Alessa Avec Fashion

I never paid much attention to the Dutasteride (Avodart) vs. Finasteride (Propecia) when I worked on Propecia. Avodart isn't approved by the FDA for hairloss treatment. But I do remember the conferences where some physician always seemed to have an agenda to prove Dutasteride was better (I assumed they were part of the Avodart studies, or trying to get selected as paid "thought leaders" by GSK, which markets Avodart).

Turns out there was a study on it, but I don't know much more than I've read here.

Seems .1 mg of dutasteride had similar hair improvement at 24 weeks to finasteride 5 mg. But I'm kinda perplexed as why they didn't use finasteride 1 mg (which is the dosage of Propecia) and why they jacked up the dutasteride in one group to friggin' 2.5 mg, which gave 9 of the poor study participants a lowered libido.

Why study the extreme, when most of the hairloss benefits (and lower side effects) is realized at lower dosages? The incremental benefit in hair growth (or reduced loss) seems to be offset by the side effects... of either drug. So I'm glad I'm taking Propecia not Proscar (5 mg).

That said, it would appear that too much of these medications can drop your libido, which is always something I thought preciously was overstated. But this generally resolves after you stop (and many side effects of pharma drugs resolve after your body adjusts to it).

The thing about sexual side effects is that if you're told you'll get them, your odds of getting them increase significantly. It shows the power of expectations. Remember that, in early clinical trials, Propecia saw one group of men who dropped treatment more often, citing adverse reactions. That group, it turns out, was the one taking the placebo (sugar pill). See the Propecia Q&A for more information. It took me months, but I finally promoted that little-known fact from its hiding-place in the PI (prescribing information) to the Q&A... because I found it charmingly interesting. Of course now I can't find it, but here's the Q&A.