I Am Worried About Becoming Propecia Dependent

Hello!

Congratulations for the great insight that you give with your blog.

I’m probably hopping on the Propecia bandwagon and would like to know your clinical experience with it concerning side effects. Do many patients discontinue it after some time? I know the whole debate about Propecia’s safeness, for me it’s probably more of a psychological issue, becoming dependent of a drug is not high on my list, but I’d like to keep my hair hoping that some effective topical or surgical treatment comes out in the meantime.

Thanks!

Propecia does not completely stop hair loss forever, nor does it cure hair loss. It slows the process down, usually for many years. If you stop taking it after a period of use, the hairs that you gained or kept from falling our will disappear. Your hair loss will catch up to where you would’ve been had you not taken the medication in the first place, which is why I refer to it as “catch-up” hair loss.

There is no dependency issue. Like all medication if you stop taking it, the benefits are gone. Propecia is meant to be taken for life, much like cholesterol medicine, blood pressure medicine, etc. Most of my patients do not stop taking the medication.