Case Study – Dutasteride Plus Finasteride Saw Dramatic Increase in Hair Growth
In a report in the Australasian Journal of Dermatology published last week, a case was presented of a 47 year old man who did not see the same hair density after 4 years on finasteride. The doctors added 0.5mg/week dutasteride to the treatment plan and there was a dramatic increase in hair growth.
There is a problem for what is called “poor responders” to finasteride, and the focus of this article was to add a low dose of dutasteride weekly. There was no significant sexual side effects with this particular patient, but of course, the issue remains that sexual side effects could be significant in other patients. Dosage is a problem, as some doctors have prescribed 5 times the dose of dutasteride at 2.5mg/week, or even daily use. The dose increases the costs for the patient and no one really knows the recommended period that a patient should take this increased dose nor the time to obtain the therapeutic response. Worst case, we do not know if dutasteride acts as a carcinogen that can cause a high grade prostate cancer, as the story is not in yet on the full extent of the safety of this drug over time.
In no way am I recommending you add dutasteride, but you can talk to your prescribing doctor about your case. The above is just a single case study presented, but it was worth posting here to get your always fascinating feedback.
From drugs.com
Propecia Males Age 18-40
Decreased Libido 1.8%
Erectile Dysfunction 1.3%
Avodart Males Age 47-94 (mean 66)
Decreased Libido 3.0%
Erectile Dysfunction 4.7%
Surely, Avodart has more chance of side effects but still 95% it will not! Plus these percentages are from older men I think if young men take Avodart the side effects percentage but maybe be 1% more than Propecia! Only problem is if side effects do occur they’ll last longer because of Avodart half life. My opinion is to be on Propecia as long as it works if you are start losing hair again, Avodart is worth a try.
This could suggest that poor responders to finasteride have some sort of higher affinity for both types of5a reductase and perhaps blocking both has increased results in these individuals after all. Of the men I’ve known who’ve moved to dutasteride (I can’t honestly say I’ve ever met anyone trying both simultaneously) the results have all been as good if not better than propecia but the side effects far more extreme.
Id be fascinated to see if dutasteride offered more hope for frontal/hairline balding if the effect on these very sensitive hairline areas was more noticeable clinically or not. I’ve been perfectly happy with propecia and my hairline but I’m clearly one of the rare good responders who not only stopped but had major regrowth across my hairline. For those who have less success than me, itd be fascinating to see a more thorough review of both medications mixed at lower doses.
Isn’t propecia a carcinogen that can cause high grade prostate cancer though?? (even if it can lessen the chance of getting loer grade cancer)
interested in a response as I genuinely don;t know the answer to this – I just remeber reading something to that effect
Tim, no finasteride is not a carcinogen by any definition of the word. It has been shown to reduce overall occurrences of prostate cancer by roughly 25%, even though there is a very slight increased rate of high grade tumors. This increased rate is believed to be caused by easier diagnosis due to the decreased size of the prostate gland. Evidence does not suggest finasteride *causes* prostate cancer; it shows that it prevents it.
First of all, most of the studies I see out there regarding avodart are done in people who are in their late 40’s or 50’s. By then, the final pattern of baldness is already determined, or in most cases, most of the hair that was predisposed to the baldness gene has fallen out already. I want to see concrete studies done in individuals under the age of 35 who are taking avodart and still want to have kids. I want to see how effective the drug is for them and what side effects have they encountered.
I don’t understand at times how certain men above the age of 40 who are bald or lost most of their hair, start taking propecia or avodart and claim they have no more hair loss. Obviously not! You were already bald to beginning with or have reached your final hair loss pattern and will not lose anymore hair. Like I mentioned above, lets see some studies on avodart, with pictures, done on young men under the age of 35, so the general public can make a more educated guess whether or not to take the drug or avoid it entirely.
Propecia may stop hair loss at 90% of all men but Avodart like 98%! As for hair growth and thickening Avodart is better, you can read tons of people saying so online even my derm who’s willing to prescribe it said so but it’s no miracle if that’s what you are expecting but still is a better than Propecia for sure!
This is good news. I’ve also always thought that with its very long half life, it didn’t make sense to take dutasteride every day, even for BPH. The drug has a half life of 4 weeks and will not completely be out of one’s system for several months. Avodart every day seems to be too much, and a lower dosage makes much more sense.
A single 0.5 pill, once a week, may be plenty to address MPB. As long as there are no side effects, a single pill once a week may very well be a safe, effective, and cost efficient way to deal with this problem.
The daily thing just helps with patient compliance, I think. At once a week, the patient may forget to take the pill entirely.
Great finding. It’s always good to have more arrows in the quiver.
How much Finasteride was this man taking a day?
I used both finasteride and dutasteride. I can say for sure I got better results with dutasteride but stopped after a few months because I had no sex drive at all (sex actually disgusted me). So I went back on finasteride which also has that effect on me but not as bad.
If you read studies conducted online about how effective avodart is compared to propecia, you will see studies that say it is a better drug then propecia. However, it mainly worked in the vertex of the scalp and sometimes the midscalp, just like propecia does, but it didn’t grow as many hairs one would think. One study I saw online said avodart grew 40 hairs compared to 35 on propecia, something like that. Neither drug was effective on the hairline or temple regions. In terms of side effects, they occurred more often when taking avodart and they were more severe and lasted longer then on propecia.
The man was taking 1mg of Finasteride per day.  You can purchase access to the study for $35 through the link in this posting.  I did that and I must say that the picture demonstrating Dutesteride’s effect is quite remarkable.  There is a picture of the mans crown prior to starting Finasteride 4 years ago.  Then another picture  2 years into Finasteride therapy which shows some slight regrowth.  Then another at 4 years which shows the effect of Finasteride had definitely waned as the crown appeared close to the original baseline picture.  The last picture was taken 3 months into the use of .5mg of Dutasteride once per week combined with the 1mg of Finasteride per day.  The regrowth far surpasses what Finasteride had done at the 2 year mark. It is definitely worth taking a look at the result as it is very impressive.
Sfoch,
If finasteride gave you a decreased libido why would you try dutasteride!? It’s only obvious it would make your side effect worse! Dut is only worth the try if fin gave you no side effects!
Would like to know if this person also went through a typical high shedding starting the low dose Dut. This would be my biggest fear of adding this to my regime. The Fin I am on after 12 years is slowing degrading effectiveness and need to add a bump to the “system”.
12 years…wow, congratulations really! That’s really not bad…Propecia staved off balding for 12 years. Pretty good effect.
You might want to ask your doctor about increasing your finasteride dosage, maybe to 2.5mg or even 5mg before trying dutasteride.
Going beyond 1mg won’t help! But yeah 12 years and only slowly losing effect is awesome.
Tried 2.5mg Fin for one full year…no visible affect. Want to try this low dose 0.5 dut but my hair can’t afford a high shed with the significant diffuse I have now. Does this article say anything about shedding?
Thanks, RJ. Did the man have any thinning up front, or only in the crown?
I’m in my early 30s and been on 1 mg finasteride since early 20s (10+ years),not sure how well I responded to the drug,but recently my crown is thinning,I find this research interesting,and I’ve now started taking 1 Avodart per week + my normal daily Finasteride.let’s hope I get improvements too!I will try to update here,it’s now 3 weeks since I started,so far no change.
PS : my Avodart is legit and the only thing I noticed is that on the days that I take the Avodart (Mondays) there is a weird feeling in my head like light dizziness or being lightheaded,like when you just caught a cold,nothing major and there is definitely significant INCREASE in libido,these symptoms happened on every day I took Avodart (3 times now;in 3 weeks) and last only one day.
I am 31 years old and I have been taking propecia for 10 years. I have maintained my hair quite well but the treatment has recently lost its effectiveness. Every morning I used to count 30 hairs in my comb but I know it is only a fraction of the total amount lost. The real number is certainly around 100 hairs per day. With that pace I realize that I would certainly go bald some day. I have a twin brother who refused to take care of his hair and he is bald now.
So I decided to add that little extra to my regimen: finasteride everyday + a pill of dutasteride 0.5 mg once a week. I bought and read the relating study and I was impressed by the pictures of the 47 years old man. It’s been a month now with my new regimen and the results are dramatic! I experienced absolutely no shedding. The hair lost on my comb decreased to only 15 per day! So I suppose that I loose about 50 hairs per day! I think I will maintain a full head of hair forever.
Regarding the side effects. With propecia I never experienced any sides. After taking a pill of dutatseride a feel a bit tired and notice a temporary increase of libido. I take the pill on thursday night and I easily get asleep. On friday morning a feel good again (no more sides). I think it is a good compromise. Those of you who are unsatisfied with propecia should consider adding dutasteride. It is worth trying at least. The difference between ordinary and extraordinary is that little extra.
“Going beyond 1mg won’t help! But yeah 12 years and only slowly losing effect is awesome.”
Based on the available data, I would say that this is a below-average result. Apparently, if 86% patients kept their hair on finasteride for 10 years, this guy belongs to a minority of unfortunates.
You really have no idea about the real efficiacy of available medications. The people, who use them successfully, don’t visit internet forums, because they have no reason to do so. I started with my treatment in December 1996, and if I were not looking for some ways, how to increase density in my temples (in 2007), I would never go to an internet forum. The first experience with these cesspits was terrible. A bunch of whining, hypochondriac losers complaining that all the available medications will work only for few years, and “minoxidil will not stop MPB, no matter how often you use it”. And I have been on it for 16 years already. What a fool I am! LOL
“Every morning I used to count 30 hairs in my comb but I know it is only a fraction of the total amount lost. The real number is certainly around 100 hairs per day.”
The hair that remains on your comb is entirely irrelevant. What matters is the hair on your head.