Dutasteride/Avodart. When is it time to change?

[Raphael84]

Hey guys,

 

Just wanted to check out peoples opinions on Avodart. What are peoples thoughts regarding taking it in the first place. Obviously there are issues that no long-term studies have been taken. But can anybody on here explain their experiences with it. Ive been taking Finsateride for around 4 years now with certainly no improvement in thickness or coverage, infact it certainly worsened for the first 3 years, possibly stabalising a little now but perhaps that is just my pattern as it matures. I genuinley believe that I am a "non-responder". I have never experienced any side effects from Finasteride.

 

Very seriously considering moving onto Dutasteride but would like a few thoughts and opinions.

 

Bill, apologies about posting this in the wrong thread, I know that it should be posted in the "drug" thread, and therefore will probably be moved, but, apologies for saying, it gets much more coverage here and posts are rarely replied to there. With this post being of some importance to me, I chose to post it here. My bad!!! Sorry!

[Raphael84]

Hey guys,

 

Just wanted to check out peoples opinions on Avodart. What are peoples thoughts regarding taking it in the first place. Obviously there are issues that no long-term studies have been taken. But can anybody on here explain their experiences with it. Ive been taking Finsateride for around 4 years now with certainly no improvement in thickness or coverage, infact it certainly worsened for the first 3 years, possibly stabalising a little now but perhaps that is just my pattern as it matures. I genuinley believe that I am a "non-responder". I have never experienced any side effects from Finasteride.

 

Very seriously considering moving onto Dutasteride but would like a few thoughts and opinions.

 

Bill, apologies about posting this in the wrong thread, I know that it should be posted in the "drug" thread, and therefore will probably be moved, but, apologies for saying, it gets much more coverage here and posts are rarely replied to there. With this post being of some importance to me, I chose to post it here. My bad!!! Sorry!

[Raphael84]

Did I say stabalised??? Just taken some fresh pics and you can erase that word from my vocabulary. My pattern is far more severe. Im having a very bad day!!!

[DB]

Hi Raphael84. I tried Finsateride and had poor results but I still hope for the best. I got a prescription for Avodart and have had it for awhile. I finally tried it for a couple of weeks and broke out in acne on my face. I was taking one pill daily. I just wanted to warn you of a possible side effect. I have just tried it again and I have reduced the dosage amount to every second day. No acne yet.

Too early to tell if it will help hairloss but can confrm Finasteride did not help.

[Dr. Michael Beehner]

I tend to be a little conservative with new drugs, but will share with you the reasons that I don't prescribe dutasteride (Avodart).

First of all, it is only FDA approved for prostate gland problems, not for hair loss.

Secondly, it does a very good job of suppressing both DHT1 and DHT2, whereas finasteride (Propecia/Proscar) works primarily on DHT2, which is in the hair follicles and prostate gland. The problem is that DHT1 is found in the brain and in nerve tissue, and it bothers me that I would be giving a young man a drug for many, many years that has unknown effects in such important areas of the human body.

Thirdly,if the patient does get side effects (sexual, etc) those effects can lock in for a few months because of the long duration of the drug.

All the above having been said, I certainly have heard colleagues of mine share that they have had patients respond to dutasteride who didn't respond all that well to finasteride. Also, I have heard that if a patient tolerates finasteride without side effects, they will usually do ok on dutasteride without side effects also. I will want a lot of years of proof that it is safe to use before I will include it in my recommendations.

Mike Beehner, M.D.