Newspaper Article

PROPECIA 'Looks good'

Propecia, the tiny pill for baldness, helps thicken balding men's hair

The waiting's over. The pill for baldness is here.

    And one man is pleased that strands of wiry hair are finally appearing on his balding pate.

    Over the past two months, Mr. Randolph Reyes has found it extraordinarily pleasurable looking at himself in the mirror.

    "Every morning after I wash my hair, I look in the mirror and I say to myself: Looks good," he said with a smile.

    What looks good are the strands of hair that have been growing slowly but surely at the front of his head. They are hardly preceptable to people around him but for the 49-year-old gym instructor, it is proof that the pill for baldness, which he has been taking for the last six months, is working for him.

    The drug, Propecia, known medically as finasteride, cost between $95 and $100 for a months supply. It was allowed into Singapore in November.

    Propecia is an androgen modulator, which means it inhibits the information of male hormones, in this case, dihydrotestosterone (DHT), and thus helps a man thicken his head of hair.

    Mr. Reyes asked his family doctor for it. Before he had never sought any treatment for his baldness which he attributes to his genes.

    "I was not really bothered about losing my hair, although my hair did shine in all the photographs and it was really uncomfortable when I went in the sun."

    And there has been the teasing - he has been called botak more times he cares to remember - and the steps he takes to make himself feel more confident.

   Mr. Reyes has grown his remaining hair long, which he ties up in a ponytail, to compensate for the loss of hair in the front of his head.

    But if you say many men and women are bald, so what is the big deal, Dr Andrew Peh, a phychiatris in private practice, would beg to differ.

    Baldness, he said, affects a man's self-esteem. It makes him feel unattractive. It makes him feel unhappy.

    Like the man who was so attached to his toupee that he became depressed and even suicidal because he found it difficult to wear it under his helmet when he went for combat training during his National Service.

    Like the man who thinks that he has not been successful at job interviews because he is balding.

   Like the man who has gone for three hair transplants and is still thinking of spending another $3,000 on a hair piece.

    For the most part, hair loss or male pattern balding is hereditary and the most common type of male balding starts from the temple and when it runs its course, a man is left with only a rim of hair.

    Before Propecia, there had only been one other drug, Minoxidil, which had been of some help for balding men, said Dr Cheong Wai Kwong, a dermatologist in private practice. But it is inconvenient to use because it is a twice-a-day spray-on.

    The up side of Propecia is that it is a tiny pill, which is taken only once a day.

    Its down side, however, is that it has to be taken for about a year before the hair regrowth is obvious to others. Also, some men have reported a decrease in their libido or suffered from erectile dysfunction.

    But the side effects are temporary as most men find that their bodies adjust to the pill, said Dr Kenneth Washenik, a dermatopharmacologist at the New York University Medical Centre.

    "And they are totally reversible," he added. "Just stop taking the pill."

    Quipped another doctor, tongue firmly in cheek: " And now there is always Viagra."

TO READ MORE ARTICLES GET BACK TO 'OUR WORK'.