Trump's hair-loss drug vanishes from medical records, raising transparency questions

A question is stirring controversy in the United States: is President Donald Trump — known for his distinctive blond hairstyle — still taking the hair-loss medication he was once publicly confirmed to use? The drug appeared in records released during his first term but is absent from health disclosures made since he returned to office.

The Washington Post reported Thursday that references to Propecia, the hair-loss treatment Trump was previously known to take, could not be found in his most recently released medical records.

Trump's use of Propecia — whose active ingredient is finasteride — became known around 2017, when he began his first term. Medical records released at the time, along with statements from his physician, confirmed he was taking the drug.

The health examination results the White House released this year, however, contain no mention of it.

It remains unclear whether Trump stopped taking the medication or whether he is still using it but the information was simply left out of the public record.

White House officials declined to answer questions about whether Trump had taken the drug in the past or continues to do so now.

The White House said instead that the recently released health records "contain information relevant to the president's ability to perform his duties" and that no undisclosed conditions or procedures with a significant impact on his health had been omitted.

Medical professionals, however, are raising questions.

Robert Klitzman, a professor of psychiatry at Columbia University, told the Post the omission "raises serious questions about whether there is other information that has not been disclosed."

He noted that finasteride, Propecia's active ingredient, can cause side effects in some users — including an increased risk of depression — and stressed the importance of full transparency regarding a president's health.

Arthur Caplan, a bioethicist at NYU's medical school, also said he does not trust the medical records the White House has released.

He said Trump has a history of not fully disclosing health-related information.

In 2015, ahead of his presidential run, Trump released a medical letter declaring him to be in excellent health — only for his then-physician Harold Bornstein to later claim he had simply written down what Trump dictated to him, setting off a controversy.

During the 2024 presidential election, Trump also did not release his health examination results in as much detail as his rivals did.

The episode is bringing the question of presidential health disclosure back into public debate.

American history offers no shortage of cases in which a president's condition was not adequately disclosed.

Woodrow Wilson suffered a stroke while in office that left him unable to carry out his duties normally, yet the public was kept unaware for months.

Franklin D. Roosevelt's health had deteriorated sharply by the time of the 1944 presidential election, but he did not fully disclose his condition and won a fourth term. He died in office the following year, in April 1945.

Joe Biden, too, was engulfed in controversy over his health toward the end of his presidency. Questions about his condition spread rapidly after he appeared visibly frail during a 2024 presidential debate, and he ultimately withdrew as the Democratic Party's presidential candidate.

The Post said the central issue in this controversy is not the hair-loss drug itself but the transparency of presidential health disclosures — that what matters most to American voters is not whether Trump actually stopped taking the medication, but how accurately they can know the true state of their president's health.