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 Dr. Alan J. Bauman is the Founder, Medical Director and Chief Surgeon of the Bauman Medical Group, P.A. located in Wharfside at Boca Pointe in Boca Raton, Florida. His practice is dedicated exclusively to treating male and female pattern hair loss. Dr. Bauman uses state-of-the-art medical and surgical techniques to help his patients maintain and/or restore their scalp hair.
hating_my_genes
2010-01-21
is propecia really safe?
dr.Bauman i would like to know the real truth about propecia. yes,is probably the best treatment to reduce hair loss but is really worth it?what about all these side effects? Merck says that less that 2% percent of people get side effects but reading online seems like more people get side effects than benefits.
what do you think of some of the websites that claim that propecia is very dangerous and the side effects are permanent?(propeciahelp.com and propeciasideeffects.com)
what do you think of the new study from sweeden claiming the propecia side effects can be permanent?
and the final question,what is your opinion on PRP treatments?
Thank you for your question on Propecia side effects. This is a common concern for all those who might be considering taking Propecia for hair loss. It is important to understand the difference between scientific clinical trials, anonymous postings on the internet and 'real-life' clinical experience.
In clinical trials, 90% of patients look the same or better after taking propecia for five years. This is an excellend positive benefit, especially considering that WITHOUT propecia you have a 75% chance of looking MUCH WORSE in five years.
Thankfully, in the clinical trials only 1.8% of patients had sexual side-effects (decreased libido, ED, etc.). These effects were rare: <2% and reversible. Reversible because finasteride comes out of your system within a week, reversing any and all effects of decreased dht.
I can say with confidence that after prescribing finasteride since before it was fda-app'd for MPB (~15yrs) side effects are less than 3 out of 1000 in my practice. In fact, men with mild side-effects often do not stop the medicaiton.
Sometimes just changing the timing of the dose (AM to PM) does the trick. I sometimes see side effects in men who are inconsistent with their treatments.
Remember that for every 100,000 users who are happy with the medicaiton, there are a subset of
"unhappy campers" who are very vocal on the internet.
Spencer Kobren of the Bald Truth believes that much of the 'anti-propecia' propaganda is perpetuated on the internet by snake-oil salesmen who are pushing 'herbal dht-blockers' which have absolutely NO scientific basis whatsoever.
Hope this helps! Good Luck!
Regarding PRP it definitely helps with wound healing in some cases, so we'll have to see what happens with the research in hair growth.
No way it can be a 'miracle cure' but every bit of extra hair growth helps, right?
I've asked my patients, and many would NOT want injections on a regular basis, they'd simply rather have a hair transplant (especially with the minimally-invasive FUE NeoGraft). Would you rather have routine injections for hair loss?
Sincerely,
Dr. B.
Alan Bauman MD
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