research regulations published by the FDA.

If I had a cure for cancer, I would still need to go through the process and that cure would not be available to the public until such steps were taken. Alas, I don’t have the cure for cancer.

Dr.Rassman
I’ve been using dutasteride for 2 years and 9 months after being on finasteride for 6 years and dutasteride has made an improvement on my hairline and the overall fullness of my front line. The scientific question i would like to post, could it be possible that the reason why dutasteride outlasts finasteride has to do with the fact that it is three times more powerful 5 alpha reductase II than finasteride, and since finasteride mode of action as to do with the fact that inhibits 5 alpha reductase type II? since dutasteride is more effective at inhibiting the type II of alpha reductase, that explains why it’s more effective that finasteride in fighting hairloss (so it has nothing to do with dutasteride’s ability of inhibiting 5 alpha reductase type I).
Best regards.

There is no proof in what you’re saying, but the reality is that you saw a benefit from dutasteride over finasteride. The hair loss treatment study overview, according to FDA standards, is being performed now in the Republic of Korea. When the study results are in, then we will know more about the predictability of dutasteride, as well as the safety factors.