Dangers of taking Propecia before male pattern baldness kicks in?

[andragonous]

I am a 19 year old male. I've posted a couple of times here and my situation is a bit complicated. Basically I have had two different opinions on whether I am thinning or not. One from a hair loss clinic ( that wanted to sell me treatment) and one from the barbers. So I honestly cannot tell you if I'm suffering from male pattern baldness or not.

Anyway, almost as a precaution, I have started taking Propecia every other day for the last two weeks. I have experienced no side effects, maybe a slight increase in lost hairs but not so much that I can actually be sure that it's happening. But are there any risks of taking Propecia before I am sure that male pattern baldness has kicked in? Could it in fact make my hair worse, or could there be repercussions unrelated to my hair?

 

[GoldenMane]

Go see a hair loss/transplant surgeon, they won't lie to you and they know their stuff. There is no danger, if you have no sides then don't worry. If you start noticing sides then quit and you'll be fine

 

[musclemd]

Do not take finesteride at your young age unless you have been directed by a doctor.
Hormonal balance is not something you should be disrupting or messing with.
There are real long term implications.

 

[andragonous]

Do not take finesteride at your young age unless you have been directed by a doctor.
Hormonal balance is not something you should be disrupting or messing with.
There are real long term implications.

What sort of implications? Because the way I see male pattern baldness treatment, you are always taking risks. You're not curing a medical condition, you are disrupting a natural and benign biological process. So you just have to work out if the benefits outweigh the risks.

 

[9tfrizzco]

i dunno if your dad's nwover9000 like mine, i'd say go for it

 

[andragonous]

i dunno if your dad's nwover9000 like mine, i'd say go for it

Yeah my dad has lost all of his hair there, pretty much. HE has a little that he can give a side parting to but I've always known him to be short of hair on top. Trouble is, he's 65 so I never knew him when he was, say, in his thirties and I don't have many photos of him when he was younger. I know he had a pretty decent head of hair age 30 though, so I'm confused as to why I might have started losing it age 19. As for my mother's side, they all have amazing heads of hair. MY maternal Granddad is thinner in his 70s but no bald spots at all. I think my brother (two years older) might of lost a bit at the temples but on the other hand, I think we've all had thin temples since we were young. So I'm really not sure if its baldness or not.

 

[badgenetics1]

Well you could be experiencing early hair loss, but given your family history I think you're probably safe. Starting finasteride early could be a smart move if you are going to go bald and if you don't experience any side effects, but why play with your body's hormones if you're not sure? Seeing a doctor would help.

 

[CursedMen]

People make claims, but they don't back them up with facts. The earliest age recommended for Finasteride use is age 18. They didn't just pull this number out of their asses. They spent millions of dollars on trails to get this number. To answer your question, I would wait for evidence of the process before I started treatment. Constantly take pictures and check for miniaturization.

 

[andragonous]

People make claims, but they don't back them up with facts. The earliest age recommended for Finasteride use is age 18. They didn't just pull this number out of their asses. They spent millions of dollars on trails to get this number. To answer your question, I would wait for evidence of the process before I started treatment. Constantly take pictures and check for miniaturization.

Yes, just like the legal age for smoking, drinking and gambling is based on 'billions of dollars of trials'; all of those 19 year old guys can puff away with no risks of lung cancer whatsoever. The 18 recommended age is most likely to do with the fact that, by that age, we are held more accountable if the drug screws us over and leaves us with permanent damage.

 

[CursedMen]

You are comparing apples to oranges buddy. Drinking, gambling, and smoking don't have any positive effects. So you are right in the fact that they didn't base them on health, but instead mostly on responsibility. But with medications they based them on benefits vs drawbacks. Also if they didn't care about safety (aka not getting sued), why does the FDA exist? Why not just approve any drug without years of clinical trail. Provide OP with scholarly links to where it proves finasteride causes more damage in younger patients compared to older patients, and let him decide for himself. Plus how would you do a clinical trial on gambling."Oh we are going to analyze the effects of gambling on blood pressure?"

 

[andragonous]

You are comparing apples to oranges buddy. Drinking, gambling, and smoking don't have any positive effects. So you are right in the fact that they didn't base them on health, but instead mostly on responsibility. But with medications they based them on benefits vs drawbacks. Also if they didn't care about safety (aka not getting sued), why does the FDA exist? Why not just approve any drug without years of clinical trail. Provide OP with scholarly links to where it proves finasteride causes more damage in younger patients compared to older patients, and let him decide for himself. Plus how would you do a clinical trial on gambling."Oh we are going to analyze the effects of gambling on blood pressure?"

No I'm not comparing apples to Oranges. Propecia and Budweiser have one thing in common: they are both industries that want to make a profit. I don't hvae a list of medicines ( they seem to be mostly ones related to cosmetics) that have shamelessly made millions while putting thousands of people at risk, but we all know of cases of it; it's naive to think that Propecia adhere to strict standards just because they have some board loosely watching over them (as indeed, do tobacco and alcohol based companies). I don't know what risks there are for a younger person to take Propecia; hence my asking of the question. However, to suggest that it's safe because they've done some trials and gained some approval is very naive in my opinion.