Category: Drugs

what are the questions one would ask a doctor if he wanted to be sure he wasnt having a hypoandrogenic reaction to propecia? what would a doctor check, or know to find this out?

im a 25 year old male and ive been on propecia for 15 months or so. Hair has thinned quite alot while on treatment, instead of second guessing myself and reading to many websites.

i just want a medical answer! thanks for the help doc!

You need to tell your doctor what you are experiencing. Testosterone levels transiently go up with Propecia as compensation to the impact of DHT blocking. Are you asking if developing breasts is a problem with Propecia? Your questions are not clear.

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Hi there,
Can I just say that you have a great site! I’m a regular reader, and think that I have a question for you that may be interesting. I’ve searched through your archives and haven’t found a similar question, but if I have missed it, please accept my apologies.

Recently I have had a look through the FDA trial reports on finasteride, but cannot find any information on the body sizes and characteristics of the patients used in the study. Are such data available? (Histograms, Mean/median, SD, etc).

Whilst I am assuming that the effective dose of finasteride for treating MPB is related to body size, and that the occurrence of side effects increases with relative dose, could there be a case for smaller dosages being suitable for people smaller than the people used in the FDA study – Asians and orientals for example? As this blog is international, I feel that we “vertically challenged” of the rest of the world need to know!

I passed your question to Merck and I just got an answer. Essentially, the only thing that was studied was the average dose that is effective and it was not related to a person’s weight. Body size was not studied.

Dr Rassman,
I have been using Rogaine for more than a year now and it had done nothing to my hair loss, actually it increased the rate of loosing my hair plus destroying its texture. My question is; if I stop it now, will it get worse and I would loose more hair, as I have read some blog about huge shedding after stopping Minoxidil ?

Thanks for your help

If you have been using minoxidil for a long time and stop abruptly, you may experience some hair loss for whatever hairs may have been benefited. There is no way to tell how much hair loss (if any) would occur. If you did not see a dramatic increase in your hair growth from minoxidil, I doubt it would have much impact if you stopped using it.

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Is propecia at 1mg as effective as finasteride at 5mg ? thankyou

What was published in the original work on Propecia was that the 1mg dose was just as effective as the 5gm dose for treating hair loss. One might suspect that there is a dose response relationship and that a higher does might have more of a benefit than the 1mg dose, but that is strictly guess work. I only know for sure what I read about the subject and that data is well documented in the literature and through the FDA approved trials.

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minodoxil/rogain in liquid alcohol based form is to be used twice a day 1ML each time. What are the effects in terms of B.P or any other side effect if the drug was used in slightly more capacity (say 1.5 ml or even 2ml each time) to cover a larger area over a long term period. Will it have any adverse effects in the long term? or patients are strictly advised to use 1ML twice a day? in short is more than 1ml minox more effective?

Some people just can’t tolerate higher doses of minoxidil. You could try a higher dose and see if it makes you light-headed. If it does, then the dose could be too much. There is a suggestion that a higher dose of minoxidil is more effective and some doctors make up their own formulations in the 15% range. I do not offer this, because I have no experience making up medications in my office.

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What are the effects of taking rogaine and propecia together? Are any positive effects negligible? Does rogaine only come in topical form (no pill)?

Minoxidil was originally an antihypertensive pill that did not have a consistent response for the treatment of high blood pressure. It grew hair on some of those who used it. It is not recommended today for oral use in the treatment of hair loss. It was more effective growing hair when it is applied to the skin directly and is certainly safer.

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Dear Dr. Rassman, I have a question about Propecia’s impact on the prostate. I’ve read other posts but have not been able to find anything regarding my particular question.

Like women, men also have a g-spot and it’s located on their prostate. My question is, if Propecia shrinks the prostate does it impact the g-spot too? For better or for worse? Will it make the g-spot disappear? Thanks.

Your question is an interesting one. I do not believe that men have the same type of G-spot that women have, but the nerves that surround the prostate in men are in the same vicinity as where one would find the G-spot in women (just above and behind the pubic bone). Propecia will not shrink a normal prostate, only one that has benign swelling from age. I do not know if there is a perceptible difference in the feeling of a swollen prostate and one that is less swollen (I might venture a guess, but not here). Gay men who have anal intercourse or digital stimulation may be better able to answer this question if they are in the upper age group. Having done many rectal examinations and having had them myself during my annual physical examination, I know what it feels like to have pressure put on the prostate (I do not particularly like it, nor do most heterosexual men).

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