Can Propecia Affect Body Growth in Teenager?

I’m 18, and I noticed hairloss at about 17. The hairloss is only in my temples. I know a lot about the options of stopping hairloss and such, and I really want to get on propecia soon. My concern is that I heard that it can effect growth and other issues concerning not being full adult body. I barely have a beard, and I don’t really have any body hair, so I know that I am not done maturing. Will propecia effect any of these things. Is it safe to take when possibly still growing and maturing?

BTW my temples are getting REALLY bad, on one side of my head I’m missing almost a golfball sized front of my temple. I can still see the tiny velus hairs, so i feel like its not too late, but… I just want to make sure I’m not going to mess up my body by taking this drug.

Thank you

This is not a very “doctorly” sentiment, but… I feel for you, man. My husband, Dad, and brother started losing hair at age 17 as well so I know how hair loss as a teenager can affect you. You need to be evaluated in person by the doctor who will prescribe the Propecia, and they will need to go over all the possible side effects in person before you take it. For your information, I have not seen adverse effects personally (and I have put many younger guys on this drug, usually after discussions with their parents), nor have any been reported for your age population on this drug, but Dr. Rassman did report a single case where one of his patients had loss of body hair with Propecia, so your question is not unreasonable and may be a risk factor, although rare. I believe that the younger you are, the drug works better and with fewer sexual side effects noted. However, the biggest decision-making news for you personally is that there are no long term studies on the effects of this drug which have included the youngest people who are affected by hair loss – nor do I suspect there ever will be (no money in it) so there is no data to properly evaluate this in a scientific manner.

So the question you ask is still an open one. I can’t prove it one way or the other, but based on the drug’s mechanism of action it is not likely to affect body growth (just stop the hair loss on top) and there is no data that Propecia interferes with sexual maturation (beard, body hair, nose hair, etc..). Propecia is a DHT blocker and, if anything, it will INCREASE your testosterone (the predominant hormone affecting your age group’s physical changes) when you take it.

Also FYI, body hair development is not the most accurate indicator of maturation – some people never grow beard or body hair and that can be totally normal. I’d again check it over with your doctor if you have concerns.