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What is Propecia and how does it work?
Propecia is a pharmaceutical (a drug) in pill form, that has been approved by the FDA (Food and Drug Administration in the USA) for treating hair loss in the form of androgenetic alopecia.
Propecia contains 1mg of Finasteride. Another drug called Proscar also contains Finasteride, but in a more potent 5mg. Proscar was approved for a condition called Benign Prostatic Hyperplasia (BPH) years before Propecia became available for treating hair loss. It was discovered that people that were taking Proscar for BPH also grew hair so Merck decided to do clinical trials to prove this. The result of these trials is the approval of Propecia for treating hair loss. It was found that 1mg of Finasteride was the optimal dose for preventing further hair loss and regrowing hair.
Propecia works by inhibiting 5-alpha-reductase to prevent it from binding with testosterone to form dihydrotestosterone (DHT). This causes a reduction in the level of DHT in circulation and in the cells. Since DHT is the main hormone purported to trigger androgentic alopecia, a reduction in the level of DHT can prevent further hair loss and perhaps allow hair that has recently started to minuaturize to reverse course and become healthy again.
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