Category Archives: Publications

Publications – English language

Emotional consequences of finasteride: fool’s gold.

Users of finasteride…report serious physical and emotional adverse effects, collectively known as post-finasteride syndrome… Limited research exists exploring the psychological corollaries of post-finasteride syndrome and preexisting Axis I and Axis II mental health conditions… An important finding in this study was that almost 57% (n = 97) of men reported a psychiatric diagnosis and 28% […]

Immunohistochemical evaluation of androgen receptor and nerve structure density in human prepuce from patients with persistent sexual side effects after finasteride use for androgenetic alopecia.

Finasteride is still one of the most common therapeutic drugs prescribed for AGA, a distinctive alopecia pattern involving hairline recession and vertex balding, a condition more frequent with increasing age… However, treatment of young subjects is of increasing concern due to accumulating evidence that daily use of oral finasteride has several severe adverse effects. Our […]

Patients treated for male pattern hair with finasteride show, after discontinuation of the drug, altered levels of neuroactive steroids in cerebrospinal fluid and plasma.

Observations performed in a subset of patients treated for male pattern hair loss indicate that persistent sexual side effects as well as anxious/depressive symptomatology have been reported even after discontinuation of finasteride treatment. Due to the capability of finasteride to block the metabolism of progesterone (PROG) and/or testosterone (T) we have evaluated, by liquid chromatography–tandemmass […]

The dark side of 5α-reductase inhibitors’ therapy: sexual dysfunction, high gleason grade prostate cancer and depression.

A substantial body of evidence exists which points to serious and potentially ill-health effects of [finasteride and dutasteride] therapy. These include loss or reduced libido, erectile dysfunction, orgasmic and ejaculatory dysfunction, development of high-grade PCa tumors, potential negative cardiovascular events, and depression. The side effects are potentially harmful in some individuals and in young men […]

Change in sexual function in men with lower urinary tract symptoms/benign prostatic hyperplasia associated with long-term treatment with doxazosin, finasteride and combined therapy.

This study significantly extends understanding of the effects of long-term treatment with these drugs on sexual function in men with lower urinary tract symptoms associated with benign prostatic hyperplasia. Treatment with finasteride or combined therapy was associated with worsening sexual function while treatment with doxazosin alone was associated with minimal negative impact if any. Physicians […]

Adverse effects of 5α-reductase inhibitors: what do we know, don’t know, and need to know?

Recent preclinical and clinical findings indicate that 5α-R inhibitors evoke not only beneficial but also adverse effects. Future studies should investigate the biochemical and physiological mechanisms that underlie the persistence of the adverse sexual side effects to determine why a subset of patients is afflicted with such persistence or irreversible adverse effects. Also, a better […]

Exploring the neural mechanisms of finasteride: a proteomic analysis in the nucleus accumbens.

Recent evidence has shown that [finasteride], albeit generally well tolerated, can induce untoward psychological effects in a subset of patients; furthermore, this drug may have therapeutic efficacy for a number of different neuropsychiatric conditions, ranging from Tourette syndrome to schizophrenia. In rat models of these conditions, FIN has been shown to block the effects of […]

Characteristics of men who report persistent sexual symptoms after finasteride use for hair loss.

Symptomatic finasteride users had “significantly lower International Index of Erectile Function composite score” and “significantly lower scores for each of its domains of erectile function, sexual desire, orgasmic function, intercourse satisfaction, and overall satisfaction”… There exists “a significant positive correlation between a subset of Beck Depression Inventory scores related to negative attitude and blood oxygen […]