Any chance this is Telogen Effluvium and not male pattern baldness? (with pic)

[mjk258]

Over the past 4 months or so I have noticed hair loss. Within the past 6 weeks things seem to have gotten worse.

I definitely a stressed out person by any standards, but I've been under far greater stress in previous years than I have been in the past 12 months so perhaps this doesn't support the Telogen Effluvium hypothesis and points to male pattern baldness?

Is it possible that chronic stress for over a year followed by a 3 month period of unstress could manifest Telogen Effluvium?

I did a test earlier this morning- while in the shower I rubbed shampoo into the back of my head and the sides of my head by my ears. There was a considerable amount of hair loss, I kept lathering and more shed, it never seemed to stop. Does this support a Telogen Effluvium hypothesis? Would the early stages of male pattern baldness only cause hair loss on the top of the head?

I've heard of the "pull test" I've tried it and very little hairs came out. Could Telogen Effluvium still be occurring with a negative pull test?

I have certainly thinned a the top of my head, I am not sure about the sides as I don't really have a bench mark to compare it to.

Here is a pic. Things still look ok but I've undoubtedly been thinning

 

[UKguy84]

I dont think anyone could give you an accurate answer

your hair looks good to me maybe slight temple loss hard to tell.

EIther

go see a derm

OR

Look at your family , there like basically how you will look at there age etc give or take a few years in alot of cases

In my family which is full of hairloss it couldn't of been more obvious, but still i tried to shrug it off as something else.
i was simply in denial, nobody wants this problem

 

[TheGrayMan2001]

You look 100% fine from that pic.

If you're feeling you're shedding a lot though, what is the history of your family with male pattern baldness? Dad lose a lot of hair? Grand parents? Uncles?

You could be at the very beginning of an male pattern baldness type shed. Need more details to really know.

 

[mjk258]

Thanks for the replies

My dad is now 55 I would say about 45 was a critical point for him. Two of my uncles on my mom's side I have never seen. One of my uncles on my mom's side is about 60 and has significant male pattern baldness, I would guess things really started turning bad for him around 40. My other uncle on my mom's side was for sure bald by 40.

My dad's dad went bald very early. My mom's dad was completely bald by probably 55.

I know that doesn't really mean much, I never knew either side of my family well at all so there is a decent amount of guess-timation there. Maybe I'll try to dig up some photo albums.


I'm trying to see a dermatologist but since I'm in Canada, the doctor's attitudes are often "if you aren't dying you're fine".
So when I walk into the derms office he is definitely not going to take me seriously because he won't know how thick my hair once was.

When I rub my hair in the shower, I notice that about one-third of the hairs that fall out appear miniaturized. Is this normal even for non-male pattern baldness? I don't know if it is normal for me, I wasn't aware of the term until recently.

I am 22.

The place I'm visibly noticing hairloss is on the Vertex. The crown is still well covered.

thanks again

 

[TheGrayMan2001]

You could try to take some more pictures and see if you can give us a better example of what it looks like in the "thinning" areas. You can keep those for record, and probably just check back on your hair in 3-5 months and see if new pictures look any worse. At that point, I would then start to consider finasteride or whatever.

 

[UKguy84]

Dont worry about what the derm thinks or says he should be professional.
The earlier you attempt to halt your hairloss of what ever type the better.
I'm sure you wont be the 1st young guy with alot of hair whose concerned about hairloss, they know it has to start somewhere