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Is it Ok to Use Propecia While Trying to Get My Wife Pregnant?- Sunday, March 22, 2009

Question:

I have been on Rogaine and Propecia for hair loss for 11 years now. My wife and I are wanting to have a baby and we are a little concerned over the drug's possible effects on male fetuses (as we obviously don't know what we will end up with). Another curve ball is that I just had my second hair transplant yesterday so I want to keep my new and remaining hair in healthy condition. Yesterday my hair restoration doctor mentioned a topical Avodart as a possible substitute to the Propecia while my wife is pregnant. But I cannot find any other information on this and I am wondering how concerned I should be that the Propecia could harm our future child(ren) while conceiving and while in the womb? Also, are there any good substitutes while pregnant and do any of you know about this topical version of Avodart, or more importantly - does it work? Worst case scenario, how devastating will a nine month hiatus from Propecia to my hair goals (keep and try to grow more)?

I have heard that Propecia is out of the system in 3 days, so I am off of it for a few weeks to get pregnant then use a barrier for the rest of the pregnancy - will that prevent issues? I may be over thinking this a lot, but realistically my child will be more important than my hair and I do not know if I would live with myself if my hair pill ruined my child's life.

Answer:

A lot of guys have this concern, including us. However, in all our research on the topic, nothing has caused us any alarm or reason to believe a man continuing Propecia will have any harmful impact on conception or the baby.

To see what Coalition member Dr. William Reed has to say, visit "Using Propecia (Finasteride) While Trying to Conceive".

If you do choose to stop taking Propecia for 9 months, the progression of male pattern baldness will continue. How much hair you will lose depends on genetics and isn't something we can predict.

Topical Propecia and Avodart contains no real evidence to suggest that it can prevent or stop hair loss. In fact, since both medications inhibit the production of DHT by blocking 5-alpha-reductase, by the time the finasteride or dutasteride penetrated the scalp into the follicle, DHT has already been formed and has bound itself to the hair follicle receptors. In other words, finasteride or dutasteride penetrating the scalp into the hair follicle won't have any impact since the 5-alpha-reductase enzyme has already bound to testosterone and created full blown DHT.

Bill (Falceros)
Associate Publisher/Editor