Boyfriend taking hair loss tablets

[Shelby888]

My boyfriend is concerned his losing his hair and he just recently had a quotation for a hair transplant . He has been quoted £4000 which I have persuaded him not to go through with it as I really don't think he needs it! He is now paying a yearly subscription of finastrede which can reduce the speed of hair loss... the only thing I'm concerned about is one of the side effects causing infertility!! The consultant has told him that this is all a myth. Does anyone else have any information on this ? Tia

Why persuade him not to have the hair transplant if it's something he feels he wants and needs?

It's not a myth about finasteride causing infertility, but the sperm generally improves when the man stops taking it. It can cause ED too, and also when you stop taking it the new hair falls out again.

To be honest I wouldn't consider TTC with someone taking that medication as there haven't been any studies to show the effects on unborn babies, or longer term effects. So I would wait until they had stopped taking it for a few months, but that's just me.

Please read this bnf.nice.org.uk/drug/finasteride.html and do everything in your power to avoid becoming pregnant while he's taking these tablets.

I agree with Gemma above. Why not encourage him to have a transplant so that he doesn't run any risk of the side effects of this medication?

Also when I was a nurse giving out meds we female nurses were told not to touch or handle the Finasteride tablets ourselves as the drug can be absorbed into the skin & I presume affect fertility of women too.
So just a word of warning, don't touch his tablets (I doubt you are likely to anyway).

There's the suggestion of possible foetal abnormalities - don't fall pregnant: www.medicines.org.uk/emc/product/6044/smpc
Finasteride, may cause abnormalities of the external genitalia of a male foetus when administered to a pregnant woman (see section 5.3 and section 6.6).

Exposure to Finasteride: risk to male foetus

"Women who are pregnant or may become pregnant should not handle finasteride tablets especially if crushed or broken because of the possibility of absorption of finasteride and the subsequent potential risk to a male foetus (see section 6.6).

Small amounts of finasteride have been recovered from the semen in subjects receiving finasteride 5 mg/day. It is not known whether a male foetus may be adversely affected if his mother is exposed to the semen of a patient being treated with finasteride. When the patient's sexual partner is or may potentially be pregnant, the patient is recommended to minimise exposure of his partner to semen (e. g. by using condoms)."

Please urge him to have a look into the side effects of the drugs before taking. As well as the infertility risks, theres also a risk of depression and suicidal thoughts. It's really not worth the chance

My husband also went to an appointment about hair transplant and the consultant discussed medication with him as an option. She said if he chose the pill route not to try conceive while he was on it and that if I did fall pregnant I wasn’t to handle the pills. It can also cause erectile dysfunction.

He didn’t end up taking the medication in the end but he is using the foam that she recommended.

Hi ,
Sorry to butt in , my sons both very early twenties are losing their hair . Interested to know where your husbands went for advice and what options they were given . I really wish I could help them but so far it’s looking like there isn’t much that can be done .

My husband considered taking these but decided against it because of the ED risk. I don’t know why he bothered though. He’s an extremely good looking man with or without hair.

Why did you put him off a transplant? This is clearly a serious issue for him - maybe try to convince him to fo down that route again rather than the pills.