Propecia,

I have had good luck holding onto my hair..I credit Propecia, since it is the only therapy I have used since a 1200 HT 1 year ago. My hair loss has completly stopped after six months use.

QUESTION:

Is propecia actually good for Prostrate health ? it seems Saw Palmetto is marketed as a Prostrate healthy herb, and from what I have read Propecia has similiar qualities ?

Any Physician or knowledgable person in this area, what have you heard ?

NW

My understanding is that DHT, which is solidly implicated as a factor in male pattern hair loss, is also responsible for benign prostate enlargement, a condidtion that afflicts many men as they age. Propecia is a low dose of the drug Proscar which is used to treat benign prostate enlargement. So, propecia might help reduce an elarged prostate, but it is a much lower dose odf the same drug, perhaps too low to be helpful for many men with an enlarged prostate gland.

An interesting question: Does proscar prevent prostate cancer. I don't think there's any data to support this, but one wonders if reducing enlarged prostate over the long-haul has any impact on risk of prosate cancer. There is also a caveat: like with most "newer" medications, we don't know the effects, positive or negative, of 20 or 30 years of use. Of course, you might as well give up taking some of the most important medications on the market if you want 30 years of data before you'll try these medications.

Important: if you are taking proscar or propecia and your person physician doesn't know, tell him. His interpretation of PSA level, a score used to screen for possiblity of prostate cancer, requires knowing that you are taking this drug and the dosage you are taking. A dose related reduction in PSA results from taking proscar/propecia.

Hey Paul,

Excellent points...I too, do wonder "if" in fact Proscar or Propecia has an effect whatsoever on the Prostrate cancer issue...it does "seem" that men get prostrate cancer more frequently in the U.S./Europe and possibly a link to high fat diets etc..But then you hear of countries that have men with little or no MPB and very little prostrate trouble hence also far less prostrate cancer ?

So if we take care of our DHT levels..are we helping the risk of prostrate Cancer ..??

Perhaps there is an ongoing study.

There is a very large 7 year study to determine if finasteride can reduce the incidence of prostate cancer. The study was started 5 years ago so it will be opened in about 2 years.
Finasteride significantly lowered the risk of prostate cancer in lab animals after they were exposed to chemicals known to stimulate prostate cancer. It doesn't appear to have much effect if prostate cancer has already developed so its use, if the study shows an effect, will probably be in the area of prevention.
Dr Parsley

A recent study showed that after 5 yrs men taking finsateride (not sure what dose) actually had a 1 point something higher chance of developing high grade prostate cancer... oh f___k! anyway, i've attached the article so have a read.

Most guys cut proscar into quarters, I used to cut it into 5ths, now i cut it into 7ths! And I'm not taking it everyday! that stuff is pretty potent after a few weeks. I felt a bit of a loss of sensation when contracting the msucles down there (like when you hold in urine or sperm) and then I noticed I was blowing my load quicker than usual (like where did that come from?) which i attribute to finasteride.

As far as my hair loss goes mmm the jury's still out, been on it for a yr, i suppose i should be more committed to the program, but I'd much rather be a crazy baldhead than have prostate cancer.

cheers
Crazy baldhead

pS sorry people couldnt upload the pdf but the link is...

http://content.nejm.org/cgi/content/abstract/349/3/215