Propecia and Hollow Eyes, Sunken Cheeks?

[surecan]

Awhile back I remember a few posts by some people who believed that Proecia/Finasteride may have contributed to a loss of fat in their cheeks and around their eyes. I've been on the drug for a few years, and I've noticed the same thing in my face. I have no way of knowing whether this is just natural facial changes, or whether it is related to some possible side effect of Propecia.

 

Anyone else here ever hear about such a thing, or think that they might have experienced it themselves? Know of any relevant thread discussions/links or studies that talk about this?

[surecan]

Awhile back I remember a few posts by some people who believed that Proecia/Finasteride may have contributed to a loss of fat in their cheeks and around their eyes. I've been on the drug for a few years, and I've noticed the same thing in my face. I have no way of knowing whether this is just natural facial changes, or whether it is related to some possible side effect of Propecia.

 

Anyone else here ever hear about such a thing, or think that they might have experienced it themselves? Know of any relevant thread discussions/links or studies that talk about this?

[Bill - Seemiller]

surecan,

 

You may want to try using the "find" feature to find relevant threads on this subject. Since weight loss, sunken cheeks, and hollow eyes are not reported side effects of Propecia, I'm not so sure it's related.

 

Best wishes,

 

Bill

[surecan]

I actually did use this forum's search function for posts on this subject, bit didn't find much. Am I missing something? I had tried posting this message earlier, but later couldn't find it... so I assumed I hadn't posted it correctly. Sorry if it's a duplicate message.

 

Anyway, I don't always trust reports from the pharmaceutical companies to be entirely reliable. Just because something hasn't been reported yet as a common side effect doesn't mean it isn't real. And just because a drug doesn't give one person certain side effects doesn't mean it won't give another person those side effects. Drugs like Propecia affect our hormones, which in turn can affect different people in different ways. For example,

many doctors like to say that the sexual side effects of Propecia will always go away once you stop the drug, but I've read a lot of personal accounts which have claimed otherwise. That's why online forums can be so valuable... though it's up to us to be able to figure out what to believe, which claims are backed up with evidence, etc.

 

Update: Here's one relevant thread which had discussed the topic. Is it okay to link to outside forums? See here: http://www.propeciahelp.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=406

[43yo]

IMPORTANT WARNING:

I have taken finasteride (generic form of Propecia) for only thirteen days. I was alarmed to discover that I suddenly had wrinkles under my eyes, slightly hollowed eyes, and slightly sunken cheeks. The swiftness of the onset of hollowed eyes was stark. I'm nervous and depressed about this.

 

I stopped taking finasteride and right now I'm running and lifting hard, hoping that the effects will be reversed.

 

My exact symptoms have been discussed frequently on propeciahelp.com. I tried to register on that site today to post, but for some reason I am unable to register. I just registered on this site, and this is my first post.

 

It seems that finasteride and Propecia causing wrinkles, hollowed eyes, and sunken cheeks has been well established among a significant proportion of its users. Be forewarned; I wish I had better researched it before diving in. I'm very thankful this forum is here! I googled finasteride and wrinkles and I was relieved to find that others could corroborate my peculiar symptoms exactly. Still, I would do anything to reverse this.

 

I'll post later with an update. Please reply if you have any advice I may follow.

[Dr. William Lindsey]

43yo

 

Like Bill, I have not heard those symptoms to be related to Propecia. I have been prescribing it for at least 8 years and as I have blogged, I took it for 11 months.

 

It is not perfect and has uncommon but real side effects.

 

Keep us up to date on your case and what you conclude in your research.

 

Dr. Lindsey McLean VA

[43yo]

It's a common symptom actually. I'm surprised you haven't heard of it.

 

More candid information seems to be appearing on other blogs

[balody]

i have noticed a dramatic change under my eyes the past few years(about the same timeframe of using fin).

these are yellow patches or xanthelasma.my gp said this is caused by high cholesteral and sent me for bloods.they came back slightly above average(5.6)and he put me on medication.

i cant help putting the two together though, as they(the patches) started to appear after i started using fin about 4 years back.

has anyone else experienced this?

i have stopped fin for a while and sticking with minox twice daily.

if you look at the pic you can see them

[43yo]

Balody,

 

You will find much more information on the following blog: they have no commercial affiliations, I confirmed this by chatting with the administrator over email. It actually started as a yahoo group. Me and several others are struggling to reverse the sunken eye effect that we noticed right after starting FIN

 

http://www.propeciahelp.com/forum/