Where Can I Buy Topical Finasteride?

The idea behind topical Finasteride is to hopefully reduce the decline in serum DHT while keeping the scalp DHT levels low enough to help prevent additional hair losses from male pattern baldness, and potential regrowth in some patients. 

With oral Finasteride, it is thought that the severe declines in serum DHT may come along with the risk of whole-body side effects, like reduced libido and ED. And, while not every oral Finasteride user experiences these issues, the risk may be enough to scare men away from trying this medication orally for the sake of saving their ‘do.

This has led to the search for topical Finasteride online, or even people trying to conjure together their own hair loss concoction with crushed tablets and various solvents. (We don’t recommend you trying out this haphazard DIY method for various reasons: safety and quality being just a few that come to mind.)

Below, we discuss prescriptions, compounding pharmacies, provider consultations, and how to obtain compounded topical finasteride online through a telemedicine platform. through a secure telemedicine platform.

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Topical Finasteride is a prescription medication only

Topical, oral, and any other way you find Finasteride is a prescription-only medication. The active ingredient itself, no matter what form, needs to be prescribed by a licensed provider to make sure it is appropriate for you.

Not everyone is a good candidate for Finasteride, and it may not work with your current health conditions or other medications, so it needs to be used under the care of a healthcare provider.

If you find a source for Finasteride that does not include a prescription, you should not trust it, and you cannot be sure of the safety of whatever you may get from these places.

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Topical Finasteride must be made up by compounding pharmacies

As we touched on before, topical Finasteride is not the form of Finasteride that most pharmacies have on hand.

Oral Finasteride tablets are currently the only FDA-approved form of Finasteride, and these tablets are manufactured by pharmaceutical companies and can then be purchased and kept on the shelves of nearly any pharmacy down the street.

However, if you were interested in getting topical Finasteride, even if you had a prescription in hand from your healthcare provider, you would not be able to find it at any pharmacy you walked into.

Prescriptions that need to be made up a little differently, with a different route, formulation, strength, flavor, or combined with other ingredients, must be ordered from a compounding pharmacy. Compounding pharmacies are able to make up these items pursuant to a prescription from your healthcare provider.

Generally, compounding pharmacies will be able source the raw ingredient (in this case, powdered Finasteride), and they will precisely weigh out and suspend the active ingredients in a base suitable for scalp application. If there are certain ingredients you are hoping to avoid due to irritation, like alcohol, compounding pharmacies can often work with you to leave these things out too.

With compounding pharmacies, your formulation is put together by a compounding pharmacist based on your prescription.

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Not all healthcare providers may be familiar with Topical Finasteride

You may come to find that not all healthcare providers may be familiar with topical Finasteride, or even compounding. Knowing what options are available from compounding pharmacies may take a lot of extra knowledge and training. Healthcare providers also need to be familiar with appropriate dosage forms, what strengths to order, and how to consult a patient on use for these alternative formulations.

For topical formulations for male pattern hair loss, a healthcare provider who specializes in hair loss may likely be more familiar with topical Finasteride.

You may want to start by asking your current healthcare provider if they are familiar with topical Finasteride, or you can have a free online questionnaire-based telemedicine consultation with our U.S. licensed providers that are well-versed on topical Finasteride.

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Strut Health pairs you with a healthcare provider and compounding pharmacy online

Here at Strut, we help people find solutions to common (and sometimes embarrassing) health concerns, and connect them with healthcare providers and pharmacies online to get the help they need.

Hair loss treatments are one of our specialties, and our providers are familiar with both the manufactured oral treatments, as well as innovative multiple-ingredient compounded topical formulations. Our providers will work with your personal preferences and your specific hair needs to customize your topical Finasteride order.

You can have a free online telemedicine consultation with our U.S. licensed providers to see if Finasteride is a good treatment option for you. If prescribed, your prescription will be sent to a licensed compounding pharmacy, which will prepare the medication according to your provider's prescription and ship it to your front door.

If you have any questions, concerns, or need adjustments on refills, our staff and healthcare providers are available for free unlimited follow-ups.

*Compounded drug products are not approved or evaluated for safety, effectiveness, or quality by the FDA. Rx required.