My Doctor Wants Me to Take 5mg Finasteride Daily for Best Results

Hi Doc

After spending hours on your site I have decided to take the brave step of seeking help from my local GP, Doctor, about my hair loss. I still have a good head of thick, black hair but I am shedding some hair. Uaing Nitozrol seems to have helped, less loss and thicker heir.

My GP stated that he is willing to prescribe me Finasteride in the 5mg ‘as we have seen best results at this dosage from our patients’.

Doc is that perfectly normal to take 5mg I thought it was 1mg per day not 5? Have you seen better results with 5 then 1 with your patients?

Thanks

Reports originally sent to the FDA by the pharmaceutical company Merck show that the 1mg dose of finasteride is as good as the 5mg dose of finasteride for treating hair loss. There may be an occasional patient who does better on a slightly higher dose (2mg), but as the dosage goes up the side effect risks become higher. Even in those cases, I have a difficult time delineating that a higher dose provides more benefit. I have suggested to some patients that have seen a cessation of visible benefits after some time on Propecia to increase their dosage, but so far the results have not been clear… and I’ve not recommended those few patients increase to the full 5mg.

On the flip side, there are some doctors out there who believe 0.25mg finasteride is just as good and there is some evidence that this tiny dose is 50% as effective as the 1mg dose! In my practice, I recommend the standard dose for treating genetic hair loss: finasteride 1mg. As most people likely know, the reason a 5mg pill is available is because it is a prostate treatment (marketed as Proscar). 1mg for hair loss, 5mg for prostate.