Category: Drugs

Hello Dr. Rassman,

First, I just want to state that I have been a follower of your blog for years. I am a fan of your work.

I have a question for you in regards to Propecia. Five years ago, I bought Propecia online. I started to take it once a day, and I suffered from enormous pains in my left testicle. After a few weeks, I stopped taking the drug. I bought this online without a prescription. Guys, do not buy your drugs online without a prescription!

This pain has lingered for a long time. I went to my family physician, and he prescribed me Proscar cut into quarters. I have been taking this for two years and it has halted my hair loss. I am very thin on my head, kind of like your SMP patients once they have completed the procedure. I clip my hair very short and it does not look bad.

However, I still have this pain in my left testicle. Now it hurts in my bladder area. I have taken 12 prescriptions, have been treated for epidydimitis, etc. I have done scrotal, rectal, kidney ultrasounds as well as a CT scan on that area. The specialists have found nothing wrong with me.

However, I still have pain, so here is my question: I know left testicle pain is a side effect of Propecia. Do you know what else I could do to track down this pain? I stopped the Propecia for two weeks and I still had the pain. So either way I have pain, I might as well keep taking it. I feel a throbbing pain in my left testicle and it burns.

If you could give me any advice I would appreciate it! Thanks.

You are reporting a urological problem, so finding a good urologist is critically important as your source of information. Although testicular pain has been reported with the use of finasteride, one should rule out (as you have done with your GP and the above tests) the presence of other conditions that cause testicular pain.

Of course you should discuss changes in your medication with your prescribing doctor… but in general, stopping the drug is a good first step. The stoppage should not cause catch-up hair loss for 2 months or so. So in another month you will know the relationship between your pain and the drug once it is stopped.

I’m a 49 year old caucasian male who stopped using propecia because i can say with 99 percent certainty that it reduced the amount of hair on my legs and stomach. I had been off propecia for about six months and can already see hair returning to my stomach and legs. I also believe, though am less certain, that taking propecia contributed to a brief bout of alopecia on my face. Again, the hair in my beard is coming back now that i’m off propecia, though it’s growing back gray (i’m 49).

In short, I think the makers of this drug should DEFINITELY be required to list loss of body hair as a known side effect. And doesn’t it make sense that surpressing DHT would slow the loss of hair on the head while also increasing the loss of body hair in some people?

Feel free to use what i believe is an informed opinion of someone who will never go back to propecia after using it for about 8 years. Best regard

I’ve heard reports of body hair reduction in a few cases with Propecia use. It may deserve to be in the official side effect list, but I haven’t seen any good study about the effect on body hair, and it doesn’t seem to be very common.

I was using Minoxidil for over two years and never experienced any problems.However,lately I used it applying too much and not leaving 12hrs in between the applications.I developed side effects:chest pain and tightness.My question is how long those side effects will last and if I will be able to start using Minoxidil again?

Kind regards

With respect to chest pain and tightness, I would see your doctor or go immediately to your nearest emergency room. Your chest pain may not be related to a side effect, but a serious medical condition such as heart disease. While chest pain is an associated severe side effect of minoxidil use in some cases, this should be taken very seriously.

doctor rassman what are your thoughts on merck pulling propecias website down? there are articles all over the web.

is there a chance that propecia will be off the market? that sucks. so many of us use it with good results and no side affects

I’ve been sent links to articles about the Propecia site being pulled down, but the few I’ve seen were actually just cleverly disguised advertisements for a class action lawyer. We posted about that site being down a couple weeks ago.

Now I don’t know Merck’s intention (as I am not part of their inner circle), but I would be really surprised if Propecia is pulled from the market. I know there are some people beating a drum about it, but consider this — the 5mg dose of finasteride (Proscar) will always be available as a prostate treatment, so even if Propecia (1mg dose) went off the market, one could switch to 1/4 of a Proscar pill daily. Proscar has many generics in the marketplace and it is used in benign prostatic hypertrophy.

When Propecia goes off its patent protection, many manufacturers will produce the drug at the 1mg level. I realize there are already generic 1mg producers for some markets, but those pills aren’t legally sold in the US yet. When that patent expires late next year, I can’t say that Merck will continue to produce Propecia as the prices come down due to competition from the generics. But either way, finasteride will still be available.