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 Dr. Alan J. Bauman is the Founder, Medical Director and Chief Surgeon of the Bauman Medical Group, P.A. located in Wharfside at Boca Pointe in Boca Raton, Florida. His practice is dedicated exclusively to treating male and female pattern hair loss. Dr. Bauman uses state-of-the-art medical and surgical techniques to help his patients maintain and/or restore their scalp hair.
John B
2006-04-28
Propecia
Thank you for thi awesome site Doc. I am 26 yo and have always been a pretty thin kid so for the past few months I have been working out hard and lifting heavy to try and bulk up a bit. Also, over the last few years my hair line has been receding (but not thinning) at a steady pace, nothing too alarming but enough for me to start feeling uncomfortable. Recently, my doctor prescribed me Propecia to stop the hair loss. Since I know propecia is an androgen prohibitor, will it interfere with me gaining muscle mass and even possibly make me lose some?
Propecia's mechanism is to block the breakdown of testosterone into DHT (dihydrotestosterone). In fact, testosterone levels can increase up to 16%. So, the answer is no. Propecia should not prevent gaining muscle mass, etc. Current medical knowedge supports the fact that lower levels of DHT have no impact on workouts, etc. DHT is only responsible for two things once you have gone through puberty: 1) male pattern hair loss and 2) increasing the size of your prostate gland. That's it!
Stay on the propecia--it is a long-term committment. We know that if you stay on the propecia for 5 years, you have a 90% chance of looking the same or better than when you started. If you do not take propecia, after the same five years, you have a 75% chance of looking MUCH WORSE--which means you will likely need some degree of hair transplantation later on to maintiain coverage.
Good luck and keep us posted.
Sincerely,
Dr. B.
Alan J. Bauman MD
Medical Director
Bauman Medical Group, P.A.
www.baumanmedical.com
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