Wrinkles, IQ, and Finasteride

Hello Dr. Rassman

I’m a 19 year old male showing early signs of Male Patterned Baldness(Small bald patch on crown area). My doctor prescribed be Finax (Finasteride 1 mg) and he is also insisting on getting one blood test done (DHT,DHEA etc.).Can you tell me what is the significance of this blood test?Also, I’m an engineering student and my IQ is 141, recently I got to know that finasteride lowers your IQ.Is it true?

Do you get wrinkles from finasteride? I looked at few before after pictures of people on propecia, and I could see that they got wrinkles on forehead within 8-9 months! Please confirm it. And if I start taking finasteride now, for how long I can keep my hair?

Thanks

There is no connection between IQ and finasteride. Some people believe that bald men are smarter than non-bald men, and that the balding is reflective of an overworked brain that overheats. I’m kidding!

I am not aware of any evidence that shows finasteride causes wrinkles or any aging process. The best test you can have is a miniaturization study before you start the finasteride so that you can establish a metric of the hair shaft thickness in different areas of your scalp and the degree of miniaturization. Finasteride should reverse much of this in a man at 19 years of age. There is no need to test for DHT or DHEA. I can’t tell you how long it’ll have visible benefits, as I’ve seen patients that have been taking the drug for a decade with great results, and have received emails from people saying their hair loss resumed after 5 or 6 years. Each person is different.