My Fiance Had No Side Effects While Taking Propecia, But His Genitals Shrank After He Stopped
This was a comment we recently received on an older Propecia post:
DO NOT TAKE THIS DRUG! My fiance took it for years, with no side effects (although we are realizing now that the emotional/mental trauma he has been suffering since he took the drug is very likely related) – but once he quit the drug he experienced genital shrinkage, low libido, trouble maintaining erections, etc.Some studies have shown that ~95 % OF MEN SUFFER these side-effects to some capacity – no long-term side-effects were studied by Merck and what makes it tricky, is that RIGHT AFTER you stop taking the drug, you go back to normal for a few days/weeks – then, the symptoms worsen!! Stay away!
Genital shrinking after stopping Propecia is a new complaint, something I have never heard before. What you are saying is just not enough information for me. Of note, where are you getting this “95%” statistic of men suffering from this issue? It sounds like you’re confusing stats.
If I were to entertain this possibility, I would need to know the following bits of information: for example, are you talking about his penis or testicles that shrunk? Or are you talking about the size of his erection? He would need to see a doctor and find out:
- What his testosterone levels are
- What his sperm count is
He would need to get examined by a competent urologist. That is a start if he is really worried.
In animal studies, finasteride has been shown to reduce the weight of the corpus cavernosum by 25%. These studies obviously cannot be replicated in humans. There is good reason to believe that finasteride has the potential to cause genital shrinkage.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22375859
We’ve looked at that study before and pointed out where the ability to read into statistics comes in handy.
The oral finasteride group had NO loss of erection or erection size or smooth muscle which determines erection size. If you’d like to read the conclusion it states that only castration caused significant erectile changes.
Also the finasteride dosage was equivalent to a man taking over 150 times the typical dose per day.
Misquote scientific studies if you want but if you dont understand them you’re ignorant and if you don’t want to admit them you’re dishonest.
I get it. You hate propecia. I have no love for big pharmaceutical companies nor an implicit trust in them but when scientific studies are done independently and they just don’t reach your conclusions you aren’t entitled to change their meanings. You aren’t entitled to your own facts.
OK so let’s resume, this drug is evil causing impotence, genital shrinkage, foetus malformation, depression….
But but, if the side effects are so bad and the drug is so dangerous, why is it still on the market ? :o
Hi Grant. How come you’re no longer a doctor?
Adding to the unscientific hysteria surrounding Propecia is the newly coined blog term “genital shrinkage”….which I guess means penis shrinkage. Not a shred of evidence exists for this, including no evidence of any animal studies suggesting this also. And – as a general rule of basic pharmacology – people don’t develop new side effects after they stop taking a drug. There is zero reason to believe that
finasteride has the “potential to cause genital shrinkage”
I have heard of some of my friends saying they were having genital/scrotum shrinkage while on propecia. But It could also have just been their mind playing tricks on them and they ‘thought’ they were going through all that but nothing was really happening. But, I have never heard of anybody having it while they were off the drug.
For those of you who are feel genital shrinkage is a concerning issue, I suggest you take a look at the 3 paragraph abstract I posted above. Paul is not even referring to the same study and the conclusion spells it out very clearly that finasteride treated rats showed a reduction in penile weight.
I did read the study – in full. You didn’t. I am at this point going with you being dishonest as opposed to ignorant.
Genitals shrink after stopping the drug? Come on. This sounds like Koro – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Koro_%28medicine%29
I’m under the impression that many of these side effect claims come from people with issues that are more psychological than physical. Or internet trolls.
I don’t think there is anything I can do to make you actually read this article but I strongly suggest any interested parties at least take a look at the abstract and form your own opinion.
Paul, you are thinking of a different study that found finasteride treated rats developed collagenous fibers in the tunica albuginea of rats. That study gave rats a relatively larger dose than is typically given to humans, but the effects of finasteride plateau close to the human dose of Propecia so the difference is functionally irrelevant. The study posted above was only published a few months ago.