studies of<\/a> the drug. But in rare instances, men have reported debilitating symptoms that continue even after they stop taking the drug. In addition to erectile dysfunction, low libido and depression, some men have also reported symptoms such as genital numbness, cognitive difficulties, a shrinking of the penis and even suicidal ideation. Having one or more of these ongoing symptoms is known among some researchers and patients as post-finasteride syndrome, which is poorly understood and a topic of considerable debate in the field.<\/p>\nWell-conducted research from a randomized controlled study published in 2021 found that using finasteride topically \u2014 applying a spray or a gel on the head \u2014 reduces the likelihood of serious side effects and is almost as effective as the oral version. And new drugs, including one that stimulates hair follicles\u2019 mitochondria, are expected to come on the market in the next few years and reportedly have no side effects. But for now, most dermatologists still prescribe oral finasteride, which has been studied the longest. Topical versions, which are still not approved by the F.D.A., typically cost more and have to come from a compounding pharmacy. Many men also grow frustrated with regularly applying serums or gels because the products mat their hair during the day or leave their pillow greasy at night. Doctors worry about finasteride coming into close contact with women who are pregnant (or may become pregnant), given that DHT plays a significant role in a developing male fetus. And although finasteride itself won\u2019t cause hair growth on, say, a girlfriend\u2019s cheek, it\u2019s often compounded with minoxidil, which might.<\/p>\n
\u201cI, for one, would never take the medication,\u201d said Jonathan Clavell, a urologist in Houston. \u201cBecause if I were one of the unlucky few who turns out to get the syndrome, I know I\u2019d regret it.\u201d While the dermatologists I spoke with said they\u2019ve never seen a patient who suffered from ongoing symptoms, Clavell is one of five urologists I interviewed who said they had. He even suspects that the number of people reporting those serious problems could be artificially low, because so many men secretly suffer in shame with erectile dysfunction and never seek a diagnosis or help. And men suffering from depression or brain fog might not make the connection \u2014 Clavell has seen some patients who have no idea, until he asks them for a list of the drugs they\u2019ve taken, that finasteride might be associated with those symptoms.<\/p>\n
Clavell has tremendous sympathy for his patients \u2014 earlier in his 40s, he himself was a quickly balding man who was tempted to do anything he could to keep his hair (for years he relied on minoxidil, which eventually stopped working). \u201cI believe there\u2019s a very big misconception that only women care about their appearance,\u201d he said. \u201cAnd it\u2019s not true. Men just don\u2019t talk about it with our friends. But secretly, behind closed doors, we are trying to keep our younger selves for as long as we can.\u201d Maybe it is some kind of machismo, he mused, that makes men so likely to compare their own hair with others\u2019. \u201cWhen you watch TV and movies and all these actors,\u201d Clavell said, \u201cthey have beautiful, long hair. You\u2019re like, \u2018Man, how are they able to keep all that volume?\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"First brought to market for hair loss by Merck as Propecia in 1997, the pill became available in…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":520811,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[42],"tags":[94270,62536,181183,103553,181184,181182,11035,102,6591,181181,224,56,54,55],"class_list":{"0":"post-520810","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-medication","8":"tag-anxiety-and-stress","9":"tag-baldness","10":"tag-beauty-concept","11":"tag-dating-and-relationships","12":"tag-depression-mental","13":"tag-drugs-pharmaceuticals","14":"tag-hair","15":"tag-health","16":"tag-medication","17":"tag-men-and-boys","18":"tag-social-media","19":"tag-uk","20":"tag-united-kingdom","21":"tag-unitedkingdom"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/520810","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=520810"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/520810\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/520811"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=520810"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=520810"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=520810"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}