Buy Propecia Online

 An evaluation of Propecia’s older sibling Proscar, which was used to treat benign prostatic hyperplasia, reveals that in terms of dosages, more is not better.  Proscar and Propecia share the same ingredient of finasteride. 

According to an analysis of the double-blind studies that Merck presented to the FDA, the difference between 1 mg and 5 mg dosage of Proscar yielded the same results, but Merck nonetheless recommended dosages at 5 mg.  Merck’s dosage suggestions are much higher than the needed amount for treatment with Proscar.  However, in this same report, the studies showed that a decreased dosage would reduce the probability of side effects.    

Thus, it may be worth considering if decreasing the dosage of Propecia would still render effectiveness.  Cutting the dosage could decrease the cost.  Some of our readers have sent in emails with their dosages; many begin with the 1 mg dosage, then after they become a good responder to Propecia, they drop the dosage down to .5 mg.  They have not noticed any discernable difference in results between the 1 mg and .5 mg.  All you would need is a standard pill cutter from the pharmacy to halve your tablet.  There is no official word on this, and we are simply posing an interesting point, but this may be worth considering.  Nonetheless, Propecia’s monthly cost is not dramatic, so it may or may not be worth the experiment to decrease the dosages. 

 Several of our readers have emailed us inquiring about their progress with Propecia.  Some men have experienced shedding or thinning during the first phase of their treatment with Propecia, and they are worried about whether Propecia is working for them.  

Based upon our research and conversations with Propecia users, thinning in month three to five is very normal for Propecia treatment.  For the first three months, some men will experience thinning of the hair, especially around the temples, although the recession of the hairline will be contained.  Some experts believe that the initial thinning is attributed to the scalp’s natural reaction to discard the old hairs to make room for the thicker, newer ones. 

The thinning is a normal part of the process that some men initially experience in the first three to five months.  After this first period of three to five months, most men who experience the initial condition will witness that the original hair, as well as new hair, will begin to grow back.  When you take into consideration studies demonstrate that 83% of men experience further hair growth, the numbers are on your side for growing back your thick hair. 

For some men using Propecia, it may get worse before it gets better, but in this case, patience pays off with a long-term full head of hair.       

Propecia is the first, and only, clinically proven non-topical pharmaceutical treatment to reduce hair loss and re-grow hair in almost three-fourths of users. Unlike Minoxidil, a topical preparation with a 50% effectiveness rating, Propecia is taken orally, once a day, and dosages do not need to be adjusted for age. Other remedies, whether herbal or mineral-based, are essentially delusory concoctions that may or may not grow hair, though they might make you feel better about having none. Any hair treatment not approved by the FDA, or the American Hair Loss Association, is likely to be a waste of time and money.

Why Do Men Go Bald?

Why do men go bald?  It is clearly a genetic aging marker, but what purpose does it serve?  I would like to refer to a letter dated July 2007 in which Desmond Morris (a zoologist and ethologist who wrote “The Naked Ape”) proposed that balding was a signal to mating-age females that men were too old to pass on viable copies of their genes.

The idea makes scientific sense. Past the ages of 40 or 45, our stem cells make “bad” copies (sometimes resulting in cancer). Genetic “imprinting,” which affects gene expression, begins to fail. It is a known fact that the children of men over 40 are more prone to schizophrenia, autism, and Down’s syndrome. None of this is any comfort to older men who want to begin a new family.  However, nothing prevents older men from trying to look younger, and this is where Propecia can help. Along with diet, exercise, and certain other regimens, the use of Propecia can renew hair, if not genetic imprinting.

Baldness and Vitamin D

One of the hair loss regimens that might be effective (other than Propecia) is taking Vitamin D, which helps to build resistance to cancer and maintains muscle and bone strength. Children and young adults get Vitamin D from sunlight. Older people, whose skin is beginning to deteriorate, lose this ability to synthesize Vitamin D from sunlight. Researchers are beginning to suspect that our recommended daily allowance of Vitamin D should be as much as 10 times higher than it is, based on our age and the increasing UV content of sunlight as a result of particulates in the atmosphere (resulting in global warming).

Vitamin D Toxicity

Vitamin D in excessive doses can be toxic, resulting in nausea, vomiting, pain in the joints, and loss of appetite.  A person may also experience constipation alternating with diarrhea, or have tingling sensations in the mouth.  Unfortunately, few are sure what constitutes a toxic dose.  In fact, there are some who believe that toxicity fears are overblown, and these fears may be preventing residents of the northern U.S. from getting adequate supplies, as they work inside buildings all summer and the sun seldom shines in winter. Dr. R. Vieth, in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, suggested that up to 10,000 units of vitamin D might be appropriate and described the medical community’s concern over toxicity as “hysteria.”  A further study, published by the Wake Forest School of Medicine in Dermatology Nursing, suggests that Vitamin D may reverse aptosis, the mechanism of cell destruction.

Begin, or continue, your regiment of Propecia, but do not forget that the testosterone conversion process that leads to baldness is a genetic aging marker, and healthy bodies age more slowly than sick ones. Propecia is the first line of defense against baldness, but not the only one. Eat your vegetables and take Vitamin D.  We update this blog consistently with good research developments regarding hair loss, and thus, you can maintain your hairline with Propecia and keeping up with the research on this blog.  You may be too old to pass on your genes, but you are never too old to feel good about yourself.

Slightly over one year ago, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) issued a warning about counterfeited drugs purchased from Canadian websites. These drugs – all requiring a prescription from a licensed physician – included Lipitor, Diovan, Actonel, Nexium, Hyzaar, Ezetrol (known as Zetia in the United States), Crestor, Celebrex, Arimidex, and Propecia.

The last, 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 approximately 80% of men who used it for more than two years.

The FDA warned users not to purchase Propecia or other drugs from websites that subscribed to the Mediplan Prescription Plus Pharmacy or Mediplan Global Health network. These networks, located in Manitoba, Canada, were apparently (and perhaps unwittingly) selling counterfeited versions of drugs like Propecia to U.S. consumers over the Internet.

The counterfeiting was not a new occurrence. In August of 2005, the FDA conducted an operation at airports in LA, New York, and Miami, and found that almost 50% of drug imports from selected countries were, in fact, fakes that U.S. consumers believed they were buying online from Canadian pharmacies (whose drug prices are cheaper than those in the U.S.). More than two-thirds of the drugs were actually manufactured in countries other than Canada, and nearly a third of those were contaminated or otherwise altered.

Drug counterfeiting is illegal for several very good reasons. Counterfeits cheat consumers, who could – for the same amount or slightly more – buy a real medication like Propecia from a licensed pharmacy. Counterfeits are also dangerous. They may contain fillers like talcum (which was never intended to be ingested) or toxins, which can sicken or kill. If nothing else, they often contain lesser amounts of the intended ingredient (which, in the case of Propecia, is finasteride) and will do nothing whatsoever.

More recently, in Brussels, the Europeans held the first parliamentary symposium intended to address EU drug counterfeiting. The discussion focused on several factors: European and international measures to prevent counterfeiting, newest industry initiatives focused on securing the supply chain of pharmaceuticals, and newly developed technological systems to monitor counterfeited drugs. The symposium acknowledged that, as the speed of transportation increases, the proliferation of counterfeit drugs is becoming an international health menace, and counterfeiters must be prosecuted more severely than international law now provides.

“For too long, we have underestimated the drug counterfeiting situation. It used to be marginal, it is now totally industrialized,” said Jean-François Dehecq, the chairman of Aventis.

In September of 2007, a young Nigerian was convicted in a British court of running counterfeit drugs like Propecia through the Bahamas into the U.S. Similar scams are gaining impetus, as borders shrink and trade increases between nations.

If you are using – or plan to use – Propecia, the warning is clear: caveat emptor (let the buyer beware). Purchase your Propecia from a recognized pharmacy in your neighborhood. The Internet, while a superior tool for research and communication, is also a minefield of scammers looking for your dollar and willing to sell you anything to get it. You don’t want your epitaph to read, “Hair today. Gone the next.”

Propecia, the first and only FDA-approved prescription medication known to slow hair loss and regrow hair, was an offshoot of a drug (Proscar) used to treat benign prostatic hyperplasia, or BPH, otherwise known as enlarged prostate. Working in the lab with Proscar, scientists noticed an increase in hair growth in laboratory animals. Propecia, or finasteride, was approved for clinical trials in humans, and in 1997 licensed to treat male pattern baldness. Proscar continues to be used as a primary weapon against BPH, while Propecia is now the leading cure for baldness.

New Hope in Gene Research

Up to now, scientists thought that the number of hair follicles on the human scalp was set before birth. Research with mice now shows that disrupting follicular activity (by an incision or laser therapy) can cause skin to produce new follicles. This is a promising avenue of research, and scientists speculate that in the future, it will be possible to disrupt follicular activity by a simple treatment in a doctor’s office; subsequently, the patient will apply a topical treatment of a drug that manipulates the pathways triggered by disruption, producing new hair follicles.

Hair Cloning

Hope may also lie in a process called hair cloning or multiplication. Unlike hair transplants, which merely move the active follicle from one location to another, scientists would actually harvest the stem cell from a healthy hair follicle and manipulate it to grow into several new cells. This group of cells would then be implanted into a follicle in the balding area, where it would start to grow a number of healthy, new hairs. Scientists anticipate this process may be perfected and on the market as early as 2009. This technology has been licensed to a company called Follica Inc., which hopes to use the technology to treat both hair loss and other disorders, including excessive hair growth. It promises to be a lucrative venture; hair loss treatments are a $10 billion dollar industry.

Gene for Baldness Revealed

In January of 1998, Columbia University scientists announced the discovery of a gene partially responsible for baldness. The gene, called “hairless,” is associated with a form of severe, inherited baldness called alopecia universalis. Scientists speculate the discovery may lead to new cures hair loss and baldness within the decade. The study also marked an important departure, from studying hormones in relation to baldness to examining genetic makeup as the primary culprit.

Prevalence and Effects of Baldness

Male pattern baldness accounts for 95% of hair loss. By age 35, 60% of American men will have some degree of thinning, and by the age of 50 about 85% of men have appreciable thinning. Almost 25% of men who experience hair loss do so before the age of 21. Men who go bald are unhappy with their appearance, despite social convention to the contrary, and most admit their lack of hair affects both their social and intrapersonal relationships.

The development of 5-alpha-reductace inhibitors like Propecia has transformed hair loss from inescapable to treatable. For the first time in human history, a man can actually regrow hair at a significant rate, if Propecia treatment is started early and continued faithfully. Topical remedies and herbal supplements cannot make the same claim; their success rates vary from as little as 10% to as much as 30%, nowhere approaching Propecia’s 67% success rate.

Until something better comes along – as it well may in the next 5 or 10 years – Propecia is the only scientifically proven, prescription treatment shown to slow hair loss and regrow hair in significantly over half of all men who use it regularly. The earlier you begin to use Propecia, the better you will be able to retain your hairline and begin growing your hair back.