How Does Propecia (Finasteride) Work?

Propecia's main purpose is to stop hair loss from progressing, and to maintain what hair one has left.

Finasteride was approved initially in 1992 as Proscar, a treatment for prostate enlargement, but the sponsor had studied 1 mg of finasteride and demonstrated hair growth in male pattern hair loss. On December 22, 1997, the FDA approved Propecia to treat male pattern hair loss.

Propecia (Finasteride) works on a key cause of hair loss by significantly reducing the amount of DHT.

Specifically, it blocks the formation of DHT in your scalp. Lowering DHT appears to inhibit the further shrinking of affected hair follicles.

The good news is that Propecia (Finasteride) helps regrow visible hair and reduces further hair loss. It is, in fact, the first and only FDA-approved pill proven to treat male pattern hair loss on the vertex (top of head) and anterior mid-scalp area (middle front of head) in men.

The effectiveness of Propecia was demonstrated in studies of men, aged 18 to 41, with mild to moderate hair loss at the top and middle front of the head. There is no evidence that Propecia works for receding hairlines at the temples.

How Does Propecia (Finasteride) Work?

Testosterone floating in the bloodstream of the typical adult male routinely combines with an enzyme called 5-alpha reductase. The result of this interaction forms the more potent sexual hormone known as DHT (Dihydrotestosterone). DHT plays a primary role in proper sexual organ development during the fetal stage of life, as well as the proper development of secondary male characteristics during puberty.

When a man begins to lose his hair, certain genetically programmed follicles begin to develop DHT receptor sites. The DHT attaches itself to these receptor sites and begins to treat the follicle as a foreign object in the body. This chemical change not only affects hair, can cause itching, inflammation, and oiliness. During this time, the follicle, under the attack of DHT, begins to miniaturize with every growth cycle, until after several years, it simply is too small and short to be seen.

When Propecia is taken, it works to inhibit the formation of DHT in the system. Within a few months, the overall DHT levels will have remained low enough on a constant basis that the adverse effects DHT is having on the follicles will stop, resulting in a cessation of hair loss.