I’m Due to Have a Bilateral Orchiectomy

Hi Doc,

I am due to have a bilateral orchiectomy soon for medical reasons. However I have heard that one of the few benefits of such a procedure is that it will benefit my hair.

Is there any truth to this? I am 24 years old and have some very mild baldness starting to appear. Is it true that the procedure (assuming I don’t need HRT in future) would prevent any further MPB developing. I am not expecting to regrow anything but am I guarenteed to never suffer from further hairloss caused by MPB?

If this is the case, after the procedure could I safely terminate my finasteride use? Also, assuming what I have heard is correct, if I ever decided to have a HT, could I have a perfect hairline restored without having to worry about future thinning/losses?

Thank you for taking the time to read my email. I should point out that this procedure is not driven by a desire to prevent baldness (that would be crazy), it is necessary for medical reasons (which I will not go into). Having said that I would understand if you didn’t put this on the blog, but if you could get back to me via email that would be fantastic.

I would appreciate your thoughts. Also thank you for providing this wonderful service.

Kind Regards

For those not aware, a bilateral orchiectomy is the removal of both testicles. If you do not have testicles, the balding process should be arrested provided that you do not take testosterone supplements. You will not need finasteride after the surgery.

As for the guarantee you’re looking for — I would say that you will never suffer from genetic alopecia, but you can’t be guaranteed no further hair loss from any cause, ever. Hair loss is a consequence of other factors such as thyroid disease, cancer chemotherapy, malnutrition, some drug side effects, and on and on. Good luck.