Last Updated on August 31, 2017 by Robert Price

It’s 2017, and you can’t discuss Propecia without eliciting strong reactions. Some say it’s a miracle drug, others claim that everyone who uses it will eventually become impotent. The hate, hyperbole, and fear mongering are out of control and moving toward a crescendo, so I can certainly understand why you’re hesitant to take Propecia!

Ultimately, every drug has risks and rewards, and Propecia is no exception. I’ve spent 40+ hours reviewing the drug, at least. But I’m not a doctor, and this is not medical advice! That disclaimer aside, here are the top 10 things I hate about Propecia:

1. You Have to Take it Indefinitely

As long as you want to maintain your results, you’ll need to continue taking the medication. If you stop, you’ll experience “catch-up” hair loss. Assuming you’re young and destined to be a very bald man, and don’t want to go bald, that means you could be on this medication for awhile. It’s a treatment, not a cure.

2. The Small Possibility of Sexual Side Effects

Every medication comes with risks and benefits. But yeah, impotence….That’s about the worst side effect a young man can experience! Sure, the vast majority of men who develop sexual side effects just stop taking it, continue going bald, but regain their sexual function. That said, a small percentage of users have reported long-term sexual side effects, as I state in my in-depth article: A Long, Hard, and Honest Look at Propecia – Is It Worth the Risk?

3. It’s Also Prescribed for BPH

Older men take generic finasteride (at a higher dose, usually) to treat BPH, an enlarged prostate. So yeah, the generic version of Propecia is also a drug prescribed to old dudes who pee too much. Which isn’t a huge deal, granted. But I don’t especially like the idea of using a medication for 10, 20 years or longer that my old man takes so his prostate stops giving him fits in the middle of the night.

4. The Small Risk of Mental Fog and Other Cognitive Issues

This scares me more than just about anything, honestly. It doesn’t get discussed as much on the hair loss forums, because it’s rarer than the sexual side effects, and because men are obsessed with their ability to “perform.” There’s a reason those erectile dysfunction ads air constantly! But depression and other mental side effects have been reported by a small percentage of Propecia users.

5. Better Treatments Should Be Available Soon

How soon? I can’t say. It could be years, or decades. So relatively soon. But you could very well be bald by the time a more effective treatment option is available.  It surprises me that a better, more appealing, and safer alternative to Propecia hasn’t emerged yet. But we are where we are, and Propecia is the ONLY medication that is PROVEN to treat hair loss at the source. Minoxidil, saw palmetto, pumpkin seed oil, etc. all, aren’t proven to treat the underlying cause of androgenic alopecia, or male pattern baldness, DHT.

6. The Fear of the Unknown

It’s been used to combat hair loss since 1997. Even though it was found to be safe and effective in the large, FDA trials, one of which lasted for five years, the long-term side effects aren’t completely known at this point. As the men who started on the drug when it was introduced begin to age, we’ll start learning more about the possible long-term side effects of Propecia, if applicable.

7. No Insurance Help

This is more an annoyance. And sure, you can probably get the generic finasteride for around $10 per month. But the fact that neither generic finasteride nor Propecia are likely to be covered by your insurance company is another downside, by my estimation.

8. Trump Takes Propecia

That’s according to his long-time physician, who also takes the drug. Trump has become something of a walking punch-line, and he isn’t doing his fellow Propecia users any favors. On a related note, you may also like this article: The Top 6 SHOCKING Facts About Donald Trump’s Hair!

Our president reportedly uses Propecia to protect his squirrel-like mane. Don’t worry, your hair won’t start looking like that if you take Propecia! Trump’s hairline can’t even be classified on the Norwood Scale, which depicts the seven most common varieties of baldness.

9. The Fear Mongering

This is likely one of the reasons the so-called nocebo effect is observed so frequently among Propecia users. If you want to get information about Propecia online, or discuss your experience with the medication with others, you will encounter fear mongerers. Often. It’s unavoidable, very annoying, and usually counter-productive.

10. It alters your hormones

So do birth control pills, granted, and women have been taking those and occasionally experiencing horrific side effects for generations. Many men, myself included, don’t like the idea of altering our hormonal balance in order to save our hair. Sure, most experts believe DHT is fundamentally a developmental hormone, that helps give us our male characteristics during puberty. but it’s not fully understood.

Those are the top 10 things I personally hate about Propecia. I thought about including the “shed” on my list but decided against it. If you shed some hair in the early stages of treatment, that’s a sign the medication is working! Wear a hat for a few weeks if it’s a problem. And talk to your doctor, or use a little topikk to fill in your thinning.

What do you hate about Propecia? Make your addition to the top-10 list in the comment section. Now, to balance out the universe, I advise you to check out my next article, describing the top 10 reasons to give Propecia a chance.

Robert Price

Robert Price is a writer, consumer advocate, and hair loss researcher with thousands of hours of experience in the field. His goal is to keep you out of the hair loss rabbit hole, underworld, or whatever you want to call it. He founded Hair Loss Daily, the unbiased hair loss blog, in 2016. You can learn more about Robert in the my story section of this website.