I've just come from a very informative cosultation with the Shapiro Medical Group. I'm very impressed.
They highly recommend Propecia, but I'm a little concerned about its long-term use. Should I be?
Also, does anyone have any comments on the use of Shen Min or Procerin as a substitute for Propecia? Are they as effective?

Thanks.

Anthony,
I would advise you to take Propecia on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays. Dr. Cooley told me to do that because it's just as effective and is cheaper.
As far as the shen min, it's crap. I posted a topic a couple months ago called Scams on the Market and Shen Min was one. I used it for a long while with absolutely no results. It's a bunch of crap and would be NO substitue to Propecia.

Anthony,

Finasteride, has been applied for treating the prostrate for many years with very little complications. It is this same active ingredient, finasteride, that Propecia contains. The difference is that Proecia was in fact developed for treating MPB and is at a much lower strength of 1 mg per tablet.

The reason eithical doctors like Dr. Shapiro recommend Propecia so strongly is because it has and continues to be the most clinically effective medication available for men who wish to slow down their hair loss. It has a 95 - 97% efficiency result in men across all ethnic classes. Potential side-effects though never desirable, are at very low levels with dissepation of those effects in most men who continue with the drug. You can read more about Merck's controlled clinical trials with Propecia at their website.

Here's the key to retarding the ill-effects of androgenetic alopecia (MPB). Until one deals with the rampid levels of DHT in our system, we will continue to lose hair. That's what finasteride does, it deals with the main source of the problem. It's pharmacology classification is a specific hormone inhibitor.

A very small percent of men have not experienced good resolve with finasteride and have gone to other prostrate medications like dutasteride which effectively blocks both Type I and Type II DHT. There are no FDA approved products which contain dutasteride for treating MPB and the potential side effects can be even less desirable.

Hopefully some of the other guys in this forum can comment on Shen Min or Procerin. I personally have never tried them because I do not see the clinical efficacious results nor any emperical data to support their use.

A friend of mine who is an MD and researches homeopathic medicine advised me that Rosemary Extract was an herbal method of blocking DHT but again, no clinical conclusions or trials to support it. He also said it was very pungent in odor so again, not an option for me.

IF finasteride were a newly discovered medication, I too would probably be more concerned about its long-term use. It's been around for years and considered very safe especially at the lower doses. Either way, I wish you the best!

GIllman at it agian.

Yes most respectable surgeons recommend propecia for what Gillator stated and also to keep your new HT healthy and grow faster during the regrowth phase.
The other 2 agents you mentioned are knock off products--scams.
Every doctor/patient has recommendation for taking propecia like listed above.
For me personally, I've been on it for 6 years and I take it once a day, expect when I was having my HT--then I took it 2x a day-- morning and evening 2 weeks prior to surgery and 4 weeks after-- then back to once a day. It works for me and I think helped keep my hair from going dormant after surgery. Also, I stop for about a month every year, just to "shock" my system not to get tolerated to the drug.
FYI-- Best of luck with Shapiro--if you go with him.