Dan, generally speaking I don’t have the time nor interest to entertain questions from people choosing to use Finasteride for cosmetic purposes, especially considering the recent media awareness and FDA labeling warning updates on the drug which should give you pause for thought.
If you want to take it, that’s your prerogative, and if you do pls post on hair loss sites. If you don’t experience side effects, great. If you do, don’t say you weren’t warned in advance because you will have no recourse, legally or otherwise.
That said, here are some of Professor Frankel’s further thoughts on the matter of his initial analysis and additional incidents after publishing his original article:
physics.upenn.edu/facultyinfo/frankel/medres/propackedit1.htm
physics.upenn.edu/facultyinfo/frankel/medres/propcrapmerck.htm
physics.upenn.edu/facultyinfo/frankel/medres/annaluro4/
As mentioned earlier in this thread, there is NO TEST to determine who is susceptible to potential side effects, only for potential response to the drug from a hair loss perspective. Response to drug seems to be based on genetics. So until there is such a test that can determine who is susceptible to side effects (which may be never), it’s up to you if you want to take the risk of altering your hormones just to stop some hairs from falling out on your head.
As a parting thought, the hairdx.com test would at least tell you if you’ll be a good, average or poor responder for hair regrowth, so you can know in advance if it’s even worth taking the risk based on hair loss response (ie, no point taking it if you’ll be a poor/average responder for hair regrowth… and of course, I would not recommend you take it whatsoever no matter the potential response).
Good luck.