18 years old starting finasteride ( PICS INCLUDED) advice and opinions needed.

[lifewithouthair]

Hey guys, i have been told by friends that i was losing hair at the back so after analysing and obsessing over my hair loss i have decided to start finasteride 1mg in order to preserve my hair. I will be using this thread in order to document my hair loss and post updates every month. (this is my second attempt at finasteride as i had used minoxidil and about 7 pills of finasteride a month ago but quit due to shedding and texture change)

please note that i also have a rather severe itch, dandruff and a few weeks ago follicular pain in my hair.
And male pattern baldness also runs on my moms side of the family

here are some baseline pics of my hair loss, started finasteride about 5 days ago (FINPECIA CIPLA)

10/4/2013 PHOTOS TAKEN FROM my iphone and digital camera



So any other young guys like me out there? hopefully ill maintain what i have for the years to come and if i loose ground ill start on dutasteride when im older.

 

[tommyt123]

hey man you definately have no hairloss up front but i would check with a derm to confirm you even have hairloss as that could just be natural parting of hair at the back

 

[FridgeFridge]

Nizoral could well get rid of that itch for you, give that a go along with the finasteride, my hair and loss is almost identical to yours and that photo taken from above could even be me but for the fact that my crown would be a paler!

 

[lifewithouthair]

hey man you definately have no hairloss up front but i would check with a derm to confirm you even have hairloss as that could just be natural parting of hair at the back

i have been to derms but they seemed incompetent and inexperienced, one derm diagnosed me with male pattern baldness on one appointment and the next diagnosed me with dandruff and told me i have no male pattern baldness. Neways the fact remains that hairloss in the initial stages remains undetectable. So better to be on the safe side , right? im thinking of getting a hairdx test or a miniaturization mapping but doctors in my area do not have these services.

Nizoral could well get rid of that itch for you, give that a go along with the finasteride, my hair and loss is almost identical to yours and that photo taken from above could even be me but for the fact that my crown would be a paler!

Hey i tried a generic version of nizoral (keto 2%) which changed the texture of my hair, became hard to touch and lost its shine. Neways how old are you? got any pics?

 

[FridgeFridge]

No pictures unfortunately. I'm 23 now and first looked in the mirror and thought '**** am i receding' when I was 17, however if this was the case between 17 and 22 (I started dutasteride at 22) it was verrrrry slow and barely changed at all! - though I still think it was receding hence the dutasteride and nizoral. (thats a shame about Keto btw as that stuff was brilliant for me, barely had an itch since!) since getting on dutasteride my hairline has improved slightly (hairs at temples) and overall thickened up quite well, though i'd never have made a good regrowth story as I never had much to regrow!

one more bizarre thing, I said my crown was like yours, i've also noticed that despite being Caucasian I have a crown very simular to some asian people ive seen, couple this with the fact that theres a home video of me at aged 2 (!) and even then you see i have a rather large crown on my head (not sure how unusual this is in kids has as my cousins son has a simular crown at 3) Ive always had the crown and a rather large one at that but I've no doubt if anything it had got bigger up till age 22 and as I said my hairline had definitely receded (not sure what I think of 'mature hairlines' ) hence the treatments

 

[talmoode]

good hair!!! not sure if you have male pattern baldness but your crown looks a bit thin there..Good luck!!

 

[lifewithouthair]

No pictures unfortunately. I'm 23 now and first looked in the mirror and thought '**** am i receding' when I was 17, however if this was the case between 17 and 22 (I started dutasteride at 22) it was verrrrry slow and barely changed at all! - though I still think it was receding hence the dutasteride and nizoral. (thats a shame about Keto btw as that stuff was brilliant for me, barely had an itch since!) since getting on dutasteride my hairline has improved slightly (hairs at temples) and overall thickened up quite well, though i'd never have made a good regrowth story as I never had much to regrow!

one more bizarre thing, I said my crown was like yours, i've also noticed that despite being Caucasian I have a crown very simular to some asian people ive seen, couple this with the fact that theres a home video of me at aged 2 (!) and even then you see i have a rather large crown on my head (not sure how unusual this is in kids has as my cousins son has a simular crown at 3) Ive always had the crown and a rather large one at that but I've no doubt if anything it had got bigger up till age 22 and as I said my hairline had definitely receded (not sure what I think of 'mature hairlines' ) hence the treatments

Good that you started treatments as early as possible, early treatment is key to treating male pattern baldness. Im starting treatments because im waay to scared to loose my hair and the fact that male pattern baldness runs in my family has got me even more scared. So is dutasteride doing a god job for you? how long do you think youll mantain on dutasteride? and does male pattern baldness run in youre family?

good hair!!! not sure if you have male pattern baldness but your crown looks a bit thin there..Good luck!!

Thnx mate, best of luck with your treatments too. Even im not sure that its male pattern baldness, im going to get a test to confirm this but i really dont know where to start . Do you know what specialist helps in this department?
i was thinking of getting a miniaturization test to check for miniaturized follicles but so far no derms do this service?

 

[tdo]

I would definitely check out a few doctors before starting treatment, noticed I said FEW. I am assuming you are Asian... One thing is that many Asians have that kind of part, so its really difficult to diagnosis. You need to seek out a good hair specialist and not just a typical dermatologist. Start here.....http://www.iahrs.org/hair-transplant/

I am Asian with a similar looking part on my crown that isnt quite as pronounced as yours, and even the hair experts can not give me a definite answer. I have been to 3 hair transplant surgeons (2 IAHRS and one ISHRS) and 2 of the three say I have nothing to worry while one say I have male pattern baldness. I am not quite sure whats going on as I have no male pattern baldness history on either side of my family.....

Its been 6 months of me of taking pics and comparing, and so far I cant see any changes. Maybe that is something you can do for the time being.

My advice is to relax and stop worrying as you still have very good hair. Enjoy life! =)

 

[talmoode]

go see a dermatologist!! I have severe scalp pain as well that comes and goes.....I am using a chemical free shampoo and a conditioner that you can buy from a healthfood store and my scalp is doing better now...so try that!