Buy Propecia Online

Psychological effects of Hair Loss

Psychological studies have shown that hair loss is associated with lessened self-esteem, bouts of depression, increasing introversion, nonspecific neuroses like avoidance or aversion, and a general loss of well-being. Though men of from all age groups experienced these symptoms, they were strongest among the 18-30 age groups.  

Hair is one of the first features we notice, both in ourselves and in others. A full head of hair sends a message to the pre-optic area of the Hypothalamus (the area of the brain associated with mating) telling us the individual in question has good genetic material. This, in turn, triggers hormones that inspire us to engage in conversation, display interest, or even flirt to attract the individual’s attention. Love is a modern convention; the instinct to reproduce ourselves is as old as time.

No one has ever reported a bad teeth day, or even a bad eye day, but a bad hair day can send us into a spiral of depression, even when we have ‘good’ hair (that is, full, thick, healthy hair). To have thin hair, or worse, almost no hair, is as emotionally devastating as the loss of a limb, or the loss of hearing, smell or taste.

Help from Propecia

Propecia, from Merck & Co., is the first, clinically proven, pharmaceutical treatment to reduce hair loss and even re-grow hair in men. In studies in both the U.S. and abroad, Propecia was shown to restore some or all of the hair in 82-90% of men who used it for more than two years, and achieved excellent results with minimal side effects among five-year users.

Propecia is a secondary discovery of Proscar (Finasteride), which was originally developed by Merck & Co. to treat benign Prostatic Hyperplasia, or BPH.  Merck’s primary objective has always been the discovery, development, and manufacture of pharmaceuticals that both treat and prevent illness in humans and animals. Occasionally, as in the case of Proscar, results are noticed in the laboratory, which suggest other uses for the same chemical.

Drugs Discovery Methods

Drug discovery is a time-consuming, expensive, high-risk proposition. Beginning with basic research into the way chemical compounds are taken into the body, and the path of disease, the drug then moves to development, where researches test its safety and efficacy. It takes about 12 years, and roughly $800 million dollars, to bring a medicine from the discovery phase to market-readiness. For every single medicine that reaches the public, between 4,000 and 10,000 compounds must be screened for safety, viability, dosage requirements, and efficacy. Many (in fact most of them) fail; they don’t work in animal trials, they can’t be safely manufactured, or they have side-effects in both animal and human trials that severely outweigh their benefits. In fact, of 10,000 compounds, only five will enter clinical testing, and just one will make it to the market.

Costs Involved in Propecia Use

Surprisingly, Propecia is not that expensive. The monthly cost for 30 tablets of Propecia (one tablet being the standard, daily dose) is about $50. Dosages of Propecia do not have to be adjusted for age; they are the same for a 60-year old as for a man 40 years younger, testifying to the overall safety of Propecia. The side effects are minimal: 2% of men report problems, primarily allergic reactions, or rashes, but also sexual side effects like loss of libido, reduced secretions, and – rarely - breast or testicle tenderness. The incidence of these effects declined to .03% by the fifth year of use.

Rated for both safety and effectiveness, Propecia stands at the top of the list of remedies for male pattern baldness (Androgenic Alopecia). It has more than earned its place in the medicine cabinet as a superior weapon against that one sign of aging most men fear (and a majority of men experience); the loss of their hair.

Early Onset

Hair loss can begin as early as 15, and many young men aged 20 to 25 have already experienced the loss of self-esteem and the resulting embarrassment that baldness can cause. Losing one’s hair at 50 is disturbing enough. Losing it at 18, when a male is just emerging from adolescence, with all its pimples, shyness, awkwardness and hormone surges, is devastating. 

Everyone loses hair. Doctors agree that it is quite normal to lose 100 strands of hair a day. Since the average scalp contains abut 125,000 hairs, the loss of 100 is considered insignificant. More hair loss than that, however, and you are experiencing Alopecia. 

What Causes Hair Loss?

Hair loss is not just a male issue, of course, and 22 percent of women have the problem as well.  Propecia, the first clinically proven prescription treatment for Androgenetic Alopecia, or male pattern baldness, is not recommended for pre-menopausal women because it causes a specific birth defect in male fetuses.

There are a number of causes of hair loss other than Androgenetic Alopecia: excessive exercise, extremely high cadmium and thallium levels (which directly affect the nervous system), extreme dieting (the loss of vitamin K alone can reduce hair count drastically); smoking, stress (which leads to Telogen Effluvium, an episodic, non-scarring form of Alopecia), depression, radiation, Lupus (yes, men get it too), Warfarin (a blood thinner), and Hypothyroidism, which is less common in men than women, but still occurs. Additional causes of hair loss are chronic venous insufficiency (CVI) - which destroys not only hair but the follicles it grows from - and specific kinds of heart disease. In fact, studies have shown a definitive link between heart problems and hair loss, but don’t panic. Only a doctor can determine if hair loss is related to heart problems, and if you are losing your hair, a doctor’s office is the first place you should visit anyway to discuss options such as Propecia.

Treating Androgenetic Alopecia

Androgenetic Alopecia is diagnosed by the pattern of balding from the hairline back, and eventually including the entire top of the head (the vertex). In carefully controlled studies conducted in the United States, Propecia has been proven to re-grow hair lost to Androgenetic Alopecia in more than 65% of men, with almost 80% of men reporting a slowing of their original hair loss. 

Reporting from Japan, a group of researchers from Kitasato University, in conjunction with 47 medical facilities around the nation, have confirmed that Propecia appears to work in 90% of men who take the medication for at least six months. The report, published in the July 31st issue of Asia Pulse, noted that 92.2% of respondents said using Propecia reduced their hair loss, either substantially or noticeably. Since not all of the 380,000 respondents stayed on Propecia for the full course of the study, the conclusions are not definitive. However, the study suggests that men who use Propecia for long periods of time (up to 5 years) can expect both a reduction in hair loss and an increase in the amount of hair.

Banyu Pharmaceutical released Propecia in Japan in late 2005, and expects Propecia to reach sales of 10 billion yen this year.

Nothing is entirely safe. Even things that are good for us, such as like exercise, fresh air, and fresh fruits and vegetables can be damaging in excess. Too much exercise and you develop muscles that cannot be sustained on a normal diet (not to mention sprains, strains and fatigue). Fresh air is great, and most of us should spend more time outdoors than we do. Spend too much time outdoors and you risk skin cancer, or frostbite. Fruit is an excellent source of antioxidants; too much, and you develop obesity, and/or Type II diabetes.

What is Propecia?

Propecia, a medication developed to treat male pattern baldness, has demonstrated a high degree of safety. Approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in 1997, Propecia has been in use in the general population for 10 years with less than a 2% rate of side effects. Even aspirin (to which one in ten people are allergic) has a lower safety rating, and can cause everything from ulcers to gastrointestinal bleeding, or persistent rashes and even pancreatic cancer when used over long periods of time. In fact, aspirin should never be used to treat children’s’ fevers, due to an increased risk of Reyes Syndrome.

How safe is Propecia?

The correct question is: how safe is Propecia? Well, after clinical trials, aftermarket trials and 10 years in the general population, the worst side effects of Propecia appear to be allergic reactions, or rashes, and these occurred in about 2% of users. Coming in second were adverse reactions related to sexual behavior which include decreased libido or sex drive (1.8%), erectile dysfunction (1.3%), and ejaculation disorders (specifically less ejaculate, at 1.2%). The incidence of all side effects fell to 0.3% by the fifth year of use, and men who experienced side effects and stopped using Propecia altogether reported a complete return to sexual function.

Participants also completed an anonymous questionnaire on sexual activity, and less than 2% reported a significant difference in their performance or satisfaction levels when using Propecia, confirming the results of the study that was mentioned in the previous paragraph..

Interestingly enough, the dosage of Propecia does not have to be adjusted by age; it is the same for a 60-year old as it is for an 18-year old. Propecia is well tolerated even by patients who have some form of renal insufficiency (i.e., kidney problems, whether chronic or acute). Since the kidneys are the bodies toxic waste filters, this indicates that Propecia is considerably less toxic than drugs like Bextra, which was widely prescribed to treat pain, until it was linked to cardiovascular disturbances and recalled. In fact, by incidence, Propecia is safer than aspirin.

Researchers have yet to determine the relationship between Propecia and male breast Neoplasia (breast cancer). In one test, 0.7% of Propecia users developed Neoplasia, while the placebo group did not. In another, similar test, 1.5% in the placebo group developed cancer, but none of the Propecia users did, which leads me to conclude that – of the male population in general – close to 1% of males are likely to develop Neoplasia in their lifetimes.

Propecia should not be used, or touched, by women who are pregnant or expect to become pregnant, because of a specific birth defect in male fetuses. Propecia has not been tested among women, and is not recommended for use by women. People with liver problems, or liver damage, should not use Propecia, as it is metabolized extensively in the liver.

Propecia, the first pharmaceutical developed to treat male pattern baldness, performed well in both clinicial trials and after-market studies. Propecia received Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approval in 1997, and Propecia has been used continuously since by a steadily increasing population of aging men to treat hair loss, an aging biomarker, and a genetic tendency inherited from both the male and female parent.

First developed as a drug to treat Benign Prostatic Hyperplasia (enlarging prostate), Propecia was remanufactured into a hair-loss treatment when researchers noted its remarkable ability to both prevent hair loss and re-grow new hair in test subjects in human clinical trials.

Clinical Trials

The studies were very specific. Sixty-five percent of men using Propecia for five years had an increased hair count, while all the men not using Propecia, but rather a placebo (pills containing no Finasteride, the key ingredient in Propecia) lost hair.

The baseline for these measurements was a hair count of 277 hairs inside a 1-inch diameter, measured at the anterior leading edge of the vertex area (the top of the head). Three control groups, or groups of observers, were used: patients (self-assessment), investigators (outside assessment), and a panel of dermatologists (expert assessment).

In a self-assessment of the benefits of Propecia, the men involved reported satisfaction with both the slowing loss of hair and an improvement in the appearance (read: thickness) of their hair. The investigators reported that a full 77% of the men using Propecia had increased hair growth. The dermatologists, using before-and-after photos that men from around the world had submitted, reported that 42% of men using Propecia had no further, visible hair loss, and 48% of the men using Propecia had improved hair thickness.

When using Propecia primary gains were seen in the anterior mid-scalp area (below the vertex, or top, toward the back of the head). Significant gains were also seen in the vertex area. Propecia has not been shown to significantly increase hair growth in the bitemporal area (the area of the scalp around, and primarily above, the ears).

After Market Trials

A five year study of Propecia duplicated the results. Sixty-five percent of men using Propecia had increased hair count. Men who started the trials with a placebo, and were later switched to Propecia, never achieved the same kind of hair re-growth as the men who were continuously on Propecia. Results confirmed that the greatest gains from Propecia are obtained in the first two years, and if no re-growth or slowing is obtained in the first year, male pattern baldness is likely not the cause of thinning hair. More importantly, stopping treatment with Procepia will cause the newly re-grown hair to fall out again within the year, sometimes with greater rapidity than before.

The message is clear: Propecia is a lifetime commitment, but at less than $60 a month, and with few side effects (2% of users, and primarily allergic reactions), Propecia is the treatment of choice for men experiencing the psychologically devastating loss of their hair.

PROPECIA ORIGINS

The discovery of Propecia, which is used to treat male pattern baldness was, quite frankly, a fortuitous accident. Merck scientists, dedicated to discovering treatments for serious illnesses, were working in Phase 4 (human, clinical trials) on the compound Finasteride (found in Propecia), which they had already confirmed as having significant potential to treat Benign Prostatic Hyperplasia (BPH).

BPH is prostate enlargement, which is not necessarily a precursor to Prostate Cancer.  BPH and Prostate Cancer affect different regions of the prostate. Both, however, are associated with aging, and scientists have discovered a series of genetic markers that appear altered in both BPH and Prostate Cancer. This discovery led some to conclude that the link between BPH and Prostate Cancer may be more definite, though elusive, than previously thought.  

MAKING PROPECIA 

Using Finasteride (Proscar), researchers noted a definite improvement in both hair growth and re-growth in their test subjects. They continued trials of Proscar, hoping to treat BPH before it became debilitating (BPH, with its urinary urgency, and eventual incontinence, can seriously affect the lives of thousands of older men). While they were working, another group of researchers took the same compound,  Finasteride (now sold as Procepia) and began new, clinical trials, at reduced dosages, to see if their observations had any merit.

In a series of four phases (from observation through animal testing and on to human subjects), the scientists confirmed that Finasteride, or Procepia, did in fact decrease hair loss and regrow hair in their tests subjects. Thus, a new drug named Propecia was born to help balding men regrow their hair.    

This is a relatively common occurrence in drug trials; one series of trials producing unexpected results that leads to the development of a new drug, unrelated in use or potency to the original drug.  Sometimes, it is a ‘goldmine’ drug like Propecia, which consumers are willing to pay for to treat cosmetic or health issues for which no previous, effective solution has been found. These ancillary properties may be related (such as a skin treatment that improves capillary action in facial tissue), or unrelated (as in the case of Procepia), though in fact the underlying causes of both BPH and hair loss are well known to the scientific community, if not to the average person.

Drug companies are always happy with these ancillary, or peripheral, discoveries. The bottom line is terribly important; if the company is not making money, it has to lay off researchers, and eventually close its doors.  You cannot develop important, new drugs if you do not exist. Procepia is indeed a gold mine, and it allows Merck to continue working on drugs that may eventually cure cancer, diabetes and other serious illnesses.  

Procepia, available by prescription only, in tablet form and taken once a day, has been proven useful to stop thinning hair and re-grow hair in men suffering from male pattern baldness.  Having been on the market for ten years, the benefits of Propecia are apparent.  Baldness is not a health threat, of course, and  you will survive if you are completely bald.  Still, for the millions of men experiencing hair loss, it is a critical issue of appearance and even self-esteem. Since mind and body are closely linked, both from a physician’s and a layman’s point of view, a loss of self-esteem may in fact be a deterrent to optimum health.  Propecia, therefore, can not only grow your hair, but also grow your self-esteem.