Itchy Scalp from Finasteride?
hi Dr Rassman, I’ve been taking Finasteride since Apr 09 and would have to say, I haven’t seen any improvement. If anything, its gotten thinner, along with a case of scalp itch (no dandruff) in and around my hairline. Is that a known side affect of the drug? I’ve seen people suggest it could be new hair growing? That would be nice, but i’d rather see it than feel it. I don’t even like being in pictures any more. I’m seeing a dermatologist in a couple of weeks, but would really appreciate your thoughts.
Itchy scalp isn’t a side effect of Propecia (finasteride) as far as I’m aware. Perhaps you’ve got something unrelated going on that your dermatologist should be able to diagnose.
I’m not sure what area of your scalp that you’re looking at or where you’re losing hair, but Propecia does not generally regrow hair in the frontal areas (it can happen, but it’s rare). It might be slowing the loss down, but not stopping it completely. You’ve been taking the medication for over a year and a half, so hopefully your prescribing physician will have some better insight into whether there has been any success for you while taking Propecia.
It is not known side effect but yes, it is a side effect. I started Proscar (1.25mg) March of 09, close to your time. My story is a little different in yours, in so far as, for the first approximately 8-9 months my scalp was fine, no itching or inflammation, just like it has always been, however around November and December it slowly started to itch along with awful dandruff, uncontrollably. To make a very very long story short, I tried to put every kind of oil on my head that you could think of (short of motor oil), and any type of vitamin etc. to help quell the inflammation, didn’t work. Next I went to a nuturopath and tried to eliminate wheat from my diet for months, as I was tested for a high sensitivity to that. That barely helped, if at all. I finally decided to stop finasteride all together in January or February. My hair was and to an extent still is very dry and coarse.
After much much research I found out that finasteride screws with your adrenals which in turn screws with your thyroid.
I would suggest that you look into getting a 24 hour saliva test done to see how much cortisol you are producing throughout the day. I would also reccomend to see a GOOD naturopath.
My hair and scalp issues have gotten better, but they aren’t 100% yet.
Like I said, make sure you see what’s going on with your adrenals. Everyone reacts differently to different things, it’s just the way it is.
Also try to take a few tablespoons of flaxseed and try not to eat as much wheat as you normally would, every little bit helps.
To this day , I have seen two family doctors and one dermatologist, they couldn’t help, said fin wasn’t to blame.
I’ve seen three seperate naturopaths, and the last one I saw is actually very informed and has a patient with a very similar story as mine.
Look into ways to help rebuild adrenals:
-Pantothenic Acide
-Ashwagandha
-Licorice Root
Also, try to go to hairlosshelp.com forums for some good information and avoid coming here for any questions that may be out of the norm.