Welcome

The Post-Finasteride Syndrome Foundation’s primary mission is to fund research on the characterization, underlying biologic mechanisms and treatments of post-finasteride syndrome (PFS). Other goals include generating public awareness of PFS and providing support for patients suffering from the condition.

Adverse drug reaction reports worldwide

Adverse drug reaction reports worldwide

PFS research studies published

PFS research studies published

Known suicides worldwide

Known suicides worldwide

Doctors & researchers speaking out

Doctors & researchers speaking out

Nations warning of PFS

Nations warning of PFS

National media reports worldwide

National media reports worldwide

Sources

Connect with other PFS patients

Consult knowledgeable doctors

Report your side effects

Doctors & Researchers Speaking Out

Using finasteride for hair loss is like shooting at sparrows with cannons.

 

Using finasteride for hair loss is like shooting at sparrows with cannons. The drug.…blocks not only the super hormone but also other hormones that affect thinking and psyche, mood and emotions. Discontinuation of the drug should actually make the hormones work again.…but apparently, something breaks down in some men, in the prostate, in the brain, in the whole organism.

—I Didn’t Want to Go Bald. A Pill the Doctor Gave Me Destroyed My Life (English translation): Die Zeit, Feb. 22, 2018

Michael Zitzmann, MD, Andrology Professor
University of Munster, Germany

Blocking 5alpha-reductase by finasteride treatment may have broad consequences for the nervous system.

[W]e have evaluated in male rats the effects of a subchronic treatment with low doses of finasteride.…and the consequences of its withdrawal.…on neuroactive steroid levels…. Interestingly, at the withdrawal, some of these effects persisted, and different changes in neuroactive steroid levels, and in the expression of receptors, were also detected. Altogether these findings suggest that the block of the enzyme 5alpha-reductase by finasteride treatment may have broad consequences for the nervous system.

—Effect of Finasteride, an Inhibitor of the Enzyme 5alpha-Reductase, in the Nervous System: The Journal of Steroid Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, July 2017

Roberto Melcangi, PhD, Head of Neuroendocrinology, Department of Pharmacological and Biomolecular Sciences
University of Milano

We wouldn’t recommend that any man take [finasteride], especially not young men.

We are certainly very cautious, because we see the side effects. We wouldn’t recommend that any man take [finasteride], especially not young men. The longer they take it, the greater the risk of experiencing persistent side effects, including after they’ve stopped.

—Do Anti-Baldness Remedies Make You Impotent? Puls, SRF-TV, May 7, 2018

Doris Mannhard, MD, Urologist
University Hospital Zürich

Propecia should not have been authorized in the first place, and its approval should be revoked as soon as possible.

Propecia was approved in 1997 as a solution to slow male pattern baldness. Finasteride is not only poorly effective, but it can lead to infertility. As we stated in 2006, we advise against a cosmetic product with potential endocrine side effects. Propecia should have never been approved, and its authorization should be revoked as soon as possible.

—Finasteride-induced Infertility (English translation): Der Arzneimittelbrief (The Drug Letter), November 2013

Dietrich von Herrath, MD, Chief Physician
St. Joseph Hospital, Berlin
More

‘Underlying Neurobiological Abnormalities’ Exist in Finasteride Users with Persistent Sexual Dysfunction, Suggests Clinical Study

SOMERSET, N.J., Sept. 29, 2016 – Men who experience persistent sexual dysfunction after discontinuing finasteride have “neurobiological abnormalities,” suggests a new study published in The Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism. Among those abnormalities is neural circuitry that overlaps with functional abnormalities identified in men suffering from “major depression.” Titled Characteristics of Men Who Report […]

Support Program Connects PFS Patients Worldwide

SOMERSET, N.J., Sept. 21, 2016 – The Post-Finasteride Syndrome Foundation has launched a program to connect PFS patients with one another for mutual support. Any PFS patient or family member of a PFS patient who would like to participate should download the PFS Patient Support form, complete it and email it back to social@pfsfoundation.org. Due […]

2016 PFS Foundation Annual Address

Aug. 4, 2016 Dear Friends: I began last year’s annual address by letting you know how encouraged I was that the National Institutes of Health had not only added PFS to its Genetic and Rare Diseases Information Center but linked to our website. Now I’m equally encouraged to note a similar milestone, achieved exactly one […]

Two European Documentaries a Milestone in PFS Awareness

SOMERSET, N.J., July 14, 2016 – A pair of European documentaries focusing on post-finasteride syndrome mark the first time the condition has been the subject of extended TV coverage on any continent. The first documentary, titled “Pills in Search of an Illness,” debuted April 19 on the Spanish public TV network TV3 in Barcelona. Reported […]

Finasteride-Induced Suicides up 8.4% in WHO’s VigiBase

SOMERSET, N.J., July 13, 2016 – Reports of finasteride-induced completed suicides are up 8.4% in the World Health Organization Progamme for International Drug Monitoring’s database of adverse drug reactions (ADRs) for Q1 through Q2 2016 over Q4 2015. The absolute number of completed suicides rose from 59 to 64 within that period.  Also in the […]