Maybe this is why Propecia doesn't work for some?

[Mellowfelloww]

So I went to my endocrinologist today, who has had 30-40 yrs of experience, and is bald himself.

He told me that everyone experiences temple recession(different from male pattern baldness), and that temple recession is caused by high testosterone, not DHT. Is this really the case? Because this would explain why there are so many posts about how "Propecia destroyed my hairline" while it worked on their crown. Finasteride is known to increase testosterone in most cases.

Personally I don't think he is right, I mean look at all those buff guys on jersey shore with perfect hairlines. Again, I'm just repeating what my doctor said...thoughts?

 

[abcdefg]

Well listen to what you just said. You said that he said everyone experiences some temple recession and then you said the jersey shore guys have perfect hairlines which sounds kind of contradictory to me. So its pretty clear that not everyone does experience that since I know men that are 35 that have flat 18 year old hair lines. I personally think its completely androgens but its all androgens not just DHT and we all know once the damage is done from androgens there is no going back to regrow that hair. I dont see why people get so excited about future androgen inhibitors unless your trying to prevent hair loss since they wont regrow hair any more then propecia did.

 

[Wuffer]

T may have something to do with it, but it's all genetics. You could inject Brad Pitt with DHT/T for months and he wouldn't go bald. Our genetics make our hair folicles sensitive to DHT, and our jersey shore friends are lucky enough to not have that predisposition. It's not like guys will full heads of hair have way less T and DHT than a balding guy.

 

[Bryan]

So I went to my endocrinologist today, who has had 30-40 yrs of experience, and is bald himself.

He told me that everyone experiences temple recession(different from male pattern baldness), and that temple recession is caused by high testosterone, not DHT.

If he had said that to me, I would have asked him if that's just his own weird theory, or if it's part of the medical establishment consensus. If he said it's the latter, I would have asked him to PROVIDE A MEDICAL REFERENCE OR CITATION PROVING IT. I think it's a completely nutso idea to think that testosterone could cause some specific kind of balding in an individual, but not DHT.

 

[Timi]

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[Mellowfelloww]

Yes I did actually go see an endocrinologist. I planned on getting a prescription for finasteride before I went, and then he gave me this whole speech when I got there. This is his information, you can call him and ask why he thinks testosterone causes temple loss instead of DHT...

http://www.parknicollet.com/Methodist/D ... cfm?ID=809

He was telling me how even if the side effects were rare, for a cosmetic issue, we'd like the percentage for those dangerous side effects to be 0%. This is why it bothered me so much, supposedly experienced doctors who don't even know the very basics of male pattern baldness, unless I'm wrong in my research about the whole testosterone thing, which doesn't seem to be the case. The finally he wrote me the prescription for Propecia and checked substitutes also, then ordered me to come back to a liver test 2 months later if I choose to begin treatment. He strongly advised me against it, but said if it's that important to me then I'm an adult and should make my own decision.

I WOULD like to make my own decision...but the fact that I can't even find a doctor for some proper guidance makes me even more nervous (i purposely picked the most experienced endocrinologist there).