My Doctor Wrote Me a Prescription for Propecia — Should I Take It?

Hello!

First i’d like to say thank you for begin such wonderful source information on hair loss.

I went to see a dermatologist to find out why i’m losing my hair. All the Dr. did was look at my hair very quickly ( i believe i’m a norwood 3 , and i’m ok with that) no miniaturization test was given and told me its hereditary . The Dr. said that I will most likely lose a good amount of hair , I’m 34 years old .

He told me about propecia and wrote me a prescription. In your opinion should the Dr. have done other tests? Would it be ok for me to start the propecia ? I’d really like to move on and be happy that i’ve done what i can to stop or slow my hair loss .

Thank you for your time.

According to you, your doctor did not use his skills in the diagnosis in your case. While it’s likely the hair loss is due to your genetics and your doctor was right (particularly if you had a pattern develop corresponding to the Norwood Classification for hair loss), I assume that you paid for the doctor’s visit and expected a little more from him. Assuming that his diagnosis is correct, Propecia would be the right choice, but you seem to feel strongly that the doctor should do more than wave his hand over your head like a wand and be able to tell you the hair loss was hereditary. You have a responsibility, of course, to ask questions of your doctor. Questions like, “How do you know it is genetic?” and “Is Propecia the right choice?” Since I’m not your prescribing doctor, I can’t really answer that.

I feel strongly that we need to have a firm diagnosis and that good measurements are important to establishing that and possibly in keeping tabs on the progress of the balding if there is no visual change with regard to growth and fullness in 8-12 months. A miniaturization study isn’t going to replace any treatment for your hair loss — it’s just to initially get a baseline measurement so that you can follow-up in 6 months to a year to see if the treatment is actually doing anything for you. Some doctors just don’t want to be bothered with giving you a microscopic view of your hair loss, and that is disappointing to me and should be disappointing to any patient that experiences that. I recently wrote about performing this exam on your own head (you’ll need a video microscope that costs under $100), and you can read about that in Mapping Your Own Scalp for Miniaturization.

Some emails lately have suggested that they don’t think a mapping of your scalp really matters, and that’s fine if that’s your view. I suppose you also don’t like a mechanic to check out the problem in your engine before deciding you need a new transmission or even your dermatologist to run a biopsy before telling you that the mole on your body has become cancerous. I like to give people value for their money, and especially considering that at the present time I’m still doing these exams at no charge, I’d say people are getting a pretty good value.

We have developed a take charge approach to empower men and women to map out their own scalps and determine if balding is really present. I will review all miniaturization studies that are posted to BaldingForum.com and if you also upload a photo of yourself (and it’s fine if your face is blurred or cropped out) I am even willing to speak with you over the phone at no charge to help you decide what you have and what you should be doing about it.