I had a long discussion about finestride/propecia with my local urologist last week; so, this is timely (though not totally implant related).
First, the issue of finestride and the impant: GOOD NEWS ! The most feared anecdotal complication of finestride (impotence) is a non-issue for us implantees since we have the ultimate fix.
Second, anecdotal concerns regarding shrinkage are also not-issues since the implant will maintain your length no matter what.
Third, from an anecdotal viewpoint, my local urologist said he was at a urology conference, and the quetion was asked "how many of you urologists are self prescribing finestride for yourself ? " ANSWER: 75% of the hands went up in the audience (they love the weight loss benefit, the prostate shrinking, and the hair preservation benefit).
Fourth, the best way to figure out what the real issues with a drug is to do a randomized controlled trial with the drug and with thousands of men. That study has been performed on 3040 men over a four year time and is named the " PLESS " study.
The results from the study show that the drug is safe, and it does cause a very mild INCREASE in serum testostorone. Shown below is an excerpt from the abstract from the study:
Results. Finasteride treatment led to a modest, but significant increase relative to placebo in serum testosterone, with this increase greatest in patients who had low baseline testosterone levels
The study also founfd that the finestride group lost some weight (and being thinner leads to higher testostorone).
I think the study was very well done, and do read the study at the following link:
https://www.goldjournal.net/article/S0090-4295(03)00661-7/abstractthe article reference is:
Effects of finasteride on serum testosterone and body mass index in men with benign prostatic hyperplasia
Roehrborn, Claus G et al.
Urology , Volume 62 , Issue 5 , 894 - 899 and shown below is the abstract text in full:
Objectives
To examine the effect of finasteride on serum testosterone in men with benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH).
Methods
The Proscar Long-Term Efficacy and Safety Study (PLESS) was a 4-year trial comparing the safety and efficacy of finasteride 5 mg with placebo in 3040 men with moderate to severe symptomatic BPH and enlarged prostates. PLESS included the prospective measurement of annual serum testosterone in a randomly selected subset of patients comprising approximately 10% of the randomized population (n = 301).
Results
Finasteride treatment led to a modest, but significant (P <0.001), increase relative to placebo in serum testosterone, with this increase greatest in patients who had low baseline testosterone levels. The larger testosterone increases seen in finasteride-treated patients in the lower baseline testosterone tertiles were associated with significant mean reductions relative to placebo at year 4 in body mass index (BMI), ranging from 0.6 to 0.8 kg/m2. No statistically significant between-group difference was found in BMI in the upper testosterone tertile. The sexual adverse experience profiles for finasteride and placebo were similar across the baseline testosterone cohorts examined.
Conclusions
Finasteride treatment led to a generally modest increase relative to placebo in serum testosterone, with the greatest increases occurring in men with low baseline testosterone levels. The physiologic significance of these changes in men with low baseline testosterone levels is unclear, but the associated reduction in BMI is intriguing and may be related, because BMI is known to be negatively correlated with serum testosterone levels in men.