Although hair loss is typically something that’s associated with men, there are many women who also struggle with losing hair.
In fact, more than 50% of women are expected to experience hair loss at some point in their life [1]. Although this is considerably lower than the 85% of men who go through hair loss, it still represents a very high amount of the female population.
Hair loss as a woman can be a real hit to your confidence, especially if you start to notice hair thinning earlier on in life.
If you’re a woman who has been experiencing hair loss, you may have already started to do some research into the different medications and female hair loss treatment options that are available to you.
One of the most popular medications that is used to treat hair loss is Finasteride. But, is it safe for women to use? Keep on reading to find out more about if Finasteride is safe to treat hair loss in women.
Finasteride is a private prescription drug (it’s not available on the NHS) that is commonly prescribed to men who are experiencing male pattern baldness or benign prostatic hyperplasia (enlarged prostate).
It comes in the form of an oral tablet and is sold by a variety of brands as well as generic versions. The most popular brands of Finasteride are Proscar and Propecia.
Finasteride works to stop hair thinning and promote hair regrowth by decreasing the amount of dihydrotestosterone (DHT) in your body, which is a male hormone that is converted from testosterone. By reducing the amount of DHT in the body, Finasteride protects and slows down/stops hair loss. This is why hair loss is more common in men than in women.
Although Finasteride has been approved for use on male pattern baldness for quite some time, however Finasteride for female pattern baldness still hasn’t been approved.
Because it is not recommended for use by women to treat female pattern hair loss, it will only be prescribed in very rare circumstances. Despite this, there have been some recent studies that have set out to discover whether Finasteride could be used as a hair loss treatment for women experiencing hair loss.
One major study was published in the Journal of the American Academy of Dermatology (JAAD) [3] where Finasteride was administered to 137 postmenopausal women with female androgenetic alopecia (female pattern hair loss). After taking the usual dosage of Finasteride (1mg, daily) for a year, it was found that the drug had no effect on hair growth or thinning. This was the same result when 1.25mg of Finasteride was administered, too [4].
In another study [5] where a stronger dose of Finasteride (2.5mg) was administered along with an oral contraceptive, researchers found a significant improvement in hair density after 12 months. However, they were not sure if this change in hair density was due to the Finasteride treatment or the contraceptive pill.
More recently, a study [6] evaluated the clinical efficacy of administering 5mg a day of oral Finasteride in normoandrogenic postmenopausal women. After 6 months, 22 patients experienced significant improvement, 12 moderate improvements and 6 no improvement.
Overall, studies have shown that the typical 1mg dosage of Finasteride is not adequate to address hair loss in women, instead, a larger dose of up to 5mg is preferred. However, it’s important to note that with these higher doses, the likelihood of experiencing side effects also increases.
Although there have been studies that have proved the efficacy of Finasteride as a treatment for female hair loss, there haven’t been any large-scale trials that prove its safety for women as they do for men with male pattern hair loss.
Some reviews [7] have found that Finasteride is safe and well-tolerated by women. However, there are a few side effects that occur in a small percentage of cases, including:
Finasteride is not safe for women who are pregnant as it can harm an unborn baby and, because of its effect on DHT, could cause issues with male genital development.
According to experts, even touching a crushed or broken Finasteride could potentially get into your bloodstream and cause adverse effects. Also, if your partner is using Finasteride, you should use a condom during sex to prevent Finasteride from being passed through semen.
Although Finasteride may not be the most suitable drug for women to use to counteract hair loss, there are plenty of other ways that you can cope with the mental consequences of losing your hair.
Here are some of our top tips:
If you want to do something about your hair loss, there are other treatments and procedures that are safe for women to use, unlike Finasteride.
Over the counter medication such as Minoxidil is a great example of what you can use. As this is a topical hair loss treatment that does not cause changes in hormones, this is safe to use for men and women.
However, if you want to see results quicker, or would like something that doesn’t involve applying hair growth serum to your hair every day, a hair transplant may be something you want to consider.
Hair transplants for women are growing increasingly popular, and they’re something we specialise in at Wimpole Clinic.
The most common form of hair transplant for women is an FUE (follicular unit excision) which includes taking individual grafts of hair from areas where hair is growing and reimplanting them in the areas where hair loss is occurring.
If you’re wondering what to expect from this procedure, or just have some questions, we provide all our customers with a no-obligation consultation call with one of our experts so they can decide if this is the right decision for them.
Simply fill in your details in the form below and we'll get in touch with you shortly.
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