In the world of men’s health, there are several cases of medications that help improve physical and mental wellbeing that were initially intended for other purposes but found a place and a way to help men when used responsibly and appropriately.
The most notable example of this is sildenafil, initially designed to help with angina but ultimately becoming more widely used to treat erectile dysfunction and restore sexual confidence.
A lot of men’s health treatments work primarily to create a virtuous cycle; you find something about you which causes you to feel anxious or unhappy, a doctor looks for the root cause, suggests an appropriate medication that can help, and in doing so creates the foundations for a more confident you moving forward.
Is this also the case with finasteride? Could an affordable medication designed to help reduce hair loss also boost self-esteem?
To understand how it can help, it is important to know what it is used for, and the dimensions in which this intersects with wellbeing, health and self-image.
What Is Finasteride Used For?
An enzyme inhibitor, finasteride (also sold under the names Propecia and Proscar), is designed to stop testosterone from being metabolised into dihydrotestosterone (DHT).
This is used to treat two main conditions in men:
- Benign enlarged prostate.
- Male pattern baldness and hair loss.
We only provide finasteride for treating hair loss, following a private consultation with a prescriber who can ensure that it meets your needs and nothing in your medical history precludes you from taking it.
Men with an enlarged prostate typically can only be prescribed finasteride following a consultation with a GP or specialist urologist, not only to ensure the medication is right for you but to rule out other potential causes.
How Does Finasteride Help Treat Enlarged Prostate?
An enlarged prostate, the gland below your bladder that surrounds your urethra, is typically caused by hormonal levels changing. Much like male pattern baldness, these changes can increase over time, and an enlarged prostate is not necessarily uncommon.
The prostate, which produces semen and controls the flow of urine from the bladder to the penis, can put pressure on the urethra if it gets bigger and potentially cause issues with urination. These typically manifest as:
- Difficulty urinating, sometimes leading to straining.
- A weak flow.
- A feeling that your bladder is not empty.
- Dribbling.
- Feeling like you need to urinate more often.
Treatment can take various forms depending on the symptoms, but by reducing DHT levels, finasteride can reduce the size of the prostate or stop it from growing larger, particularly if you are at risk of it getting worse. A GP or urologist will typically prescribe it if they believe it is the best course of treatment.
How Does Finasteride Help Treat Hair Loss?
Unlike minoxidil, which helps treat hair loss by stimulating blood flow to the scalp, finasteride works by reducing the production of dihydrotestosterone by up to 70 per cent.
DHT is a powerful androgen that is derived from testosterone and is responsible for many bodily characteristics associated with men, including:
- Muscle mass.
- Body hair.
- Fertility.
- How fat is stored around your body.
However, it can also contribute to thinning hair and pattern baldness by causing hair follicles to shrink, leading to thinner hair, shorter hair growth cycles, longer delays between the production of new hairs and eventually noticeable bald patches.
This is particularly noticeable in people with genetic predispositions towards male pattern baldness.
By reducing the amount of DHT being produced, it reduces the amount that affects your scalp and thus the thinning and balding effect.
How Can Finasteride Help You Regain Your Confidence?
For many people, their hair and hairstyle are a significant part of their identity, and the gradual thinning and loss of hair over time can have a significant effect on their sense of self and well-being.
Many men have a particular part of themselves that they feel especially self-conscious about, which for a lot of these men is their hairline or the thickness of their scalp.
There are a lot of causes of hair loss, but one of the most concerning of these, when it comes to creating a vicious cycle of symptoms, is stress; noticing hair loss caused by stress can cause more stress in turn, leading to conditions such as telogen effluvium.
By helping with the root cause of hair loss using the most appropriate treatments available, not only will it help reduce hair loss and encourage hair growth, but it will also boost mental well-being to stop further hair loss from being as noticeable or significant.
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