Can you tell the difference between Telogen Effluvium and male pattern baldness?

[WhatYouEgg]

I've been thinking about this over the last couple of days. it has been an emotional rollercoaster.

either way, I think it's a moot point. I actually had short/buzzed hair all my life until the last few years when I experimented with growing it out. I like the look, but if I'm just going to lose it, I don't want to get too attached to it anyhow. I thought I was safe because there was no evidence in my family but I guess that's just not the case.

sooooo.. I'm going to get it cut short again. (If you love it, set it free, if it comes back to you, it was meant to be) if it is indeed Telogen Effluvium, it will grow back. If it was male pattern baldness, it's going, and if I get on meds again, I don't want to have to deal with this five years down the road again, this time with no where to turn. If it was recession, I would stick with it, but I don't want the "monk look" in any way, shape, or form. I want it to be perfect back there, even if my hairline isn't.

I'd rather work on things I can control, like my career and my musculature.

My only fear is that I don't have the right head for it (long narrow jaw) but we will see what happens.

 

[WhatYouEgg]

It just got worse. Much, much, much worse.

I was brushing my hair after getting out of the shower and tufts of hair started coming out! Not big ones, mind you, but I'd never seen this happen before. What's more, they're all telogen hairs with the bulb on the end. I don't see any small miniaturized hair.

On top of that, I have patchy loss EVERYWHERE. Even in my horseshoe. I took a look at the back of my head wet and nearly gagged.

I looked at my fingernails and they all have a groove in them about 4/5ths of the way towards the end of the nail, so apparently the 'shock' started about 3-4 months ago, which corresponds with what I said earlier.

<sighs>

Physically, I really, really do feel better, and I can't stress that enough. My dental work is done, I've come to grips with my father's situation, I've mourned my grandfather, my finances are looking up, I got an exceedingly positive performance review. but I can barely stand to look at myself in the mirror now. I'm worrying that even if this is temporary, I've aged myself and kickstarted male pattern baldness, if it's going to happen.

Since it'll take 3-4 months for the patches to even start growing back.. I'll be boarding the first train to Slapheadia in the morning.

 

[WhatYouEgg]

This pic was taken today, less than a week after the one in my original post. Same lighting, same styling, everything.

On the other hand, my hairline is the same it has been for a year and has not budged.

 

[ClayShaw]

This guy says he has no male pattern baldness in his family. His hairline looks fine, and he has a cowlick.
So why is everyone saying "looks like garden variety male pattern baldness to me"??
I'd love to know why some people on these boards are so high on propecia. Talk about sides, get your thread moved. Suggest something other than finasteride, and all of a sudden admin jumps in and says that "only 2 treatments have been approved by the FDA".
IF this guy has male pattern baldness, and thats a HUGE if, there's absolutely no way to tell from those pics. No f*****g way. There are no before pics. Nothing to compare. He says its getting worse by the week, but who knows? No before pics, certainly no conclusive evidence that he has male pattern baldness, but "Get on propecia now".
If this guy has male pattern baldness then everyone without really thick hair has male pattern baldness.
The reach of the big drug companies extends quite far, and I'm starting to think it extends here. Something isn't right.
My trust in this board is really starting to take a dive.
Unfortunate.
To the original poster:
You don't look like you have male pattern baldness to me. I definitely could be wrong. But don't jump on a hormone pill based on what these "doctors" here are telling you. Anyone on here telling you to get a miniaturization test is correct. Then you'll at least know. To me, it looks like you're fine. I've seen women with bigger cowlicks than you.

 

[WhatYouEgg]

okay.. I went to a derm, who ended up being the worst EVER..

He was this ancient guy that didn't even seem to want to get up out of his chair. He asked me to pull my hair back to look at my hairline (from across the room.) I did. He grunted, "you're not balding. if it's Telogen Effluvium it'll come back on its own. use rogaine if it'll make you feel better, just quit after 3 months if you see no improvement. which you won't, aside from the Telogen Effluvium hair regrowing, which it will probably do anyhow."

..aaaand I'm out thirty bucks to have some old guy look at my hairline for about two seconds. I asked about miniaturization studies, he said he doesn't do those and should find someone who does.

so, defeated, I slink back to my place, and do a little study of my own.

I cut three small locks of hair from my head (about 10 hairs each.) one from my forehead, one from my crown, one from my permanent zone. and to be honest, I can't tell the difference. there's no thin white hair anywhere. they're all healthy, dark brown, and all equally thick, best I can tell. I could drag my own microscope from home if I really want to get down into it, but for now, I stuck the samples in a drawer, and I'll repeat the process every three months and compare. granted I don't think I can tell the difference between 100% and 80% thickness when I'm just looking at the samples, but I'd think I'd notice 100% and 50%.

so, I think I'm okay for now. I almost want to go on rograine anyhow just as a preventative measure, given that I primp and preen so much as it is that messing around with foam twice a day isn't really a huge stretch, but for now I'll wait and see.

 

[iwantperfection]

ive seen enough picturres here to know that is male pattern baldness. although at 26 its of the slow variety. I would say finasteride would be fine and do well for you. nearly all men have some sort of hairloss at some stage in their life. i doubt ull ever be fully blown bald but you are losing hair slowly. get on the treatments and forget the t.e thing

 

[WhatYouEgg]

just an update, in case anyone was curious.

i've taken a lot of time to calm myself down over the last month and a half. I feel much better, and my hair feels better, too. one thing I forgot to mention I was doing was blow-dry styling my hair pretty much every day. I put a stop to that. I started conditioning my hair more, twice a day, and just putting more love into it. in general. no rogaine/propecia/nizoral, just thickening shampoos and such.

i visited another derm. one that was much more friendly, and actually looked at my head. he commented that I seemed to be missing a bit of hair, but saw little to no miniaturization, which he thought was odd. so, he assumed AA/Telogen Effluvium. I told him about the chunk of hair that came out onto my brush, and then yeah, he said probably Telogen Effluvium. it's still a tad thin, but it appears to be filling back in. I told him about what I thought was my bald spot and he was like "dude, that's a cowlick."

here's a better picture with my new highpowered camera - point blank with a flash. you can see that it looks better, under closer scrutiny, with a far better camera, with a flash, than my previous soft-light no-flash iPhone camera photos.

all's well that ends well, I guess.

 

[muhu]

you are not balding.

please stfu

 

[ali777]

just an update, in case anyone was curious.

Good to hear that bro....

I have read that lots of women get Telogen Effluvium after birth, but I'd never seen it till recently. I saw a woman with a baby, and she had a severe Telogen Effluvium. Trust me, what you are experiencing is not even close to how much hair she lost.

 

[niraj]

I'm 26. No one on either side of my family, as far back as I can remember (great grandparents) had any significant amount of hair loss (NW2's all the way around). I have fine, thin hair, but this is my first brush with baldness.

I've been under an absolutely terrible deal of stress over the last six months. Broke up with my girlfriend. I've performed very highly at my job, but it's very demanding and I usually get run through 10+ hour days. I've had major dental work done that resulted me in contracting a case of TMJ (temporo-mandibular jaw disorder, essentially lockjaw). My grandfather died a few months ago. I usually got 5-6 hours of sleep a night. I learned that my dad will also have to be on dialysis for the rest of my life. Add to this the financial stress that comes with having a mortgage, by yourself, at a young age, and you can see where all this is going..

In the mirror, a few days ago, I noticed a bald patch forming. No warning, no hair on the pillow or in the drain or in my hands when shampooing, just *fwoomp*. Hello bald spot, so good to see you appear there so randomly and suddenly.

I took this with a very strong flourescent light. I'm taking steps to reduce my stress level as I can see the toll it's taking on me.

I guess my question is, can you tell whether this is telogen effluvium or have I doomed myself to start losing my hair from my lifestyle?

I'm 26. No one on either side of my family, as far back as I can remember (great grandparents) had any significant amount of hair loss (NW2's all the way around). I have fine, thin hair, but this is my first brush with baldness.

I've been under an absolutely terrible deal of stress over the last six months. Broke up with my girlfriend. I've performed very highly at my job, but it's very demanding and I usually get run through 10+ hour days. I've had major dental work done that resulted me in contracting a case of TMJ (temporo-mandibular jaw disorder, essentially lockjaw). My grandfather died a few months ago. I usually got 5-6 hours of sleep a night. I learned that my dad will also have to be on dialysis for the rest of my life. Add to this the financial stress that comes with having a mortgage, by yourself, at a young age, and you can see where all this is going..

In the mirror, a few days ago, I noticed a bald patch forming. No warning, no hair on the pillow or in the drain or in my hands when shampooing, just *fwoomp*. Hello bald spot, so good to see you appear there so randomly and suddenly.

I took this with a very strong flourescent light. I'm taking steps to reduce my stress level as I can see the toll it's taking on me.

I guess my question is, can you tell whether this is telogen effluvium or have I doomed myself to start losing my hair from my lifestyle?

same here looks like both

 

[InvaderZim]

He was last seen 7 years ago...

Jesus Christ, man.

 

[IsThereHope]

now i wanna know what happened to the guy, my case is similar to his...

 

[Pauly D]

So after all this time of others giving him a "misdiagnosis" by saying he has male pattern baldness, OP did infact have Telogen Effluvium. Guess it just goes to show that not everyone truly knows how to diagnose. I'm actually really happy for OP. Reading this thread has given me the initiative to not look on a forum for the answers but to actually contact and meet with a specialist. Glad everything worked out for you. I guess Telogen Effluvium can affect certain areas of the scalp in different ways. I feel I'm going through something like this but not too sure.

 

[ihatebackstabbers]

So after all this time of others giving him a "misdiagnosis" by saying he has male pattern baldness, OP did infact have Telogen Effluvium. Guess it just goes to show that not everyone truly knows how to diagnose. I'm actually really happy for OP. Reading this thread has given me the initiative to not look on a forum for the answers but to actually contact and meet with a specialist. Glad everything worked out for you. I guess Telogen Effluvium can affect certain areas of the scalp in different ways. I feel I'm going through something like this but not too sure.

Forums can be beneficial but in no way should they replace seeking a medical professional. The OP had to see a second Doctor in order to get the correct diagnosis which also confirms that medical professionals are not always right. Just like the OP, I had clumps of hair that was coming out all over my head and I came online searching for answers. I had already setup an appointment to see my Doctor, but the information that I gathered about it possibly being Telogen Effluvium helped me ask the right questions during my appointment. Also, I had him setup another appointment for me to take a blood test to confirm that I had no other issues. The sad truth is not everyone has easy access to a health care professional, so if you do, then you have no reason not to.