All About Propecia

Over 20 years ago a drug by the name of Proscar was approved for prevention of Benign Prostate Hyperplasia (BPH). Its active ingredient was 5mg of Finasteride, and it was taken once daily by men over 60. Finasteride was shown to inhibit the formation of DHT, one of the biggest culprits in the formation of Prostate Cancer, and conveniently enough, hair loss as well.

Merck Pharmaceuticals sought to find the smallest effective quantity of finasteride and test its long term effects on 1,553 men between ages 18 and 41 with mild to moderate thinning of hair. Based on their research, 1mg daily was selected, and after 2 years of daily treatment, over 83% of the 1,553 men had actually maintained or increased their hair count from baseline. Visual assessments concluded that over 80% had improved appearances.

Finasteride (Proscar) 5mg was split into fifths and bottled as a 1mg daily treatment for hair loss called Propecia. A prescription is required to obtain this treatment.

Propecia, like Proscar, is the newest clinically proven treatment on the market for men experiencing hair loss. It also has the longest, most successful run of any treatment to have undergone FDA trials. At the writing of this review, the original 2 year trials are approaching their 6th year, and the vast majority of participants are still maintaining hair counts.

The first glimpse at the how well the original 2 year FDA Propecia trial participants are doing at the 4 year mark. So far everything looks very promising for long term maintenance!

The following information has been out for a couple months, however we felt it would be beneficial as many of you may not have seen it. The preliminary Propecia trials which gave it its 83% effectiveness rating were 2 years in duration. The following numbers relate to the continued trials which are now at their 4 year mark:

71% Placebo users were rated as worsened after 4 years 8% Propecia users rated as worsened after 4 years

36% of Propecia users were rated as having no change 29% of Placebo users were rated as having no change

55% of Propecia users were rated as improved at year 4 0% of Placebo users were rated as improved at year 4

Self Assessment:

62% of Propecia patients felt their bald spot was decreasing 18% of Placebo patients felt their bald spot was decreasing

78% felt Propecia continuted to improve the appearance of their hair. 39% on Placebo felt their hair continued to improve.

90% of Propecia users felt Propecia continued to slow their hairloss. 64% of Placebo users felt their hair loss continuted to slow.