Age-Related Thinning

Hi Doc,

I’ve been working at the same office for 17 years. Many of the same guys I started with are still there. As I looked at pictures of the group over the years I noticed every guy has less hair. Not bald, but you can see a decreasing hairline or slight thinning in the crown over time. Do drugs such as Rogaine and propecia prevent or regrow age related thinning which appears to happen to most men over time?

About half of the male population will have genetic hair loss so what you may be observing is just that. Not everyone with genetic balding gets very bald.

I’m unclear about what you mean by “age related thinning”. If you’re talking about the natural maturing of the hairline or the thinning that occurs as men age, then no, it is not likely that medication will regrow this hair. If you happen to work at a place where the men all coincidentally have some degree of genetic male pattern hair loss, then yes, those medications will likely help in some degree.