Would You Put 15 Yr Old On Dutasteride?
- Thread starter NzinOz
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Seeing those pictures, my God, I don't know how you could sleep at night thinking you are doing the right thing by doing nothing. If I had a kid balding with such severity, I'd do everything in my power to CONVINCE him to take the finasteride. I see you are feeding into the paranoia of "sexual disfunction".
Where is the father in all of this? Cooler heads need to prevail here.
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Absolutely irresponsible of you to be pushing this when any potential side-effects will not be affecting you but rather a kid who is barely in high-school. Some kids have alopecia areata and they will usually wear a wig or shave their head completely. Nothing stopping this kid from doing the same; that would likely be a much better choice than taking a drug that inhibits an important hormone during puberty.
"DHT is biologically important for sexual differentiation of the male genitalia during embryogenesis, maturation of the penis and scrotum at puberty, growth of facial, body, and pubic hair, and development and maintenance of the prostate gland and seminal vesicles. It is produced from the less potent testosterone by the enzyme 5α-reductase in select tissues, and is the primary androgen in the genitals, prostate gland, seminal vesicles, skin, and hair follicles."
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dihydrotestosterone
Sitting beside me. It's equally hard on him, it's his genes. We haven't written off topical treatment, but we would be remiss to not consider it all fully. This is a situation that has come about fast, we ran one direction putting our faith in a doctor and are now reasonably questioning the approach for a 15 year old who continues to grow. On our way to a gym to discuss joining our son up to bulk up.
14.5 years I noticed thinning on top. I could not convince his father anything was up even 7 days before the big hair drop 3 weeks ago.
Our son has struggled with the classic greasy hair that is a precursor to male pattern baldness.
I am cautious to keep a "it's only hair" attitude around my son. I spoke to him about the misery it brings some young guys. He said he did not want it to happen but did not feel it would bring him down. He's a great kid.
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I hate to break it to you but if he is already balding that severly, he is past the growing phase. He is not going to grow any taller. hair loss does not occur concurrently with height growth. The pathways and hromones that promote bone growth also promote hair growth. DHT is androgenic and actually supresses Testosterone (High DHT means less T is produced, by inhibiting DHT, T is allowed to rise). Testosterone is anabolic, it makes things grow(bone, muscle). DHT is only needed in the womb and at the onset of puberty. Taking finasteride will increase his T and may actually allow him to grow more.
I started taking it at 19 and actually grew another inch and a half after not having grown since 14. Finasteride does not stop growth so long as your body does not naturally have high estrogen(in males this is really only possible with large amounts of body fat), it helps it by increasing T, the most anabolic male hormone. My male part also continued to grow into my 20s. Finasteride gets a bad rap but really, what you are doing, is trading a shitty androgenic and highly carcinogenic hormone and suppressing it's production in exchange for a health promoting anabolic one. Finasteride also increases progesterone, which antagonizes estrogen and acutally inhibits aromatase (enzyme that converts T to E). With finasteride, you get high T, high Progesterone, and low DHT and Estradiol (as long as body fat is not an issue). In my unprofessional and anecdotal experience, high DHT and estradiol go hand in hand (just look at the results you posted on forum) because high DHT means high 5 AR which also converts progesterone to allopregnanolone. With high amounts of 5AR your T and Progesterone get converted allowing estradiol to rise. DHT does not stop estradiol formation, it does not inhibit aromatase enzyme, it just atagonizes it's effects in tissues. This doctor probably is seeing the same thing. He wants to lower DHT and estradiol based on what you are saying he is prescribing.
People on here talking about he is still developing have no clue what they are talking about. He is devloping but not in the way that is considered normal for teenagers his age. I would def take finasteride if I were him. Possibly dutasteride. The only thing about dutasteride is it inhibits type 1 5AR which is found in the brain and needed for converting progesterone into allopregnanolone. This could potentially affect cognitive function. Finasteride does not have this problem.
Another thing to consider is upcoming treatments. RCH-01. It takes cells from the hairs on the back of his head, multiplies them, and re injects them into the rest of the scalp effectively giving the hair on the top of the scalp the same resistance to DHT as the hair that the sample was taken from. How thick is the hair on the back of his head? I see the sides look thin too.... As long as the back is thick, he can get this treatment hopefully in the near future. It may be available in Japan in the coming months (hopefully).
Really though, it should be his choice. Have you asked him what he wants to do?
I started taking it at 19 and actually grew another inch and a half after not having grown since 14. Finasteride does not stop growth so long as your body does not naturally have high estrogen(in males this is really only possible with large amounts of body fat), it helps it by increasing T, the most anabolic male hormone. My male part also continued to grow into my 20s. Finasteride gets a bad rap but really, what you are doing, is trading a shitty androgenic and highly carcinogenic hormone and suppressing it's production in exchange for a health promoting anabolic one. Finasteride also increases progesterone, which antagonizes estrogen and acutally inhibits aromatase (enzyme that converts T to E). With finasteride, you get high T, high Progesterone, and low DHT and Estradiol (as long as body fat is not an issue). In my unprofessional and anecdotal experience, high DHT and estradiol go hand in hand (just look at the results you posted on forum) because high DHT means high 5 AR which also converts progesterone to allopregnanolone. With high amounts of 5AR your T and Progesterone get converted allowing estradiol to rise. DHT does not stop estradiol formation, it does not inhibit aromatase enzyme, it just atagonizes it's effects in tissues. This doctor probably is seeing the same thing. He wants to lower DHT and estradiol based on what you are saying he is prescribing.
People on here talking about he is still developing have no clue what they are talking about. He is devloping but not in the way that is considered normal for teenagers his age. I would def take finasteride if I were him. Possibly dutasteride. The only thing about dutasteride is it inhibits type 1 5AR which is found in the brain and needed for converting progesterone into allopregnanolone. This could potentially affect cognitive function. Finasteride does not have this problem.
Another thing to consider is upcoming treatments. RCH-01. It takes cells from the hairs on the back of his head, multiplies them, and re injects them into the rest of the scalp effectively giving the hair on the top of the scalp the same resistance to DHT as the hair that the sample was taken from. How thick is the hair on the back of his head? I see the sides look thin too.... As long as the back is thick, he can get this treatment hopefully in the near future. It may be available in Japan in the coming months (hopefully).
Really though, it should be his choice. Have you asked him what he wants to do?
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Wow, could not have said it better myself. Finally someone who's logical about the topic who's not feeding into the gloom and doom this woman seems to put more weight on and secretly look for
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Yeah people on here don't seem to realize that biological age and chronological age are not synonymous. His biological age is clearly not 15 (not that there is anything wrong with that, everyone is different). Taking a 5AR inhibitor will give him a younger hormonal profile and may improve his health (that has been my experience). Hopefully, if he does decide to take the 5 AR inhibitor, be it finasteride or dutasteride, he will be able to regain some of what he recently lost and thicken up and maintain until better treatments arrive.
RCH-01 can immunize the hair he has left so long as his donor region is not also thinning. Hair cloning is in the works as well but is a few years out and will likely be expensive.
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It puts into perspective when alot of us complain about hairloss when i see your young son, my 2 cents is that it seems very aggressive, too much for any meds to be worthwhile, personally i think the gym idea is good as it will increase his confidence and general well being. I would be of the opinion to shave it as after a few months it would look better than constantly trying to cover up a receding hairline.
He's grown at least an inch taller in the last 8 weeks, having plateauxed at 5'10" for some time; gaining an inch post Xmas (whilst hair growth faltered), with the extra inch very recently he's knocking on the door of 6 ft
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When do you think RCH 01 could be released? Also, what norwood are you and are you taking anything now?
He recently got a #3 around the sides, and a good short cut on top and it did improve the look of it by a good margin. At this stage, unless you push his hair aside or know what is going on with him, he just looks like the kid who will go bald one day not the one balding at the moment.
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I am not a medical expert, but I wouldn't expect much more. Sex steroids like DHT and estradiol cause maturation and eventually closure of the epiphyseal growth plates. Things might be happening at different rates at different parts of the body, but the main growing phase occurs when T is high, and DHT and estradiol are low. Hopefully he will hit 6'.
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RCH-01. Exciting f*****g Stuff it is M8!!!. We are currently waiting for phase II trial results from Shiseido which should be posted by end of Q2 of Japanese fiscal year, so sometime before end of September. As long as the results are favorable, then it has been planned to go market immediately after, so potentially before end of this year. The phase I safety trial already proved stabilization after 5 years and some regrowth, I think the average was like 8% increase in hair count so I do not see how the phase II could not at least produce the same which should be enough to bring it to market in Japan.
My norwood is like a 1.5 thanks entirely to starting finasteride at 19. It stopped it dead. I wear my hair kinda long with bangs that cover my forehead and no one would ever think i had any issues with male pattern baldness but I am the only adult male on both sides of fam with full head. Drug is a miracle worker for some of us (knock on wood).
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He's been consulted the whole way through. I told him about YouTubers who have popular channels embracing teen baldness and giving advice on confidence etc. I asked him if he wanted to shave and embrace - NO.
So, we research and do all we can - YES.
He travelled, none of us knowing Dutasteride would be the result.
We informed him of the reduction in his fertility. He chose hair over kids. I pointed out he was too young to know the implications of that decision. I arranged for him to store semen, not an easy thing for a 15 year old, but he was prepared to do it. Was booked in for the following morning, that's when we took pause. Why was he taking something that would reduced his semen 30%, usually restored after off the drug, but not guaranteed? What else could it be doing to him?
He was consulted about really considering the necessity to take a hefty medication when he's not sick per se. All medications come with risks. He's very young, do you think being on a hefty medication is worth any long term consequences - No!
Is hair worth this? No. He was on the fence moments, but quickly came down on the cautious side. His self-worth is not wrapped up in what sprouts from his head. He's lived his whole life with a lovely NW7 Dad.
We're in the process of seeking a second opinion from someone recommended via this forum. Helping him is not abandoned. He deserves a second opinion.
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