I’m Going In for Knee Surgery — Do I Need to Tell My Doctor I’m Taking Finasteride?

Hi,
Thanks for offering such an objective viewpoint on the subject of hairloss where many others seem to offer empty promises and such skewed opinion. I may require surgery on an ACL injury in about 6 months as that is most convenient time for me to have the surgery. I am 22 and started taking propecia about 3 months ago, but I did not go through my doctor and just did my own research and bought off a reputable website. I don’t want to damage the relationship between my doctor and tell him that I did not even consult him before starting with propecia, but I was concerned that I might have to tell him I was taking this medication for my own safety given the ACL operation. Is it necessary he knows this information if I have surgery. Also, you talk alot about young men obtaining better results with propecia, but I couldn’t find any statistics apart from the study for men between 18-41. What is the exact benefit for under 25 compared to 30 year plus.

Thanks for your help

Thank you for your kind words.

I would recommend that you come clean with your doctor and tell him everything about your health and medications that you are taking. After all, if you are trusting your doctor to perform surgery on you, I am sure you would want your doctor to trust you. It makes for a good doctor-patient relationship.

With respect to Propecia statistics, the scientific data comparing one age man with another is not available. From the extensive experience by many physicians in the field, Propecia works best when hair loss is more recent and that implies younger men. The practical answer is that it is never too late and I have seen it work in men from 18 years old to 70 years old. And all the research and statistics go out the window when YOU are the one taking the medication, because if it works… it works! You should only worry about statistics if you have a wager on how well it will work on you, because even if the statistics are low, I am sure you will take it since you have nothing to lose (but hair).