Losing hair with an odd shaped head

[ateam505]

I am in the unfortunate situation of losing my hair at a young age, 23, and having an extremely messed up shaped head. I know almost any other person here would say they have an odd shaped head but I would be willing to bet my life savings that mine is worse. I got the odd shaped head from my dad as he has it too, however he is lucky to have a thick, full, black head of hair at age 58 - thicker than mine. I happened to inherit hair loss from my mother's father who was a Norwood 7 by the time he was 30.

My head comes to a plateau at the top, with concave sides, instead of the round shape that 99.999% of people on earth have. Also it rises up to a point in the back and I have a dent right at my crown that is about a centimeter deep and runs a couple of inches lengthwise. The worst week of my life was when I had to shave my head for high school hockey, I got all sorts of nasty comments about the shape of my head and I already know other people think it looks pretty odd too. I can cover it up with my hair but that camouflage is being taken victim to male pattern baldness as we speak.

Right now I'm receding into a Norwood 3 pattern with thin hair all over, including the sides, and a thinning patch in the very front tuft of hair that's left of my hairline. I am fortunate to not have any noticeable crown loss yet but I know I am thinning out everywhere on the top and it will come with due time.

I tried propecia and got terrible sexual side effects that I'm still getting over after a whole 9 months. Also, I'm far too self conscious to wear a hair piece and I think about how I would actually magically start wearing one with a career and seeing the same people everyday.

My hair loss has basically consumed me. I think about my hair probably 75% of the time. I have trouble concentrating at work and it has really been affecting my performance. I know that simply thinking about hair loss does no help but I can't get it out of my head. It's ripped away all joy in my life.

It's terrible because I feel like I've lost all hope, I fear the future where I'll lose more hair and my ugly head will become visible. It makes it hard for me to become motivated, I feel like there's no point working hard for anything in the future because my life will end once I look in the mirror and say "I'm officially bald." I see people my age who are in relationships, living happy lives, and excited about their futures. I just don't feel like this. I even dread 2 or 3 years down the road and fear how bad my hair loss will be by then. None of my friends or family know the struggle I'm going through, I've tried to explain to explain it to them in the past but no one truly understands.

Everyday I pray that some cure will come out and save me but I'm losing the battle against time, and nothing looks promising at the moment.

If I had a normal shaped head I would have probably shaved my head by now and moved on, I would still probably find a way to worry about hair loss but I would eventually be able to move on. But for me, shaving my head isn't even an option, I have to try to hang onto every last sad hair I have.

I think I'm in an incredibly shitty situation and really I think some of you should reconsider yours. I've seen plenty of people with pictures here of their shaved heads and they look just fine. I seriously envy bald guys who have a normal shaped head. Hair loss sucks enough alone but it isn't the end of the line when you have an at least somewhat normal shaped head underneath. With a fucked up head like mine, sadly it might be.

So why am I posting this? I hope to get this off my chest and hopefully get feedback from people who actually understand my situation. And also, I want other people to put things into perspective and realize that if you have an at least somewhat normal shaped head things may not be that bad.

 

[toocoolforhair]

You make it sound like you have a conehead or a head of one of those aliens in the Alien movie.

I've seen lots of pictures of bald heads with varying head shapes, but I can't say I've seen one that drastically changed someone's looks. The people who looked bad bald looked bad with hair. I think it would help if you posted a picture to show how bad it is (or if it is all in your mind).

You don't say how good looking you were/are with hair. If you were attractive with hair I'd say you'd be at least average-looking bald (even with a bad head shape).

 

[ateam505]

I am a pretty good looking guy with hair, my facial structure looks fine. It's just the top of my head that looks incredibly odd. I hear what you're saying but on the same logic if brad pitt had a bunch of warts and birth marks under his hair would he still look good bald?

I made a quick drawing of what my head looks like down at the bottom, it's crude but it gives you an idea. It's more than just a bad head shape, it's abnormal, almost disfigured.

[attachment=0:50j61ykn]head shape.png[/attachment:50j61ykn]

I have a plateau with rounded sides for the top of my head which basically starts half way up the top of my head and goes to the back. From the side it basically looks like ramp that comes up to a high point. And not to mention the giant dent that I have that I couldn't draw.

And since you mention conehead, that was one of the things my friend called me when I shaved my head a couple of years back. Not quite as bad as a conehead but there is almost a conical look to the top of my head.

 

[Belmondo]

You said you tried finasteride and it didn't work but have you tried other baldness treatments (minoxidil, Nizoral)?

Have you tried dutasteride already? dutasteride is supposed to be more effective at eliminating DHT but some guys say they tolerate it better than finasteride. (I can't really say though, I've never tried dutasteride and I don't intend to, so far I'm happy with finasteride)

 

[Smooth]

post a pic

 

[cuebald]

aye, post a pic
You could have BDD and see it 5x bigger than it really is - like the guy who thought his nose was so massive he did DIY rhinoplasty (and he actually had a smaller than average nose)

 

[Maelstrom]

I can't say I've had comments about the shape of my head but like you I feel I have more than 'just baldness' to deal with. I have very oily skin for starters but also psoriasis, including...you guessed it...scalp psoriasis. It sucks big time.

I can only echo others comments about trying everything you can - have you tried Xandrox? Topical spironolactone?

 

[Boondock]

I can't believe your head looks as weird as you claim. That frontal sketch you drew looks like a lego man's dome. Pics or no cigar (you need not post face, can blank that out).

 

[ateam505]

While I still have hair, and I'm lucky to still have a decent amount, you can't see the top of my head or the terrible shape. If I get my hair cut really short you can see the outline of the plateau on the top of my head.

It is only when my crown and/or the whole top has gone that is when you'll be able to see my misshapen head. And, I'm not willing to shave my head just to show you guys .

I only have noticeable loss in the front so far - recession and overall thinning in the first roughly third of the top of my head.

My father is 58 and while he still has a lot of hair he has some definite recession and he's had it for at least 20 years - he has a really thick crown though. I pray that maybe I got his seeming DHT resistant crown but overall my hair is a lot thinner than his, even at his current age.

I do know that the head shape is noticeably odd to other people, not just me, from the time when I shaved my head in high school. I got comments from about 10 different people telling me "you have a deformed head" or jokingly calling me "cone head."

 

[Smooth]

post a pic

bump

 

[Hoppi]

aw dude, I'm really sorry to hear about all that.

I mean obviously I can't relate on the head shape as mine is fairly average I think but on the real need to keep hair.

I wouldn't worry so much about hair pieces and stuff though, i mean Hair Direct and Virtual Reality for example both look fairly good to me

As for saving hair, there is more you can do than Finasteride (Propecia) and even things that can be done to ease Finasteride side effects. There are also alternatives to Finasteride, although often not as effective. Never feel that finasteride is the only cure, that's simply not true, although if possible it should be incorporated I believe into most regimens.

Take a look at my regimen and also my new thread here, as I really want to work out what is the root cause of DHT-related hair loss, so treatments can be more specific!

If you are determined and do lots and lots of research, I really do think there is a higher chance you will keep your hair

Good luck dude and I'll keep you posted if you wish about what I learn! finasteride is not the only way!

Hoppi

 

[ateam505]

post a pic

bump

I don't think I said it clearly in my other post. I could post a picture but you wouldn't see anything since I still have hair. I am losing it but it's still there. However, when I don't have hair, whether I lose it or buzz it, my messed up shaped head is clearly visible.

 

[Boondock]

I don't think I said it clearly in my other post. I could post a picture but you wouldn't see anything since I still have hair. I am losing it but it's still there. However, when I don't have hair, whether I lose it or buzz it, my messed up shaped head is clearly visible.

That's your call, but you can't expect us to just "take your word on it" either.

I don't think you're lying. It's just that plenty of people come onto this site thinking they look strange, indeed thinking they're balding, when in fact there's nothing wrong. These guys genuinely believe they have something wrong with them, it's just that they're absolutely terrible of seeing themselves in an objective light. And they always have plenty of "evidence" to back up what they say (other people saying things, studying it for hours, etc).

The head shape you posted isn't humanly possible without some sort of medical problem, which leads me to think that while you no doubt consider it to be terrible, in real life it might not be toooooo bad.

 

[Hope4hairRedux]

For a while, ive been pretty 'ok' with my hair loss. Perhaps its because I have accepted, to a point, the initial loss so far. I look fairly healthy, and my skin is fairly good, and I dont have to much fat on my face. Ive kind of experimented and found how you can minimise HLs noticability/effects..

But even so..I feel like diffusing is always just around the corner..and what I have now is seriosly nothing in the big scale of things. I can still get girls. Its not really a problem right now. Even though it has already dented my confidence and to a point, changed the way I look. But if I diiffuse - or probably and depressingly - when I diffuse, shits going to change.

Thats a big big fuckery that Im not really ready for. Im not ready to shave my head down and look ugly. Maybe a tan and staying healthy will work to an extent. Im not sure. I live in relative fear feeling that any time soon what I have now could be gone. I guess the very nature of life is transient, but that doesnt make me feel any better. I do now seem to have a greater respect for what I have now. I still have most of my hair, and what Ive been moaning about is really a minor in relative terms of hair loss scale. Im still waiting for the diffuse tidal wave to hit.

This may sound big headed or arrogant, but I have been percieved as 'good looking' a fair bit over the last few years. And I always feel that once I begin to diffuse, Ill never be seen as attractive or good looking, ever again. And that scares me. How the f*** will I ever be able to get a nice woman then?

 

[Hoppi]

For a while, ive been pretty 'ok' with my hair loss. Perhaps its because I have accepted, to a point, the initial loss so far. I look fairly healthy, and my skin is fairly good, and I dont have to much fat on my face. Ive kind of experimented and found how you can minimise HLs noticability/effects..

But even so..I feel like diffusing is always just around the corner..and what I have now is seriosly nothing in the big scale of things. I can still get girls. Its not really a problem right now. Even though it has already dented my confidence and to a point, changed the way I look. But if I diiffuse - or probably and depressingly - when I diffuse, shits going to change.

Thats a big big fuckery that Im not really ready for. Im not ready to shave my head down and look ugly. Maybe a tan and staying healthy will work to an extent. Im not sure. I live in relative fear feeling that any time soon what I have now could be gone. I guess the very nature of life is transient, but that doesnt make me feel any better. I do now seem to have a greater respect for what I have now. I still have most of my hair, and what Ive been moaning about is really a minor in relative terms of hair loss scale. Im still waiting for the diffuse tidal wave to hit.

This may sound big headed or arrogant, but I have been percieved as 'good looking' a fair bit over the last few years. And I always feel that once I begin to diffuse, Ill never be seen as attractive or good looking, ever again. And that scares me. How the f*ck will I ever be able to get a nice woman then?

Aw dude I'm sorry to hear about you feeling like that. Many people DO look really cool bald.

And no matter what some people say... some hair pieces and toupees and whatever I think look pretty cool! I was looking around on the net and I like the long ones

If I lose all my hair, I'm just going to buy a massive messy mop of a toupee and no-one will have ANY idea as long as the hair is high enough quality! heh

But are you sure you don't want to get on treatments? I mean if it is affecting your confidence then just jump on the big 3 and see what happens? What have you got to lose?

It's up to you though, I mean there are so many ways to be happy in this world

 

[ateam505]

Hello everyone,

Better late than never. Wow. What a sad story I sounded like 6 years ago.

I'm happy to say though instead of sulking about it, I decided to do something about my odd head shape.

I had a skull augmentation procedure done last week with Dr. Barry Eppley out of the Indianapolis are and I am very happy with the results. I can post some before and after pictures at a later time if anyone's interested.

It was an expensive procedure - $15k for some pretty extensive work - but it sounds like that's on the higher side of cost of the usual work he does, and, I'm left with a nice, smooth shaped skull.

I will have a scar from the incision point, but that's much better than the odd plateau that was going on on the top of my head.

I'd definitely recommend the procedure to anyone who is going through the same thing. It's expensive but it's a worthy investment in you and your future if you feel you need it.

As for my hair loss, I still have hair 6 years later at 30, but shaving my head for the procedure uncovered my true hair loss. I'm a pretty strong NW3 but with alright coverage behind it. It's thinned a little but but no distinguishable bald spot.

I feel with this deep recession my best options are shave it down to the skin, or grow it a bit and try to conceal the loss a bit, which is what I've been doing for the last 7 or 8 years with decreasing success since I first noticed my hair loss. Most people I know are shocked by how receded my hairline is because I've been able to conceal it well for a while

I used Rogaine for about 4 years but stopped it about a month before the procedure. I really don't think it did much in all of those years.

I had a terrible experience with Propecia back in 2009 so I've only been using Nizarol since then -- again, not sure if it's doing anything but why not?

Hopefully I'm stable enough to do a hair transplant but I'm at least happy to say that I can shave it down now since I now have a somewhat normal shaped head.

 

[dralex]

Hello everyone,

Better late than never. Wow. What a sad story I sounded like 6 years ago.

I'm happy to say though instead of sulking about it, I decided to do something about my odd head shape.

I had a skull augmentation procedure done last week with Dr. Barry Eppley out of the Indianapolis are and I am very happy with the results. I can post some before and after pictures at a later time if anyone's interested.

It was an expensive procedure - $15k for some pretty extensive work - but it sounds like that's on the higher side of cost of the usual work he does, and, I'm left with a nice, smooth shaped skull.

I will have a scar from the incision point, but that's much better than the odd plateau that was going on on the top of my head.

I'd definitely recommend the procedure to anyone who is going through the same thing. It's expensive but it's a worthy investment in you and your future if you feel you need it.

As for my hair loss, I still have hair 6 years later at 30, but shaving my head for the procedure uncovered my true hair loss. I'm a pretty strong NW3 but with alright coverage behind it. It's thinned a little but but no distinguishable bald spot.

I feel with this deep recession my best options are shave it down to the skin, or grow it a bit and try to conceal the loss a bit, which is what I've been doing for the last 7 or 8 years with decreasing success since I first noticed my hair loss. Most people I know are shocked by how receded my hairline is because I've been able to conceal it well for a while

I used Rogaine for about 4 years but stopped it about a month before the procedure. I really don't think it did much in all of those years.

I had a terrible experience with Propecia back in 2009 so I've only been using Nizarol since then -- again, not sure if it's doing anything but why not?

Hopefully I'm stable enough to do a hair transplant but I'm at least happy to say that I can shave it down now since I now have a somewhat normal shaped head.

Could you please post the before and after pictures. I also have a fairly unusual shaped head (as my dad does also; but he didn't have the hair loss issue at such a young age). I am very nervous to shave my head as a result. It would be helpful to see what your head shape looked like to see if it resembles mine. Thanks.

 

[Pray The Bald Away]

Can you please post before and after pics? I'm also interested in seeing what the scar looks like. And can you link the surgeons website?

 

[ateam505]

Could you please post the before and after pictures. I also have a fairly unusual shaped head (as my dad does also; but he didn't have the hair loss issue at such a young age). I am very nervous to shave my head as a result. It would be helpful to see what your head shape looked like to see if it resembles mine. Thanks.

Attached are some before and after pictures (sorry, not sure how to rotate these pictures). The first five are pre-op -- I shaved my head to help the doctor better shape the bone cement he added. You can see the high spot in the center, you can also kind of make out the divot in the back of my head in the fifth picture, but not really apparent. Even with a bit of hair, the deformities were a bit concealed, but the doctor did notice that once he flipped my skin back and could see the skull, the extent of the deformities were much more evident.

The last two pictures are after pictures -- the first one after three or four days, the second one today, after a week and a half. My head now looks and feels smooth and round.

The last picture is me trying to show my sutures / the scar, I unfortunately deleted all of the suture and scar pictures, and took this one today. My finger is where the sutures begin, they've started dissolving after over a week post-op. I can say they were never very visible, no one noticed them, I only told my girlfriend and my father about the procedure and even they had a tough time seeing the sutures with shorter hair than I have today. The doctor said the scar will be very fine, about as fine as you can get for an incision -- frankly I'd rather have a scar, as a lot of people do, than have the odd shaped head I was working with before.

The surgeon I went with is Dr. Barry Eppley whose practice is outside of the Indianapolis (United States) area. I'd recommend him to anyone. I actually did a Skype consultation with him two years ago and he gave me a quote based on that. He mentioned that any plastic surgeon can do this procedure but he is one of few in the world with experience doing this so I trusted him. He also posts some before and after pictures of his work -- from first hand account and from the pictures I'm confident to say he does some excellent work.

Here's a link to his website: http://www.eppleyplasticsurgery.com/skull-reshaping.html

I'm definitely glad I committed to do the procedure, especially while I'm still somewhat young and have hair, instead of scrambling to get it done in the future when I'm a cue ball. I definitely feel a huge sense of relief now -- I definitely used to worry about this way too much.

I've been itching to shave my head for years but held back due to my headshape, I'm happy to do it now.

Hair loss definitely sucks and is a major source of stress, but it's definitely way worse when you know you have a deformed skull underneath that camouflage.

Thankfully though, for those of us in this predicament, we do have options!

 

[dralex]

Attached are some before and after pictures (sorry, not sure how to rotate these pictures). The first five are pre-op -- I shaved my head to help the doctor better shape the bone cement he added. You can see the high spot in the center, you can also kind of make out the divot in the back of my head in the fifth picture, but not really apparent. Even with a bit of hair, the deformities were a bit concealed, but the doctor did notice that once he flipped my skin back and could see the skull, the extent of the deformities were much more evident.

The last two pictures are after pictures -- the first one after three or four days, the second one today, after a week and a half. My head now looks and feels smooth and round.

The last picture is me trying to show my sutures / the scar, I unfortunately deleted all of the suture and scar pictures, and took this one today. My finger is where the sutures begin, they've started dissolving after over a week post-op. I can say they were never very visible, no one noticed them, I only told my girlfriend and my father about the procedure and even they had a tough time seeing the sutures with shorter hair than I have today. The doctor said the scar will be very fine, about as fine as you can get for an incision -- frankly I'd rather have a scar, as a lot of people do, than have the odd shaped head I was working with before.

The surgeon I went with is Dr. Barry Eppley whose practice is outside of the Indianapolis (United States) area. I'd recommend him to anyone. I actually did a Skype consultation with him two years ago and he gave me a quote based on that. He mentioned that any plastic surgeon can do this procedure but he is one of few in the world with experience doing this so I trusted him. He also posts some before and after pictures of his work -- from first hand account and from the pictures I'm confident to say he does some excellent work.

Here's a link to his website: http://www.eppleyplasticsurgery.com/skull-reshaping.html

I'm definitely glad I committed to do the procedure, especially while I'm still somewhat young and have hair, instead of scrambling to get it done in the future when I'm a cue ball. I definitely feel a huge sense of relief now -- I definitely used to worry about this way too much.

I've been itching to shave my head for years but held back due to my headshape, I'm happy to do it now.

Hair loss definitely sucks and is a major source of stress, but it's definitely way worse when you know you have a deformed skull underneath that camouflage.

Thankfully though, for those of us in this predicament, we do have options!

Thanks for posting the pictures. Very different from my head shape. Not sure if mine is any better though. Yours is looking really good now. Congrats on the successful procedure. And thanks for all the information/update on your situation. Helps others going through a similar situation.