Wednesday, December 22, 2010

Anti-baldness drug affects men's sexual health

Some doctors have claimed that young men could be jeopardizing their sexual health by taking the world's best selling anti-baldness drug.

According to researchers, Finasteride - sold in UK as Propecia - can cause serious side effects and that the drug's labeling is inadequate.

The prescription pill is extremely effective at stopping hair loss and in clinical trials nine out of 10 men didn't lose any more hair over a five year period.

Drugs' company Merck, which manufactures Propecia, claims on its website that less than 2pc of men could suffer sexual side effects, reports the BBC .

It mentions things like difficulty achieving an erection, but says the problems will go away for men who stop taking the drug.

There are doctors in Ireland and the US who claim that the drug's labeling is inadequate.

Merck said they continually monitor its safety and have recently changed the labeling after reports of sexual side effects continuing after people had stopped taking the drug.

They also claim those cases are extremely rare and could be caused by something other than Propecia itself.
resource: The Times of India

Thursday, December 9, 2010

Plastic Surgery for Men QT: Will Latisse Grow Men’s Hair?

An entire industry exists to study products that found uses far, far beyond what the product developers, manufacturers or advertisers ever could imagine.


Known as non-intended product use, famous examples include people using:
  • Kitty litter for traction on icy steps and sidewalks
  • Torn tennis balls to protect trailer hitches
  • Whole tennis balls suspended from the rafters marking exactly where to stop a vehicle in a packed garage
  • Toothpaste to remove the scratches in a CD
You’ve probably already seen the long list of unintended uses for Botox, from halting sweaty palms to making some breast augmentation procedures less painful.

Latisse was virtually an overnight sensation when it hit the market back in 2008. Latisse is the feminine version of a slam dunk. Clinical tests reveal test subjects have 25 percent longer eye winkers which are 18 percent darker and 100 percent fuller. Of 172 comments about Latisse on RealSelf.com, 89 percent say the $100 cost is worth it.

Then, some Latisse users found their eyebrows growing thicker, longer and blacker...Well, guess what happened next? (In our estimation, anyhow.) All over the U.S., short, bald men who had wives or girlfriends (or hey, even moms and grandmoms!) with Latisse- boosted eyelashes, started reporting an unusual – but welcome! – event.

The more hugs these guys got, the more hair sprouted on their shiny noggins. All it took was some brushes on the head with eyelashes. Or, who knows? Maybe the guys started out just swiping the Latisse.

After that, dermatologists, plastic surgeons, ophthalmologists, cosmetic surgeons and other doctors started reporting cases of new hair sprouting on formerly bald heads. And the only thing different was Latisse in the house.

Then, Alan Bauman, M.D., a famous hair restoration doctor for both men and women, started trying Latisse on hair challenged patients. He soon had enough interesting cases of male and female pattern baldness solved to convince the F.D.A. that official testing should be done.

As we speak, 28 men and women aged 18 to 64 are officially testing Latisse for hair growth on the head in an FDA stage I trial. Dr. Bauman thinks a stronger dose of Latisse should do the trick.

Stay tuned! Clinical trials II and III are next.
Time to market?  Don’t hold your breath – with luck, maybe three years.
resource:   http://www.californiasurgicalinstitute.com/blog/latisse-to-grow-men%E2%80%99s-hair.html