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First post and a long one as none of this makes sense, a bit of background information on my hair loss: In December 2019 at the age of 19 I first noticed any noticable hairloss, it began as one or two hairs that I would see on my pillow or clothes, at the time I was about a Norwood 1 with very little recession and perfect juvenile density, I initially assumed male pattern baldness has kicked in and I'll recede to a Norwood 2 which was fine by me (I'm Norwood 2 right now). By mid January I was noticing significantly more hairs falling out and at some point in time I had realised there is a somewhat noticable 'thin spot' on my right temple, it was more or less coin sized and didn't appear on my left temple, at this point I began to worry that I might have alopecia areata. That being said I didn't give it too much thought as it was just a bit thinner than the rest of my head and was not quite a bald spot. For the next two months my hairloss spiraled out of control, everytime I would get a haircut, which was every 2-3 weeks, my barber would tell me my hair is a thinner, eventually when I last cut my hair on March 12 2020 my barber straight up told me I need to start putting something in my hair otherwise I'll be a 'cueball in no time'. The thin spot seemed to have dissapeared but in reality the rest of my head became just as thin as that single spot.
By the end of March I was grappling with the realisation that I've probably lost more than 50% of my hair density, I should also say that my hairline stayed a Norwood 1 the entire time and I was losing hair all over my head, at the sides and back as well which seemed very unusual as male pattern baldness typically doesn't affect these areas, that being said I definitely appeared to be losing more of the DHT affected follicles, more hair loss on the top of my head than the sides. In April I shaved my head to cope with much thinner my hairs become, my hair before and my hair by the time I shaved it was night and day but at this point if anyone was to look at me, even the most experienced hair loss professional, they would tell me I'm delusional and not experiecing hair loss, my own family constantly told me my hair is basically the same and I'm imagining things.
As my hair began to grow back after shaving it, by June nobody could doubt the fact that my hair is a lot thinner than it use to be. It was also falling out every single day and was all around my desk, my clothes, my bed, my sink... at this point I began to consider finasteride as an option even though I couldn't confidently say its male pattern baldness. I ultimately got scared off of it by stories of erectile dysfunction and gynecomastia and continued to use Nizoral shampoo and do scalp massages in a vain effort to save my hair, this was to no avail and I probably lost even more follices as a result of the scalp massages. At this point in time, it was July and I had given up and accepted the fact that no matter what I do, I'll be a bald man soon and set out to just enjoy the hair I still have left, I had no need for concealers, hair fibres or hats at this point, I also wasn't scared of the wind. Fast forward to September I visisted both a doctor as well as a two trichologists, the doctor had me do blood tests to check if I got any deficiencies and if my thyroid is working as it should, came out with perfect results for everything, from my LH to my testosterone, everything was as it should be with the exception of my prolactin being slightly higher than average. One of the trichologists just said its diffuse thinning male pattern baldness and tried to sell me a £300 minoxidil and caffeine snake oil despite giving me nothing to actually stop the hair loss, the other one examined my follicies and said they're miniaturising and I should take finasteride. I should also mention that by this time I had noticed that I'm losing body hair, both my pubic as well as chest hair began to shed a bit. That was the last time I made an effort to do anything about my hair loss, its been happening for over a year now, I'm still not exactly bald but I can no longer leave the house without it being obvious even using hair fibres, from January up until now my eyebrows and eyelashes have also thinned out. I have no clue what to do, if it wasn't for how long my hair is right now then my hair loss would be insanely obvious, I'm considering finasteride and oral minoxidil but at this point I'll take any research chemical or anything with a black box warning as long as it helps me, I even considered something like Xeljanz in case I'm suffering from alopecia totalis but if that was the case I probably should be entirely bald now at least in one place on my body. Please help, I have no idea what to do and I'll be forced to shave my head bald soon and this time permamtently.
TL;DR Diffuse thinning all over my head for the past year, hairline went from NW1 to 2.5? Eyebrows and eyelashes thinning, do I take finasteride and oral minoxidil?
By the end of March I was grappling with the realisation that I've probably lost more than 50% of my hair density, I should also say that my hairline stayed a Norwood 1 the entire time and I was losing hair all over my head, at the sides and back as well which seemed very unusual as male pattern baldness typically doesn't affect these areas, that being said I definitely appeared to be losing more of the DHT affected follicles, more hair loss on the top of my head than the sides. In April I shaved my head to cope with much thinner my hairs become, my hair before and my hair by the time I shaved it was night and day but at this point if anyone was to look at me, even the most experienced hair loss professional, they would tell me I'm delusional and not experiecing hair loss, my own family constantly told me my hair is basically the same and I'm imagining things.
As my hair began to grow back after shaving it, by June nobody could doubt the fact that my hair is a lot thinner than it use to be. It was also falling out every single day and was all around my desk, my clothes, my bed, my sink... at this point I began to consider finasteride as an option even though I couldn't confidently say its male pattern baldness. I ultimately got scared off of it by stories of erectile dysfunction and gynecomastia and continued to use Nizoral shampoo and do scalp massages in a vain effort to save my hair, this was to no avail and I probably lost even more follices as a result of the scalp massages. At this point in time, it was July and I had given up and accepted the fact that no matter what I do, I'll be a bald man soon and set out to just enjoy the hair I still have left, I had no need for concealers, hair fibres or hats at this point, I also wasn't scared of the wind. Fast forward to September I visisted both a doctor as well as a two trichologists, the doctor had me do blood tests to check if I got any deficiencies and if my thyroid is working as it should, came out with perfect results for everything, from my LH to my testosterone, everything was as it should be with the exception of my prolactin being slightly higher than average. One of the trichologists just said its diffuse thinning male pattern baldness and tried to sell me a £300 minoxidil and caffeine snake oil despite giving me nothing to actually stop the hair loss, the other one examined my follicies and said they're miniaturising and I should take finasteride. I should also mention that by this time I had noticed that I'm losing body hair, both my pubic as well as chest hair began to shed a bit. That was the last time I made an effort to do anything about my hair loss, its been happening for over a year now, I'm still not exactly bald but I can no longer leave the house without it being obvious even using hair fibres, from January up until now my eyebrows and eyelashes have also thinned out. I have no clue what to do, if it wasn't for how long my hair is right now then my hair loss would be insanely obvious, I'm considering finasteride and oral minoxidil but at this point I'll take any research chemical or anything with a black box warning as long as it helps me, I even considered something like Xeljanz in case I'm suffering from alopecia totalis but if that was the case I probably should be entirely bald now at least in one place on my body. Please help, I have no idea what to do and I'll be forced to shave my head bald soon and this time permamtently.
TL;DR Diffuse thinning all over my head for the past year, hairline went from NW1 to 2.5? Eyebrows and eyelashes thinning, do I take finasteride and oral minoxidil?
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