Oral vs Topical Finasteride - not much difference

harold

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Dragged this one from http://www.scientificcommons.org which means that it is NOT a published peer-reviewed article but a preprint that may or may not see the light of publishing one day. As you can see there are a few spelling issues in this abstract. The gist is Finasteride gel was compared to your standard oral dose and they were found to be about equal. Significantly though it seemed that there was a shorter latency of onset in the oral case. ie those taking finasteride in pill form saw results quicker than those taking it topically. There did not seem to be much to glean by way of any difference in side effects or ammount of topical finasteride that went systemic. The researchers seemed to be focussed on efficacy.
hh

Comparison of therapeutic effects of Finasteride jel and tablet in treatment of Androgenic Alopecia (2007)

* Z. Hajheydari,
* J. Akbari,
* M. Saidee,
* L. Shokoohi


Abstract
Abstract Background and purpose: Finasteride, a type ?– selective 5?– reductase inhibitor, that causes decreasing Dihydrotestestrone (DHT) levels, is effective in treatment of male androgenic alopecia.The purpose of this study was to determine the effect of local finasteride on androgenic alopecia treatment in comparison with oral finasteride.Materials and Methods: This study was a double-blind clinical trial including 45 male patients involved with androgenetic alopecia according to history and physical examination and possessing the study criteria selected among patients reffered to private clinics and departments of dermatology in Sari city.Patients were divided into two groups: patients in group A (finasteride jel and placebo tablet) and patients in group B (finastride tablet and pelacebo jel) and the eligible reffered patients were gradually and randomly entered the two groups. The treatment period was 6 months. In order to evaluate the drug effects and progressive state of the patients and assessment of drug complications, the patients were followed up by clinical observation and recording of side effects before study and at the end of the first week and then every month after starting the treatment. The variables used to evaluate the therapeutic response were: size of defect, hair count and terminal hair count. The analysis was done using descriptive and X² statistical methods.Results: Of the 45 patients enrolled, 38 completed the entire study period. The average period since the onder of hair loss was 18.8 ± 23.10 months. Every month the size of alopecia area, hair count and terminal hair count between the two groups were compared and there were on significant statistical differences. In the third month of treatment, an increase in terminal hair count were observed in group A (P=0.001), this phenomenon was observed in second months in group B (P=0.015). During the therapeutic period, the size of alopecia area did not significantly change in group A, but in group B, the change in size of alopecia area was significant 4 months after the start of treatment (P=0.027). Increased hair count in two groups were significant in the fourth treatment months (P=0.001 in group A and P=0.000 in group B).Conclusion: In this study, treatment with %1 finasteride jel produced relatively similar moderate therapeutic effects with finasteride tablet (%54.5 against%56) in patients with male alopecia with no significant statistical differences (P = 0.643).
 

harold

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my mistake - those who had the finasteride pill (oral route) responded quicker than those who had the finasteride gel (topical route).
hh
 

Bryan

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harold said:
my mistake - those who had the finasteride pill (oral route) responded quicker than those who had the finasteride gel (topical route).

Uhh...aren't you forgetting something, Harold? You haven't corrected the mistake in your original post.
 

michael barry

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Harold,

I just read your post---skimmed it---but didn't see if the topical finasteride users had a similar reduction in serum DHT as the oral users would. If finasteride gets systemically absorbed, like we are pretty sure dutasteride does, then putting it atop the head might just be messing up one's hair for nothing?
 

el_duterino

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Very interesting study, thanks for posting this here.

A few ideas/conclusions:

1) finasteride topical works for hairloss
2) We are not sure how many times a day the gel was applied (my guess 1), but perhaps it should be applied more often for better & quicker results vs. oral finasteride.
3) reducing follicular DHT and not serum DHT does work for hairloss
The effects of the 1% topical finasteride is due to topical action and mostly not systemic action since it would take much longer, if ever, to build up in the blood to an oral equivalent of the Finasteride tablet (5 mg ?), due to short life of finasteride in the blood.

So that is encouraging for topical finasteride.

I will be starting my Finasgel in a few weeks once i get it from SINERE, and cut back oral dutasteride to EOD and continue using Flutagel gel twice a day. Will keep you posted, I am very sensitve to DHT and changes are noticed within weeks (hair color & thickness).
Cheers
El Duterino
 

otis

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Were ther any better results if you used it topic and oral at the same time
 

skallagrimur

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el_duterino said:
I will be starting my Finasgel in a few weeks once i get it from SINERE, and cut back oral dutasteride to EOD and continue using Flutagel gel twice a day. Will keep you posted

Any posts yet? How did topical finasteride work out for you?
 
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