Need Advice: Diffuse thinning OR Diffuse alopecia areata?

[Guest]

Hi there,

I have been using proscar/finast for 2 years without any success and before two months i switched to 0,5 dutasteride a day. (I am also using rogaine 5% 2x a day for 16 months, but nothing major to report).I am a diffuse thinner(frontal area,temples,crown- male pattern baldness areas).
I have slight thinning on the sides(sideburns, around and back of your ears, etc..- non male pattern baldness areas) and when i look closely at it in the mirror there are little holes or patches of hair gone on the side of my head and around and back of my ears(diffuse thinning).....It really sucks.

My thyroid blood tests were normal-i have had a blood test(full blood count) had been told everything checked out ok, including TSH, FT4, FT3(thyroid), Iron, ferritin, magnesium zinc and copper. My dermatologist told me that this thinning on the sides isn't alopecia areata. He told me that if I had alopecia areata then I would have round bald patches and not just thinning and patches that are not round and that's why i have diffuse thinning over my entire head(top, frontal area, temples) and not round bald patches.

I am just wondering if my male pattern baldness is too aggressive or if I have diffuse alopecia areata which is something like diffuse thinner. I don't find the logic thinning on these areas - the non male pattern baldness areas. Thinning on the sides, sideburns and around the ears isn't male pattern baldness. BAck and sides are not male pattern baldness areas.
Has anyone been diagnosed with diffuse alopecia areata?

article on wikipedia:

Hair may also be lost more diffusely over the whole scalp, in which case the condition is called diffuse alopecia areata.

Look at this pic, this guy has diffuse alopecia areata and his hair on the sides of his head are thinning.

Here is the link of the pic above:
http://emedicine.medscape.com/article/1069931-overview


Any advice is greatly appreciated.....

 

[patrik]

sonic x, u could be thinning everywhere from propecia, some people diffuse thin on it, how old are u? when did ur hairloss start? in my opinion it could just be diffuse thinning, do u have any pics? thanks

 

[patrik]

i think it would be best to show pictures of the area around ur ears to help. thanks

 

[Guest]

sonic x, u could be thinning everywhere from propecia, some people diffuse thin on it, how old are u? when did ur hairloss start? in my opinion it could just be diffuse thinning, do u have any pics? thanks

thanks patrik for the reply,

I am 21 yo and diffuse thinner. my hairloss started when I was 16 yo. I first started thinning on male pattern baldness areas(temples, frontal area, crown, top) and then it expanded on sides. I started taking propecia 2 years ago without any success. Now on 0,5 mg dutasteride a day.
I am pretty sure that I noticed some thinning on the sides(in front of left ear) one month before taking propecia. propecia may worsen it but i don't know.
I lost my digital camera so I attached some pics of my left and right side, that I've taken last February. Of course now the thinning on the sides is worse than last February. The thinning on the sides is not visible enough just because my hair were long at that time.
If it's really diffuse thinning,then I don't find the logic thinning on these areas - the non male pattern baldness areas. (that's why I think this is diffuse alopecia areata). BTW, I've heard very few people having it. As I know thinning on the sides, sideburns and around the ears isn't male pattern baldness.

I hope these photos will help you understand what I exactly mean..!

 

[patrik]

yeah u are thinning around the sides, its hard to tell what it is exactly though, as far as i know ur not meant to thin on the sides, are u thinning on the back as well? does ur family have any history of hairloss?

 

[Guest]

patrik,

i am not thinning on the back. i don't think my family has any history of hairloss except my grandfa who's norwood 7. my father is still Norwood 2 - diffuse thinner. i first started(when I first noticed my hairloss - 16yo) thinning on top, crown, front(male pattern baldness areas) and after 3,5 years i started thinning on sides. If I had diffuse alopecia areata, then shouldn't i start thinning all over my head and not just on male pattern baldness areas?

Ok I agree with you please read below :

decro435 response to me on HairLossTalk.com(other topic) about thinning on sides. Please comment patrik or People:

Your hair on the sides of your head have androgen receptors sensitive to DHT. Just like the Crown and the Temples. Genetics determines where these androgen receptors are placed. Everyone's are placed differently but it usually follows the Norwood Hamilton diagram.

Usually, the people with heavy shedding on the sides will be heading for a high Norwood classification. Unfortuenatly, I'm one of those guys. My sideburns are nearly non existant.

mmm... we may be on to somthing here guys... now I NEED everyone that reads this tread to TRY to pitch there help in...
All this makes logical since in those LIKE ME that have thinning on sides...

So its kinda shitty because either way your f***ed... your f***ed because dht is hurting you.. but WE DO KNOW if it's male pattern baldness or diffuse alopecia areata.. that your even MORE f***ed with sensitive androgen receptors on sides due to higher T...

I just can't understand what i have...

 

[patrik]

what age was ur grandfather a norwood 7 by? was he on ur mothers or fathers side sonic x?

 

[patrik]

sonic x, it seems to me that that because u started thinning so early, and ur grandfather was a norwood 7, that its very possible that u might be going down the same road, but theres a high chance that duasteride will work for u, so keep ur hopes up, btw who are those girls in ur picture ?

 

[Guest]

what age was ur grandfather a norwood 7 by? was he on ur mothers or fathers side sonic x?

in his mid or late twenties(norwood 7 but without thinning around of his ears like me). I saw a photo of him when he got married(22 yo) and he was about a norwood 3(he's on my mother's side). he had a full head of hair by the time he was my age....

sonic x, it seems to me that that because u started thinning so early, and ur grandfather was a norwood 7, that its very possible that u might be going down the same road, but theres a high chance that duasteride will work for u, so keep ur hopes up, btw who are those girls in ur picture ?

i keep my hopes up, but if i have diffuse alopecia areata then i am using wrong treatments. Just wondering if i am using the right treatments...

Well, Nice question - the second one(Long story). the girl on the left is my eX gf...(that's why my location on the left side of the website is: "somewhere in my broken heart").I dated a girl for just over two years and its been just over 5 months since we both broke up and i still think about her, and occassionally i still even cry over her and what we had. Sure we did fight a lot towards the end and i think i realize that it’ll never work between us but i don’t believe i’ll ever be able to stop loving her or wishing that it would have worked out between us. I wish i could just forget about her but at the same time i never want to forget about her. We had many good times. I’m beginning to accept the idea that maybe there is no getting over her.I am not able to move on, I try to keep my mind busy on other things, but at the same time i try not to bottle all the emotions up, I know they say time heals. Maybe i’ll always carry a little pain in my heart over her. Or maybe 5 months is just not enough time to get over a 2 year relationship. I’ll have to wait see. I know that in the meantime the only thing u can do for yourself is do ur best to meet someone else, but I still Love Her, She Drives Me crazy..
BTW , This is out of topic :whistle:
Here's the pic:

 

[patrik]

yeah i see, u might have gotten it from ur grandfather, but the thing is u never really know, u could have gotten it from ur dad as well. oh i see, why did u break up? is she the girl u still like?

 

[collegedude19]

bro Im having a similar situation ive been attributing it to telogen effluvium though...maybe im wrong and I have this