What is Finasteride?
What is Finasteride?
A little bit goes a long way. That’s the motto one should follow when performing research utilizing the hormone altering substance of Finasteride. We offer 100% USA made Finasteride in small 30ml bottles for just that reason. The packaging may be on the smaller side, but Finasteride tends to pack a very large punch so remember not to use too much of it in your lab.
It’s important to understand that there are already a couple of proven medications available on the market that utilize Finasteride as their main active ingredient. Proscar was approved for manufacturing and public sale in September of 2005 and Propecia was approved by the FDA in 2014.
Primary Uses of Finasteride
Remember that Finasteride is a hormone altering substance, created almost 100% synthetically in laboratories. The aforementioned medications utilize Finasteride to improve hair thickness or stimulate hair growth in men. There are a number of studies that have been completed showing that Finasteride is able to slow hair loss considerably, in both men and women. Additionally, about a third of subjects notice an increase in hair growth after supplementing with Finasteride. A turn of the century study recognized that it could be leveraged for both in white males suffering from male pattern hair loss.
Hair loss certainly isn’t the only proven benefit of Finasteride supplementation. As it turns out, it can be leveraged to improve prostate health, particularly in older men. An impressively large six year study showed that patients supplementing with Finasteride “significantly improve the performance of prostate cancer screening.” What’s more, Finasteride is thought to be the key to curing prostate cancer, though no such research has been successful just yet.
Lastly, and most recently, Finasteride is can be leveraged to help people with transgender transformations. Individuals who wish to be more masculine have been known to utilize the hormone altering substance to increase hair growth, leading to thicker and more predominant facial hair. – Certainly important for somebody wanting to be a part of the more masculine sex.
Side Effects of Finasteride
As expected, there are some serious side effects to consider when testing with Finasteride. Anything that alters the baseline levels of hormones in the body is bound to have some side effects. Let’s take a look at the list for Finasteride:
- Gynecomastia – Not necessarily common, but it’s worth mentioning. Some men have the misfortune of developing “man boobs” when supplementing with Finasteride. The Department of Dermatology, from Hadassah-Hebrew University Medical Center, Jerusalem determined that there was a direct link between Finasteride supplementation and gynecomastia development in men.
- Sexual Dysfunction – More common than the gynecomastia, and probably a little more troublesome for most men. Sexual dysfunction is a side effect that occurs pretty often in hormone altering medication, particularly in men. Unfortunately this has been well documented in the case of Finasteride. In 2012, a study was completed and published showing that there were thought to be serious sexual side effects in Finasteride users. Just two short years later, the thesis was proven in men using Finasteride for hair loss.
To help avoid the side effects, simply follow suggested dosing patterns and don’t use more than the maximum suggested quantity in your research.
Reference:
1 McClellan, K J, and A Markham. “Finasteride: a Review of Its Use in Male Pattern Hair Loss.” Current Neurology and Neuroscience Reports., U.S. National Library of Medicine, Jan. 1999, www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/9951956
2 “3 Month Finasteride Challenge Test Can Significantly Improve the Performance of Screening for Prostate Cancer – Full Text View.” Search of: Spain – List Results – ClinicalTrials.gov, https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT01296672.
3 Yuval Ramot, Tali Czarnowicki, Abraham Zlotogorski. “Finasteride induced Gynecomastia: Case report and Review of the Literature.” Internation Journal of Trichology., U.S. National Library of Medicine, Jan. 2009, https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2929552/.
4 Venkataram Mysore. “Finasteride and sexual side effects.” Indian Dermatology Online Journal., U.S. National Library of Medicine, Apr. 2012, https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3481923/.
5 Meena K. Singh, Marc Avram. “Persistent Sexual Dysfunction and Depression in Finasteride Users for Male Pattern Hair Loss – A Serious Concern or Red Herring?.” Clinical Journal of Aesthet. Dermatology., U.S. National Library of Medicine, Dec. 2014, https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4285451/.