Anyone have any experience with topical finasteride? I know its not FDA approved but some sites will prescribe it off label. My TRT doc would likely prescribe if I can find it.
I have been wondering about this one too.
Havenāt used it, but MPMD has a video on it. The big takeaway for me was that in the study which compared oral to topical, blood concentrations were similar. To me that means that side effects would be similar to oral, unless you could use a lot less of it than they did in the study. It appeared to me, that the effect was meant to be local to the scalp, but ended up just a different route of administration to the blood. Perhaps there is a local effect, and a systematic effect? Perhaps you could get a similar effect on the scalp with a lower blood concentration?
I def would not use it if blood levels end up more or less the same.
I saw mention of a topical dutasteride once thatās used once a week that supposedly keeps blood levels of the drug to 10% or less of what would normally be seen when taking the drug orally, but I havenāt done much research on it yet to see whether thatās true. Itās supposedly quite effective. The obvious question is ā10% of whatā? That stuff is so strong, even 10% might be enough to still have lots of side effects, so it still may not be worth it. Perhaps itās a less risky option? Iām not sure yet.
Thatās where I am. I donāt have hair loss issues. However, I do a blast every now and then, and considered it as a just in case (for the topical version) during those couple months. The blood level thing put me off to that idea.
Yeah for a blast you def might lose some, happens to some people for sure. Esp with the higher DHT stuff, masteron, etc.
My hair is/was def better pre-TRT. I was also taking Avodart and had been for yearsā¦ but then things went to shit and here we are. I still have more hair than most my age, obviously, given my profile pic, haha. Itās just a lot finer and curlier now than it used to be. Iād love for it to go back to how it was but I doubt thatād happen without a pretty big swing in hormones the other direction
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This was my understanding of it, once the med gets into the bloodstream itās going to stop DHT everywhere it can find it, not localized to the scalp
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Iām already taking it orally. If I can get it Iāll gladly be the T-Nation Guinea pig and report back. It may be dose dependent, and if a smaller mg of the drug used right at the source, maybe there is hope. Yes I agree much like T gels, it will go systemic.
Hereās an excerpt from a post I made several months back on the subject of finasteride.
There are a few studies (8 to be specific) that show that topical use of finasteride brings a higher concentration of the drug to the scalp where you need it and with less systemic absorption. The studies are limited in that they were fairly small studies and there is much heterogeneity in the methods, but they all generally showed positive hair growth with topical use. In one of these studies, they actually measured DHT levels while administering the drug topically and orally and compared these to baseline (no-finasteride use). They demonstrated that approximately 20% of the topically applied drug is absorbed systemically.
Hereās a link to a fairly recent (2018) systematic review on the subject. You can download a free copy of the paper from PubMed. Keep in mind that there are only 8 studies with sufficient data to be included in the review and they were all fairly small studies with limitations.
Here are some notes that I made after reading the review and the studies that I could download from PubMed.
Review article of 8 studies known to exist.
ā¢ Most common dose was 1 mL of 0.25% (2.3 mg/mL) twice daily = 4.6 mg finasteride per day.
ā¢ In all studies, there was significant decrease in the rate of hair loss, increase in total and terminal hair counts, and positive hair growth assessment with topical FNS.
ā¢ Most relevant study was a study of a 23 men because they compared DHT blood levels of 4.6 mg topical vs. 1 mg oral.
ā Plasma DHT was reduced by 68ā75% with use of topical FNS
ā Plasma DHT was reduced by 62ā72% with oral FNS
ā This indicates that there is approximately 1/5 the systemic absorption with topical vs. systemic.
ā Caserini M1, Radicioni M, Leuratti C, et al. A novel finasteride 0.25% topical solution for androgenetic alopecia: pharmacokinetics and effects on plasma androgen levels in healthy male volunteers. Int J Clin Pharmacol Ther. 2014;52(10):842ā9. [PubMed: 25074865]
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Did they indicate what the DHT levels were locally at the scalp, compared to the oral finasteride?
I have heard topical dutasteride are the best one among all DHT blocker on the scalp.
Iām still looking for someone who sell it online or can prescribe it online.
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I donāt believe any of the studies measured actual tissue levels of the drug. I would think this would be very difficult to do, as it would involve punch biopsies of the scalp.
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I have zero experience with dutasteride, but I would think a topical solution would be easy to make if you have a sufficient supply of the drug. Below is a copy/paste from my notes on how to make topical finasteride. Iāve only made this once very recently, but it was easy to do. Prior to this, I purchased liquid finasteride from as a āresearch reagentā. Also below are the instructions from my notes for making it that way.
Instructions for 2.0 mg/mL Using Tablets (apply 2X/day = 2.0 mg/day)
- Add 12 tablets of 5 mg/mL Finasteride to empty minoxidil bottle
- Add 18 mL of Minoxidil 5% solution (alcohol Propylene Glycol/Water)
- Results in 18 mL solution + solids @ 2.0 mg/mL (0.1%)
- Agitate well side to side (without shaking)
- Let stand for 2-3 days
- Decant solution off of solids into an eyedropper and discard solids.
- Apply 1 mL 2X per day = ~4.0 mg/day (10 day supply)
- Estimate this equates to about 0.8 mg oral dose in DHT suppression.
Instructions for 2.0 mg/mL (apply 2X/day = 2.0 mg/day)
- Add 12.0 mL of 5 mg/mL Finasteride (60mg Finasteride) to eyedropper bottle (in Polyethylene Glycol)
- Add 18 mL of Minoxidil 5% solution (alcohol Propylene Glycol/Water)
- Results in 30 mL solution at 2.0 mg/mL
- Apply 1 mL 2X per day = ~4.0 mg/day (10 day supply)
- Estimate this equates to about 0.8 mg oral dose in DHT suppression.
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You can buy directly here; https://fueclinic.com/services/treatments/topical-dutasteride/
No prescription required
I have had no side effects on Topical Dutasteride (horrible sides on Topical Finasteride) and itās extremely effective on hair loss. I actually recovered my entire crown on it. (I have had several hair transplants)
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