Azelaic Acid, how, where, when

[Todd]

Ok, long story short: I´m on the big three, but am concidering quitting finasteride.
I haven´t noticed any side effects in sperm or libido, but new research indicates that it can be a cause of depression.
And since I have a history of depression, with certain set- backs, I´m thinking maybe quitting finasteride COMPLETELY instead of taking half dosage is the way to go.

Noticed that Xandrox gets a lot of attention, and concidered aplying skinoren (20% azelaic acid cream) in addition to minoxidil and nizoral to match the effect of finasteride.

To cut to the point: has anyone had any results from azelaic acid? Or is it just another hype..-

 

[Bryan]

Personally, I'm very skeptical of azelaic acid, and think it's probably just a lot of hype from Dr. Lee. I don't know of a single in vivo study on animals or humans showing that it works as a topical 5a-reductase inhibitor. In fact, there are about half a dozen studies with humans in which its effect at reducing sebum production was measured, and most of them showed no change at all. I consider that to be a bad sign, because one would naturally expect a 5a-reductase inhibitor to lower sebum.