Propecia Doesn’t Get Rid of All DHT, So Why Take It?
There was doctor last night talking about hairloss on tv and about propecia. He siad that propecia only gets rid of 70% serum DHT and 38% scalp DHT. there is still 30% serum left and 62% scalp DHT left which is still alot of DHT. Then he said those remaining DHT can still do a number on hair follicles, and cause hairloss even by taking propecia. so he said taking finasteride is basically useless and that he would not prescribe it for that reason.
His words were, “why take this propecia drug, when it leaves behind a huge percentage of the DHT in the blood and scalp, that can still cause hairloss. He used a colonoscopy example. he said when people do a colonoscopy and a patient has lets say 5 polyps the doctor removes all 5 the polyps and doesn’t leave any behind. he said a drug like propecia removes one polyp and leaves 4 behind which can turn deadly. so why take propecia when its not that effective at removing the source hormone.
whats your opinion. I value your opinion more than the doctor speaking on tv. this threw me off lol. there is alot of dht left even with propecia. 62% scalp dht is alot.
I thought my opinion on Propecia was pretty much established here.
The reality is that Propecia works at preventing or stabilizing hair loss in most men. His numbers on DHT seem reasonable, but when you see the drug work to slow hair loss or even reverse the loss in young men, then the results speak for themselves. The visual results have been well documented. Add the fact that it has been proven safe for 98% of men without side effects, and that is what is important.
When all is said and done, it’s really not about the numbers, percentages, or colonoscopy analogies. Propecia does work, but your genetic predisposition in the long run will catch up to you. It buys you time, so to speak.
Dr. Rassman: You mention that in the end your genetics will win out over Propecia. Why not just increase the dose as effectiveness starts to taper off??
Because there’s no evidence that even a colossal dose would prevent all DHT in the scalp and would likely lead to excessive side effects versus returns. However some men have had almost 15 years of success with propecia so far and so the long term success rate seems good. The reality is propecia may work for some men for decades up to and including the point where they die long before they would lose a lot of hair.
The analogy the doctor uses in the post is fallacious anyway – propecia is a medical treatment not a surgical procedure. I have a friend on an anti leukemia drug, it is not a cure but it has bought her 12 good years so far with no sign of set backs where the survival rate was pretty minimal. Propecia obviously isn’t a life saving drug (except in it’s prostate protecting format) so you’d not compare it to surgery to remove a tumor but you could compare it to an ongoing treatment that may give you a lot more time. Hairloss is simply a cosmetic issue but let’s not throw propecia out simply because it’s not a cure. That’s ludicrous. If you tolerate propecia you may get anywhere between 2 and 20+ years of stabilized or even reversed hairloss. True it may not work as great for every individual but that’s not to say it’s useless. Many thousands of men are grateful for the cosmetic benefit of propecia and the ability to delay or avoid baldness.
What a silly proposition. A reduction is DHT is better than not addressing it at all. If that serum and scalp reduction is enough to extend things by an additional decade or two, that will be more than enough for many.
@ Lazerfish: Risk of side effects increases.
Nice posts by Paul and Ant. totally agree. Lyn
Great post Paul. I know someone who has been on Propecia for 15 years and has maintained all of his hair. As you said, it’s very possible Propecia could ward off baldness for one’s entire life if their balding genes aren’t too strong.
More than 1mg of finasteride was long proven it won’t give better results.
Hi Michael: I gotta disagree with you on the increase in finisteride won’t give better results. Check this link out.
https://www.dutasteride.org/dutasteride/dutasteride_results.htm
Although it is showing that greater doses of dutasteride give better results, one could say the same about finisteride unless you have a study showing that a 5mg dose of finisteride doesn’t work better than a 1mg dose. A 5mg dose will definitely block my dht in the scalp offering greater protection to the hair follicle. That is a given.
Sorry: Last line should read: A 5mg dose will definitely block MORE dht in the scalp offering greater protection to the hair follicle. That is a given.
To lazerfish:
Merck tried fiansteride in a study of up to 80mg per day and it yeilded the same results as 1mg. 1mg is the optimal does. going any higher will now give better results in terms of hair, but chances of higher side affects.
plus back to the dutasteride discusion for a second. I know this isn’t a dutasteride topic, but dutasteride hasn’t even been proven to be safe or even affective like finasteride has. Lots of doctors even say, they there clearly isn’t real evidence that dutasteride is better.
Dutasterides ability to block type 1 alpha 5 reducatse is irrelevant to hairloss. The pseudohermaphrodites had type 1 levels of DHT and never got baldness, acne or prostate problems. The reason was only becuase they were deficient in type 2 DHT.
Dutasteride will work better than Propecia. Even 0.5mg of DUT is better of course a higher dose is even better but raises chance of side effects a lot! There’s been studies done that 1mg Fin won’t help for MPB!
Micheal show us the study that shows 1mg of fin won’t help with male pattern baldness?
Sorry for the typo I meant “more” than 1mg of fin won’t work better for MPB! Type it in google I’m sure you’ll find it.
no worries michael. I know that 1mg of fin won’t work better. merck did a study using up to 80mg, and it lowered DHT the same way 1mg did.
many famous HT doctors that I consulted with believe that Dutasteride works better than Finasteride for MPB,there are many patients on hailoss forums who switched or added dutasteride to their regiment of Finasteride and they report major improvement.
how can you ignore all that “eli”?
I am aware that health risks is unknown but for many people especially long term finasteride users dutasteride works much better.
Just about everyone knows dut works better and for young men taking it the chances of side effects would maybe be about 1% more than Propecia. IF they do occur they could last long! That’s the only downside of dutasteride!
the only reason why dut might work better is in its ability to wipe out alpha reductase 2 more than fin does. it has nothing to do with type 1 alpha. plus if it does work better than propecia it would of hit the market by now.
The reason it never hit the market is because it wouldn’t sell much. Dut is better but not something extraordinarily better than Fin that’s why. Even Propecia didn’t sell too great. Many people cut proscar or fin to save money. Drug companies are looking for the next breakthrough in hair loss not just something similar and better.