Hi Dr.,
I’m a 19 year old with a head full of thick hair. However, I have a slight recession that is following the pattern of my grandfathers. His hair receded into his early thirties and then stopped suddenly. I believe this is called a mature hairline, but it didn’t look like a mature hairline, it looked much worse. I really would prefer my hair not get like that. I think a hair transplant would be unwise this early, and getting one after the recession is finalized would kind of defeat the purpose of having one. Do you have any statistics on the effectiveness of Propecia, and would you recommend me taking this.
If it is a mature hairline, there isn’t much you can do. Medications may help, but I can’t say to what degree (each person is different and will react different to these drugs). At 19 years old and with very little (if any) male pattern baldness, you are definitely not a candidate for hair transplantation and any doctor that would do any surgery like that on you is taking you for a ride.
For Propecia stats, I’d say one of the the best places would be this page at the official site — Propecia.com – See the Proof — which is setup by the manufacturer, Merck. Although you may think that would be a terrible place for unbiased info, I should point out that Merck is heavily scrutinized by the FDA to make sure any claims, statistics, or other information provided is accurate.