How Effective Is Finasteride?
Male pattern baldness is widespread among men. Most will experience it at some point in their life.With all the modern pharmaceutical advancements, however, we can now effectively slow down and even prevent hair loss in men.
Finasteride is one of the most popular solutions used to battle baldness. But with so many faux solutions advertised, people are right to be skeptical. Let’s see just how effective finasteride is in terms of preventing and slowing downhair loss.
The Science Behind It
To understand how finasteride works, you need to know how balding occurs in men. In most cases, baldness depends on your genes. However, things aren’t as simple as this. The real culprit ina vast number of cases of male pattern baldness is testosterone. To be precise, testosterone turning into DHT (dihydrotestosterone).
This male androgen, DHT, is present in the scalp of balding men and is strongly linked to male pattern baldness.
Finasteride works by reducing the DHT amount in the scalp, thereby slowing or preventing male pattern baldness. In some cases, finasteride has even been linked to hair growth promotion.
Is It a Magic Pill?
No. Magic pills simply don’t exist. And it’s because of “magic pill” advertising that a lot of people give up on using finasteride. They’ll often move on to try other, less or non-effective solutions. The most important thing that you need to realize about finasteride is that it requires commitment.
As mentioned earlier, finasteride disrupts DHT in the scalp and promotes hair growth. However, it won’t happen overnight. You may have to wait a while to reap the benefits of this drug.
Furthermore, finasteride won’t permanently stop the DHT production. Stopping the treatment will almost certainly reverse the results that you’ve achieved so far.
The bright side of using this supplement is that it won’t change your daily routine. You’re likely going to have to take a pill once per day. Within the three-month timeline, you should start seeing improvements to your hairline.
Is Finasteride Effective?
No one can claim with 100% certainty that finasteride will completely regrow your hair. It depends on a wide variety of factors. For one, no two human bodies are identical, and each one of us turns testosterone into DHT at different rates of efficiency.
However, the vast majority of people who use finasteride should see an improvement of some sort. At the very least, the balding process is going to slow down. For the lucky majority, the long-term use of finasteride should result in dense hair regrowth.
Does It Work with Other Hair Loss Prevention Tools?
With so many solutions available out there, we can never know for sure.Some of these toolshave a partial success rate, while others are ineffective. Combining finasteride with other supplements for male pattern baldness prevention is not advised.
However, according to a research, finasteride gives excellent results when combined with minoxidil. On its own, minoxidil helped 52% of men who participated in the study experience dense hair growth. In the same research, finasteride achieved these results with 80% of the test subjects. When combined, the two helped participants experience even better results.
Side-Effects
Like any other drug, finasteride does bring a set of side-effects to the table. With that said, this isn’t a common occurrence.
Erectile dysfunction is the scariest possibility. Luckily, this can be negated with changes in dosage, as well as through prescribing other supplements. Some clinical trials have seen a small percentage of people experience decreased libidos or a disorder in ejaculation.
Non-sexual side-effects include rashes, tenderness, anxiety, depression, neurological issues, and testicular pain.
Although these side-effects are, as mentioned, very rare, all are worth taking into account.But ultimately, your physician should be able to help you address these problems.
The Effectiveness of Finasteride
Clearly, finasteride has seen some tremendous results in slowing down, stopping, and preventing male pattern baldness. Most people who regularly take finasteride treatments experiencedense hair growth in a matter of months. However, being aware of the side-effects of this drug is very important. Consulting your doctor before starting the treatment is recommended.
Finasteride is a very effective supplement that will help most men in the battle against baldness.