Category Archives: Avodart

Dutasteride (Avodart) Reviews and Ratings

I will delete most comments that are unrelated to Dutasteride (Avodart). Post originally published in February 2015.

Update: June 2021 — New Dutasteride and Finasteride study sponsored by GlaxoSmithKline (GSK). Involved some esteemed scientists and advisors, including Dr. Manabu Ohyama.

“Dutasteride may be more potent than finasteride in modulating the expression levels of key hair growth genes (e.g. FGF7, IGF1 and WNT5a). This study provides supporting evidence that type I 5AR may be involved in hair growth in addition to type II 5AR”.

Update: February 2022 — A new study concludes that Dutasteride 0.5mg/day is the most effective male hair loss treatment.

Dutasteride (Avodart) for Hair Loss

Dutasteride for Hair Loss.
Dutasteride (Avodart) Capsules for Hair Loss.

I have written about Dutasteride (brand name Avodart) many times before on this blog. This drug was first approved by the FDA in 2002 to treat benign prostatic hyperplasia (enlarged prostates).

Dutasteride has not yet been officially approved to treat hair loss in the US or EU. However, it was approved for that purpose in South Korea in 2010, and in Japan in 2015.

It seems like GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) does not want to go through the approval process any more. They did do some clinical trials on Dutasteride and androgenetic alopecia. The results were published in 2018 and deemed a success.

In any event, the approval in South Korea and Japan is still a huge development. To date, only two drugs (Minoxidil in 1988 and Finasteride in 1997) have ever been approved by the US FDA to treat pattern hair loss. It has been almost 25 years since the last  US approval of a drug to treat male pattern hair loss!

Before and After Photos

Make sure to see some before and after photos of people taking Dutasteride to treat their hair loss. Some of those are in  people taking it in combination with Minoxidil. In the US, many people use  generic Dutasteride (or brand name Avodart) off-label to treat their hair loss. The most famous of these is Ashton Kutcher. Also see this favorable Avodart experience from Rick Rosner.

Hair Growth Prospects and Side Effects

Based on many existing studies and anecdotal evidence, it is virtually guaranteed that Dutasteride will result in superior hair growth/regrowth in comparison to Finasteride. However, the former will also result in higher rates of side effects compared to the latter. These higher rates of side effects are unlikely to be drastic enough for the FDA to deny GlaxoSmithKline permission to market Avodart for hair loss.

One 2013 article that reviewed numerous recent Finasteride and Dutasteride related studies suggests a 5-9 percent chance of erectile dysfunction. In most cases, such side effects are not permanent, although some people have seen permanent problems even after complete cessation of drug ingestion.

The big question is whether GSK will deem it worthwhile to produce and market Avodart for hair loss. Potential market and revenue prospects might not be sufficient enough to proceed. And they will also have to consider potential losses based on recent lawsuits against Merck regarding Propecia (Finasteride) side effects. Dutasteride will definitely have more people complaining of side effects in comparison to Finasteride.

Make sure to also see my posts on topical Dutasteride and topical Finasteride. Also of interest is the new trend of mesotherapy with Dutasteride for hair growth. Also known as Dutasteride injections.

Dutasteride for Hair Loss Reviews

In the meantime, rather than wait for the FDA and GSK, I have decided to write this post. I hope to see numerous comments from people who have tried to use Avodart to treat hair loss. Success and failure testimonials are both welcome.

By now, there must be well over 100,000 men around the world who have used Avodart off-label to try to regrow hair. When the drug was first approved in 2002 to treat enlarged prostates, people on online hair loss forums went berserk with excitement.

I hope to see many testimonials and comments to this post in the coming years. I will try to only allow specific comments and concerns related to the drug itself. Including opinions about side effects, cost (including the cost of generic Dutasteride), dosage and so forth.

I hope that this post and your helpful Avodart for hair loss reviews ends up becoming extremely useful. On hair loss forums: Dutasteride related testimonials are either not broken out in a separate subcategory; or swamped in number by Finasteride related posts.

It should also be noted that balding older men who have taken Avodart to treat their enlarge prostates have sometimes noticed hair regrowth in areas of their scalps that have been totally barren for many decades. You can read some of these encouraging testimonials in several of the below links.

Regrowing hair in totally bald scalps is extremely difficult and akin to a miracle with weak existing treatments. Even when effective, current hair loss treatments usually only maintain hair. At best, they regrow only recently lost hair.

Dutasteride (Avodart) Reviews: Links of Interest

Note: Dutasteride is not meant to be used by women who are planning to get pregnant.

Ashton Kutcher Took Avodart for 10 Years

I first published this post on February 26, 2018, but am now updating and republishing it because of an important development.

Update:

Yesterday (June 4th, 2018), Ashton Kutcher appeared on Conan and discussed his past 10-year usage of Avodart (Dutasteride) to maintain his hair, prior to quitting several years ago. The video was officially published today and is embedded further below. I was impressed by Mr. Kutcher’s knowledge that a testosterone byproduct (DHT) rather than testosterone itself is the root cause of hair loss. He seems like a true hair geek, although later on he fumbles a bit when he agrees with Conan that less testosterone = usually more hair.

Dihydrotestosterone (DHT) levels and your scalp hair’s genetic sensitivity to the ravaging effects of DHT are together what cause male pattern hair loss. Men with somewhat low testosterone levels can still have sufficiently high enough levels of DHT to end up going completely bald. And men with high testosterone levels can still not go bald at all if their follicles are not genetically susceptible to the attacks from DHT.

In any case, to the best of my knowledge, no major celebrity has ever admitted to using Dutasteride for hair loss in the past. Many have admitted to using the comparatively weaker drug Finasteride, including our sitting US president. What makes this admission from Mr. Kutcher even more striking is the fact that Dutasteride is not yet officially approved to treat hair loss in the US… although tens of thousands of people have surreptitiously been using the drug for that purpose for over 15 years now.


Original Post:

For those who read this blog regularly, you might have noticed that I have an especially keen interest in the drug Avodart (Dutasteride) because for a large number of people it is currently the best option to treat hair loss if willing to tolerate the potential side effects. My post on Dutasteride for hair loss reviews now has close to 300 comments, with a surprising number of people reporting great results. I often say that Avodart (Dutasteride) is like Propecia (Finasteride) on steroids. Buyer beware.

Ashton Kutcher Short Hair
Ashton Kutcher Short Hair

I have been taking the drug for the past year and a half with good results. However, a few months ago I reduced my dosage to 0.5 mg once every other day (half the recommended 0.5 mg per day). I think that I may have gained some body fat while on Dutasteride, and I have definitely seen a sudden appearance of significant forehead acne after starting to take generic pills from a different manufacturer (since my local pharmacy switched suppliers). Dutasteride moderately raises both estrogen and testosterone in those taking it, so the side effects I am getting are not surprising and I therefore cut my intake in half. I also wanted to reduce the daily processing load on my liver.

Celebrities Never Mention Taking Avodart for Hair Loss

We have all heard of 100s of celebrities and athletes who have admitted to using Propecia (Finasteride) to combat their hair loss. The most recent case was US President Donald Trump. I still cannot believe that it now says on one corner of the official White House website that the president uses Propecia for his hair loss. The most powerful man in the world really cares about his hair.

Besides celebrities, we often hear about athletes who get banned from competitions for using Propecia. The reason for this is because Propecia apparently masks the usage of other more serious banned performance enhancing drugs. Edit: Finasteride no longer banned for athletes since 2009 per wikipedia (h/t Scott).

However, you never ever hear of any major celebrity or athlete admitting to taking Avodart (Dutasteride) to tackle his or her hair loss. For one, Avodart has only been approved to treat hair loss in Japan and South Korea. In other countries, you have to figure out a way to get a prescription and convince your doctor that you want it even though you do not have an enlarged prostate (the original approved usage for Avodart). I also think that most people (including doctors) do not know much about using Dutasteride for hair loss.

Ashton Kutcher used Avodart for Hair Loss

Ashton Kutcher Long Hair
Ashton Kutcher Long Hair

This past week, well known actor Ashton Kutcher admitted that he used Avodart for 10 years to tackle his hair loss. I was amazed to read that statement. He might very well be the first ever world renowned celebrity to admit to taking this drug for hair loss. Moreover, he took it for a pretty long time, and seems to have had no major side effects. Some key points from the interview and my thoughts:

  • Mr. Kutcher says that he took “the Avodart” from the age of 25-35 and stopped five years ago. He is currently 40 years old. So he took the drug from around early 2003 till early 2013. Considering that Avodart was only approved for treating enlarged prostates in November 2001 and probably not easily available for treating hair loss in 2002, Mr. Kutcher did a great job doing his research and getting a hold of the drug in early 2003. I wonder if he was on the hairsite.com forums in 2002 when they led the worldwide discussion about this new magic drug that would be the cure for hair loss.
  • Mr. Kutcher’s two children are currently 3 years old and 14 months old. So he had them both after quitting Avodart. Perhaps that was the reason he originally quit the drug? It is recommended that pregnant women not even handle Avodart. Moreover, many men taking Avodart stop taking the drug when trying to become fathers due to fears that it could lead to some changes in their sperm quality and potential birth defects in their children. However, there are no warnings on Dutasteride bottle labels in relation to men. There are, however, clear warnings for both women and for children regarding never handling the capsules.
  • I am curious how Mr. Kutcher got his hands on Avodart in 2003. Did he buy it online, or was there any American doctor who was willing to prescribe it to him for the off-label hair loss use?
  • Mr. Kutcher claims that he quit Avodart five years ago, did good for a year, but now (five years after quitting) he is losing his hair again. In his own words: “And I think like, five years ago I stopped and I did really good for a year, and now it’s thinning out”. The half life of Avodart is around five weeks, so it does seem strange that he was not losing any substantial hair for five years after quitting the drug. Or (my interpretation of his quote): not losing his hair at all for a year after quitting the drug, then losing it minimally for the next four years, and now finally losing it much more rapidly.

In any event, even if Mr. Kutcher’s time frames are a bit off or confusing, it is wonderful to get a data point regarding Avodart from a well known celebrity. The majority of hair loss forum members who try Avodart never seem to continue to take it for a decade.