questions about topical finasteride perscription i recieved

[hellooo]

I live in Vancouver and i've been losing my hair for a while, but it's just starting to get to the point where i can't hide it by styling
I went to my regular Dr. and asked for oral finasteride but she said no, and referred me to a hairloss person

he prescribed me topical finasteride and oral minoxidil and mentioned that i can get it compounded at any pharmacy or get XYON from his clinic but it might be more expensive that way, so i took the script to the pharmacy and the pharmacy people were very surprised at the script 2.5% finasteride in lipoderm solution. they said thats way too much finasteride but said they would compound it anyways,

i'm also worried about putting that much finasteride on my head since i've never taken any hair loss medicine before but also it's been just about impossible to get finasteride prescribed by a normal non-telehealth dr here

so i have a few questions
should i return to the dr and ask him for a lower percentage solution? if i ask the pharmacist to dilute it will he do it? should i just get the XYON from him which is also 2.5% in a liposomal gel? should i just try the stuff they compounded? should i just ask him to give me the pill instead? although he seemed like he didnt want to prescribe it. can 2.5% finasteride on your head hurt your pets or girlfriend?

thank you guys for any advice

 

[Itsabaldbaldworld]

From what I looked up 2.5% is fine for topical. I'd try to get some telehealth person to prescribe me the pills if I wanted it, I was faced with the same issue when I wanted to renew my prescription but luckily the dr prescribed it.
Be careful with oral minoxidil though, some data shows it can be dangerous.

 

[RXShopMD_Team]

The pharmacy was right to flag it, and it is worth clarifying with the prescriber before you start. (RXShop.md pharmacy editorial team, general information only.)

• Typical topical finasteride strengths in studies and in commercial products are about 0.1% to 0.25%. A 2.5% solution is 10 times the usual upper strength, so it may well be a typo for 0.25%.
• Why it matters: Lipoderm is a base designed to help drugs pass through the skin. At 2.5%, even 0.5-1 ml a day would contain 12-25 mg of finasteride, far more than the 1 mg tablet, and a lot of it could reach the bloodstream. That removes the main reason for choosing a topical (lower systemic exposure) and may increase the risk of side effects.
• What to ask the prescriber: the intended concentration, the daily volume (for example 1 ml or a set number of pumps), and whether they want it combined with minoxidil or used alone.
• Oral minoxidil: also confirm the dose (commonly 1.25-2.5 mg to start in men) and get a baseline blood pressure and heart rate.

A quick call to the clinic usually sorts this out, and the pharmacist can re-make the compound once they have the confirmed strength.