Month: January 2023

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Dutasteride is better than finasteride as reported by user below (from Reddit)

One point that I think is worth mentioning is that the deviation in response for Dut is much narrower than it is for fin. Finasteride inhibits 70% +- 18% of Dht while Dut is 94% +- 3%. As you can see, it’s clear why there are about 14% non responders to fin when they may only be inhibiting 52% DHT. With Dut, everyone in the study was above 90% inhibition so you’d have to be terribly unlucky to not respond.

For those who are thinning on Fin or who want better results, Dut is all but guaranteed to work better than fin. Dut is three times as potent at inhibiting 5AR2 which is what we want to inhibit. As a downside, Dut also inhibits 50% of 5ar1 which has unknown consequences.

I keep reminding Reddit readers that dutasteride is reported to cause sterility in a small number of men who take it as possibly is finasteride as well although the FDA trials, which are not present with Dutasteride, is available for finasteride. Neither of these medications have long term studies on young men under 30 years old. I generally tell patients that it is best to stay with drugs that have an FDA clearance for hair loss use as finasteride is than drugs that don’t (dutasteride).


2020-02-13 09:27:25Dutasteride is better than finasteride as reported by user below (from Reddit)

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Dutasteride instead of finasteride

I had sexual side effects on finasteride and my dermatologist told me to switch to dutasteride, does this make sense?

If your sexual side effects on finasteride are real, then it would be the same on dutasteride

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Dutasteride Injections for Hair Regrowth (Photo)

This patient was treated with 0.1% dutasteride injections for 6 months. This is not an approved medication with regard to safety, so I am not rushing to start offering these treatments.


2020-01-02 10:27:30Dutasteride Injections for Hair Regrowth (Photo)

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Dutasteride INCREASED my DHT serum levels

2 months ago, I tested my DHT levels and got this value: 747.67 pg/ml.

I have been taking Dutasteride for a month now, but saw no improvement in my hair: the bald spot on my crown continued to grow. I tested my DHT again 2 days ago: 1110.8 pg/ml.

Of course. Increasing the DHT levels has nothing to do with the effectiveness of either finasteride or dutasteride and that is why I never get DHT levels when I prescribe finasteride.

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Dutasteride Has Been an Approved Hair Loss Treatment in Australia Since 2011?

Results of dutasteride trials have been nothing less than impressive, particulary the study conducted by Olsen et al (2006) indicating that dutasteride at both 0.5mg and 2.5 mg/day generated a superior hair count to finasteride 5mg at 12 and 24 weeks. Anecdotal evidence has also suggested that dutasteride is an optimal hair loss treatment; www.twinhairloss.com is exemplary of its efficacy, in addition, the many thousands that are using it for hair loss purposes. I have also been in correspondence with one of the twins in this study. He has been on a daily dutasteride dose of 0.5mg since day one and the results are astounding.

Additionally, dutasteride has now been approved in Australia as a hair loss treatment since mid 2011. Despite not being FDA approved, is the current literature and anecdotal evidence still not enough to substantiate that dutasteride is a superior treatment to finasteride?

Thank you.

I haven’t heard of such dutasteride approval in Australia as a hair loss treatment. I can only find a public assessment report from Australia’s drug regulatory agency (Therapeutic Goods Administration) dating to January 2011 about the drug being approved for treating BPH, which is what the US FDA also has approved it for. Do you have a link handy so I can read more about the approval since mid 2011?

There is evidence that dutasteride is superior to finasteride for treating hair loss, but there are probably more complications, such as loss of libido, with dutasteride. And more importantly, the subject of sterility is still an open issue as far as I am concerned.

I generally prefer my patients to try finasteride first, and if it fails to achieve the desired goals and the patient is aware of the risks discussed above, then I have written prescriptions for dutasteride after I’ve developed a relationship with my patient. It is on a case by case basis, though.

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Dutasteride dosing

I was reading up on a few dutasteride studies and was curious what your thoughts were about the recommended dosage of dutasteride given it’s rather extended half life.

https://academic.oup.com/jcem/article/89/5/2179/2844345 for example.

Clark noted that the DHT suppression in patients after drug cessation for .5mg dutasteride only had a minor deteriation after 2 weeks with greater DHT in the following weeks, and I’m just wondering what the medical benefits would be from continuing on the recommended .5mg daily when there doesn’t appear to be a specific clinical benefit?

Just curious, not taking this as medical advice. I just have questions and no friends in medicine to ask.

This is a complex issue. Do you really want a 94% or high reduction of your DHT? The article indicates it is possible with dutasteride. The recommended daily dose is .5/day, but I suspect that same benefits might be reasonable at a dose of once a week but since I do not prescribe this medication, I would rather not weigh in on the dosing issue. Most articles I have read indicate that the DHT block is 85% with dutasteride and 70% with finasteride

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Dutasteride (Avodart) Risks

My husband is 33 years old and is losing his hair, he also suffers with body dysmorphic disorder and is desperate to do something about his hair loss. He has already tried many different lotions and potions to try and halt the hair loss because we can not afford for him to have a hair transplant. The problem that I need advice about is Dutagen (Dutasteride soft gel capsules) he has purchased a 6 month supply of this drug from the internet but I noticed the warnings about dangers to pregnant women and the risks to male foetuses. The problem is I am 7 months pregnant with our second son and I have great concerns about my husband taking this drug knowing that there are risks to our unborn son. We also plan to have more children in the future and I am extremely worried about the risks to me and my baby now and for any unknown problems that may arise in the future regarding having more children. What information is available to me to put my mind at rest about my husband taking this drug while I am pregnant and future fertility considerations associated with taking this drug?

Dutasteride is a known DHT blocker. I am not familiar with this drug’s concentration in the sperm and how much of it could cross into the baby. If it follows the experience with Propecia, it should be safe in this regard, but without first hand knowledge, I can not tell you the answer to this question for sure. There is a theoretical problem if it did cross the placenta and into a baby’s body, it might affect the baby’s sexual development as the drug has a very long half life. You might ask your husband to use a condom until the baby is born.

Soft Gelatin Capsules, because of the possibility of absorption of dutasteride through the skin of people who handle this drug and the potential risk of a fetal anomaly to a male fetus in a pregnant woman who absorbs any amounts of this drug, could impact gonadal development. This is a risk that is not well defined for this drug. For this reason, women should use caution whenever handling Dutagen Soft Gelatin Capsules. Your physician should inform you and your husband that the ejaculate volume might be decreased during treatment so that for women wanting to get pregnant, this might also pose risks, particularly for the fetus if the sperm contains the drug and the drug last months inside the sperm (and possibly inside the fetus).

The known side effect of a decrease in sperm volume (with Propecia and Avodart) does not appear to interfere with normal sexual function in most men, but in clinical trials, impotence and decreased libido, considered by the investigator to be drug-related, occurred in a small number of patients treated with this drug. I hope that your husband’s body dysmorphia is being managed by a good physician.

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Dutasteride and length of side effects

I recently discovered that Dutasteride has a half life of 4-5 weeks. I am considering getting off of Dutasteride (daily usage for about 3 years) completely because I feel like it is heavily contributing to my anxiety (timing is very similar). I am on no other hair loss remedies currently but have had one temporal area hair transplant. If I discontinue Dutasteride or take it less frequently, what therapies seem to be working for people nowadays? With such a long half-life, couldn’t Dutasteride hypothetically be taken once a week or potentially less and maybe still have similar results?

In theory, you are correct; with a long half-life, one would expect that a once-a-week dosing might be enough, but for reasons I personally don’t understand, dosage recommendations have been more frequent. As the FDA has not cleared dutasteride for hair loss use, this is a real problem for doctors, i.e. to find the correct approved dose. The blood levels may have a half-life of 4-5 weeks, but the tissues in which the dutasteride is embedded have a much longer presence in your body that could go up to a 1/2 year or more. That means if you get side effects, it may be a long time to get rid of them because dutasteride is in your tissues 6 or more months.

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Dutasteride and depression

Hello dr rassman Im from south korea and i ve heard about you from NHI in korea I ve took finasteride for over 10years with out side effects 2month ago i started dutasteride After 5-6weeks i felt depression. First time in my life. 8 weeks i finally give up taking dutasteride to go back to finasteride. Now its almost 10 days and still have depressive mood. I’m wondering is it ok to maintain finasteride 1mg untill dutasteride half life ends (i know its 5weeks)

The drug dutasteride will last a good 3 months or possibly more as there is tissue fixation that also occurs. Six weeks is the blood/serum half-life. Be patient.