Switching from Finasteride to Dutasteride might be ideal for men who have tried Finasteride and are not happy with the results, had no success with Finasteride at all or when Finasteride has for whatever reason stopped working effectively. Dutasteride is a far stronger drug that blocks over 90% DHT conversion. Therefore increasing hair growth.

Switching from Finasteride to Dutasteride

Ideally, it would be much more beneficial to start on Finasteride, then move onto Dutasteride if you are not happy with the results achieved.

When deciding to switch drugs, it’s important that you speak with your doctor in order to get an accurate and honest advice. When combating hair loss there needs to be an understanding that each and every situation is different.

Sometimes your doctor might have to customise the treatment for your own unique circumstances. It all varies depending on the patient.

In some patients, the hair loss situation might be overly aggressive. In response to that, your doctor might prescribe Dutasteride- a stronger drug to combat the baldness.

Dutasteride is a possible form of treatment for patients who are resistant to Finasteride. If no results have been achieved by Finasteride or it has stopped working at combating hair loss, then switching and using Dutasteride would be highly recommended in that case.

A combination of the two drugs might also be a successful method to minimise the risks but maximise the hair growth. Taking a small dose of Finasteride alongside one Dutasteride a week might be the ideal plan to maintain stability of the hair.

It’s critical to remember however that Dutasteride is a stronger drug than Finasteride, therefore there is a greater chance of experiencing side effects if you were already suspect to them with Finasteride.

What is Finasteride and Dutasteride?

Finasteride also known by its brand names of Propecia and Proscar is a drug used to treat enlarged prostate and male pattern baldness.

Dutasteride on the other hand, also known by its brand names Avodart and Terod as well as many others, is a drug used for the enlargement of the prostate gland in men but has recently been used to treat hair loss in men.

Both these drugs are know as 5-alpha-reductase inhibitors.

How Does Finasteride and Dutasteride Treat Hair Loss?

Male pattern baldness (MPB) is a genetically inherited form of balding. Hair loss occurs when the testosterone hormone is converted into another form of hormone named Dihydrotestortone (DHT). DHT is a vital male hormone that is critical for the process of developing male sex organs and features. Although, after puberty it’s not considered to affect anything besides contributing to hair loss.

In between this process, there’s an enzyme (5-alpha reductase) that allows for this conversion to occur.

Testosterone is converted by two different enzymes in the 5-alpha reductase. These are Type 1 enzyme and Type 2 enzyme. Type 2 enzyme is found primarily in the hair follicles and prostate part of the body, whilst Type 1 enzyme is found primarily in the liver, skin and testicles. The Type 2 enzyme is the main factor in hair loss.

For men who are genetically engineered to have hair loss, we find that there is a large activity of the 5-alpha reductase enzyme converting the testosterone to potent androgen -dihydrotestosterone (DHT).

This then leads to high amounts of DHT in the system, contributing to the hair follicles gradually getting thinning till they fall out.

Finasteride works by blocking the 5-alpha enzyme, therefore blocking the conversion of testosterone changing to DHT. Lowering the amount of DHT in the system, causing hair loss to be abruptly slowed down and in some cases reversed.

Finasteride partially blocks the enzyme and lowers the DHT level to around 63%. As mentioned above there are, two versions of the 5-alpha reductase. Type 1 and Type 2. Finasteride only blocks the Type 2 enzyme. While Dutasteride will block both Type 1 and 2.

Is Finasteride or Dutasteride More Effective for Treating Hair Loss?

In the clinical trials it was found that men taking Finasteride had not experienced further hair loss by:

After 1 year: 86%

After 2 years: 83%

After 5 years: 64%

This shows that Finasteride is a highly effective drug at combating hair loss in men. Finasteride blocks the enzyme and lowers the DHT levels to around 63%. This will allow the majority of men to hold onto their hair for longer and halt the hair loss progress.

Men who carry the less aggressive genetics for hair loss, with the use of Finasteride will be able to minimise their hair loss.

Due to the fact that Finasteride only blocks type 2 of the 5-alpha reductase, it only partially blocks the conversion of DHT. This follows a chain reaction as it provides only partial results in some men, especially around the 5 year mark.

For those other men who do carry the baldness genes and Finasteride is not strong enough to hold onto those hair follicles, then Dutasteride might be the answer for them.



Dutasteride carries out the same blocking process as Finasteride but as it’s a stronger drug, it manages to block the conversion of testosterone to DHT far better.

Dutasteride blocks both the type 1 and type 2 of the 5-alpha reductase. Therefore it has a blocking rate of around 93%. Far greater than Finasteride at 63%.

Studies that have compared the efficacy of Dutasteride against Finasteride, have had clear results that demonstrate that Dutasteride is statistically better on all fronts at combating hair loss.

How Is Finasteride and Dutasteride Taken?

Finasteride is taken orally in the form of a 1mg tablet daily. Dutasteride is a capsule that is to be taken daily at a dosage of 0.5mg. Both drugs are taken with food.

How Long to See Results?

Both Finasteride and Dutasteride take around 3-6 months before any results can be seen. It’s important not to get discouraged as it may take awhile to see any sort of results.

Male pattern baldness is a genetic condition and they will both be required to be taken indefinitely in order to maintain the progress. Coming off the medication will result in the results achieved gradually being lost in 6-12 months. Therefore it is a lifetime commitment.

Is Finasteride or Dutasteride Safer?

Finasteride is a licensed FDA product to treat hair loss in men by the 1mg dose. Trials on hair loss were conducted and approved by the FDA.

Dutasteride on the other hand is not FDA approved to treat hair loss. It is only approved for the treatment of enlarged prostate, not hair loss. It is however, approved for hair loss in some countries such as Korea and Japan.

It is considered an off label drug for hair loss. It’s still legal, but this only means that the trials were not conducted for hair loss and submitted to the relevant agencies such as the FDA in order to achieve approved status.

Finasteride will stay in your system for 6-8 hours once you have stopped using it.



Dutasteride will stay a lot longer at 5 weeks. Therefore if any potential side effects were experienced, it would take a lot longer for them to go away.

What Are the Side Effects of Finasteride and Dutasteride?

In terms of side effects, the research suggests that most men taking both Finasteride or Dutasteride will not experience any.

For those that do, side effects include erectile disfunction, ejaculation disorders, reduced libido (sex drive), enlargement of male breast tissue (gynecomastia), rash or tenderness around the nipples and depression.

Both drugs may cause fertility issues, as they lower the sperm count. Therefore if one was in the process of attempting to conceive it would be beneficial to stop using the drugs.

The side effects are very similar in the two drugs. Finasteride and Dutasteride will both not grow hair anywhere else in the body. They will only specifically target hair on the scalp.

What Are the Long Term Effects?

Finasteride is considered a safe drug for long term use. However, Dutasteride is more of an open book still at this point.

The reality is that Dutasteride is a fairly new form of treatment for hair loss in men. There just isn’t enough clinical information or data to analyse the potential effects long term.

It is understood that for the short term; it is safe to use. Just an information note to mention, if taking a blood test, notifying your doctor is a must if you are taking Dutasteride as it can give off the wrong reading of the PSA level.

Conclusion

In conclusion, the key differences in the two drugs are that Finasteride has been around since 1970 and FDA approved for treating hair loss in men, but only blocks the type 2 enzyme.

Dutasteride is not approved by FDA for hair loss, only approved for use in the treatment of enlarged prostates. It has been around since 2001 and only recently been used for hair loss.

Finasteride blocks 63%-70% of DHT conversion whilst Dutasteride achieves around 90-93%.

Finasteride can be obtained by your doctor but can also be requested privately. It may also be purchased through many online pharmacies once you fill in the relevant information.

Dutasteride on the other hand is a little bit difficult to obtain. Due to it being an off-label treatment for hair loss, you would need to find a doctor to write a prescription for Dutasteride at their own discretion.

Dutasteride stays in your system far longer than Finasteride after discontinued. The long term effects of using Dutasteride are unknown due to the lack of time it’s been used for hair loss. Whilst Finasteride is considered safe for long term use.

Have you used Dutasteride to combat your hair loss? Tell us about your experience with it below.