Author: Dr. William Rassman

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I was Norwood Class I and Took Propecia for 8 Years. Can I Stop Taking it To Have A Baby?

Hi Dr – Firstly just wanted to say thank you for the wonderful work you are doing on this site!

I took Propecia 1mg for 8 years, but a couple of years ago I noticed I was losing ground (NW1 – NW3). I increased my Propecia dosage to 2mg and have been taking this for the past 2 years and experienced no side effects.

I am 34 years old now and thinking of starting a family. My question is: Is it safe to be on 2mg Propecia a day and trying for a baby? If I completely stopped Propecia now, how long will it take for the drug to be completely out of my system? I really worry that, so much Finasteride will pose a risk to my unborn child? I will be discussing this with my doctor, but you are a specialist in this field and would really appreciate some advice.

First and foremost, please follow up with your doctor and address your question to him/her.

I have some issues with your history and you need to follow your doctors recommendation. If you are a Norwood 1 or even 3, I question if you should have been on Propecia. Propecia does not work to prevent a mature hairline from forming. Propecia is meant for the frontal area, the top and the crown areas. It is sometimes taken in hopes that it will help with the frontal corners but that decision is up to you and your doctor. At least you didn’t have any side effects and you seem to have done well. Another issue is that higher dose of Propecia doesn’t really work any better than the 1mg dose.

Finally, Propecia does not affect conceiving or having a baby. There is no evidence of this. For those who are still worried about it, Propecia has a half life of about 4 hours in the blood stream. This means almost all the medication will be out of your blood stream in 1 day. With respect to tissue fixation and possible traces left in your body it can take between 1 to 2 weeks. Considering the thousands of men who may have fathered children while on the drug, to my knowledge there has been no medical issues or legal issues.

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I Was Responding to Finasteride, But I See More Loss Lately — Should I Switch to Dutasteride?

Dr. Rassman and co,

Thank you so much for this blog, it is a great source of information and truth.

My question to you: I am a very good responder to finasteride, have been on it since 2010. I have recently been losing more and more hair especially from my temples and hairline. Would you think or recommend that i switch to dutasteride?

Also i added Rogaine foam since 2012 and have noticed only slight results and maybe even some accelerated losses from the hairline and temples.

Thank you

The decision to switch to dutasteride is one that should be made between you and your prescribing doctor. I rarely prescribe dutasteride, however, when I do prescribe it, I usually require the patient to have had a course of finasteride first. I would allow a switch to dutasteride only on a case-by-case basis, so I can’t recommend it for you (especially because you’re not my patient and I don’t have your medical or hair loss history).

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I Was Prescribed Propecia After the Doctor Just Glanced At My Head

I am a bit of a hypochondriac, I admit it, and every once in a while I really fear losing my hair. I am a 26 year old male and haven’t experienced shedding, hair in the drain, etc, but I recently looked in the mirror and worried that more scalp may be showing than before. Of course this could be my imagination, because I don’t look at the back of my head very often. No history of hair loss on my father’s side. On my mother side, I have one cousin with hair loss, but neither his father (my uncle) nor my grandfather had hair loss. I have always had very thin/fine hair.

I recently went to a dermatologist, who after looking at my hair for about a half a second, said I had early signs of MPB and prescribed me propecia. He didn’t ask about my history or symptoms at all.

I don’t want to take the propecia unless I am certain that I am losing my hair. I’m not convinced that I am, but I also don’t want to delude myself either. I was wondering what advice you could give me. I am sending a couple pictures, if that can help you give me a recommendation. Many thanks.

I discuss all of the time that the diagnosis is made in the early stages before hair loss is evident by mapping out the scalp hair for miniaturization and establishing a metric for it. If you don’t do it this way, then the next step is recession and frank balding, not something you want to find all of a sudden. The early miniaturization will show the beginning process very clearly so that if you take appropriate medications, you might stem the problem before it gets to frank balding. If you do not have miniaturization, then you probably do not have early balding and do not need medications. A simple glance of the head is not going to cut it for a case like yours.


2008-04-18 16:35:40I Was Prescribed Propecia After the Doctor Just Glanced At My Head

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I Was Prescribed Beclomethasone Dipropionate

I had gone to dermatologist for the hairloss problem. He prescribed Finasteride along with Beclomethasone Dipropionate lotion. I want to know how does this Beclomethasone lotion function. Any side effects of it and for how long it has to be taken ?

Finasteride 1mg is for traeting androgenic alopecia (genetic hair loss in men). Beclometasone dipropionate is a corticosteroid that is used to treat skin disorders, like eczema or psoriasis… and is not usually used for treating androgenic alopecia. Do you have a skin disease?

Perhaps you should ask your doctor, since he/she is the one that prescribed it to you. I can’t give you advice on how much or how long to use a prescription medication, as I didn’t prescribe it and I don’t know what you’re treating.

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I was told not to do a hair transplant!

I was told that I haven’t lost enough hair to fill in the highlighted areas where I’ve been balding (see outline of my thinning). Do I need to loose more hair to become a better candidate? I consulted two clinics about the number of grafts for my hairline. One said 2000 the other said 2500-2800. Above 2000 seems like too much to me, but I’m not sure. Any feedback is appreciated.

Why undergo a hair transplant if you don’t need it? Hair transplants accelerate balding, especially in younger men. You would likely lose much of the hair presently on your head if there is significant miniaturization present, so maybe a transplant would be switching from what you have to transplanted hair with marginal gain other than the surgeon making money at your expense. There are great medical treatments for your hair if you think you are thinning. Get a doctor that knows how to treat you medically.

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How many years will finasteride be effective?

As long as you take it, it has value to maintain your hair, not necessarily restoring it, but slowing down the progressive nature of genetic hair loss. One patient comes to mind, he was 62 and has been on finasteride for 20+ years. He thought it was time to stop it and when he did, he lost hair and quickly went back on it. The few long term studies on it seem to reflect benefits on hair for long term use.


2019-12-23 17:20:41How many years will finasteride be effective?

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I Went from Incredibly High Libido with Propecia to Now Having Zero Libido

Hello,

I began taking propecia when I was 20. Within 1 week, I was experiencing loss of libido and erection difficulties. I continued the drug, and within a month these sexual side effects disappeared. I continued using the drug for the next 3 years with an incredibly high libido. I just could not curb my sexual hunger.

However, suddenly in June 2007 I lost my ability to achieve erections for no apparent reason (i.e. it was a very happy time in my life). I lost all my morning erections. I have had morning erections everyday of my life since puberty. So I stopped propecia and temporarily regained my libido and erections for about 1 week, but there has been a slow decline in it since I’ve stopped propecia.

Its now been 14 months since I stopped propecia and my morning erections and libido have completely disappeared. My penis feels “detached” from my brain. I can now go weeks without ejaculating. Its just unreal. I’ve seen numerous doctors with no success.

I understand that thousands of people use propecia with no problems, (as I did for 3 years) but there seems to be a minority of us who are experiencing prolonged sexual side effects. These side effects have not subsided months to years after stopping propecia. I assure you that this is not psychological issue! I’ve been very open to that, but the reality is I am suffering from zero libido.

There are others like me at www.propeciahelp.com

Please help us.

While sexual side effects (both positive and negative) are reportedly associated with Propecia (finasteride), most men do not realize that erectile dysfunction is an independent problem in itself. In other words, you cannot always blame the drug. A reason Propecia is a prescription medication is so doctors can help deal with problems like yours, answering questions that you may need to have addressed. With a good doctor you must also explore or accept other possibilities as well. Discuss these issues with your prescribing physician. For more on erectile dysfunction, see the past post, Propecia Gave Me Side Effects — How Can I Get My Sex Drive Back?

I’ve seen the PropeciaHelp site and have commented on it in the past — here, here, and here.


2008-09-09 18:56:42I Went from Incredibly High Libido with Propecia to Now Having Zero Libido

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I Was Told to Oil My Scalp Despite Already It Already Being Greasy

I am a 30 year old male with some hair loss problems. I have been suffering from seborrheic dermatitis for about 2 years. My scalp is naturally quite oily due to this problem. I recently went to a trichologist and he suggested that oiling scalp is a must, no matter how oily the scalp is. My questions are

1. Is it good for me to oil my hair despite greasy scalp? Would it not aggravate seborrheic dermatitis?
2. Trichologist recommends washing scalp daily with a shampoo containing saw palmetto extracts. Do you recommend daily washing?
3. Can I resort to options like Finasteride? Minoxidil again would probably aggravate seborrheic dermatitis?

Thank you ..

I think that the trichologist should be the one to speak with for questions #1 and #2. I don’t know why those recommendations were made. Finasteride and/or minoxidil will not help your seborrheic dermatitis.

If you have hair loss issues and want and medical treatment or assessment, you should see a physician. From a medical point of view, oily hair or scalp does not cause genetic balding and shampoos (even with saw palmetto) do not treat genetic balding.

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I Went Off Propecia After 14 years and Lost My Hair!

I started taking Propecia when the drug first hit the market. There was some early hairloss when I started the medication. I stayed on it faithfully for about 14 years and last year I decided I did not need it anymore and would try to be off of it. I had no side effects, but I wanted to be free of taking drugs. About 1 month later, the hair loss started and got really bad by the third month. I am not sure why I did not go back on the medication, but I was scared. My hair loss was worse than when I started on the drug.

After almost a year I made the decision to go back on the drug and saw the hair loss stop again and some hair started to grow back. Will I get it all back?

As you were off the drug for almost a year, I would not be surprised to see little regrowth. Only time will tell, and this time stay on the drug as it is a lifetime commitment.