Am I balding, or is it something else health-related?

[theEvergreen]

A few years ago, I came here looking for advice after a recently buzzed head. Realizing it was just paranoia and nothing to worry about (which was true), I just ignored it and everything was fine. A few years pass and nothing. That is up until a few months ago. I noticed the point in the center of my hairline starting to get thinner and easier to see through under light. It's always been sort of thin there even through college. Like a little dot where it was thin. It didn't really bug me because you really needed to look hard to see it and it was very situational. I didn't really worry until about 2 haircuts ago. The chick who cuts my hair says, "Are you cutting your own hair?" I didn't know what she was talking about. When I got home, I looked in the mirror to see what she was talking about. Almost all the hair in the first 2 or 3 rows of hair were only 1 inch long. Keep in mind I keep my hair about 4-5 inches long up front (I'm one of those trendy-styled hair mofos). Anyway I just chalked it up to me playing with it, as I did notice I was accidentally causing breakage by teasing it out of nervous habit. Fast forward to next haircut, no change. Still same length and everything in those areas. Now I started to get worried. Now here I am looking the mirror at work and noticing how thin and short the frontal region of my hair is becoming. I don't know if this was triggered by stress, health, or anything else. I know I've had some rampant heartburn over the past year to the point I've given up alcohol and I've heard that something like GERD (a stomach affliction) can cause hair breakage.

No one ever believed me or noticed because my hair is so dark, but I sent a picture to my friend, whose wife is a hair stylist and his first reaction after scoffing at me was "Wow, yeah that's weird." His wife told me to get on Biotin and a bunch of B-Vitamin Supplements, but I'm extremely skeptical when it comes to that. I've also been diagnosed with Seborrhea over the past year, so maybe the itch and irritation caused this? Anyway, I'm dropping a few pictures to show you in comparison to a year ago and this past week. Any advice would be helpful. I just want to know if I'm actually balding or if this is some temporary thinning of some sort. Thank you all so much.

This one was taken about a year and a half or so ago. I had gel in my hair so I put it up like this just to screw around. Nothing serious.


This I think was around the same time. This might've been the second coming of the beard. Forgive me for the tasteless selfies. I don't even send them to people. I was just seeing if you could see through my hair.


This was the pic I think I sent to my friend. You can see a lot of tiny broken hairs around the hairline. I'm getting anxiety just looking at this.


These next few were some I took a little bit ago. The side I'm showing you is the only side that looks like it's thinning really badly at the moment. I get really bad anxiety just thinking about it.


I put a part in it because I was going to grow it out long again, but I guess not anymore...


I'll post the rest in the next post.

 

[theEvergreen]

These ones were under a fluorescent light. My hair wasn't this bad until the past 2 or 3 weeks. Causing me a lot of stress but I'm trying to suppress it. My dermatologist basically scoffed at me and told me, "You have more hair than me and aren't thinning in the back so..."

I don't know if I'm just paranoid over nothing or what at this point since medical professionals don't even take me seriously.

 

[rantanplang17]

I think it s the begining. Look like a diffuse hairline to me.

 

[Agustin Araujo]

If you have a Family History of Male Pattern Baldness, definitely keep an eye on your hair. If your hair loss is only in the front and top of the scalp and none on the back and sides of your head, it could definitely be hereditary thinning. You also said that you have Seborrhea. That itself doesn't cause hair loss but it certainly won't help the situation. A shampoo that I recommend to use that should help is called 'Regenepure DR'. It has aloe vera gel as its base ingredient, and has a compound in it called Ketoconazole. Ketoconazole should really help to fight that Seborrhea that you're having and it helps to improve the health of the scalp. It's great to use this product whether you suffer from hair loss or not.

It wasn't very nice of your dermatologist to scoff at you. It is possible to have thinning in the front and not in the back. Hair loss is incredibly annoying, I suffer from it myself.

Like I said, watch out for your hair if you have a Family History of Male Pattern Baldness. Unfortunately if you do actually have the condition, here are some of the best known medications to fight the problem that are readily available:

+Dutasteride (5-AR inhibitor).
+Finasteride (another 5-AR inhibitor, not as strong as Dutasteride).
+Ketoconazole (a mild anti-androgen, has strong anti-inflammatory properties).
+Minoxidil ( a growth stimulant, it makes hair grow).

I hope for the best that this problem you're having can be treated.

 

[theEvergreen]

If you have a Family History of Male Pattern Baldness, definitely keep an eye on your hair. If your hair loss is only in the front and top of the scalp and none on the back and sides of your head, it could definitely be hereditary thinning. You also said that you have Seborrhea. That itself doesn't cause hair loss but it certainly won't help the situation. A shampoo that I recommend to use that should help is called 'Regenepure DR'. It has aloe vera gel as its base ingredient, and has a compound in it called Ketoconazole. Ketoconazole should really help to fight that Seborrhea that you're having and it helps to improve the health of the scalp. It's great to use this product whether you suffer from hair loss or not.

It wasn't very nice of your dermatologist to scoff at you. It is possible to have thinning in the front and not in the back. Hair loss is incredibly annoying, I suffer from it myself.

Like I said, watch out for your hair if you have a Family History of Male Pattern Baldness. Unfortunately if you do actually have the condition, here are some of the best known medications to fight the problem that are readily available:

+Dutasteride (5-AR inhibitor).
+Finasteride (another 5-AR inhibitor, not as strong as Dutasteride).
+Ketoconazole (a mild anti-androgen, has strong anti-inflammatory properties).
+Minoxidil ( a growth stimulant, it makes hair grow).

I hope for the best that this problem you're having can be treated.

My grandfather (mother's side) slowly went bald his entire life, as did my uncle (mom's bro), but my father's side is clear. The baldness on my mom's side was all male pattern baldness. You know, like the charts they have everywhere with the temples receding, etc. All of which I never had. It sucks because the main parts you can see right through only really surfaced over the past 3 months. Does balding start with the hair not growing out as far as it used to?

- - - Updated - - -

You still have awesome hair, but it might be the beginning of female pattern baldness. Yes the female pattern can happen to men too.

Thanks for that. And is it weird that I was also thinking this? My mom is like "MY HAIR IS LIKE THAT!" and I had to keep reminding her I am a male, haha. It just bugs me out it's only in the one spot and it's really making my anxiety flare up.

Does anyone know who I can talk to about this? I was test for iron deficiency and thyroid stuff from my doctor a few years ago and nothing came up. Can anyone professionally tell me for sure if this is balding or not?

 

[Agustin Araujo]

Yes, early signs of balding start with losing strands of hair, and then having the hair come back thinner and not as long. I'm afraid to say that by looking at your pics, it could definitely the early signs of male pattern baldness. If your hair keeps coming off, coming back thinner and then eventually won't come back, it's definitely male pattern baldness. If you were tested for iron deficiency and got your thyroid checked and nothing came up, it could just be male pattern baldness.

Talk to your dermatologist again. Have them examine your scalp and your hair. If there's actually shrinking of the hair follicles, then it is male pattern baldness. If that's the case, ask them to prescribe Finasteride for hair maintenance, and get on Minoxidil for hair regrowth. Also in my previous post, get on a Ketoconazole shampoo to help stabilize the health of your scalp.

 

[theEvergreen]

Yes, early signs of balding start with losing strands of hair, and then having the hair come back thinner and not as long. I'm afraid to say that by looking at your pics, it could definitely the early signs of male pattern baldness. If your hair keeps coming off, coming back thinner and then eventually won't come back, it's definitely male pattern baldness. If you were tested for iron deficiency and got your thyroid checked and nothing came up, it could just be male pattern baldness.

Talk to your dermatologist again. Have them examine your scalp and your hair. If there's actually shrinking of the hair follicles, then it is male pattern baldness. If that's the case, ask them to prescribe Finasteride for hair maintenance, and get on Minoxidil for hair regrowth. Also in my previous post, get on a Ketoconazole shampoo to help stabilize the health of your scalp.

I've been on the Keto stuff on and off for about a year now and also use this stuff called Clobetasol Propionate that's topical and helps fight the itching. Like I said, this only started happening about 2-3 months ago. Up till then I was pretty confident in my hairline. It's only happening in one spot, weirdly enough. Also, my derma basically laughed at me when I told him I thought I was going bald, so I'm not sure going back to him would be a great choice. I'm willing to do that, but I really don't want to waste anyone's time. All he said was "You have way more hair than I've ever had" and basically was saying I'm paranoid. It's hard to get people to believe me.

 

[Agustin Araujo]

I've been on the Keto stuff on and off for about a year now and also use this stuff called Clobetasol Propionate that's topical and helps fight the itching. Like I said, this only started happening about 2-3 months ago. Up till then I was pretty confident in my hairline. It's only happening in one spot, weirdly enough. Also, my derma basically laughed at me when I told him I thought I was going bald, so I'm not sure going back to him would be a great choice. I'm willing to do that, but I really don't want to waste anyone's time. All he said was "You have way more hair than I've ever had" and basically was saying I'm paranoid. It's hard to get people to believe me.

Sorry, I didn't know that you've used Ketoconazole. Since this problem that you're having started 2-3 months ago and it keeps getting worse, it really could be frontal thinning. If you're extremely serious about taking care of this situation, you should really get your hair and scalp examined. If you're really having shrinkage of hair follicles, then you would need to get on treatments ASAP to keep it from getting worse. And you're not being paranoid, it's great that you care about your hair; there's too many people that don't.

 

[theEvergreen]

Sorry, I didn't know that you've used Ketoconazole. Since this problem that you're having started 2-3 months ago and it keeps getting worse, it really could be frontal thinning. If you're extremely serious about taking care of this situation, you should really get your hair and scalp examined. If you're really having shrinkage of hair follicles, then you would need to get on treatments ASAP to keep it from getting worse. And you're not being paranoid, it's great that you care about your hair; there's too many people that don't.

So do you think I should go back to the dermatologist to get examined? I don't know where I'm actually supposed to do this. Thank you for the replies.

 

[Agustin Araujo]

Yes, if your serious about this problem, go have your hair and scalp examined to check if there's shrinkage of the hair follicles. If there is, then get on treatments so it won't keep getting worse.

I suggest to go to another dermatologist if your current one is unhelpful. I'm pretty sure you can get an examination with any dermatologist. That's what I did and my male pattern baldness was detected.

 

[theEvergreen]

Male Pattern Baldness. That is such a shame, you have/had awesome hair.

So I'm going to have to take hairloss drugs the rest of my life?

 

[Agustin Araujo]

So I'm going to have to take hairloss drugs the rest of my life?

If that really is the case, then you'll need to use medications for hair loss for the rest of your life if you want to keep your hair. Like I put in my previous posts, you should really get your hair and scalp examined to check for male pattern baldness if you're serious about what's really going on.