Propecia and Frontal Hair Loss Over Time

Hi, I am 24 years old and am experiencing some frontal hair loss. Nothing major, but my hairline has receded a few centimeters beyond what I would consider a mature hairline. On my mother’s side, my grandfather still has his hair as do most of my uncles. My father also still has his hair, but his father went bald in front.

I just started taking Propecia this week to prevent further loss. In your experience, have men in situations like mine managed to keep their frontal hair after taking Propecia for a long period of time? Or should I simply consider Propecia a stop-gap measure?

As a side note, I noticed on your blog that you suggested Propecia can only slow down frontal hair loss in most cases–that is, it will continue eventually. But I recently looked over a study on Propecia’s effects on frontal hair loss and the results seems more promising than you suggest (you are probably already familiar with it). Here’s the link: https://www.hairlosstalk.com/download/finfront.pdf

According to this study, investigators and a global assessment found that almost all the people on Propecia halted frontal hair loss (about 94 and 99 percent) over a one year period–and the study suggests that the effects even improved after a 24 month period.

Has this also been your experience?

In my experience with patients taking Propecia, I find that Propecia generally has better observable effects on the crown than the frontal hairline. I have little doubt that Propecia slows down frontal hair loss if it is clinically indicated and I have seen good results from it in the frontal area, therefore agreeing with your reference. I have seen a very small number of young men actually reverse frontal hair loss.