Paul Innes’ appearance on This Morning was briefly discussed again on the show in June of last year during a segment entitled “Coping With Hair Loss”
Dr Ranj admits to being a user of Finasteride. The transcription of the most relevant part is here
Dr Ranj: You should be careful if your partner is trying to get pregnant as well and the other thing to bear in mind is always speak to a professional before you take this because whilst it is effective a small percentage of men have significant side effects sometimes those side effects persist after stopping the medication and that could affect your mood, it can have an effect on your mental health and it can even affect your libido and these are really really important
Phillip Schofield: Paul Innes was taking propecia, he came on our show in
2014 and claimed the drug had made him impotent depressed and suicidal
Dr Ranj: Exactly, which it’s when you look at the studies it’s very difficult to differentiate whether it was the actual medication that caused that or whether failure of the medication actually drove the people to feel those feelings but I think we have to take it seriously and you have to do your research before considering something like this.
To the bolded, it’s very disappointing to see him trotting out an argument that Merck has used in court and Finasteride defenders on Hair Loss Talk are also fond of (“you’re just bitter Finasteride didn’t work for you so you want everyone else to go bald, stop blaming this drug for your problems!”). However, at least he said it has to be taken seriously and states that side effects can persist after discontinuation,