Finasteride with low dose dutasteride?

Question

Hello . I am taking finasteride for 6 years and I want to combine low dose of dutasteride 0.5 mg once a week. Is it can damage my hair? I ask this because I understood that it raises the scalp testosterone for about 100% which can raise the DHT. Dutasteride half life is about 5 weeks, will I have 6 days gap of high scalp testosterone without the help of dutasteride blockers? Or the blockers remains in the blood as well? For how long scalp testosterone remains after 0.5 my of dutasteride? Thank..

Jeff Donovan, MD, PhD · Answer

These are really great questions and you are going to want to have a good discussion with your doctors so you can clarify some facts. Dutasteride is similar to finasteride. It lowers DHT. It is helpful as an add on although you are going to want to review all possible side effects with your doctors before starting. It does not lead to a gap in testosterone like you describe. 0.5 mg of dutasteride is more effective in male balding than 1 mg finasteride so this added dose, coupled with long half life has the potential to help. I highly encourage you to review thoroughly with your doctors. These are great questions but the pharmacology needs to be carefully reviewed.

David Perez-Meza, MD, FISHRS · Answer

Excellent question. I have received the same question from my patients. Dutasteride is more potent than Finasteride (1 mg). I will suggest you to discuss the issue with your hair doctor. But I will mention what I recommend to my patients: if the patient is taking Finasteride 1 mg daily for several years and he is  noticing a decreased effect (non stable of the hair loss and regrowth) related ONLY to the medication then I suggest to switch to the Brand from Merck, if it is not possible to find it in his city/country then I suggest to change the lab of his generic version.  Or I add oral Dutasteride .5 mg once a week then evaluations every 3-4 months to change the dosages of the medications. Also, I recommend Minoxidil 5% Solution or foam twice a day. Good luck.

William Rassman, MD (retired) · Answer

As Dutasteride is not FDA approved for use in hair loss, I generally don't prescribe it. It makes no sense to take both dutasteride and finasteride together. Dutasteride is stronger than finasteride and addresses both type one and type two blocking sites.

Finasteride with low dose dutasteride?

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Finasteride with low dose dutasteride?

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