PLEASE HELP, 17 year old, hair line receding & thinning, treatments? thank you

[teenbalding]

Hey guys, PLEASE HELP ME OUT.

I just made an account on this website for this. My hair is receding and thinning, a lot. Maybe because I am stressful due to exams, haven't exercised at all in the past 3-4 months, having a crappy diet and just not overall caring about my health because I am in college and just focusing on that. Now I usually have medium-long size hair (not sure) because I am lazy and I dont get a hair cut in 3-4 months. I wash my hair every other day though but I dont put any oil in it. My head was hurting when I was experiencing these hair loss so maybe thats the reason.

Or maybe because I have male pattern baldness. Now the thing is, I am only 17 year old, I haven't even turned 18, and I am losing hair, now I dont want to be bald in my early 20's.
male pattern baldness runs strong in my dad side of the family (Affected my dad when he was 25, now he is bald (got hair transplant though)), while my mom side have none, or barely any bald people. This sucks as I am in my teens, and just dont want to go bald.

My hair was steadily receding over the year, I thought it could be because my hair line is maturing, but in the past few months, especially these past few weeks, the hair were thinning.
The hair that falls barely had any white bulbs (It only come when I scratch my itch on my head), most hair that fall out were thin and small, sometimes it had a tiny black bulb and sometimes, it didn't. Maybe my hair were braking as my head hurt and whenever I run my hand through my hair, it hurt more. My hairline were really sensitive when I experienced extreme receding hair line. For example, only my right temple had receding hair line while my left temple were fine before, but the past week, my hairline were really sensitive, especially my left temple, it hurt, and then in the few days i saw my left side of the hairline receding (now Its kinda an M shape). When I was experiencing these extreme hair loss, I had a really dry and itchy scalp (dandruff), they were yellow flakes on my head, and it was just really itchy. My hair are also really weak (when its long), every time I run my fingers through my hair, hair falls out.

Now I would post pics of my hair a bit after as for some reason, I cant get pics from my iphone.

You guys have a lot more experience and are a lot more knowledgeable than I am, I just want to know the solution or treatment or whatever it is which will help me maintain and regrow my hair so i dont go bald any time sooner. And because I am a teen, I am still growing, I dont want things that may screw me over. (I am not that knowledgeable so please tell me any warning and anything to avoid)

Propecia is considered to be the most effective, but it has really serious sexual side affect that I dont want. I may start taking it but if i notice these sexual side effect, then should i stop; is it normal; is it going to be permanent. Now I dont understand how only a small percent of people get these side effect as the medicine blockes DHT which is basically your sexual hormones or something, so why does it affects like 5 percent with these sexual side effect. Who would be more likely to be affected by this. Lol I am not even 18, I dont want to have erectile dysfunction.
Minoxidil helps grow hair, but i heard it is only affected for two years, so If i start using it, then when I am 19, I would start losing hair again?

I wouldn't have mind this affecting me when I would be in my late 20s/30s, hopefully I would have been rich and got hair transplant. but I am only 17 year old, I am trying to be optimistic, but it just sucks.
My last exam is on 5th June, after that, I am hitting the gym and hopefully it has a postive affect on my hair

Any recommendation is greatly appreciated, and thanks again (i know its kinda long but thank you).


Edit: Just added pictures of my hair. These pictures were taken 3-4 days ago, after getting my hair cut.
I have put oil on my hair so its easier to see the thinning of the hair.

 

[TD500]

You may or may not get side effects from finasteride. Sides should disappear either after cessation or continuation ( how long varies). Remember its a loud minority of those who experience persistent problems with finasteride, not saying there are not cases out there because there is. minoxidil regrows hairs, but doesn't actually stop the DHT which finasteride does. I don't know if minoxidil loses it's efficiency over time. There is debate on how young is too young to start finasteride, but I will say this that there are young men around your age 17-19 who are currently taking finasteride/dutasteride and seem to have no problems.

Best thing you can do is go see a hair transplant surgeon or dermatologist.

 

[never2late]

Everything you described sounds exactly like male pattern baldness. Like TD500 said, you should go see a dermatologist or hair transplant surgeon. Also, and I don't won't to deter you from being healthy, but hitting the gym more than likely won't have a positive effect on your hair. It possibly might be quite the opposite actually.

 

[Vlatch]

Trust me, you would have minded losing hair even at 30.

First things first, take care of your seborrheic dermatitis as it only aggravates hair loss.

For that, use pharmaceutical shampoos containing ciclopirox olamine, zinc pyrithione, ketoconazole (Nizoral), piroctone olamine or salicylic acid.
Try different products if one doesn't work, for my SD salicylic acid and piroctone olamine work best whereas ketoconazole barely does anything, but it's different for every case.
And have a healthy diet, low sugar, low fat.


Do this and wait until you're 18 before you decide to take finasteride or not (don't read the horror stories, read scientific studies before you make up your mind).

Minoxidil alone only stabilizes hair loss for 2-5 years so you'll need an anti-androgen like finasteride for the long term, or you can always hope that a useful treatment comes out soon.

 

[teenbalding]

You may or may not get side effects from finasteride. Sides should disappear either after cessation or continuation ( how long varies). Remember its a loud minority of those who experience persistent problems with finasteride, not saying there are not cases out there because there is. minoxidil regrows hairs, but doesn't actually stop the DHT which finasteride does. I don't know if minoxidil loses it's efficiency over time. There is debate on how young is too young to start finasteride, but I will say this that there are young men around your age 17-19 who are currently taking finasteride/dutasteride and seem to have no problems.

Best thing you can do is go see a hair transplant surgeon or dermatologist.

thanks for the reply.
From what i heard, people say that the sexual side effect are inevitable which makes sense as it actually blocks your dht which is your sexual testosterone hormones (I think), I am new to this so I can be wrong. Anyway I got an appointment with my GP, hopefully they refers me to dermatologist.
Again, Thanks

- - - Updated - - -

Trust me, you would have minded losing hair even at 30.

First things first, take care of your seborrheic dermatitis as it only aggravates hair loss.

For that, use pharmaceutical shampoos containing ciclopirox olamine, zinc pyrithione, ketoconazole (Nizoral), piroctone olamine or salicylic acid.
Try different products if one doesn't work, for my SD salicylic acid and piroctone olamine work best whereas ketoconazole barely does anything, but it's different for every case.
And have a healthy diet, low sugar, low fat.


Do this and wait until you're 18 before you decide to take finasteride or not (don't read the horror stories, read scientific studies before you make up your mind).

Minoxidil alone only stabilizes hair loss for 2-5 years so you'll need an anti-androgen like finasteride for the long term, or you can always hope that a useful treatment comes out soon.

Lol, I probably would have, but it still a less worst age than 17 though :'(

So seborrheic dermatitis, i kinda researched it, and I have to say, I may have it.
The thing is, for some reason, I have a really itchy scalp, got it for the past few weeks (during a lot of small hair falling and thinning), I have to itch a lot on my head.
There is also this tingly sensation that is running mainly on top of my head (crown mostly), and sometime runs along my face. (heard they are symptoms of stress, never had this sensation before though). Felt it a lot these past two weeks (again, where i began to lose a lot of hair), maybe some kinda relationship. I don't know how to describe it, i feel kinda cold or not, hope u know what I am talking about.
I literally washed my hair yesterday, and there are still dandruff and flakes on my head and a really itchy scalp. There are also irritating spots on the back of my head and on the side of my head (sideburns, close to my ears). I also got new glasses and wear em, maybe some kinda allergies to them.
I remembered, I took acne medication (oxytetracycline) for a month, they are antibiotics but didn't really help my acne so i stop about a month or a bit more before. Maybe some hormonal changes causing hair loss. Also I notice my acne got worst these past few days or weeks (again, hair loss, conicidence?)
Maybe they are fungus or pest in my hair, I kinda eat in my bed and notice there are a lot of mess on my bed, the same bed I sleep on, maybe some kinda relation to hair loss as something may have invaded my hair.

Lol I just threw everything right off the top of my head at u, maybe some kinda relation, maybe male pattern baldness. I gonna post pics in the near future, as right now I have two a level exams in next week and should be revising but I have start stressing over my hair.
This tingly sensation is continuous on my head, is it related to any hair loss (male pattern baldness). I am not taking any medication as of now.

I really appreciated your reply so thank u, PLZ HELP ME OUT

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You can't take propecia at your age. You really should not. You don't want to shut down a hormone respinsible for growing out your male genitals when you are actually still growing.

lol that is certainly something I dont want, but what should I do, I dont want to go bald before my 20's, so what treatment.
Thanks

- - - Updated - - -

Everything you described sounds exactly like male pattern baldness. Like TD500 said, you should go see a dermatologist or hair transplant surgeon. Also, and I don't won't to deter you from being healthy, but hitting the gym more than likely won't have a positive effect on your hair. It possibly might be quite the opposite actually.

ah that is scary, it is possible due to how my dad have it, but what was something I said that really stood out and kinda confirmed that its male pattern baldness.
Thanks

- - - Updated - - -

You may or may not get side effects from finasteride. Sides should disappear either after cessation or continuation ( how long varies). Remember its a loud minority of those who experience persistent problems with finasteride, not saying there are not cases out there because there is. minoxidil regrows hairs, but doesn't actually stop the DHT which finasteride does. I don't know if minoxidil loses it's efficiency over time. There is debate on how young is too young to start finasteride, but I will say this that there are young men around your age 17-19 who are currently taking finasteride/dutasteride and seem to have no problems.

Best thing you can do is go see a hair transplant surgeon or dermatologist.

Yea I am going to GP and hopefully he refers me to dermatologist. I have a feeling though that these nhs gp may not refer me to dermatologist and just say, 'ah u have male pattern baldness, nothing u can do about'. I dont want to sound arrogant but they have basic knowledge, but don't know in depth.
Thanks for the reply

 

[teenbalding]

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