I Want My 17 Year Old Brother to Take Propecia
Hello Dr.
I have a problem regarding my brother starting to lose his hair.He is losing his hair at a very young age (he is 17.5) I want to get him on propecia since he is nearly 18 but i am worried that even 18 years old is a little young to use propecia,do you think this is true? The reason i think it may be too young is that boys don’t stop growing until they are around 20 to 22 sometimes, and i am worried that DHT is needed for boys to develop into men.Do you think 18 years old is to young to use propecia and could it stunt his growth? I am really worried for him,please respond.
You are your brother’s brother, not his doctor, so you can not be objective about the process of hair loss and its diagnosis and treatment. Assuming that he meets with a good doctor, gets examined for miniaturization, and gets a diagnosis of male pattern baldness (MPB), taking Propecia at 17.5 years old should not be a problem. The clinical trials and data are from men as young as 18 years old, and as you stated he’s nearly 18, he should be done growing anyway.
Maybe there is something else wrong? Perhaps he is not genetically balding, but just developing a mature hairline In any case, do what is right and in his best interests. Seeing a doctor should be step 1, as the medication is by doctor’s prescription.
I am the guy that posted above, my brother does have MPB since it does run in our family, in my experience Gp doctors don’t know about hairloss and there is no point in wasting my time sending my brother to a gp, i have told my mother to call a good derm i know and make an apointment for him.