switching from fin to dut advice

[Wave]

Bump. Any ideas guys what I should do?

[Paul Shapiro, MD]

Finasteride and Dutastride both lower DHT levels, but Dutasteride lowers it more. That is because there are two enzymes that convert Testosterone to DHT. Finasteride only blocks one enzyme while Dutasteride blocks both.

There are studies that show Dutasteride does help to regrow hair and stop hair loss but the most effective dose is not known. There have been some studies but they do not have a large enough cohort of patients and have gone long enough to give us a definitive answer. The half-life of a medication determines how often one needs to take it and Dutasteride has a very long half-life. That is why some patients take it three times a week or every other day. But there have not been any studies to show if this dose is as effective and a daily dose. But I think if most likely is.

There are no long term studies on the safety of Dutasteride for hair loss. The medication is for men with Benign Prostatic Hypertrophy. These patients tend to be over 50, and if a medication saves them from having a surgical procedure on their prostate the benefits most likely outweigh the possible risk. To take it for hair loss is going into an unknown territory about risk vs benefits and I agree with Dr. Rashid, you should discuss this with a medical doctor.

Finasteride is much less expensive than Dutasteride. In our area, patients are getting thirty 5mg pills for as little as $10. The prescribed does is ¼ pill a day so that will last 4 months. So finasteride is much more economical.

Unfortunately, using an online pharmacy is a crap shoot. There are a lot of counterfeit drugs on the market that are made to look like the real thing. So if you buy a drug from an online pharmacy and it doesn’t work then it is difficult to know if it is a clinical failure or a counterfeit drug. I do not endorse online pharmacies, but I would suggest going the MD, prescription route for at least 6 months before using one. Then you know you area getting the real thing and if you are having a good clinical response.

I never use Dutasteride as a first line medication for hair loss. I first want my patients to go on Finasteride because in most cases I see good results. I will prescribe Dutasteride to patients who have failed finasteride or have been on finasteride for a long time and it has stopped working. But only after having a discussion about benefits vs risk and having the patient confirm that there are possible long term risk that we do not know yet. I have very few patients on Dutasteride.

[jason1001]

Hey Jason, did you ever switch to dutasteride?

Haven't made the switch and only got of fin for a tiny bit so I wasn't able to see any results on if my hair improved.

I was too scared incase it got worse. As of now though in the 3ish years I have been on fin my hairline has gone nw1-nw2.5

I'm searching for a cheap place to get fin and dut.

Might try fun every 6 days, dut 1 day