Very Low Dose of Finasteride (Less than 0.25mg)
Dear Dr Rassman,
Have you had any patients who have taken very low doses of finasteride (i.e. less than 0.25mg)?
I am not keen to take propecia because I’m concerned of the effects to my internal body chemistry but would also love to keep my hair for longer. I have had issues with my sex drive previously and do not want to mess with my hormone balance too much as a man still in my 20’s. Another reason being that I’m an athlete and want to be at my peak physically. I’ve read a lot about how finasteride affects the hormones, particularly the obvious reduction in DHT but also the decrease in free (not total) testosterone and the rise in estrogen.
Then I read this forum post: Hairlosstalk.com
It seems that taking a dose as low as 0.05mg is enough to lower scalp DHT considerably while keeping 20% more DHT in the blood. Like the original poster in the forum thread who is considering crushing a pill and measuring smaller doses – this prospect is more appealing to me. If I could just lower my blood DHT by 40-50% instead of 70% then surely my hair would still get some benefit and I would be able to keep my hormones at a more normal level. I have ruled out taking 1mg but am really curious about taking 0.05mg if only I could just measure it accurately each time (I wouldn’t want to take fluctuating dosages each day).
It makes me wonder why propecia isn’t available at a much smaller dose (0.05mg or 0.1mg)
Could you comment please? I’d very much appreciate it. Thanks for such an informative blog.
Propecia (finasteride) at 1mg was determined to be the ideal dose for treating hair loss. Lower doses do work, but how low? I’ve said that 0.5mg produces 80% of the benefit, and 0.25mg probably give 50% of the benefit. I don’t have a clue about lower dosages.
But by dosing the 1mg level, it is the most effective treatment level to use… so why dose lower unless there are significant side effects?
Hi Dr Rassman,
Thanks for answering my question.
My main reasoning is because I’m an athlete and really don’t want to lower my blood DHT levels quite as much as I would with taking 1mg of finasteride. Lowering DHT is not great for athletic performance as I understand it (obviously I’m not a doctor, but I have done some research) and with the lowering of this hormone comes an elevated level of estrogen and a lowering of free/usable testosterone (albeit a slightly higher total testosterone level).
I just wish that there was a lower dosage which would allow me to balance some hair benefit (even if reduced) with a more normal hormone level. The comment above me and link that I posted suggests that 0.05 – 0.1mg keeps 20% more DHT in the blood yet the levels at the scalp are reduced almost as much -so presumably there would still be some hair benefit.
I’m surprised to hear you say that 0.25mg might only give 50% of the benefit since studies show that the DHT levels are reduced almost as much with 0.25mg as they are with 1mg.
Anyway, Thank you for your time. If you do have any more knowledge of this now or in future then I’d love to hear about it.
I am using 0.06 once a week and it has a good effect with the hair and still have some side effects…
Between 0.04 and 5 MG show a similar DHT reduction …and the DHT reduction is still in the body for 7 days…
Hi Damian! I’m very interested in your regimen and microdose of finasteride. My future plan would be 0.25 mg on Mon/Wed/Fry. If doesn’t work I’ll change. What sides did you have? and what would recomemnd to me? Thanks, and thanks to David to ask something too interesting.
it can help, but i’d imagine you’d need antifibrotic action as you are just slightly lowering DHT with such an approach. I’ve done the low-dose. eventually had hair loss when I stopped accutane but stayed on low-dose fin. (accutane INDEED has antifibrotic action)
hi alex, what do you mean by antifibrotic action? It seems that 0.05mg still lowers a significant amount of DHT but just not quite as much…to be honest I wish it didn’t lower as much as I’d be content with just having some hair benefit while not changing my body chemistry so much.
wayne…that’s an interesting approach that i haven’t thought about – is that because you developed sides on a higher dose or are you looking at it from a similar angle as me?
maybe if people are thinking of trying low dose fin then we could exchange contacts and update each other on how it’s going?