question about male pattern baldness or chronic telogen effluvium

[markw]

hey guys, don't want to make this a long post so i'll just do my best.

my question is: if you have male pattern baldness, do you actually notice tons of hair falling out? or does it just start growing back weaker and gradually you notice more scalp?

i've been losing hair for slightly over a year. i have been to see more than one derm and they just suggest blood tests (all normal, no thyroid issues) and to take propecia or use rogaine. i've been using FINpecia (because it's much cheaper) consistently at the same time every day for 8 months and so far have noticed no improvement but no side effects either.

i think my overall hair density on my head 30% less than what it used to be. i get hair falling out on the pillow, shower, when i gently brush it, or just sitting there at my desk i feel strands of hair fall onto my neck. my crown is more noticeable now, and i see a slight streak of thinning going from my crown through the middle of my scalp towards my left temple (about halfway through right now). overall all my hair still feels very thick and healthy (even around the crown), i'm just losing it like crazy. i've also been getting thick dandruff flakes lately (i never had issues with dandruff until a month ago), but switching to a more powerful shampoo has taken care of that.

i've also noticed losing more nose hairs, eyebrow hair, even pubes easily to fall off (not sure if i'm just super sensitive and noticing it more but my eyebrows are definitely thinner). believe it or not but i am 100% positive that i have less leg hair too. i have also noticed 7 or 8 gray hairs in my head (i'm 24), which is a lot considering i've lost probably 30-35% of my hair. my hair is growing slower too. i used to get a hair cut every month and shave once every 3 days but now i cut my hair every 2 months and shave maybe once a week.

might sound like i'm freaking out and being super sensitive to my hair, but everything i'm posting i'm near certain is occuring. just want to check to see if anyone knows anything.

is this possibly bad male pattern baldness? or am i unlucky to have chronic telogen effluvium?

no obvious hair loss in my family, except grand father from old age.

thanks for any input.

 

[Woodyy]

This sounds a lot like what I'm going through, especially with the dandruff which I never had a problem with before, yours is just over a longer period of time. I'm 99% sure what I'm going through is down to Telogen Effluvium as well.

One thing to look at is if the hairs you're losing are miniaturised, look at one that falls out and then pluck one hair from a donor area and compare, there shouldn't be any noticeable difference in thickness and they both should be a consistent thickness all the way through. The fact you're losing body hair seems like it's Telogen Effluvium too, I've been losing eyebrow hair and eyelashes, I literally feel them drop down onto my face every day.

The thing is with Telogen Effluvium of the length you're going through there's normally an underlying issue rather than a one time trigger event, the fact your blood/thyroid tests have all come back normal doesn't leave much to be the cause though, I suspect someone more knowledgeable than me could point out some other causes that wouldn't turn up in a blood/thyroid test though.

the fact that propecia isn't working after such a long period of time again makes me think it's Telogen Effluvium, about 80% of people respond to propecia positively if they're going through male pattern baldness, unless you're one of the unlucky ones that don't (and I highly doubt that given your family history) it doesn't suggest male pattern baldness.