Taking Avodart While Starting a Family

I’m a 25 year old male with hair loss problems. I started to take Propecia about a year ago and then found out about Avodart. I started taking this drug about 3 months ago. Very recently, I found out that my girlfriend is pregnant. I want to know if through my sperm can my baby have birth defects?

I’m very scared of having a child so early in my life and finding out that it comes out with birth defects.

Please Advise!!!

The issues of safety and effectiveness have not been fully explored in the youth like you with Avodart. Without that information in a research controlled, FDA approved study, there is no way to tell the answer to your question. Unfortunately, the manufacturer has not elected to sell into the hair market, despite the good blocking effect that Avodart has on the targeted enzyme. The FDA has certified this drug for prostate disease and I suspect based upon this, the drug should have no impact on the egg fertilized by the sperm of a man taking the drug, or when having unprotected sex during pregnancy.

Avodart (Dutasteride) blocks an enzyme called 5-alpha-reductase, which is necessary to change testosterone to another hormone that causes the prostate to grow. The effects of dutasteride have a prolonged half life, measured in weeks or months (which means it hangs around the body for quite a while).

Women who are or who may become pregnant should not take dutasteride or even touch dutasteride capsules, because it can cause changes in the genitals (sex organs) of male fetuses and this drug should not be exposed to children. It is not clearly defined if enough of the drug (or for that matter any of it) can cross into the woman through intercourse from a man who is taking it and it is even more of a stretch to think that it can be built up in enough quantities to reach the pregnant female and then the unborn fetus. With that said, every source I’ve read tells the doctor and patient not to use it in women who may become pregnant or who are nursing. Much of this may just be ‘protective’ language for the drug company, but I can not say for certain.

In any event, I do not prescribe Avodart for these very reasons. A cross over from Avodart to Propecia information may reflect on the same issues, except for the long half life of Avodart. For information on Propecia and pregnancy, please read:

• Propecia and Pregnancy, is it safe? on HairLossTalk.com
• Propecia and Pregnancy – Part 2 on HairLossTalk.com