[22] Certain Of Male Pattern Baldness. But How Bad Will It Be?

[johnfield]

Hi!


22M here. Noticed my hair loss at the age of 17.

Family: paternal grandfather had a receded V hairline by 32, my father by 30. Neither went bald and stopped as NW3 for years. My grandfather is 80 and has the same hairshape but diffused. Dad is 60 with a full head of hair, except for same recession. My maternal g-father passed at 85 a NW0! No history of full baldness, going back even to the grandparents of my grandparents and their siblings. Genuinely - I have traced family photos back at least 2 generations and no-one has gone full bald.

Loss has been slow (strong flash):

- June 2011 http://imgur.com/aMS6biV

- February 2012 http://imgur.com/0jrGiVg

- July 2016 http://imgur.com/jU3cFCa http://imgur.com/ubgV2qu http://imgur.com/zHtR9bu http://imgur.com/2PggC4D


5 years hair loss, effectively. I'm 22.


It has advanced, but I believe at a slower pace than someone my age. The (few) people I've known losing hair at this age have fully bald family and went from normal density to noticeably bald pretty quick. Questions:

- Will I definitely go fully bald?

- Just started taking finasteride, 0.125g every 4 days. I attempted 0.25 daily in March and after 3 weeks got sides. Am I wasting my time?

- If I start on minoxidil, I will get good sustained results as loss has been relatively slow. Agreed?


Thanks!

 

[Agustin Araujo]

Genetics are unpredictable at determining on how bad hair loss can become, but yes looking into family history helps to know with what may happen.

I do see recession of your hairline in the pic you provided, Male Pattern Baldness is evident. Finasteride is the key current treatment to use, which you are on. Taking at least 0.2 mg daily of Finasteride is the minimum to maintain hair decently, find out if you can do that despite that you got side effects at 0.25 mg a day. I feel 0.125 mg every four days is far to little of the treatment.

Try and see if you can stabilize your hair loss on Finasteride, then from there you can try Minoxidil but I don't think it's needed in your case.