Can I Stop Taking Propecia?
I have been taking Propecia since my early 20’s and I am now 39. My crown was thinning back in the day and that’s what inspired me to start the drug. My brother is totally bald but my frontal hairline seems to be in near perfect shape all these years later. I am considering stopping taking it because I’m worried about the long term effects and I think as I age my hormones may change and I’ll develop issues from it. In your humble opinion at this point do you believe propecia is keeping my hairline intact? I’ve read that propecia rarely works on hairlines and I’ve heard you say it’s a tug of war between genetics and propecia. I just think I wouldn’t experienced some form of loss by now. The crown is ok but not what it was 6-7 years ago. You thoughts?
Please speak with your doctor for these issues. In general if you stop Propecia you can ‘have catch up hair loss’ where the hairs you kept or regrew over the time you took Propecia, may fall out on stopping the medication. Long term use of Propecia from studies show no adverse effects. There was a study that show high dose (finasteride 5mg) can even lower the risk of prostate cancer and many doctors believe that this benefit extends to the 1mg dose, but this particular point was not studied and is just conjecture.
For those of you who are interesting in doing your own research, I suggest you check out the following link which partially lists the the preliminary published research on post-finasteride syndrome. It isn’t true to say that “long term use of Propecia from studies show no adverse effects”. In addition to the studies that are published in this link, additional globally respected medical institutions are taking post finasteride syndrome seriously and conducting new research studies.
https://www.pfsfoundation.org/published-research/
Regarding the risks of prostate cancer, it is only a half truth to say ‘high dose finasteride can even lower the risk of prostate cancer’. While the overall prevalence of prostate cancer was found to be lower in finasteride users, this was only because low grade prostate cancer decreased. In reality, the presence of more serious high grade prostate cancer increased among finasteride patients. After everything, the statement is not false but it certainly creates an impression that finasteride lowers high grade cancer risk as well which is false.
https://www.fda.gov/Drugs/DrugSafety/ucm258314.htm