Propecia Finateride

If you’re one of the 40 million US men with hereditary hair loss, there
are two products available to help you grow and keep your hair.
Finasteride (Propecia), which requires a doctor’s prescription, and
minoxidil (Rogaine), which has been available without a prescription
since February 1996.

How Does Finasteride Work?

Finasteride
was first developed to shrink enlarged prostate glands. Researchers
noticed that it also helped grow hair, so a special lower-dose
formulation—Propecia—was developed for hair loss.

It
is how finasteride works that enthuses doctors familiar with the drug.
Finasteride interferes with conversion of testosterone to another
hormone called dihydro-testosterone (or DHT). DHT reduces hair follicle
activity. Over time and under the influence of DHT, follicles sprout
thinner hairs until no hair regrows. When finasteride blocks DHT
production, thinning of hair ceases and a more normal growth may
possibly occur.

Minoxidil’s activity, in contrast, is thought to involve stimulation of hair follicles to become larger and make normal hairs.

The Good News and the Bad News

In
clinical studies, approximately 40% of men taking the one milligram
daily dose of Propecia grew moderate to heavy amounts of new hair after
one year. Another 50% had less cosmetically apparent growth. These
numbers inched up slightly when used for two years. And both Propecia
and minoxidil work best in men who are losing hair on the top of their
heads (instead of a receding hairline or frontal hair loss). Minoxidil
also may lead to new hair production, but results are more variable
because of individual inconsistencies in committing to a twice/daily
program of applying the solution to the scalp.

But
it isn’t only Propecia’s ability to grow hair that interests some
doctors. There is evidence that Propecia can help men stop losing the
hair they have. So it appears that even if Propecia doesn’t help you
grow lots of new hair, it’s a good bet you’ll keep what you have.

You must be patient,
though, and be willing to take the drug once a day indefinitely. It may
take 3-4 months before new hair is noticed. If you stop taking the
drug, all your newly grown hair will fall out over time. The same is
true with minoxidil.

There may be even more good
news for the balding among us: the 2003 Prostate Cancer Prevention
trial seems to have established that finasteride is effective in
reducing prostate cancer risk. Since bald men may have somewhat
increased risk of prostate cancer, finasteride treatment may offer
benefits beyond just improving appearance.

Posted: March 10th, 2008 under Finasteride.
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