Hair Restoration Blog

What is Saw Palmetto?

Saw Palmetto is an extract of the fruit of Serenoa Repens. It is rich in fatty acids and phytosterols. It has been used in alternative medicine for a variety of indications, most notably benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH).

Indications:

Prostate treatment

Saw Palmetto has also been used in treatment of benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH), a condition known by enlarged prostate size to the degree that it makes urinating difficult.

Hair loss prevention

The role of Saw Palmetto in hair loss prevention has also been documented. Saw Palmetto is one of the few effective herbal treatments that can reverse hair loss process in some people to some degree and slow down the process of  balding in men. Saw Palmetto bio active ingredients prevent conversion of testosterone into dihydrotestosterone (DHT).

That is how Saw Palmetto helps to stop the process of balding on the hair follicle level. It can help increase the thickness of miniaturized hair and make them grow longer. The Saw Palmetto effect is comparable to finasteride or other DHT blockers by mechanism. Saw Palmetto is available in oil extract for topical use on scalp or as pills used for prostate enlargement treatment.

Q:

A friend of mine said that Propecia can cause bloody urine.  Is that correct?
A:

I think that has been a misunderstanding.  Bloody urine or Hematuria can be caused by a variety of prostate disorders.  In fact, finasteride has been researched and used for prevention and treatment of prostate gland enlargement in men.  There are many documentation that proof the usefulness of finasteride for prostate enlargement.  Puchner was the first to observe that finasteride reduced bleeding of prostatic origin. These early observations were confirmed with additional controlled studies involving larger numbers of patients.

These clinical observations led to the interesting hypothesis that an additional action of finasteride is the inhibition of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) in the prostate, leading to shrinkage and programmed cell death in enlarges cells. The implications of this theory give further credence to the hypothesis that 5-a-reductase inhibition by finasteride or similar medications may be a viable preventive strategy for prostate cancer. It is known that prostate cancer is associated with increased microvascular density, which may be influenced by VEGF inhibition.

So continue taking your Propecia (finasteride).  If anything prostate protection against enlargement (BPH) or even cancer may be one of the good side effects of finasteride.  Finasteride may alter the levels of PSA, the lab test that is used to predict prostate problems including cancer.  You need to discuss finasteride use with your primary care doctor so he or she knows that your levels have been altered by finasteride use.