Need help and advice! Pics inside...

[swishbish33]

Hey, first post, so be gentle. SWM, 23 years of age, some hairloss on both sides of the family (however, no one in my family is completely bald) I just noticed about 8 months ago that I seemed to be receding in the temple area. I have never had a straight across hairline, even in high school, I've always had a quasi-NW2 as far back as I or my family can remember. People always comment about how thick my hair is on the top and sides. I am not thinning on top nor do I have any thinning in the vertex. But as of 8 months ago, the temple area has "gotten bigger," particularly on the left side, which seems to be receding inward toward the middle of my head, and seems to be receding assymetrically from the right side. I have seen the dermatologist, but he was not very helpful and simply said that I *could* take Propecia or use Rogaine if I choose. Really, I want advice from the very helpful people here to see if I should start a regimen. Here are some pictures:

Frontal


Left


Right



THANKS EVERYONE FOR THE ADVICE. It is so nice to be able to share this and get help in this area.

 

[IDOASIS]

Propecia will not help you at the temples maybe Dutasteride will ,
but in your case I think its still not necessary.
I would advise you to try spironolactone ,xandrox 15% and perhaps crinagen.

 

[jumpedthegun]

don't listen to idioasis.

i've had decent regrowth on my temples on propecia. you may or may not experience the same, but it should at least stop the recession.

you should really sit down and think about how your hairloss affects you and whether it is serious enough that you want to begin a long-term, and often frustrating, treatment. don't get me wrong, it is good to start early because it is easier to maintain than to regrow. but the other side to that coin is that if you start early, like I did, you might begin to question starting such a long-term commitment before knowing how aggressive your hairloss really is. some recession is natural, and doesn't mean you'll be bald by the time you're 40--even people with full heads of hair at 50 don't have the same hairline they did when they were 20.

what i'm saying is that starting a regimine is not something to take lightly. a lot of people see hair loss, then they freak out and start treatments rashly. and once started, it can sort of consume you, and you fear ever stopping because you never know how much of your hair was "maintained" by the treatments and will fall out once stopped.

if you decide to start a regimine, propecia is one small pill a day and is probably the easiest to do. however, the downside is having to pop a pill everday for the rest of your life, and the (potential) side effects of altering your hormones. since recession is your only concern, topicals might be your best answer. i say that because propecia will affect all of your hair, and if you're only having a problem with your hairline, no sense in messing with the whole thing. i don't use any topicals, so i can't give you much advice there. they seem messy to me, but if you can arrest your recession with topicals only, as many people here have done, then i would think it worth it, even if it simply delayed you needing to start something stronger, like propecia, by a couple of years.

 

[Pob]

I agree with jumpedthegun. That is very good advice and I would urge to spend a little bit of time thinking carefully about what he has said.

 

[IDOASIS]

don't listen to idioasis.

i've had decent regrowth on my temples on propecia. you may or may not experience the same, but it should at least stop the recession.

.

The effectiveness of PROPECIA was demonstrated in studies of men, aged 18 to 41, with mild to moderate hair loss at the top and middle front of the head. There is no evidence that PROPECIA works for receding hairlines at the temples :!:
http://www.propecia.com/finasteride/pro ... ?mtc=3BODY

I have used propecia over a year with no results at the temples (beside a receding hairline).

Currently I use dutasteride with other topicals and experienced a regrow at the temples.
At his stage and considering the fact that he has only a receding in the temple area,
My advise would be to start with topicals , no need at this point to use finasteride/dutasteride.

 

[Aplunk1]

My friend,
if your condition seems to progress anymore, try Propecia. It'll help you to maintain what you have. Nizoral shampoo will also help to decrease hairloss.

 

[Siberian]

Propecia will most likely halt any further recession in the temples at least. If you DON'T take it, you'll probably keep receding... and whatever you lose, is probably gone forever in that area. Start it now, and you freeze your losses where they are, and may even gain some back. It's not the best treatment to restore the temples area, but it's helped some people.

Reading this forum often makes it sound like Propecia will *cause* hair loss, make you genitals fall off, completely destroy your libido, etc., etc. But the vast majority of people who take it suffer no side effects whatsoever. And for the few that do, the effects usually go away within a few weeks/months.

Minoxidil is a great option as well, though much more of a pain in the neck to use.

 

[Johnny24601]

re:

Idoasis, you are way off. First of all Merck did not even consider the front of the head in their study as this area of the head is known to be the most unpredictable area and this could have jeopardized their approval. Most derms and many people on this site have reported that finasteride can have positive effect on the hairline, but these results do not occur in all patients.
You come out and just say it doesn't work, no explanation and then when you do give an explanation (after being confronted) you site a study that did not even adequately consider the results (either positive or negative) of finasteride on the hairline and then also site your own results. I have a newsflash for you, just because it did not work for you does not mean every single one of the millions of balding me will not have any positive results. With that logic, I bought a lottery ticket the other day and did not win, that must mean that because I lost, everyone who bought a lottery ticket will lose...right?
Certainly the results from finasteride on the hairline are totally unpredictable but to just conclude it does not work is a lie. I believe finasteride has helped my hairline, but I also use minoxidil once a day so who knows. Of course minoxidil is not aproved for frontal loss either, yet it is well documented that people have had success with minoxidil on the hairline.

 

[Aplunk1]

Yes, true.

 

[IDOASIS]

Ok agreed,
I just wanted to emphasize that it is not the ideal treatment for a receding hairline at the temples.
If anyone experience a slow receding hairline only at the temples, I think that there are better treatments to treat this problem ,like Azelaic Acid, spironolactone ,xandrox, crinagen etc.

 

[Johnny24601]

re:

Agreed, for those with no diffuse thinning and just the developing sort of "mature" hairline, finasteride may be too agressive of a treatment. The person who started this post has that sort of recession in my opinion. It is still a tough call because the slight recession may turn into diffuse. In my opinion, if you just have a slight recession but your family history indicates that you may soon start to receed badly, finasteride may be a good choice. I say this only because finasteride often takes a year to show improvements.

 

[swishbish33]

Thanks for the advice guys. A couple questions:

1. How would you rate the recession in my temples? Slight? Average? Troubling?

2. Is it natural for one side to recede more than the other? It seems like the left temple area is beginning to go inward, which is the most troubling part for me. I am worried that that part will continue to recede inwards, or that the right side will begin to exhibit it and I will have the little "tuft" in the front with the temples receding to the point of meeting in the middle of my head.


I don't have any diffuse thinning, or maybe very slight. The lady that cut my hair just last Friday (first time going to her) commented that my hair was very thick. I'm just worried about have the temples recede to the point of having a "landing strip" of hair in the front, hence the question of whether it's worth it to try minoxidil or, even more drastically, finasteride. I don't want to go on finasteride, as I already take other medications daily and simply don't want to add another pill to take, but I'm not averse to trying the minoxidil on the area if it will make the left side more like a V shape and not as much of a U shape (the landing strip).


Thank you so much guys.

 

[Aplunk1]

Propecia is your best bet, but if you don't want to do that, then I would use Minoxidil. It'll probably help to restore your hairline.

 

[Pob]

To answer your other question, I've seen a number of comments on the forum from people who are experiencing greater recession on one side. In my own case, the right temple is much worse than the left, and the right half of the hairline is about is about a half centimetre higher. I don't believe it's uncommon.

 

[Siberian]

To asnwer your other question, I've seen a number of comments on the forum from people who are experiencing greater recession on one side. In my own case, the right temple is much worse than the left, and the right half of the hairline is about is about a half centimetre higher. I don't believe it's uncommon.

Yup, my right temple (and the "part" line running back from it) is much, much thinner than my left side. In fact, if my right side was as good as my left, I wouldn't be on his forum.

 

[Johnny24601]

re:

I would say the recession is very modest at this point. You will have your hair for a long time, but your temples will most likely slowly receed over the years. If I was you I would consider minoxidil and/or spironolactone cream. The problem with minoxidil is that you will have to use it for the rest of your life or risk losing any of the hairs that you have grown and in my opinion the results from minoxidil are a huge question mark. finasteride has direct scientific evidence from both a physiological and actual trial studies, minoxidil really does not. spironolactone also has a lot of question marks as far as results, but the science behind it seems liegit. Take your time and do some more research on finasteride, minoxidil and spironolactone.
Again, it is a tough call and even without treatment wyou will most likely have you hair for some time. Unfortunately, I am more a diffuse thinner. Hopefully someone with only a recession will help you out or your best bet is to search this site and send some PM to other receeders to get their thoughts.
BTW, having one side receed faster then the other really means nothing, don't worry about it.

 

[swishbish33]

Does recession on one side indicate the way that the other side will go? It seems weird to think of having one side recede toward the middle and have to other stay as a V shape.

I'm thinking about trying the minoxidil to see how it goes. Anybody out there have any experience with temple recession and minoxidil that could help me out? I really just want to fill in the space between the front of my hairline and the back. There just seems to be this really weird "cutout" of hair that is missing right in the middle. I tend to pull on my hair over there (nervous habit), is it possible that I pulled the hairs out and they haven't grown back in?

Thank you so much guys. You have no idea how much this helps in terms of my mental state with this stuff.

 

[Aplunk1]

Unforunately, recession on one side pretty much indicates recession on the other.

I've been using minoxidil all over my scalp since September, '05. I've had great regrowth on the temples, and I'm almost to a Norwood 1. Of course, I have a bunch of things in my regime, but I can tell that the regrowth on the temples consists of Minoxidil hairs (slight different pigment but starting to darken).

Just look at my website and you'll see some difference in the hairline. Overall, I like the minoxidil, and don't really have any problems with it except minor irritation, here and there.

Try to be more gentle with your hair, wash it with a quality shampoo, like Nizoral, to get rid of the Minoxidil flakes that might form in your hair.

Eat healthy, diet, exercise, etc. Take vitamins. You'll have a nice thatch in no time.

 

[kosmo]

this is a really good thread. i wish it was around last year before i started treatments...

 

[swishbish33]

Yeah guys, its amazing how many of you have come out to help me with this. I'm glad I am catching it early, as it seems that I may actually benefit from the minoxidil. I'll definitely look into the other stuff on your website, aplunk1.

Any more suggestions/advice is welcome.

Thanks so much fellas.