Frontline, gold standard treatment for combatting androgenic alopecia
- Is finasteride safe? Studies report that most men tolerate finasteride 1 mg, but case series, regulatory labelling and patient reports describe sexual, mood and cognitive effects that some say persisted after stopping, and how often that happens is not established. It is a prescription-only medicine and is contraindicated in pregnancy.
- Is Finasteride unbeatable or are there equally powerful alternatives? Trials report finasteride as the single medication with the strongest measured effect in male androgenetic alopecia, while dutasteride, minoxidil, topical finasteride, PRP, LLLT and microneedling all have supporting studies and are often reported to work better in combination. Finasteride, dutasteride and oral minoxidil are prescription-only, and several of these uses are off-label.
- What does finasteride do to the female body? Find out its side effects. Finasteride is not approved for hair loss in women anywhere; the one controlled trial, in 137 postmenopausal women at 1 mg daily, found no benefit over placebo, while smaller uncontrolled studies at higher off-label doses report some improvement. It is contraindicated in pregnancy and crushed or broken tablets must not be handled.
- All 5 questions on Finasteride →
a topical anti-androgen with less systemic involvement
glycoprotein that inhibits TGF-β and promotes hair growth by antagonizing activin
