Friday, September 18, 2009

Does Propecia Really Work

Propecia should never be used by pregnant women as it can cause neonatal anomalies. Long term Use of Propecia has caused a side effect for some men of lack of sex drive and impotency.

Both men and women find hair loss to be a sensitive issue with them, we continue to wait for medical science to give us a clear reason for the cause of hair loss and a remedy that will work. Many of the top magazines tell us that one of the main reasons for hair loss is from our hormones and genetics, and that male pattern baldness is seen in almost 95 percent of all people that deal with hair loss. The main cause of male pattern baldness is played by DHT, Propecia is used to control DHT. Many people have reported that their hair loss has stop after using Propecia.

When our body holds to much DHT, our hair follicles start to shrink and become thinner until the follicles are so small that the hair can no longer be replaced and permanently falls out. Early in our life DHT is the main hormone we use in developing our body. But as we grow older too much DHT to our scalps will completely shrivel our hair follicle and needs to be blocked.

With excess DHT being identified as one of the culprits of hair loss in research that has show that men dealing with male pattern hair loss have a much higher level of DHAL in their scalps. If you remember our hair has a normal cycle of three phases they are- Expansion (growing), Dormant (then falling out) , and new expansion (new hair). The problem with too much DHAL speeds up dormant phase and shortens growing phase. the end results is a thinning of hair on our scalp.

In short here is how it works, DHAL will bind with the our follicle receptor which are located on our scalp, Propecia will help prevent the transition of testosterone into DHT this in turn will help preventing hair loss. Propecia (Finasteride) also called Proscar when it first came out was widely used to help control hair loss because of its ability to block the enzyme 5 alpha-reductase which help reduces the DHT level in the scalp. Most doctors only prescribe Propecia to help stop your hair loss and not for re-growing new hair.

One of the downside to Propecia, is it doesn’t seem to aid at all in restoring hair or re-growth in the frontal areas. Propecia seems to produces great results when it has been used with Minoxidil 5% especially in the re-growth of hair around the crown area of the scalp. The frontal area of the hairline can only be restored with hair by means of a hair transplant surgery. You also should be aware that hair loss prevention using Propceia works best for older men, and the best results are achieved if your balding has taken place for less than 5 years.

Propecia: Ultimate Thinning Hair Treatment?

After trying all sorts of remedies or miracle hair growth formula, most people start contemplating drugs as their thinning hair treatment. One of this prescription drug said to be able to alleviate your problem is a drug known as Finasteride, better known commercially as Propecia. But is this the ultimate thinning hair treatment you are looking for?

Propecia works by inhibiting the production of DHT (dihydrotestorone) throughout the entire body. It works by preventing free testosterone from converting to DHT. DHT is responsible for destroying the scalp by shrinking the hair follicle and prevents hair growth. This drug is taken orally and once treatment began, you will see noticeable difference within 5 to 6 months. Clinical testing proven that this drug is particularly effective thinning hair treatment at the crown area and hairline.

Propecia however is very effective in curing male pattern baldness and totally useless if used by female. This drug has also been implicated in causing severe birth defects in male fetuses and not prescribed to women.

The Use of Propecia in thinning hair treatment means that the drugs has to be taken everyday and you will only see appreciable difference within 5 to 6 months of using the drug. However, once you stop taking the drugs, you will start losing hairs again. What this means is that you are becoming drug dependent. This is not the only negative side effect you will get from using propecia.

Side Effects Of Propecia

These are known side effects of using Propecia. Bear in mid that these side effects are only observed on 2% of Propecia users.
  • Decrease sexual drive
  • Decrease in volume ejaculate
  • Impotence
  • Breast Tenderness / Enlargement
  • Blackheads
  • Increased face skin oil
  • Acne problems
In most cases stopping the medication will resolve the issues.

When you are contemplating using drugs as you thinning hair treatment, do some research or better, go see your doctor and ask for their advice. Even though only 2% of propecia users are affected, do you want to take chances?