Could Finasteride Be the Cause for My Poor Facial Hair Development?
hi
I’ve used finasteride for about 9 years. I dont have shedding now and my hair is look like when i was 17. Problem is, my facial hair hasn’t really developed. Do you think this is related to finasteride at all and perhaps a lower dose would help my facial hair grow?
Many years back there was a very small study of women with facial hair (stay with me here) that used a finasteride cream to treat their hirsutism. When used as a cream, it appeared to work in this controlled study of 8 women. Does this apply with systemic finasteride for facial hair growth in men? I would think that it might, but I have no way to know for sure if the finasteride was the cause for your facial hair developing poorly or if you would’ve had poor facial hair without ever using the medication at all.
Dear Dr,
thanks for your posts.
Just fyi, I have an identical twin brother. 9 years ago I started taking finasteride while he wasn’t – our doctor suggested for some random reason that I start, while he waited.
None of us could grow a full beard before I started taking finasteride. What we witnessed was that my body hair diminished and that my facial hair grew more slowly than his. When he started taking finasteride, his body hair decreased as well, and his facial hair actually “stepped back”.
We are now 32, and our facial hair is that of a teenager – I started finasteride at 23.
THe difference we observed during the period only one of us was on finasteride suggests to me that, conditional on some idiosyncratic factors, finasteride can slow down facial hair development.
Related to this, if it is of any interest, we both look significantly younger than guys in our age.
Interesting. I know this comes almost 3 years later, but I thought I should leave my experience here.
I was on Fin for 13 years, and during this time I never developed body hair (other than pubic) like chest, back, etc. And my beard grows very slow and it’s sparse.
This year, I decided to take a break from Fin (4months off) to make sure it was helping my hair. It was indeed, as around the 3 month mark my hair started to thin like crazy. My hair stayed the exact same for the 13 years period while on fin.
One thing I noticed during my 4month off fin, is that my beard started to get thicker, very quickly. And I started to grow some body hair.
Later, when I resumed my fin regimen, my beard growth slowed down again.
As a side note as well, I am 39 yo now. And I look like i`m in my mid 20s. In fact, I always looked younger than my age.