I have male pattern baldness - A fight with my Dermatologist

[LuanBR]

Hello everyone! I'm a new member.
First, i would like to say sorry to any grammar mistake that i make, i'm not a native speaker.

CASE:
I am 22 years old, and i think i'm receeding since 15/16 years old, but i'm not sure.
Last year i went to see a dermatologist because a friend of mine said that i was going bald, at first i did not believe it.
I'm going to tell all my story with my hair, since 19 years old i suffered from telogen effluvium, i lost 100 to 200 hairs per day that time, but i never really care about my hair until last year. So like i said i went to dermalogist here in my country and she diagnose me with chronic telogen effluvium. Then, she prescribes me minoxidil, biotin to help, a shampoo for seborrheic dermatitis, topical for inflamation and vitamin D because i was deficient. My shed stopped after 3 months of treatment.

FIGHT:
I believe myself that i have male pattern baldness, not only chronic telogen effluvium. My hairline has receeded a lot and my hair is pretty in a bad shape. I said to my derm what was happening, but she said that i dont have male pattern baldness, she used a dermatoscopy to see my hair and said that i have a lot of vellus hair through my scalp, but almost none miniaturized. She is so simpatetic and helps me a lot, but i think she is wrong, i really would like to believe that she is right, but she isn't.

TREATMENT:
I'm using minoxidil once a day for 7 months, some hair is growing in pretty slow rate.[ Her reccomendation]
I'm using ceto(nizoral) for 4 months. [Decided myself]
I decided myself to start finasteride 16 days ago without my derm approval(In Brazil you can buy without presc).
Some sides from finasteride, my libido increased, my body hair is falling a lot, i pass my hand through my arms and legs i can catch easily 5 strands of hair(i'm not pulling, a just pass my hand and they fall).


I think i'm a norwood 2 at this moment, i'm going to show some pics:

 

[Hairloss23]

zoom out a bit, hard to tell but i dont think you're at nw2

 

[LuanBR]

zoom out a bit, hard to tell but i dont think you're at nw2

Thanks for reply.

Some more pictures, my camera is pretty bad, sorry.

Theres's a thing I forget to tell, in my family only my maternal grandfather was bald, all of his sons have pretty good hair.

 

[lickawrist]

You are at NW2 and yes, you're temples and hairline has receded. IDK if you have male pattern baldness because for all I know, you could've kept that hairline since 16. Some people lose a significant amount of temporal hairs during puberty and end up keeping the rest of their hairs for a long time. Others may gradually lose their temples over a longer period of time. Before pics would help.

 

[LuanBR]

I think you are right, i didn't lost all of sudden, it was gradually, thats the reason i didn't notice it early.

I'm going to post my hairline at 15 and 17 years, i dont have much close up pictures, this is the best i could find.

Here's the pic:

Some questions:
Do you think i should stay with this regime? Or should i believe in my derm and keep just with minoxidil once a day, i'm kind lost.
Do you think if its male pattern baldness with BIG 3 i can get some regrow or will i just maintain what i have?

 

[LuanBR]

Thanks for reply.
I thought at first it could me DUPA aswell, but i ruled it out after look at my brother's and father's hair(both Norwood 0) it looks exactly like this, since i was young my hair is sparse like that(before the receding), and i had telogen effluvium for 3 years in a row, so DUPA is like the last case scenario to me.

I think light and the fact my hair was a little wet exaggerates a lot how it looks like, but i'm going to ask my derm about it aswell, thank you.

 

[lickawrist]

Thanks for reply.

Some more pictures, my camera is pretty bad, sorry.

Theres's a thing I forget to tell, in my family only my maternal grandfather was bald, all of his sons have pretty good hair.View attachment 40083View attachment 40084View attachment 40085

You've definitely receded since 15. It looks like you've receded since 17 too, although the difference in hairstyle makes it hard to judge. You're hair doesn't look that much different, but my personal opinion is that your frontal hairs are gradually miniaturizing. My hairline has been receding since 16. I think it should be in your best interest to try finasteride; regardless of what your derm says. It's always best to start treatment when you first suspect it in its early stages because the chances of you maintaining what you currently have are higher since the hairs you have are not as crippled by the effects of DHT. You may even have some regrowth--although regrowth is highly unlikely in the temporal region.

I think your derm is wrong, go for finasteride. If anything, you can always stop finasteride if the side effects are unbearable. And no, your penis will not shrink.

 

[LuanBR]

Thanks!

I think you're right! I'm going to keep finasteride, the sides that i have are good to me, my libido was always ****, after i started finasteride my libido increased so much that i cannot believe it at first. I'm getting some regrow with minoxidil on temples, but i'm using once a day, thats why i cannot see much progress, i'm going to use twice a day with finasteride.

I'm going to keep in this thread with my evolution, i think its going to be a good experience since all my regimen is based on generics.

Another suggestion to help regrow?
BTW, I have a ton of new hairs from minoxidil but they are different from the others, in a bad way.

 

[lickawrist]

There are many other alternate treatments out there that can help hair growth. The problem with them is that they aren't conventional, their efficacy hasn't been demonstrated through clinical trials, and the adverse effects can be dangerous. I wouldn't try them unless you absolutely knew what you were doing.

Regardless, here are some other things you can add to your regimen that other members have found to work:
-folligen, or copper peptides in general
-retin-A with minoxidil (this helps minoxidil absorption)/conversely, some claim you can use it alone and it'll grow hair as well
-alternatively, you can also use DMSO with minoxidil, but dilute the DMSO and dab it on the skin otherwise it'll sting and you can get side effects from systemic absorption
-any type of anti-androgen (though I honestly don't think you should add another AA because you are already using finasteride)

There's more, but the lot of them are exotic and unconventional. There's no guarantee that you'll regrow any of your temple hairs; this is especially true if the region has been bald for a couple of years. You're best bet is to maintain what you have; some people end up regrowing hair anyways because by inhibiting 5AR activity in the scalp, they are incidentally setting up a healthier environment for hair follicles that are just barely hanging on.

EDIT: THere are also topical AA. Again, I don't condine the use because I have no experience with RU or anything similar to it. If you're curious about it, there are loads of threads on RU

 

[LuanBR]

Thank you so much! A lot of good alternatives.

I found a bottle of retin A in my bathroom! I think i will give it a try.

What do you mean by the region being bald? No hair at all? Or vellus hair? I dont have a bald spot at this moment, i can see in the mirror a lot of vellus hair forming my original hairline.

 

[lickawrist]

Thank you so much! A lot of good alternatives.

I found a bottle of retin A in my bathroom! I think i will give it a try.

What do you mean by the region being bald? No hair at all? Or vellus hair? I dont have a bald spot at this moment, i can see in the mirror a lot of vellus hair forming my original hairline.

Bald regions = regions on your scalp that used to have terminal hairs, but don't anymore. As for retin-A, I recommend getting them in gel form.

 

[LuanBR]

Update:
I decided to stop finasteride after a bad reaction to it, my forehead became oily, my head start to itch, shedding like never before, dandruff, i think i had reflex HA. I'm really depressed at this moment, my hair is so finasteride at this moment, i dont know what to do.