Is Propecia Stopping My Beard from Growing?

Dear Dr. Rassman
I’m 20 years old, and I’ve been using propecia for one year. I would like to know, if one side effect of propecia is stopping the development of my beard-hair. I’ve heard that DHT is responsible for the development of beard hair and finasteride stops the production of DHT. Is this right?

That is an interesting question. Beard hair develops as you go through puberty as a secondary sex characteristic and DHT is one of the agents that cause its growth at puberty and beyond it. I have heard reports from a few patients that beard growth has been slowed by finasteride as was a maturing hairline slowed. It would not be what I would expect and neither are reported as a known side effect of finasteride. When I started Propecia, it did not reverse my nose hair, ear hair, my beard (which I hate) or my excessive chest hair (although one patient did report to me that his chest hair went away with Propecia).