Does Propecia Work for the Vast Majority of Men Under 30?

Dr. Rassman,

Do you agree with the following statement: At least 50 percent of men in their 20’s today who have little or no hair on their head should not be bald.

Propecia doesn’t last forever, some can’t afford it, others will choose not to take it, and it won’t work effectively on some group of men. But for the vast majority of men, it works and it seems like most men under 30 who are visibly bald missed the chance to buy themselves a few important years by not taking Propecia.

Agreed?

The statistics indicate that men over 50 years old have a frequency of some degree of balding in half of the Caucasian male population. That does not mean than the same statistic will be found in men under 30, as some men start balding in ages beyond 30. The full value of Propecia for those that see benefits changes over time (opinion backed up by the Merck study). The choices are always yours.

The other side of the coin is that Propecia works best when hair loss is earlier. If you start hair loss at 22 years old, then you are a better candidate for value (slowing, stopping, or reversing hair loss) than if you were 32 and had hair loss for the preceding 10 years. Also, if you start balding at 35 and start taking Propecia at 36, you will have a better value in its use than if you were balding since you were 22 (14 years of balding) in that same situation.