I Have 50% Miniaturization — Is That Significant?

Hey Doctor, I just had a miniaturization study done the other day by Dr. Bernstein in New York (who I found out about thanks to this site) and he said I had about 50% miniaturization on the front of my head while the crown/back was all normal and prescribed me 5mg Propecia to cut it into 1/4s. I didn’t take the chance to ask him any questions about it, which I regret. So I was hoping I could ask you:

1. Being 20 years old, would you consider 50% miniaturization a significant amount of hair thinning?
2. Being that right now I just have hair thinning and there’s really no signs of balding to the untrained eye, am I at a better advantage to responding to Propecia?
3. Also, could the propecia actually reverse the miniaturization, at least to a certain degree, or is it much more likely that it’ll just halt it/slow it down?

1. Yes.
2. Yes.
3. Could go either way, or none at all. I can’t predict how you’ll react to a medication.

50% miniaturization is a predictor or hair loss or balding in the area where the miniaturization is found (in your case, in the frontal area). Sooner or later, the balding will be evident to the naked eye, but with finasteride, it may slow it down or reverse it. You should repeat the miniaturization study in a year and see what has happened ,and then you will have a better idea of the hair loss progression and the speed of the process.