King_without_a_crown
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Hi everyone! I wanted to share my hair loss story with you guys. It's going to be a long story. If you really want to help, I will invite you to read the whole text. If you don't want to read the whole story, I'll make a shorter post (basically a resume) but don't forget that it will take you a lot less time to read it than the time it took me to write it. I'm not posting pics for now because people will only look at pics and they won't read my story.
Before I start with my hairloss, I am going to describe myself a bit. Ok so I'm a 21 years old men, living in Canada. I come from a family where hair loss really isn't an issue. Both of my grandfathers died in their late 80's with a full head of hair. My dad is thinning a bit but he is in his late fifties. He has 4 brothers who are older than him. They are either thinning a bit or not balding at all. I also have a few cousins who are in their late 30's or even early 40's. Most of them have experienced a bit of hairloss but nothing major. On my mom's side, I have fewer examples. Since my mom is the only child. However I recall some distant cousins have a good head of hair.
I learned by reading this forum that the bald gene could come from some distant ancestor but I still thought that I could give a brief portrait of the situation of hair loss in my family.
On a more personnal note, I suffered a major depression (which wasn't related to hair loss). It's tough to give exact date but I could say that the depression last from march 2010 to November 2010. During those 9 months, I really felt useless and hopeless. Nothing was fun, nothing was worth it. I didn't care about anything. It was really the worst time of my life, some suffering that I wouldn't even wish to my worst enemy. However, during that time, I still continued my normal activities which were going to university and working at local fastfood restaurant. I never got my depression treated for various reasons that I don't need to explain for now.
Around mid-october 2010, a life changing event happened. You probably see where I'm going...So yeah, I noticed my first signs of hair loss about 6 months ago. Looking at myself in the mirror, I realized that I was seeing a bit of scalp through my hairline. It seemed like nothing major for now. I could only see it with a bright light. Nevertheless, hair loss had always scared me. I mean I never thought that I would go bald at a young age but balding has always bothered me, I wish it was something that would never happen to me. Hair loss being such a phobia for me, I was already well informed about it.
So, as soon as I say the first sign of hairloss, I knew that the best thing to do was to go see a dermatologist. However, as weeks went by (maybe even days), I was seeing more and more scalp behind my hairline. My hairline was also getting attack by hairloss. It was loosing it straight form quickly. Also, I had a patch of hair that would grow in the upper middle of my forehead. I'd say that I lost about 80% of the hair; I had in this spot in less than a month. Less than two months later, I realized that my crown was also thinning.
I finally got to see a doctor around mid-December. He scheduled me an appointment with a dermatologist on January 9, 2011. By the time, I got the appointment; I wouldn't leave home without a hat or without styling my hair because the hair lost had gotten really apparent.
So this day of January finally arrived. The dermato told me that I had male pattern baldness and that I was slightly thinning around the crown area but she told me the thinning was really minor. She also said : "You could also come back in two years and I'll see who it evolves". I was like "Now way, I can't afford to wait any longer". I also asked if my hairloss could have been caused by something else. She said no because according to her, I was following a normal pattern. So she prescribed me finasteride and minoxidil. I also asked her "how my hair loss happened so fast" and i only got a really vague answer. I had more questions and I thought that I could have passed a few tests (I'm thinking about thyroid) but the conversation was cut short and she basically let her next patient enter the room while I was still asking questions. I didn't had any other options than to leave with a bunch of my questions left unanswered and my finasteride and minoxidil prescription.
I went to my local drug store and asked for minoxidil (that's the one that the dermatologist thought would work the best for me). Unfortunately. they didn't had any. They told me, it was a really popular medicine and if I really wanted it, I would need to command it which would cost me a lot of $$$. They had finasteride however, so I had no choice but to try it.
Aftermath
So I've been on Propecia for the last 2 and a half months. I don't think it has changed anything yet. I haven't cut my hair since september. With my hair being so long it covers most of the thin part. However, I think that if I had short hair it would be easily noticeable because you can see scalp through my hairline, even when my hair is long (that's why I push my hair on my forehead).
It seems weird but hair loss has almost cured my depression. I'm far from being happy to loose hair but at least 60% of my depressive thoughts have been replaced but thoughts about hair loss. Honestly, I think about it all the time. It gets me a bit depressed but at least I'm hopeful that I might "cure" my hair loss. I kinda have a goal in life which is something I didn't had during my depression. If I can cure my hair loss, my depression will be far behind me and I will leave an happy life again. However if I can't cure it, I might return into my deep depresive state. (I hope not)
Why I'm not sure it's male pattern baldness.
The Pattern
So during my apointement with the dermatologist, I got told that I was following "the pattern". However I have my doubts about it. It's certainly not the weirdest pattern ever but it isn't the most normal either. Actually, I have no recession at the temples. My hairline hasn't really receded. Someone who would be looking at me, maybe from five feet away wouldn't see any problem with it. The problem with my hairline is that it has gotten really thin. I've lost also a lot of hair behind my hairline so I can see a lot of scalp when I look through it. There is also clearly some thinning in the crown area. It depends how my hair is styled but sometimes the bald patch looks like a straight line at the back of my head.
The Speed
When I noticed my hairloss in mid-october 2010, it was really minor. However by the time I got on Propecia (january 2011), I was already trying to cover it. I'm pretty sure that my hair loss is really recent, because in august, when I got my hair cut (they were pretty long) the hairdresser told me my hair was amazingly thick. I kept my hair short for two months (august and september) and noticed no signs of hair loss. A friend also told me that my hair was really thick in the front in September. Since that time, I probably have lost over 50% of my hair in that spot.
Health issues
I started loosing hair about 7 months after my depression. It might be a coincidence but I'm pretty sure that they might be related. During the past year a lot of things happened. I gained some weight (around 30 pounds), I didn't sleep well or eat well. I also became less active due to lack of motivation and not finding fun in daily activities. It's clear that a lot of things changed in my body and it might have affected my hair.
So in conclusion, how does it this hair loss look to you. Is it Androgenic alopecia or Telogen effluvium? Is Propecia the right medecine for me? Should I add any other products to my regimen? Would it be worth to see another hair specialist?
Thanks for reading. Hope you guys can come up with some answers
Before I start with my hairloss, I am going to describe myself a bit. Ok so I'm a 21 years old men, living in Canada. I come from a family where hair loss really isn't an issue. Both of my grandfathers died in their late 80's with a full head of hair. My dad is thinning a bit but he is in his late fifties. He has 4 brothers who are older than him. They are either thinning a bit or not balding at all. I also have a few cousins who are in their late 30's or even early 40's. Most of them have experienced a bit of hairloss but nothing major. On my mom's side, I have fewer examples. Since my mom is the only child. However I recall some distant cousins have a good head of hair.
I learned by reading this forum that the bald gene could come from some distant ancestor but I still thought that I could give a brief portrait of the situation of hair loss in my family.
On a more personnal note, I suffered a major depression (which wasn't related to hair loss). It's tough to give exact date but I could say that the depression last from march 2010 to November 2010. During those 9 months, I really felt useless and hopeless. Nothing was fun, nothing was worth it. I didn't care about anything. It was really the worst time of my life, some suffering that I wouldn't even wish to my worst enemy. However, during that time, I still continued my normal activities which were going to university and working at local fastfood restaurant. I never got my depression treated for various reasons that I don't need to explain for now.
Around mid-october 2010, a life changing event happened. You probably see where I'm going...So yeah, I noticed my first signs of hair loss about 6 months ago. Looking at myself in the mirror, I realized that I was seeing a bit of scalp through my hairline. It seemed like nothing major for now. I could only see it with a bright light. Nevertheless, hair loss had always scared me. I mean I never thought that I would go bald at a young age but balding has always bothered me, I wish it was something that would never happen to me. Hair loss being such a phobia for me, I was already well informed about it.
So, as soon as I say the first sign of hairloss, I knew that the best thing to do was to go see a dermatologist. However, as weeks went by (maybe even days), I was seeing more and more scalp behind my hairline. My hairline was also getting attack by hairloss. It was loosing it straight form quickly. Also, I had a patch of hair that would grow in the upper middle of my forehead. I'd say that I lost about 80% of the hair; I had in this spot in less than a month. Less than two months later, I realized that my crown was also thinning.
I finally got to see a doctor around mid-December. He scheduled me an appointment with a dermatologist on January 9, 2011. By the time, I got the appointment; I wouldn't leave home without a hat or without styling my hair because the hair lost had gotten really apparent.
So this day of January finally arrived. The dermato told me that I had male pattern baldness and that I was slightly thinning around the crown area but she told me the thinning was really minor. She also said : "You could also come back in two years and I'll see who it evolves". I was like "Now way, I can't afford to wait any longer". I also asked if my hairloss could have been caused by something else. She said no because according to her, I was following a normal pattern. So she prescribed me finasteride and minoxidil. I also asked her "how my hair loss happened so fast" and i only got a really vague answer. I had more questions and I thought that I could have passed a few tests (I'm thinking about thyroid) but the conversation was cut short and she basically let her next patient enter the room while I was still asking questions. I didn't had any other options than to leave with a bunch of my questions left unanswered and my finasteride and minoxidil prescription.
I went to my local drug store and asked for minoxidil (that's the one that the dermatologist thought would work the best for me). Unfortunately. they didn't had any. They told me, it was a really popular medicine and if I really wanted it, I would need to command it which would cost me a lot of $$$. They had finasteride however, so I had no choice but to try it.
Aftermath
So I've been on Propecia for the last 2 and a half months. I don't think it has changed anything yet. I haven't cut my hair since september. With my hair being so long it covers most of the thin part. However, I think that if I had short hair it would be easily noticeable because you can see scalp through my hairline, even when my hair is long (that's why I push my hair on my forehead).
It seems weird but hair loss has almost cured my depression. I'm far from being happy to loose hair but at least 60% of my depressive thoughts have been replaced but thoughts about hair loss. Honestly, I think about it all the time. It gets me a bit depressed but at least I'm hopeful that I might "cure" my hair loss. I kinda have a goal in life which is something I didn't had during my depression. If I can cure my hair loss, my depression will be far behind me and I will leave an happy life again. However if I can't cure it, I might return into my deep depresive state. (I hope not)
Why I'm not sure it's male pattern baldness.
The Pattern
So during my apointement with the dermatologist, I got told that I was following "the pattern". However I have my doubts about it. It's certainly not the weirdest pattern ever but it isn't the most normal either. Actually, I have no recession at the temples. My hairline hasn't really receded. Someone who would be looking at me, maybe from five feet away wouldn't see any problem with it. The problem with my hairline is that it has gotten really thin. I've lost also a lot of hair behind my hairline so I can see a lot of scalp when I look through it. There is also clearly some thinning in the crown area. It depends how my hair is styled but sometimes the bald patch looks like a straight line at the back of my head.
The Speed
When I noticed my hairloss in mid-october 2010, it was really minor. However by the time I got on Propecia (january 2011), I was already trying to cover it. I'm pretty sure that my hair loss is really recent, because in august, when I got my hair cut (they were pretty long) the hairdresser told me my hair was amazingly thick. I kept my hair short for two months (august and september) and noticed no signs of hair loss. A friend also told me that my hair was really thick in the front in September. Since that time, I probably have lost over 50% of my hair in that spot.
Health issues
I started loosing hair about 7 months after my depression. It might be a coincidence but I'm pretty sure that they might be related. During the past year a lot of things happened. I gained some weight (around 30 pounds), I didn't sleep well or eat well. I also became less active due to lack of motivation and not finding fun in daily activities. It's clear that a lot of things changed in my body and it might have affected my hair.
So in conclusion, how does it this hair loss look to you. Is it Androgenic alopecia or Telogen effluvium? Is Propecia the right medecine for me? Should I add any other products to my regimen? Would it be worth to see another hair specialist?
Thanks for reading. Hope you guys can come up with some answers