Should I Take Propecia At 17, Or Wait Longer?

[fhritpamhs]

I am 17.25 years old with a Norwood 1.75-2 hairline. My main doctor and my dermatologist both say that it is "thinning", I think it has receded an inch to an inch and a half, but I think has always been somewhat high, and has definitely been pretty high for at least half a year now. There are some thin/wispy hairs at the base of my hairline. The dermatologist that I visited did prescribe me Propecia 1mg and recommended using Rogaine also. I am planning on starting to use the Rogaine, but I am unsure about the Propecia. I am 6'4" so I don't care about it stunting my growth and have light/medium chest hair, but I am very concerned with the other possible side effects, especially with it inhibiting DHT when I might still be developing. Would it be worth the risk of taking it now, or should I wait longer and just use the Rogaine possibly in combination with a dermaroller or something else?

 

[countjulian]

I would wait personally and just stick with Nizoral and Rogaine, there's new tech coming down the pipe in a few years and you're probably fine. This is a powerful drug to f*** around with and you're young. You might want to buy them and keep them just in case the hair loss starts to get aggressive.

 

[johndoe89]

It's up to you. You're one of the unfortunate guys who started having hair loss young and chance of it stopping/slowing down is pretty unlikely. Finasteride (Propecia) works best at maintaining what you have and slowing down the hair loss process. The longer you wait and the more your hair loss progresses the less likely it will be helpful. Minoxidil (Rogaine) attempts to grow hair back but if the DHT levels are still elevated then the hair you grow back will keep falling out so it works best to combine the two together.

I'd discuss with your doctor about side effects but regarding physical development and puberty I highly doubt finasteride will change much if anything.