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I
am a male taking propecia. Should I stop taking it when my wife
and I plan on conceiving a child
When using propecia very very little of it gets into semen (up
to 60% of men tested had undetectable levels) - Merck checked this
pretty closely as it was an obvious concern. However, the minute
amounts that do sometimes show up in semen are not enough to cause
any problem. The transfer of propecia from semen to a woman through
the vaginal wall would be undetectable if Merck's analysis is accurate.
The problem is if women use propecia and then conceive. In this
case a male fetus becomes "femalized". A female fetus
will probably not be affected.
If you are still not convinced that it is safe to take propecia
when your partner is attempting to concieve you may consider temporarily
stopping propecia use. The rate of propecia metabolism and removal
from the body is quite quick. It has a half life of 4.8 hours on
average (the maximum tested half life was 13.4 hours). So within
5 days of stopping use you can be confident that there is no propecia
left in your system.
If you are unhappy about using propecia when your partner wants
to concieve, you could stop propecia use for just a few days and
then return to the normal regimen. A few days without propecia will
not have a significant affect on any hair regrowth.
I
am a male taking propecia. Should I stop taking it when my wife
and I plan on conceiving a child references
- Steiner
JF.Clinical pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics of finasteride.
Clin Pharmacokinet. 1996 Jan;30(1):16-27.
- Sudduth
SL, Koronkowski MJ. Finasteride: the first 5 alpha-reductase inhibitor.
Pharmacotherapy. 1993 Jul-Aug;13(4):309-25; discussion 325-9.
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