Anybody here try topical finnasteride vs oral finnasteride?

[MAngel88]

is the topical stuff less likely to give side effects?

[MAngel88]

also are you less likely to get sides from topical if the oral pills did give you sides?

[Raphael84]

Topical Finasteride is definitely less likely to be responsible for side effects. As the solution is applied topically, there is much less systematic absorption. 

[MAngel88]

12 minutes ago, Raphael84 said:

Topical Finasteride is definitely less likely to be responsible for side effects. As the solution is applied topically, there is much less systematic absorption. 

 

does it still give results for the hair similar to oral fin?

[MAngel88]

is it worth trying for my situation?

[gillenator]

If you are experiencing sides with the oral form, then the topical is definitely worth a try...you will never know how efficient it will be for you until you try it.

I say that because we all respond differently to various meds and it might work well for one individual but the next one , not so much....so it's worth a try.

[Friedman]

Anyone got results with topical finasteride?

[gillenator]

It's interesting that topical finasteride has been around for several years now and yet we hear little to no feedback on results.

[Alekzander]

On 7/23/2019 at 11:25 PM, gillenator said:

It's interesting that topical finasteride has been around for several years now and yet we hear little to no feedback on results.

I think that most people are running away from topicals in general because it's much easier and less time consuming to just pop up a pill... Except Rogaine foam everything is making your hair look greasy and you have to stay a little until it dries or maybe apply it at night, as most say, it's kind of a burden.. Me for example, i am afraid of sides and i prefer topical solutions, but i use only Rogaine foam because i can't find Topical FIN in my country...

[gillenator]

That makes sense...by the way, have you tried looking for it online?

[Curious]

Where can you buy topical finasteride?  I've heard that liposomal finasteride, sold in Italy, is the most effective form of topical finasteride.

[CosmoKramer]

29 minutes ago, Curious said:

Where can you buy topical finasteride?  I've heard that liposomal finasteride, sold in Italy, is the most effective form of topical finasteride.

I’ve looked into topical fin and I haven’t found a reputable online source to purchase from.

Your best options are to google any local compounding pharmacy and ask them to make it for you....or as some have done, make your own topical Fin, I’ve seen a couple videos on YouTube. You could crush half a 1mg propecia or generic fin tablet into 1ml of Minoxidil solution and give that a try (I haven’t tired it tho, just yet)

[Alekzander]

23 hours ago, gillenator said:

That makes sense...by the way, have you tried looking for it online?

Yes sir but the only thing i could find is the Morr-F from India and there is a lot of controversy about it's authenticity, some people claim it's original, some receive bottles with other substances in it, it's kind of a gamble because i understood that it's sold by different people who take it from their local pharmacies, being sold over the counter in their country... I will try to find something local here where i am, in Romania to be more exact but i'm not sure if i would find any, considering that there are not even a lot of doctors who prescribe Propecia, there are only a couple, the rest refusing to prescribe it because of it's controversy and the whole bunch of confusing information that you can find about it..

[gillenator]

I am shocked that it's not offered in the US or any other North American pharmaceutical company.

[Alekzander]

On 8/9/2019 at 11:04 PM, gillenator said:

I am shocked that it's not offered in the US or any other North American pharmaceutical company.

Sorry for the late response. I am not from the US but i was watching a lot of what William Rassman's work and he actually makes a Fin topical solution at his pharmacy or something like that, he recently said it on Reddit, it's actually or cream or something from what i heard him saying but he can't send it to Europe unfortunately so i last track of it's progress... But sounded interesting anyways, he has also some info and result pictures of it on his site, for anybody who is more interested in the subject!

[gillenator]

it must have something to do with regulatory laws in the US as to why he cannot ship it directly to you outside of the US.

Maybe you could try to have it shipped to someone in the US and then they could ship it to you?

Just a thought...hope that would not be illegal.

[Alekzander]

2 hours ago, gillenator said:

it must have something to do with regulatory laws in the US as to why he cannot ship it directly to you outside of the US.

Maybe you could try to have it shipped to someone in the US and then they could ship it to you?

Just a thought...hope that would not be illegal.

Yeah i don't know either if it's legal since a prescription is needed... For sure it would be confiscated at customs. I'm sure there are some manufacturers in Europe also, some private pharmacies or something but i really tried to stay away from it even if i know that it's the only working thing for hair loss, but i come from a family of doctors and i was and am surrounded by a lot of them since i was a child and from 90% of them i heard only negative things about Finasteride in general, from the 5mg one to the 1mg one. Not to mention that in the country i come from, 90% of dermatologists refuse to prescribe Fin because of their experience with it and because of the recent studies, stories, warnings, etc....

I am very documented about it, about it's history and how it was discovered and even if i am very open minded when it comes to this things i just can't ignore all the contradictory info regarding it, all the other studies like the one from the Korean Journal ( "The Dark Side of 5α-Reductase Inhibitors' Therapy: Sexual Dysfunction, High Gleason Grade Prostate Cancer and Depression" ), i just can't ignore all the anecdotal reports of people reporting PFS and many other things and first of all i just can't ignore the fact that it's manufacturer is the same producer of VIOXX and i'm sure you are aware of it's story and by the recent news from Reuters in which Merk was found to have kept secret permanent or persistent sides of Fin, he manipulates studies like he did in the VIOXX case also, they keep it under seal because the law permits them, he lied about the percentages of people who get sides and the way they conducted the studies are very poor and misinformative... 

Not to mention the way the FDA approves this drugs based only on the manufacturers studies and not conducting studies themselves before approval, don't want to sound like a conspiracy theorist but i am very disappointed on how the world looks and runs lately, from many points of view and in every domain... I really hope that Breezula comes out and that it's safe like they say it is and maybe get a transplant of two, i don't see any other option. Minox gave me heart sides, fatigue and hypertrichosis, and because i don't think i have enough sulfotransferase enzymes for it to work it only made my hair loss worse, from every point of view, only shedding and taking the life out of my remaining hair. Luckily that i used it only a couple of months and all of the sides went away after stopping the treatment...

Let's hope for the best and let's hope that somebody will find in the future the actual cause of this, the root cause of it, not only blaming serum DHT and trying to destroy it, even if the majority of people this days know for sure that the accumulated scalp tissue DHT is the problem, not the serum one, which is relatively the same in both individuals, balding and not balding ones... We need to find why the process starts, why the inflammation, why the fibrosis and calcification and why DHT acts the way it does in the balding scalp regions, not just blame it on Genetics... From how i see it, soon enough there will be only baldies in the world, what they will say then, that we all inherited the genes responsible for it? I mean i know that there must be some genetic influences or susceptibility, but will all the information and data available lately, seems like the whole DHT "programmed follicles", etc theory is falling apart... 

And the strongest and newest discovery is that they transplanted miniaturizing hair from the human balding scalp to a immunodeficient mouse and it started growing faster than the transplanted hair from a non balding scalp, and that should make us question a lot of things, including those failed transplants that i have saw and the ones that after 5-10 years are starting to miniaturize even if the follicles should have been DHT resistant!

Best regards sir.

Edited October 4, 2019 by Alekzander

[gillenator]

As consumers we all have to be skeptical of the pharmaceutical companies because let's face it, in the end, it's always about money.

[Alekzander]

16 hours ago, gillenator said:

As consumers we all have to be skeptical of the pharmaceutical companies because let's face it, in the end, it's always about money.

Very true and sad at the same time considering they are our only option when it comes to this things...

[Lane604]

I have been looking into topical fina for a while now. There are at least three versions: solution, liposomal gel, and the Polichem one. They all seem more or less effective but it is very difficult to figure out which dosage will prevent or reduce systemic effects. Concentrations and studies are not comparable, so the best (most detailed/recent) studies we have (from Polichem) are not applicable to anything that is currently available (gel and solutions). Maybe things will clear up when the Polichem version will hit the market.

[Future Hair Doc]

Research into the efficacy of topical finasteride is in its infancy. However, it appears that it is indeed efficacious and there are less side effects compared to oral finasteride. Please see the following study published in 2019 in the Journal of Drugs in Dermatology:

"Preliminary results regarding the application of topical FNS for the treatment of AGA are promising. Current data suggests that there may be a therapeutic potential for topical FNS in the treatment of AGA, while minimizing unwanted systemic side effects associated with oral use. Topical FNS appears to be non-inferior for hair regrowth when compared to systemic FNS. Combination therapies including topical FNS, as well as MNX or dutasteride, may be more effective than topical FNS alone. Topical FNS is not widely used despite its proven efficacy and lack of side effects, most likely due to the lack of evidence-based research."

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6609098/

Edited November 3, 2019 by Dr. Suhail Khokhar

[Curious]

I would like to find a way to buy the liposomal finasteride produced by an Italian company.  I've heard that it is effective.

[Raphael84]

@Curious

I have their contact details for their pharmacy in Milan somewhere if you would like me to take a look.

Alternatively BHR Athens are working with an Athens based compounding pharmacist that offer topical finasteride with the option of minoxidil combination.

You would need a prescription from a Doctor for either pharmacy. If you need help with anything, just let me know.

[Curious]

Sure, I am interested.  It would make no difference to me if it came from Greece or Italy, so long as it works.  Do you know what the difference is, if any, between topical finasteride and liposomal finasteride?

[Lane604]

The liposomal gel was reportedly developed to reduce systemic absorption but it has been argued in another forum that the primary use of liposomes is to increase penetration. In theory this could allow a lower concentration to be just as effective, however the concentration of the gel was originally set at a rather high 2.5%. Some buyers have requested versions with lower concentrations like 0.2% and 0.1%. The gel is more expensive than the solution.

Edited November 4, 2019 by Lane604