Does Propecia Really Work?

When a person is losing their hair they will try almost anything to stop it from happening. They will put their faith in almost any product or procedure that comes down the pike, hoping against hope that this one is really going to work for them. In the battle against hair loss, Propecia is one product that seems to have risen to the top, at least in terms of publicity. When you read the vast amount of press that this product has received many people say that it has been responsible for hair growing back on their heads. However, an enormous amount of publicity does not necessarily mean that a hair loss product actually works.

Although thousands upon thousands of people afflicted with alopecia have put their trust in hundreds of different products and spent millions of dollars, most of this time, effort and money has been spent in vain. Sadly, very few of these people have ever had any hair grow back on their heads. Even sadder is the fact that there is no shortage of people and companies out there that will market so called miracle cures for baldness, preying upon people who are desperate to get their hair back.

If there is one product out there that people afflicted with balding conditions seem to be embracing it would have to be Propecia, or finasteride as the scientists who developed it in Merck laboratories call it. It is an FDA approved pill that men can take daily by mouth. In fact it is the first and only FDA approved pill approved for the treatment of baldness, and it has shown positive results for balding conditions on the vertex and anterior sections of the head, otherwise know as the top and middle front areas of the head. There is no solid evidence that it works for men with receding hairlines at the temples.

An independent panel performed a five year study on men aged 18 to 41 who took Propecia and the results were quite impressive. They studied photographic evidence and determined that most of the men who participated in the study began to see positive results 3 to 12 months after starting Propecia. These results ranged from a lot of hair growing back to a small amount of hair returning to their head. Subjects that did not see positive results after 12 months did not see positive results at all by the end of the study. However, this was an uncommon result as 9 out of 10 men involved in this study saw some degree of hair re-growth.

Although Propecia has received rave reviews, there are some downsides. One of the biggest ones is the fact that it can only be used by men. Although baldness strikes mostly adult males there are thousands of women and even children around the world who suffer from various hair loss conditions. They cannot take Propecia. Another downside is that some men experience certain sexual side effects. The most common of these side effects are a decrease in the desire to have sex, problems with erections and a decrease in semen amounts. These side affects occurred with less than 2% of the men studied and they disappeared once the men stopped taking the pills. This brings us to another downside, which is the fact that any positive results achieved with hair re-growth will be lost if you stop taking the pills. That means that if you want to keep the hair that grows back on your head you have to take the pills for the rest of your life. Most men would agree that it is a small price to pay to get their hair back.

Propecia is available by prescription only. If you decide that you want to start taking it you can visit your doctor and they will set you up. A lot of online pharmacies now offer U.S. licensed physicians that can give you an evaluation and write you a prescription over the phone or over the internet. Although there are some shady online pharmacy web sites there are many more that are reputable U.S. licensed pharmacies that sell FDA approved drugs. You just need to do a little research to find the good ones.

While there are many products and services out there that are claiming to be the latest cure for baldness it is important to keep in mind that most of them do not work. However, Propecia is not one of them. It is the only FDA approved pill for the treatment of hair loss. This is because an independent five year study has proven that 9 out 10 men show some re-growth of hair 3 to 12 months after starting Propecia. Some showed a little bit of success in re-growing their hair and some showed a lot of success. A very small percentage experienced sexual side effects. When you think about it, taking a pill every day is a small price to pay for getting hair to grow back on your head.

© 2006 Copyright. Michael Connelly