Does Propecia Really Work

March 5, 2010 · Posted in hair treatment · Comment 

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.

Author: Michael Connelly
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
Provided by: Canada duty rate

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The Particulars Of Propecia

February 22, 2010 · Posted in hair treatment · Comment 

With all the talk these days about Propecia I figured that this little pill needed a closer look. It is the only FDA approved drug for the treatment of male pattern baldness and it is being touted by many as the only thing that actually does something to stop the nightmare of a receding hairline. Many men have been quick to accept these claims and they take this pill every day but do they really know what they are taking?

First of all, the name of the actual ingredient in Propecia that should get all the credit for fighting the battle at the front lines of the war on receding hairlines is called finasteride. Some chemists working for the drug company Pfizer invented it in a laboratory and it does some pretty amazing things. It is a 4-azasteroid compound that is a specific inhibitor of the Type II 5 alpha-reductase. In plain English, it basically prevents androgen testosterone from being converted into 5-dihydrotestosterone, or DHT. This preventative process stops your hair follicles from dying, which allows more hair to grow on your head.

The enemy, known as DHT is an enzyme that is found primarily in the prostate, seminal vesicles, epididymides, hair follicles and liver. These particular parts of the body account for approximately 67 percent of the DHT that circulates in the bodies of men. The war on baldness is going on at an intracellular level and finasteride is your army that is fighting gallantly for you against an evil enzyme.

Here are some particulars of the actual ingredient finasteride. It is a white crystalline powder with a melting point of 250 degrees Celsius. If you put finasteride in lower alcohol solvents it will freely dissolve, but it is almost insoluble when placed in water. Most Propecia pills available contain 5 mg of finasteride. They are film-coated tablets that also contain the inactive ingredients hydrous lactose, microcrystalline cellulose, pregelatinized starch, sodium starch glycolate, hydroxypropylmethyl cellulose LF, hydroxypropylmethyl cellulose, titanium dioxide, magnesium stearate, talc, docusate sodium, FD&C Blue 2 aluminum lake and yellow iron oxide. These inactive ingredients are mostly just the bonding and filling agents that it takes to make a little pill of Propecia that men can take every day.

There are some warnings when it comes to who can and cannot take Propecia. Women should not take it, nor should anyone who has liver problems. This is due to the fact that this drug works on the enzyme DHT which is primarily produced in the liver.

In most studies that have been performed on men between the ages of 18-54 who used Propecia on a daily basis for several months 65 percent showed an increase in hair growth over areas of the front and top of the scalp. Once the active ingredient finasteride interacts with the hair follicles in bald areas of the scalp, the follicles seem to come back to life. Hair begins to grow again, and so does your self esteem. So it would seem that Propecia is the best product available for men to use in the treatment of male pattern baldness, otherwise known as alopecia. The side effects are minimal and the process is as easy as taking a pill. The results have been very positive in the hair growth department.

In the war against a receding hairline it is good to know that a little white crystalline powder know as finasteride is fighting the battle for you at the intracellular level against a very destructive force known as 5-dihydrotestosterone, or DHT. In plain English, if you cannot afford a hair transplant and you want to know what the next best choice would be to have a better head of hair, Propecia seems to be the answer.

Author: Michael Connelly
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
Provided by: Digital Camera News

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