Snippet from the article:

This baldness cure was a bust. For nine months, William McKee took the generic version of Propecia, the pills that promise to halt hair loss. But the drug had radical side effects: Instead of becoming a better-looking man, he started becoming a woman, he claims.

“My rock-hard chest from the gym began to soften . . . reaching the point where I had noticeable ‘breasts’ even under my clothing,” he says.

Among other changes, the 38-year-old software engineer claims, “my shoulders were literally falling into a more feminine position, and my hips were loosening and becoming wider, as on a woman’s body.”

McKee, who says he wasn’t inclined to cross-dress before, began feeling like a woman. He is now only attracted to men.

Read the rest — NY Post – Software engineer claims generic version of Propecia turned him into a woman

Wow. The article starts with calling Propecia a cure that didn’t work, so the story itself begins with a loss of journalistic credibility right off the bat (there is no cure for hair loss). The story and the source are highly suspect, and this is hyped up BS. I have an extremely difficult time believing an ounce of truth to this. The guy said he bought a generic finasteride online from India (probably without a prescription), and now he is frustrated that he can’t sue Merck… so this is the story that gets spun and published.

For all that Propecia has been blamed for, this is a new extreme. Propecia does not turn you gay and it doesn’t make you want to dress like a woman. But I guess with all the hysteria out there, Propecia becomes a convenient catch-all excuse for anything and everything.

dr.Rassman/Pak

is inhibiting type 1 alpha 5 reductase also important in combating hairloss?

Studies have shown only type 2 is the cause of hairloss, as the peusohermaphrodites had normal levels of type 1 and still had to hairloss or prostate problems. whats your thought on type 1 as well?

people say dutasteride block more DHT, and in my opinon thats becuase of its ability to block type 1 as well.

finasteride 5mg blocks about 70% of DHT. Dutasteride 0.5 mg blocks about 90% DHT. Merck did have an experimental drug called mk386 that inhibited type 1 as well. In the clinical trials in produced no benefits to hairloss. The only reason dutasteride block 90% at 0.5 mg is because of the type 1 inhibition as well. if dutasteride does not inhibit type 1 then it would block DHT just like finasteride.

You state the science as I also understand it. The value of dutasteride seems to be a more complete block of DHT than finasteride and that is probably why we see better response in some people who are resistant to finasteride.

The MK-386 study I remember was from the mid-1990s on macaques, and while it did lower serum DHT, it didn’t have much of an effect on hair weights. I found another study from 1997 involving MK-386 on humans, which concluded that: “The current findings are consistent with the hypothesis that an inhibitor of 5αR1 may benefit conditions associated with excess skin androgen activity, such as acne, androgenetic alopecia, and hirsutism.”

I don’t know if anything was published about MK-386 beyond that, but I’m hopeful that some readers out there can point us in the right direction if they’re familiar with more studies done.

I’ve been asked what it would mean if 2% of the millions of men taking Propecia had suffered sexual side effects, and some lesser percentage of these men’s side effects are permanent. This has been a hot topic that has been discussed at length, but it’s a topic that I wanted to touch on again.

I must have written prescriptions for this drug to thousands of patients and although I have seen reports of decreases in libido and ED in about 2% of patients (as expected), I have not seen one case where these side effects did not go away upon stopping the drug. A larger audience of others like myself were unofficially polled and their experiences echo mine. It is not that I doubt that these problems can persist after stopping the drug, but it seems very rare indeed.

As I’ve mentioned before on this site, one of my son’s is taking Propecia. When he compared the risks to the reward, he concluded that the benefits far outweighed the limited risk. He tells me that he’s experienced no side effects and has been on Propecia for almost 8 years or so.

Clearly, each patient must make his own decision on this matter and my position is to inform my patients of the general risk… but this risk is very, very small. Before I’m asked again, I own no stock in Merck, I am not a paid consultant for Merck, and if I was rapidly losing hair, I’d take this drug to thwart the problem.

Hi Dr. Rassman and Dr. Pak.
I had a question I recently read a question on your forum about a guy that was taking propecia/finasteride everyday and also dutasteride/avodart once a week with great results. So I was thinking of trying this regimen of propecia and avodart for a least a year to see if I works for me? Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated.

Oh and thanks for all your hard work as doctors and also for keeping this forum going strong. And also to thank you (Dr. Rassman) and Dr. Pak who has done my two procedures the most recent one being around February 2012.

And finally to all your staff which are some of the nicest people you’ll ever meet!!

First, thanks for your kind words! They really mean a lot to us.

The combination of finasteride and dutasteride statistically will produce more sexual side effects. That is the reason we generally do not prescribe it. We can discuss this face to face on your next visit.

Is it best for nonresponders to simply quit taking fin/propecia to have thicker hair? I’ve been taking it for about two years and continued to loose ground, but only severe thinning at the temples.

Since it is known that fin/propecia hurts the hairline, would it at least shed less after quitting the drug?

It is known that Propecia hurts the hairline? Some people have asked (through this blog) about shedding upon starting the drug, but this isn’t a typical occurrence and doesn’t seem to be limited to just the hairline.

You are asking me to give you advice on whether or not to take a prescription drug — something that I do not do. There may be answers to your situation (such as taking dutasteride), but I would insist on a bulk metric measurement before you were put on other medications to get some objectivity in analyzing the results. You might also consider having a HairDX Genetic Test for Finasteride Response done. Talk to your prescribing doctor.