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.

Read our FDA Citizen Petition to remove finasteride from the market.

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

Patient Services

Connect with other PFS patients

Consult knowledgeable doctors

Report your side effects

Read the latest research

Doctors & Researchers Speaking Out

Men under the age of 40 who use finasteride for alopecia are at risk for suicide if they develop persistent sexual adverse effects and insomnia.

An important pattern of symptoms was common among all cases who committed suicide in the setting of finasteride use – insomnia and persistent sexual dysfunction after medication discontinuation. Insomnia and fatigue/tiredness were some of the most debilitating symptoms… Men under the age of 40 who use finasteride for alopecia are at risk for suicide if they develop persistent sexual adverse effects and insomnia.

—Finasteride and Suicide: A Postmarketing Case Series: Dermatology, January 14, 2020

Michael S. Irwig, MD, Attending Endocrinologist
Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center

Even if the incidence of persistent sexual adverse events is 3% to 5%… approximately 900,000 to 1.5 million men would suffer persistent sexual and psychiatric adverse events.

[A]pproximately 30 million young men, worldwide, would be prescribed finasteride or dutasteride to treat male pattern hair loss. Even if the incidence of persistent sexual adverse events is 3% to 5%, which may be viewed as a small number, approximately 900,000 to 1.5 million men would suffer persistent sexual and psychiatric adverse events. By no means this would be considered a small number and should not be dismissed or ignored.

—Post-finasteride syndrome: a surmountable challenge for clinicians: Fertility and Sterility, January 2020

Abdulmaged M. Traish, PhD, Professor of Biochemistry and Urology
Boston University School of Medicine

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

FDA is concerned that use of finasteride by pediatric patients may pose long-term safety risks.

Finasteride inhibits Type II 5(alpha)-reductase, which metabolizes testosterone to the potent androgen 5(alpha)-dihydrotestosterone. FDA is concerned that use of finasteride by pediatric patients may pose long-term safety risks regarding growth, development and sexual function.

—FDA response to Merck & Co.’s citizen petition requesting that finasteride be added to the List of Approved Drugs for Which Additional Pediatric Information May Produce Health Benefits in the Pediatric Population: May 2000

Janet Woodcock, MD, Director of the Center for Drug Evaluation and Research
US Food and Drug Administration

Noted Swiss Science Writer Sides with Nation’s 2,000 PFS Sufferers

February 1, 2019 Dear Friends: Looks like Switzerland’s not so neutral after all. At least when it comes to finasteride. In a SonntagsZeitung story headlined Finasteride was once considered a miracle cure for hair loss. But soon libido disorders and other serious side effects were discovered. Now it’s going to court (English translation here ), […]

France’s Le Monde to 300,000 Readers: Finasteride Users Beware

January 25, 2019 Dear Friends: France is at it again. Doing the right thing, that is. Earlier this week, Le Monde—the nation’s second-largest newspaper, with a daily circulation of more than 300,000 copies—ran a story headlined When Fighting Hair Loss, Watch out for Finasteride. (English translation here.) The 1,170-word report, by Pascale Santi, begins: “Romain […]

Finasteride ‘Causes Several Alterations’ in the Section of the Brain Responsible for Processing Long-term Memory and Emotional Responses, New Animal-model Study Demonstrates

SOMERSET, N.J., Oct. 1, 2018 – “Finasteride treatment causes several alterations in the hippocampus,” the section of the brain responsible for processing long-term memory and emotional responses, according to a new study conducted at the University of Milano, and the Cajal Institute and Carlos III Health Institute, both in Madrid. Titled Treatment of male rats […]

New PFS Foundation Website Welcomes Increased Patient Involvement

Sept. 7, 2018 Dear Friends: The new PFS Foundation website is finally here, and we couldn’t be more enthusiastic, because it promises to speed along numerous global-awareness and patient-support efforts. You’ll note that the homepage features an info-graphic called “PFS by the Numbers” that functions as a running tab of data in six categories: Adverse […]

2018 PFS Foundation Annual Address

Aug. 4, 2018 Dear Friends: November 23 is a day I wish I could strike forever from the calendar. For it’s the anniversary of my son Randy’s death. And this coming November 23 will be particularly difficult, marking a decade since his passing. On that day in 2008, despite my degrees from Johns Hopkins and […]