A SINGAPORE doctor has quashed allegation that the use of Finasteride to treat hair loss problems would result in lower sperm count, reported Nanyang Siang Pau.

The daily quoted Mount Elizabeth Hospital skin specialist Dr Chen Ai Lin as saying there was insufficient evidence to prove that Finasteride, an oral medication which can block the formation of dihydrotestosterone (DHT) that causes the hair root to shrink, would reduce sperm production or affect sperm mobility.

She was responding to a research report of Toronto University, which claimed that men who stopped using Finasteride would have their sperm count increased.

The report cited a 34-year-old man who, after stopping the medication for seven months, had his sperm count increase to 5.5 million per ml in comparison to some 300,000 per every ml four months earlier.

Dr Chen said the medication would only cause a decline in sexual desire and erection problem. However, she said only two in 100 users would complain of having their sex lives affected.

She said one needed to stop the medication immediately if he faced such a problem, adding everything would resume to normal a month later.