TLDR Taking 1 mg/day finasteride for hair loss significantly lowers PSA levels in men, which may affect prostate cancer screening.
In a study from 17 years ago involving 318 men aged 40-60 with androgenic alopecia, taking 1 mg/day finasteride for 48 weeks resulted in a significant median decrease in serum PSA concentrations by 40% in men aged 40-49 and 50% in men aged 50-60. The placebo group showed no change in the younger age group and a 13% increase in the older age group. The study concluded that recommendations for adjusting serum PSA concentration in prostate-cancer screening for men taking finasteride should also apply to those taking 1 mg/day for hair loss. The study highlighted the need for further research to understand the long-term effects of finasteride on PSA levels and prostate cancer detection.
1707 citations,
December 2003 in “The New England Journal of Medicine” Combination therapy of doxazosin and finasteride safely and effectively reduces benign prostatic hyperplasia progression risk.
581 citations,
October 1998 in “Journal of The American Academy of Dermatology” Finasteride safely and effectively treats male pattern hair loss, but may cause reversible sexual issues and harm male fetuses.
1 citations,
July 2017 in “The Journal of Urology” Low-dose finasteride and dutasteride reduce PSA levels by 27.8% in men with male androgenetic alopecia.
9 citations,
September 2010 in “Dermatologic Therapy” Finasteride for hair loss is safe and does not increase the risk of high-grade prostate cancer.
24 citations,
June 2011 in “Andrologia” Ganoderma lucidum may help treat enlarged prostate in rats.
151 citations,
May 2014 in “American Journal of Clinical Dermatology” Effective treatments for male pattern baldness include oral finasteride and topical minoxidil, while topical minoxidil is best for female pattern baldness.
March 2009 in “The Journal of Urology” Low dose finasteride causes only minor changes in PSA levels in men over 50 with BPH.
February 2007 in “Faculty Opinions – Post-Publication Peer Review of the Biomedical Literature” Taking 1mg of finasteride daily for hair loss can lower PSA levels by 40-50%, so to keep PSA effective as a cancer screening tool, the PSA value should be doubled during treatment.
