Nor81's Story (Age 27, NW2a, Pics)

[Nor81]

Hi there!

I've been lurking these forums for a while and I decided to make a first post, might as well do it in this section. I'm from Norway so my english won't be top notch, but i guess you'll understand me. Ive' been looking at the Norwood scale, it's hard to find an exact match, but I'd say NW2a looks pretty close, and I'm currently 27 yrs old.

I remember having hair down to my eyes until the age of 16, that's when I decided to go for a shorter style. I never did notice my high and receeding hairline until that moment. I didn't really care at that point either. Well, that was until a friend of mine made a brief and harmless comment about it. From that moment, my obsession with hairloss slowly started growing. When it was at it's worst I was using about 30 mins every night to check if something had changed.... I'll have to admit that this problem of mine ruined way too many good moments in my teen life. Wish I could go back in time, forget about my problems, and live life fully the way it should have been.

Here's a picture at the age of 16 or 17, as you can see my hairline was pretty high and the V-shape was already there. But, I think I always looked like this, I remember my grandma used to call me Mickey Mouse when I was a kid.. My hairloss had already started at this point, and I remember thinking that I'd be bald before I hit 20. That never happened tho, and 10 years later I can't claim that I've lost nearly as much hair as i thought I would, but that doesn't mean it has been easy dealing with.

I don't know much about genetics, but I read somewhere you'll most likely inherit hair from you mother's side rather than your father's. Anyway, My father (52) still has all his hair, while his brother (55) started thinning at the age of 35, and he's quite bald now. I'd say a NW5 or 6. The last brother (48) starting thinning at 45ish, but he hasn't lost much yet. Their dad (my grandpa) started thinning around 45, and was a NW5 or 6 before he died. I don't think i have inherited this tho, as I've started thinning earlier, and my hairtype isn't the same as theirs either.

My mother's dad however, had pretty much the same hairtype and hairloss as I'm experiencing. Here's a couple of pictures of him. I used a cellphone camera and snatched these pictures from old photos, so quality is pretty low.

He's about 30 in the first pic, and around 50 in the second. This gives me hope, since he didn't really loose too much hair in that period. Tho I'm not 100% sure I've inherited his hairloss.



Now let's have a look at me today. These pictures are taken in the bathroom with bright light and with flash on.

Front:

Side:

Back:

Crown:

6 Months ago, right before I decided to buzz it:

I'm posting this last picture because I'd like to mention that I was pretty successful in hiding my hairloss for almost 10 years... Since my hairloss was pretty much just in front, it was rather easy covering it up. But I grew tired of bad hairdays when the wind was blowing or never being able to swim and stuff like that. I buzzed it with a #3 guard for the first time 5-6 months ago, and I've kept doing that every now and then. Trust me, I got alot of comments from people who never knew I was balding, mostly positive, but some sarcastic comments from close friends ofcourse. Showing everyone the truth wasn't as scary as I had thought for so long. So if you're in the same boat, let everyone know, it makes everything easier to cope with. Wasn't too fond of the new look at first. but I'd say I'm much better off now anyway. I'm considering growing some more hair again tho.. hopefully I'll be able to fight off these thoughts.

I haven't noticed any thinning in my hair at the top or on the crown, it's been pretty much a frontal attack. Note that the flash is on, so it prolly looks worse than it is on the back and crown pics.

Thanks for reading my story, and if you got time I'd sure like a few opinions about it and perhaps you can make time to answer some of my questions:

What do you think my future looks like.. Will I be loosing alot more hair, or could it perhaps even stop soon?
If I ever was to consider a hair-transplant, would I be a good candidate?
I'm not on any meds, nor have I ever been. What would you reccomend that I get started on if I make that decition. And where could I order from since I'm from Norway?
Medications, are they worth it, or are they mostly a waste of time and money?
Lets say you respend well from taking meds, how long will they be working? And if they stop working, will you gradually start loosing your hair again, or will everything you "should" have lost in the time you were on meds fall off at a high rate..?

 

[Norsk]

Hair loss is not inherited from the mother's side. You can get it from your father's side as well. It's also pretty unpredictable, so don't expect your hair loss to be identical to the hair loss of your father, your mother's father or any other specific person in your family. I have read that that only thing you can pretty much count on is that you won't be a NW7 if there are no NW7's in your family. I can also add that hair loss patterns won't necessarily be inherited together with hair type.

Your hair loss doesn't appear to be that aggressive, you still have most of your hair at 27, even though you noticed hair loss long ago. Although, like you pointed out, your male pattern baldness didn't necessarily start as early as you thought. The V-shape looks like it could be just an early "mature hairline", or maybe even your original hairline.

Will your hair loss stop soon? That's hard to predict. It might, although I find it more likely that you will continue to slowly lose more hair for a long time. If you're unlucky, you might also start to lose hair faster than before at some point.

Your slow hair loss gives you better chances for good hair transplant results, although you are stilll quite young, making it harder to predict what your final baldness pattern will be like. If your hair loss gets bad enough at some point, you risk having not enough "donor hair" for coverage, which in the worst case can leave you stuck with an unnatural looking result if you got an hair transplant early. If you want to get one fairly soon, it would be best if you got on Proscar/Propecia for at least 1-2 years first, to find out whether your body can tolerate it and whether it helps your hair. If/when you decide to get one, you probably shouldn't get it in Scandinavia (or the UK). Do lots of research and try to find the best clinic, regardless of where it is. A bad hair transplant is much worse than no hair transplant.

Finasteride (Propecia/Proscar) does seem to work for most users. That is it slows down hair loss significantly for years. IIRC the best responders have maintained their hair for more than 10 years, but don't count on results like that. There is also a small minority who think it harmed their hair more than it helped. I can't predict how it will work for you.

If you want to try the meds, I'd recommend talking with your doctor and try to get a prescription for 1/4 of a Proscar pill every day (buy a pill cutter at your pharmacy). Proscar is 5 mg of finasteride (Propecia is 1 mg). Propecia is overpriced compared to Proscar, and, unlike Proscar, you have to make your pharmacy import it from outside Norway. If you really don't want to involve your doctor you can use http://www.lillepille.com, which is more expensive than your local pharmacy.

I don't consider finasteride to really be as safe as what Merck claims. Opinions about the % that get side effects are divided in here. I won't bother to try to convince you, you can make up your own opinion by reading here (and hairlosshelp) for a while. The main issue I'm annoyed about is that Merck won't talk about the fact that a minority of finasteride users get side effects that won't go away even after quitting. Because of this I would recommend to get your hormones checked before touching finasteride, so you have a baseline to compare with if something goes wrong. Most likely it won't, but you'll be glad you did if it does. You can read more at http://www.propeciahelp.com

Also if you notice any significant side effects (like a really low libido) you may want to wait perhaps a few weeks to see if it goes away, but if you wait for months, I think you increase the risk of permanent sides.

Lykke til!

 

[Nor81]

Thanks for the input Norsk. Seems like you have done alot of research and know what you are talking about. You obiously spendt alot of time writing all this useful information, and I really appreciate it.

I've been reading quite alot about medications these last days. It seemed like a jungle at first, but I think I know enough about the best alternatives to have a chat with my doctor pretty soon. I'm sure that my current doctor won't know much about these areas tho, I guess I need a specialist. I'm still not sure wether I should let nature rule my head tho, or if I'm gonna try to fight this. I fear that if start something like this, the obsession can get even bigger, and to be fair I'm about to settle down with the fact that I'm balding. Not to mention that I'm afraid of side effects. Big sheds also seems like a sitation I would handle very bad.

You reccomended Propecia/Proscar, seems like the drug with the best overall results as far as I understand. But can it regrow hair in the front? I've heard this is very hard to do. If not, are there any better alternatives for achieving this?

 

[Norsk]

Yes, there are a lot of different treatments out there, but there is definitely a consensus that finasteride is the most effective treatment (except extreme stuff like oral spironolactone or androcur). There are a lot of topical alternatives (rubbing stuff into your scalp) that have some scientific backing and anecdotal evidence that they work for some, but AFAIK none of them are really proven to work. Since I couldn't handle finasteride and I didn't want to give up the fight, I'm currently using Proxiphen. I'm undecided about whether it works for me yet, but I have nothing to lose except some money.

As for the side effects, I personally think they are much more common than the official 2%, but I can't prove it. Other people on here insist there is no reason to disbelieve Merck's stats, though. I do believe that a majority of users get no or only minor side effects. I also believe that a large majority of the people who get side effects, and then quit, will get rid of them at least within a month or two. Of course, all of this doesn't help if you're among the unlucky ones. As i mentioned, I think getting blood work before starting treatments is a good precaution.

I think Propecia/Proscar has regrown hair in the front for a few people, but it's not likely to happen. You can increase the chances of that happening if you add minoxidil (rogaine) to your regimen.

I got a Proscar prescription from my GP (fastlegen). He wasn't clued up about hair loss treatments, but he had heard about Propecia. I had read up on the treatments before visiting him and explained about my hair loss and that I wanted to treat it. I first mentioned Propecia, and then told him that I had read that Proscar was just a higher dose of finasteride, and that I intended to cut up the pills. After he had called a pharmacy and confirmed, he gave me a prescription, with no problems.

If you can just accept your hair loss and get on with your life, that's obviously better than any of the current treatments. You'll have to judge for yourself whether treating your hair loss will make acceptance easier or harder.

ps. Jeg er norsk, men svarer på engelsk i tilfelle andre på forumet ønsker å korrigere meg eller tilføye noe.