probably not a new question, but... finasteride vs. dutasteride etc

[hatless]

hi there,

i recently consulted one of the few hair specialists around here i could get an appointment with. he told me that dutasteride is only approved as a hair-loss treatment in South Korea, and that he recently went to a conference there where new studies were discussed. the upshot was that dutasteride is considerably more effective than finesteride for hair loss. nonetheless, he wouldn't prescribe it to me, because it's not approved here (germany) for that purpose.

background: my hair loss is frontal, in the middle and at the top of my forehead. it's been slow for several years.

after being told all sorts of weird things about dutasteride and finasteride, i had been taking dutasteride 0,5 mg about once every three days for a few months. since switching to finasteride (1 mg/day) i've noticed considerable "shedding"--when taking showers, i get hairs in my mouth.

general question: what to do? concretely:

1. should i wait it out and see if things stabilize with finasteride? how long does it make sense to keep trying it?

one thing i've definitely noticed is that, since switching to finasteride, my ejaculations don't hurt anymore (there was a kind of "compression" feeling on dutasteride, plus reduced semen volume, although i got used to it; no ED). so my other question is:

2. what about the possible long-term side effects of dutasteride. (0,5/day)? is this as well understood as finasteride?

thanks for any answers!

 

[Vlatch]

Dutasteride (even 0.5mg once every three days) suppresses more DHT than 1mg of finasteride every day, so it is normal to lose a few more hair after switching. Once your shedding is over, your hair loss should stabilize again in a few months though, but finasteride will be a bit less effective, you have to know that.
A study on the effectiveness of dutasteride compared to finasteride :
http://www.bernsteinmedical.com/resources/hair-restoration-papers/dutasteride-vs-finasteride/

Dutasteride has been approved for BPH (benign prostatic hyperplasia) in 2001 so the relatively long term side effects aren't unknown :
http://www.rxlist.com/avodart-side-effects-drug-center.htm
Scroll down on the page, you'll see several studies and statistics of reported side effects.

 

[hatless]

Thanks a lot. Just a short follow-up:
1. Do you know if the sexual side effects of dutasteride are much different than finasteride?
2. If I switch back to dutasteride from finasteride, can I expect renewwd shedding?

Many thanks again.

 

[zzzzz]

1. dutasteride presumably has a higher occurrence of sexual sides because it is more powerful than finasteride.

2. Only if finasteride is not powerfuly enough to maintain all the hair you maintained/regrew on dutasteride

 

[californiaoceans911]

The long term side effects of Dutasteride are not nearly as well understood as Finasteride. Finasteride is a little scary but not really. Dutasteride scares the crap out of me because of its ability to block 5AR-I and 5AR-II.