MPB or Cowlick?

[toppris]

Hey guys, I need some help:

I got my own thread in "Tell your story", but recently I've been starting to get insecure if I am balding or just got an cowlick?

Some background: Ever since a friend commented that I was balding about 3 years ago, I've been obsessed with the thought. I'm of asian heritage, and always had a quite visible "cowlick". But when my friend told me this, I ran straight home and looked at the back of my hair in the mirror. Allthoug I had not seen my hair on the back for years, I were sure that it had gotten much thinner and that I got Male Pattern Baldness.

So these last years I've been depressed and thinking about it EVERY day, I also been using toppik to conceal it.
Recently I decided to take actions and started on minoxidil about 6 weeks ago, I also went to a dermatologist and got an prescription for generic finasteride last week.

But the dermatologist could not for sure say it was MPB, but gave me the prescription because he saw how depressed and sad I were.

Recently I've been "googling" heaps of sides about asian hair loss, and I see that it's quite common that asians appear to be thinning in the crown where they have their cowlick. This is because of the very straight hair, and the low density of asian hair. Just look at the link:
http://www.baldingblog.com/2006/05/02/m ... -thinning/

So my questions are, am I really balding or is it just my cowlick?
And is it bad for the hair to be on finasteride/minoxidil if you're not really having MPB?

Leaving with some pictures.

PS: I've not been to a hairdresser ever since my friend commented that I were losing my hair, because I've felt to a shame/embarresed over losing my hair. So I've been cutting it myself with machine, and therefore my hair varies in length. And maybe the fact that I've been doing it myself is making it look even thinner? Do you thing a hairdresser could help me cover the thin crown so I wouldn't need toppik? Regardless if it's MPB or a big, ugly cowlick?

I probably also should say that I have VERY thick hair everywhere, except for the crown where the cowlick are.

Sorry for the long post, but thought I had to tell the FULL story.
Gratefull is someone would answer.
Best regards from a depressed young man..

Leaving some pictures so you can see:

[Tom1985]

Honestly man, it would be impossible for anyone here to say for sure if you're balding or not.

You certainly don't want to get on propecia or minoxidil unless you're 100% sure you're going bald.

All I can recommend is using Nizoral shampoo and try not to obsess over it.

Sorry I couldn't give ya any better advice.

[toppris]

Okey, thanks for answer!
But is there any harm of using finasteride and minoxidil except for in my wallet?
Because I think I will use them for about a year, and see if the crown area could be filled in..

I also need to precise that when I had a visible cowlick for ever, thats not 100% true. Because picture of me as a child show that the crown were full of hair, but I guess from about I were 15-16 you could see the scalp from the cowlick area. And I assume the scalps visibility have increased over the years because of thinning hairs.

[lobsterlobster]

any updates?