I Switched to Dutasteride And I Have More Hair But Does It Cause Sterility?
I am a 33 year old male. I had been using Propecia for 3 years and switched to Dutasteride approximately 6 months ago. Since switching to Dutasteride, I am experiencing less sexual side effects than Propecia, even at 1.0mg daily dose (twice the dose which is recommended in treating BPH) – I am also experiencing more hair regrowth than Propecia. I am wondering how and where you draw the inference that Dutasteride has the potential to cause sterility. Any firm evidence, clinically?
Just like your positive hair growth experience with dutasteride there are others who have negative experience with sterility and sexual side effects.
I cannot find a study or firm evidence, but I always try to balance risks and benefits. If you are never planning to have children, then it may not matter but if you are, why would you want to risk it? In addition dutasteride is not approved for the treatment of genetic balding and there is also no clear evidence it is much better than Propecia (despite your personal experience). If you want to know if you now have a problem, your doctor can order a sperm count which will show a problem if there is one.
I have always been a little baffled (but not entirely) as to why hair transplant surgeons tout dutasteride as being more dangerous than finasteride. They are both 5-alpha reductase inhibitors, although the half-life for dutasteride is longer.
Some doctors are concerned that dutasteride might have long-term sexual sid effects and deny the risks associated with finasteride.
Dr. Rassman says he always tries to balance risks versus benefits but there was a post earlier this week he wrote:
“…unless you’re doing this for research or intellectual purposes, the statistics don’t matter when it comes to personal experience. No matter what the percentage of successfully growing or slowing down hair loss, men may try the medication in hopes it will work. Likewise, no matter what the percentage of negative sexual side effects, men may not try the medication due to fear of it happening to them.”
This line of thinking is completely irrational and entirely disregards the degree of safety versus benefit. The statistics are extremely significant.
Dutasteride is both a type I and II inhibitor and so it will work differently than finasteride as it will have an impact in DHT sensitive tissues that see little intervention with finasteride.
https://www.biokin.com/publications/pdf/Moss9657.pdf
It is a common misconception that finasteride does not inhibit 5-ar type I. There are several articles that say this, but the link above points you to a source from the early 90s that demonstrates finasteride is a slow-binding inhibitor of 5AR type 1 and 2.
Would you like to quote the percentages blocked, as well as interstitial DHT between Dutasteride and Finasteride? You seemed to express surprise that doctors see a difference between the two treatments when it’s clear they are significantly different in pharmacology?