Document Type
Article
Publication Date
9-2025
Disciplines
Arts and Humanities
Abstract
Post-Finasteride Syndrome (PFS) is a controversial illness associated with a host of distressing symptoms—most notably sexual dysfunctions—reported to persist long beyond the intake of finasteride itself. It appears the PFS population consists exclusively of younger patients with alopecia, even though millions take a higher (if pharmacologically similar) dosage of finasteride for benign prostatic hyperplasia. This dichotomy is not what one would expect to observe if finasteride caused PFS. No medical explanation of this one-sided syndrome exists. The surge of cases of PFS following a publicity spike in 2011 and 2012 suggests that PFS owes much nonbiological factors. The present analysis offers an analogy between PFS and another mystery illness: Breast Implant Illness, which entered the headlines in the 1990’s.
Rights
© 2025 Stewart Justman
Recommended Citation
Justman, Stewart, "Post-Finasteride Syndrome: Medically Unexplained" (2025). Global Humanities and Religions Faculty Publications. 33.
https://scholarworks.umt.edu/libstudies_pubs/33