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For anyone considering using Avodart (Dutasteride) to combat their male-pattern baldness, these charts should come in handy. The first one shows the amount of DHT inhibited by Avodart in concentrations of .1mg per day, .5 mg per day, and 2.5 mg per day. .5 mg per day is the dose prescribed to BPH (benign prostatic hyperplasia) sufferers and is often the dose taken by hair loss sufferers. View larger chart.

The next chart shows the amount of DHT inhibited by Avodart on different dosing schedules. The lines are kind of hard to see so I’ll list them here:

• Purple line: 1.5 mg per day (3 Avodart pills) for 10 days and then .5 mg per day thereafter
• Blue line: .5 mg per day
• Green line: .5 mg per day for 2 days, then take one day off, then repeat
• Red line: .5 mg every other day
• Black line: Finasteride (Propecia/Proscar 1 mg per day) equivalent.

View larger chart.

As you can see, loading with 1.5 mg per day and then taking .5 mg per day thereafter inhibits the largest amount of DHT the fastest. You can achieve the same rate of inhibition with taking .5 mg per day from the start but it will take time to build in your system to its maximum levels of inhibition.When I started Avodart (and discontinued Propecia) I went ahead and took the loading method. I have been lucky enough to not have any side effects with Avodart thus far other than a brief shedding period that lasted about a month-and-a-half starting at around the two month mark. I have been using Avodart for about a year-and-a-half now with great results.

Learn more about Avodart and Propecia and how they work to combat hair loss.

Next: Minoxidil (Rogaine) Part 1: Overview

Special thanks to the very knowledgeable Bryan Shelton for assembling these informative tools.

-Robert

Editor of the Hair Loss Q & A Blog.

View my Hair Loss Weblog

Technorati Tags: Dutasteride, male-pattern baldness, DHT, hair loss, Avodart, Finasteride, Proscar, Propecia, side effects, shedding