Sexual Dysfunction Side Effect from Finasteride Diminishes Over Years

Greetings Dr. Rassman,

I’m one of your patients (procedure in 3/07). Things are going well. You gave me a bottle of Propecia to try and I just started taking it about 3 days ago. I had been holding off taking it until I did some more reading (OK – I’m a slow reader)

I found this article; I thought it might be a good addition to your Blog:

MedicalNewsToday.com – Finasteride For Prostate Cancer Only Short-Term Risk For Sexual Dysfunction

Best regards

Thank you for the information. Of note, the article reports:

The 2003 results of that trial, conducted by the Southwest Oncology Group in more than 18,000 men, showed that finasteride could reduce a man’s chances of getting prostate cancer by almost 25 percent.

and…

The authors, who surveyed more than 17,000 men 55 and older for seven years, reported their results in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute. … The study suggests that finasteride will cause little or no sexual dysfunction for most men who decide to take it, conclude the authors.

The study was funded by the National Cancer Institute. Citation: Journal of the National Cancer Institute, DOI: 10.1093/jnci/djm023