Is There a Connection Between Finasteride and Tight Foreskin?

Thanks for the great site. I have a new one for you. I’m 26 yo male taking the standard finasteride dose for hair loss under doctor supervision for about 18 months. None of the typical complaints.

About 6 months ago the distal tip of my foreskin began tightening with a white ring of inflexible tissue. This was recently diagnosed as ‘balanitis xerotica obliterans’ or BXO. A simple analogy is thinking of your soft eyelid skin losing its elasticity. Hardly comfortable.

I’m no hypochondriac looking to blame my condition on finasteride. I’m aware any connection is unlikely. I ask your opinion based on the following tidbit I stumbled across: “…[patients] have been found to have decreased serum levels of free testosterone, androstenedione, and dihydrotestosterone compared with control subjects. The underlying defect may be a problem with the function of the enzyme 5-alpha reductase.”

Perhaps you could take a look at the medical literature on my behalf? I will be seeing my regular doctor for this matter, but I thought you might be intrigued enough to add your educated thoughts. Thanks.

Thank you for the information. It is intriguing, but I’ve not had this complaint from any of my prescribing patients. I realize not all patients might be quick to tell me about all possible issues they have, but that’s all I have to go on.

I did search PubMed, but I couldn’t find a correlation between DHT reduction and penile foreskin. The penile issues involving DHT are mainly from when you were in your mother’s womb. For example, if your mother was taking high doses of finasteride or had a genetic defect in DHT production.