Where Is the Topical Finasteride?

Hi
Great blog you have, really useful. I have a question about topical Finasteride. I take 1mg Finast and think it might be holding my hair loss + scientifically expect it probably should be, therefore very much don’t want to stop. However, I am convinced that I get sexual side effects whereby my penis is just not as full and pumped (flaccid and erect) when I take it. I’ve tried experiments of washing it out for 3 weeks and then going back on it and I’m pretty sure there is quite a marked difference.

This has left me in a dilema and I was very glad to see a recent Indian paper in which they’d compared topical Finasteride with oral for a few months and found that, though the effect took longer to come on, it seemed as strong after 6 months.

Do you know how far away we are from topical Finasteride being available? Whether there is any other data on efficacy? Whether there is any data on whether systemic absorption occurs? And whether one has to apply it for long periods which would make it problematic to use? Many thanks for any light you can shed!

I’m not sure which Indian paper you’re referring to, but to my knowledge topical finasteride doesn’t have proven value. It would require special formulations for topical use and some drug company would have to push it through the FDA before it was determined safe and effective. Some doctors sell it online and armchair chemists on hair loss forums have their own tips on how to make your own, but I’ve not read any formal studies that show topical finasteride works the same as the oral finasteride. I’ve written about this before.