Balding Blog

I am consuming propecia for the past 6 month and i can see good results. My question is, i and my wife would like to have a baby. Is it safe to have a baby while i am on this medication because i have been told by a pharmacist that i should stop consuming propecia for at least 1 month before planning to do so. He said that it will probably do damage to a newly born child.

The half life of Propecia is 4 hours. That means that in 4 hours, there is 50% of the dose remaining, in 8 hours 25% remaining, in 12 hours 12.5% remaining, in 16 hours 6% remaining, in 20 hours, 3% remaining and in 24 hours 1.6% remains in your system.

Now the official answer from Merck is that you can continue to take Propecia while you are trying to get you wife pregnant. Different opinions from different doctors who are generally skeptical, tell their patients the following:

1. Stop taking the drug while you are trying to get your wife pregnant.
2. Stop taking the drug while your wife is pregnant.
3. Stop taking the drug the month you are trying to get your wife pregnant and when successful, go back on it.
4. Stop taking the drug for the one week a month when your wife is in her fertile period.

Clearly, this is your decision. I tend to recommend #4, not because I believe it, but because it is reasonably safe and will minimize the time off the drug. I am always concerned about losing the benefits of the drug, and running the risk of a dramatic hair loss.

Hey doctor, love the site. thank you for your time and effort in maintaing baldingblog and all the help you’ve given to everyone who reads it.

quick question. i’m wondering what your opinion is on patients taking propecia temporarily (immediately before ht and for a certain time after) in order to protect against shockloss from a transplant. Many doctors advise this to patients who refuse to take propecia or cannot from side effects. i wonder if you think this is a good idea, or should patients completely avoid finestaride if they’re not going to continue with it? Thanks.

I generally advise men to take Propecia (finasteride 1mg) before and after a hair transplant surgery indefinitely. If a patient is completely resistant to taking Propecia for long periods, I generally advise them to take it at least one year post surgery. It may aid in preventing shock loss and the patient may even see some benefits from the medication and decide that they will continue taking it.

Hi – I have heard that taking propecia may provide a false negative in some cases on a PSA test since DHT is lowered. Is it possible to have prostate cancer and not know it from a PSA test because propecia hid the true results?

Prostate Specific Antigen (PSA) test is a screebubg test for prostate cancer. It is a nonspecific screening tool for doctors to consider when evaluating a patient. PSA can be affected by many non-cancerous causes such as infection, benign elargement of the prostate (BPH), or even digital manipulation (during a rectal exam, for example). Finasteride is thought to reduce elevated PSA levels so we generally take a PSA baseline test for all men over 50 prior to starting the drug.

For further reading, the Dec 2005 Journal of Urology published a 7 year follow-up study of patients taking 5mg finasteride (5x dose of Propecia) and found no significant increase in Prostate cancer risk (Dr. G. Andriole was the lead author, Ref: J Urol. 2005 Dec;174(6):2098-2104)

That article was prompted by the New England Journal of Medicine article published in July 2003, which alluded to an agressive form of prostate cancer with finasteride use (which was not correct from the follow-up study).

Dear doctor,
how do i find out if my hair loss has started or not? (my dad starting to lose his hair when he was 50, he has not lose all his hair yet but he you can see his scalp after washing his hair) …..do u think it is a good idea/time to start taking proprecia? i have been taking proprecia for nearly 3 months. what happen if i find out that my hair loss has not start, will i trigger the hair loss if i stop taking proprecia? Please teach me what to do. thank you so much for your time.

Get your hair mapped out for miniaturization and you will know for sure if the balding process has started. I doubt that Propecia will completely prevent the balding process if taken preventively. If I assume you saw no benefit yet on the drug, I would doubt that you would lose hair by stopping it now.

Hi Dr.,
I am taking finastride 1.25 mg daily splitting the 5mg. tablet. I have been taking it for 5 months. There were no side affects, but recently i am experiencing some pain in my right breast. I am 24 years old and i have a very tight and manly figure. my breasts are tight and hard. The pain in my breast can go away in future i think. But my question is, does the pain is correlated with breast enlargement or any breast problem?

is there any problem regarding sex related issue with wife if i take finasteride? Finasteride is working great for me.

Thank you Dr. Your blog is very helpful.

Propecia (finasteride) might cause breast pain, often around the nipple area if at all. If it does not lead to breast enlargement, then you may have to put up with the pain to keep the benefits of the drug on your hair, but give it some time and hopefully the pain will subside. See you primary doctor for an examination of your chest.

As for any problems for your wife from you taking finasteride, I wouldn’t be concerned. See Official Word from Merck Regarding Propecia’s Effect on Sperm and Pregnancy for information on that.

Hey doc, I need this question answered ASAP, if you wouldn’t mind. As you may know, Ramadan has begun and many Muslims will be getting up in the middle of the night to eat and drink, for eating and drinking aren’t permitted until the sun sets.

So if I take Propecia before the sun rises, like around 4 AM or so, would it have the same effect as taking it later on in the day? Thanks

You can take Propecia (finasteride) at any time. Just take it about once every 24 hours (day). I generally recommend taking it when you wake up in the morning, when your testosterone is highest and if that is 4am, it will work as well at that time.

can mpb or aga occur during puberty, opposed to after its completion? if so, should one think twice about taking propecia if they are not sure they have fully completed puberty?

Male pattern baldness (MPB) or androgenic alopecia (AGA) can start as early as puberty, when your hormones are at a flux. I would generally recommend Propecia (finasteride 1mg) for men who have completed puberty in their late teens. I am not aware of any studies on Propecia with respect to its effects on men still undergoing puberty, but I would suspect it might slow down or even block the appearance of puberty.

First off I have learned alot from your web site. I’m sure all your readers are very greatful. I know I am!! My question is If someone already suffered from impotence and taking viagra or a simaler product for this would mixing propecia with it for hair loss be a problem. Is it a safe mixture in other words?

There is no difficulty taking Viagra and Propecia. They do not interact with each other. This way you can enjoy both good sex and great hair. That is a winning combination.

Hi dear Dr Rassman

I am a 43 years old man which have taken Propecia (1 mg) for 7 months. I know taking the said pill for women is forbidden and they should not even touch it. So, if a man who is taking Propecia and want to bring a baby, he should stop using the pill before intercourse with his wife? I mean the finasteride dose not transfer through the sperm.

If the answer is yes, how long before intercourse the man should stop using the Propecia?

Your soonest reply will be appreciated. Thank you

After extensive studies in this very issue, we know that the drug is not transmitted to the woman through sexual intercourse. We have not seen the problems of fetus sexual differentiation in women who were fertilized by men taking this drug at the 1mg dose for hair loss. It is generally considered safe to have a successful pregnancy while a man is taking finasteride (Propecia).