Your read is right, and it's worth understanding why. The top thinning while the sides and back stay dense, even five years ago, is the classic male pattern. The top is the androgen-sensitive zone, and the sides and back are the resistant area, so that difference you noticed is the pattern declaring itself early.
The part that matters are that you've still slipped over five years on finasteride and min. That does happen, response varies a lot, the frontal and top area responds least to these meds, and diffuse patterns tend to be more stubborn, so it's possible they slowed it without fully holding it. Two honest questions: how consistent were you across those years, and have you ever escalated? If you've been steady and still progressing, dutasteride is the usual next step since it suppresses DHT more strongly. That's a conversation for a doctor rather than a solo switch, but it's the logical move.
Realistically, for a strong diffuse pattern meds can slow it without stopping it completely, especially up top, so part of this is expectations too. And if a transplant ever crosses your mind, the priority for a diffuse thinner is stabilizing the loss first, because placing grafts into hair that's still going is how people end up disappointed. But the immediate step is that dutasteride conversation.
