Ultimate DHT/finasteride microdosing graph to replace the one commonly referenced on forums

[hair4tomo]

Posted this on another popular forum, so though I'd post here too. Here's the graph - enjoy!

BACKGROUND: Many of you will be familiar with this old graph showing DHT inhibition from various microdoses of finasteride. You may even be using that data to help you choose which microdose of finasteride to take in an attempt at minimizing the chance of side effects. Turns out it was derived from the study: "Clinical dose ranging studies with finasteride, a type 2 5cz-reductase inhibitor, in men with male pattern hair loss". However, as far as I can see, the graph isn't actually displayed in the original study. Someone created the graph from just the numbers that the study reported.

Anyway, the home-brew graph contains a number of limitations, so I've improved upon it in the following ways:

 - Instead of using just one study, mine uses three, one of which is topical. That's all of the range dosing studies as far as I know! They are colour coded everywhere in the image for clarity. The old graph is represented in my new graph as the red solid (not dotted) curve.

 - The graph display range has been adjusted from 0-5mg to 0-1mg. This helps make it a lot easier to see the much smaller microdoses, even around 0.05mg.

 - I give the ORIGINAL data points (as shown by the diamond/circle/X points and x/y labels). Needless to say, everything else is derived and only an approximation, so should be treated with caution!

 - Accuracy is better in the new one. The old one has a figure of 25% DHT inhibition for 1/16th mg dosage. I think the true figure is more like 37% as shown in the new graph.

 - I also give (where applicable) the DHT percentage reduced not just in the serum, but also the scalp, and also show a curve reporting the number of hairs grown back (or lost) - see the dashed red curve.

 - Finally, the studies I used are listed, and I stated the number of days / months before a DHT measurement is taken.

As more microdosing studies come in (topical or oral), I look forward to updating the graph further.

Here's the new graph again: https://archive.is/OGDk3

Edited December 3, 2020 by hair4tomo
adjusted formatting

[Melvin- Admin]

Great thread, 

Do you mind linking the studies?

[hair4tomo]

Of course:

Effects of a novel finasteride 0.25% topical solution on scalp and serum dihydrotestosterone in healthy men with androgenetic alopecia (page 23)

Clinical dose ranging studies with finasteride, a type 2 5cz-reductase inhibitor, in men with male pattern hair loss

The effects of finasteride on scalp skin and serum androgen levels in men with androgenetic alopecia

You may need to create a throwaway email account to access the latter two studies.

Here's alternatives for the 2nd and 3rd that another user gave:

https://booksc.xyz/book/17840978/d696b4

https://booksc.xyz/book/17840977/b2aead

If anyone just wants the abstracts, then these will do immediately:

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/26636418/

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/10495375/

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/10495374/

Edited December 3, 2020 by hair4tomo

[hair4tomo]

I wonder if anyone here has any insight as to which out of the red and blue study is more reliable. They differ greatly on for example, the 0.05mg dosage where the red study has 31% DHT serum reduction and the blue study has a larger 50% DHT serum reduction. If anything, I'd expect them to be swapped round, since the red study lasted 12 months, whilst the blue was only 42 days.

What gives?