Normal Crown Density or male pattern baldness?

[borntoexpire]

I am concerned by the whirl and crown density. To me it looks very sparse and at the early stage of male pattern baldness. See the zoomed picture of the area in question. The only problem is that i can't feel this area with my hands so I don't even know how I'd apply minoxodil. I'd like to avoid using any pills for now but if the general consensus is that I should start using pills, i will. Other members here told me that I don't have male pattern baldness, but I am not convinced. My grandfathers both were bald so I surely have the genes for it. As of now, I am not entirely convinced that I am balding yet. I've never looked at my crown prior to joining this website so I do not know what it looked like when i was younger. It's possible it's always been this way and I'd rather be optimistic but I feel that this is the start of male pattern baldness.

 

[BlackSheep]

No, that's not hair loss. Everyone has that. Contrast with my thread to see what developing hair loss looks like.

 

[talmoode]

if my memory serves me correctly, you've already been to a hair clinic or something and they told you that you are going bald?? and you said you wanted a second opinion? Have you seen anohter doctor? Hoestly your hair looks fine but if you are so worried about it, you really have to go to see a dermatologist....good luck...

 

[Admin]

My first response was to tell you that you're not losing your hair.

Then I looked closer and realized you have curly hair. That means if its longer than an inch, it folds over on itself and covers up.

That means that the rest of your head *could* look like the area we see most easily. You would need to shave your head in order to establish that.

Another idea is to take pictures when it is soaking wet.

Admin

 

[borntoexpire]

Thanks for the replies guys. After seeing the outrageous therapy the hair clinc suggested, I immediately saw that as a red flag and I got a second opinion from a Dermatologoist. However, I seem to have bad luck with these things since the dermatologist wasn't particularly helpful either. He said I have 'seborrhea' (sp) and he said I have mild thinning and nothing to worry about and that there is nothign to do about male pattern baldness. He prescribed me the Nizoral shampoo and told me about Minoxodil. He advised heavily against propecia. This guy did not even look at my head with a scope ethough...he just put his hands through my hair and made the call. I guess I need a third opinion.

Normallly, I'd think I was fine, but that zoomed photo makes me nervous.

 

[talmoode]

Thanks for the replies guys. After seeing the outrageous therapy the hair clinc suggested, I immediately saw that as a red flag and I got a second opinion from a Dermatologoist. However, I seem to have bad luck with these things since the dermatologist wasn't particularly helpful either. He said I have 'seborrhea' (sp) and he said I have mild thinning and nothing to worry about and that there is nothign to do about male pattern baldness. He prescribed me the Nizoral shampoo and told me about Minoxodil. He advised heavily against propecia. This guy did not even look at my head with a scope ethough...he just put his hands through my hair and made the call. I guess I need a third opinion.

Normallly, I'd think I was fine, but that zoomed photo makes me nervous.

um..I think you are quite right about getting a third opinion..do you have a family doctor or something to help you out with this issue? Some doctors are sooooo clueless:thumbsdown:

 

[borntoexpire]

Admin, check this post for my soaked photos.

http://www.hairlosstalk.com/interac...am-I-balding?p=1113617&viewfull=1#post1113617

Unfortunately, i've never even thought about taking a picture of my crown in the past. I have no idea how it looked prior to joining this forum. In fact, I was convinced that i was not balding until one of the board members suggested that I post a photo of my crown. Ignorance is bliss.

 

[Admin]

At this point I'd say if you have any thinning, it may hve started yesterday.

You're doing fine. If you want to maintain, wait until you see the mass shedding all over your pillow, clogging your shower drain, etc. That's usually the sign things are picking up. At that point, consider treatments.

Hair loss isn't a mystery when it starts. you know it.

 

[borntoexpire]

When I had very long hair (down to my mid back) I would constantly clog the drain. I would lose an absurd amount o fhair and collect tons of hairs in the shower. However, I've been told that it was normal due to the extreme length of my hair. I cut my hair 4 years ago and I haven't had this drain issue due to the shorter length. Anyway, I was convinced that I was fine until I saw my crown. However, I think I am at peace with it for the moment. Like you said, if I am indeed thinning, it is not a rapid process.

Also, I was prescribed Nizoral by the dermatologist but he advised against propecia. I was reading the instructions for nizoral and it supposedly PERMANENTLY removes a curl from a wave of hair. Any curly hairs have experience with Nizoral? If I'm going to lose the curls in my hair, I will shave my head.

 

[borntoexpire]

Here is a picture with my hair brushed back out of the shower. I normally never brush my hair this way and do not see this hairline. However, this hairline looks pretty bad to me.

 

[WorkHardPlayHard]

I'll shoot ya straight. It looks thinned at the hairline. The real question is whether it's always been like that, or if this is something developing more recently. Some people have naturally thin hair anyways.

 

[borntoexpire]

Thanks for the reply. I have a picture of myself at 5 years old. I will scan that in and maybe someone can determine whether or not it's male pattern baldness. I feel as if it looks thin even at 5 years old (I'm 25 now) so I'm still hesitant to take any drugs. I normally do not wear my hair this way and it looks exactly as it did when I was 18. However, I never brushed it back like this at 18 or younger so I don't know. We'll see what happens. I"m still not entirely convinced. Right now my hair is dry, and it looks fine to me so it could be that I just have a naturally thin and uneven hairline or it could be male pattern baldness. My brother is 34 and he seems to be thinning at the crown but not the hairline whereas my crown is much thicker but my hairline is weaker...so I'm not sure.

 

[WorkHardPlayHard]

I wasted a lot of time convincing myself that my hair loss was all in my head or due to something other than male pattern baldness. If you're serious about taking meds to try and stop the hairloss, you'd be doing yourself the biggest favor identifying and beginning treatment as early as possible. I lost a good 6-8 months (and a lot of hair) pretending it wasn't happening.