Xeon22's story - ( with PICS!)

[Xeon22]

First off, I'd like to say hi to all of you here.

Ok, my story;

First off, I know of nobody in my entire family, both on moms and dads side that suffer from any sort of hairloss...

iI'm a 27 year old male. I first started noticing my hairline receeding back in 2000, it was receeding in the temples a little before then, but this is when I really started to notice it. It swasn't a big deal then, and as the years went by, I thought the mature hairline kinda looked decent. Of course, back then, I was not well informed of treatments, ect, boy the internet is a wonderful place.

While it only started as temple receeding, 06 has been a bad year, not only have I experienced redeeding, but now, I'm experiencing thinning on the top of my head, vertex, crown, along with front, with major temple receeding. My hairloss seemed to REALLY pick up as of may of this year, and that's when I really started noticing the thinning on top.

I've only recently, as of 1.5 months ago, started using Rogaine foam and nizoral shampoo, which thus far, has seemed to really make me shed, and have caused further noticible thinning of my hair (all forum posts suggest that if I'm shedding now because of the rogaine, that it means that it may work that much better down the road)

Ok, on to the good stuff, or should I say bad? The pics.

One thing to notice is that my right temple is worse than my left. I thought about shaving, but I think I will have a very awkard hairline because of this

Right temple

Left temple:

Another pic of the left side:

Front:

Ok, ok, I know that some of you out there are like, well, his hairloss doesn't look too bad...but heres another to show otherwise...

Front with hair brushed down: Shows just how bad it's thinning in the front

Right side, there is a line going from the front to the back from the temple that is clearly thinning. The whole top is thinning, but this is rather noticible

Now, I'm here, looking for answers, and possibly hope, before this gets really ugly.

 

[lilltoolate]

i guess the first thing anybody is gonna say to u is to start on propecia(1mg finasteride) rightaway after consulting a Doctor..

 

[sphlanx2006]

I think propecia alone isnt going to do much for you since (although i am not sure about it) it is not great for regrowth(it does but not that much). Your regime should definately have minoxidil(rogaine) in it. I have found that combined with retin-a it can do wonders so keep this in mind too. If you are really determined, dutasteride instead of propecia would also be a good idea.

 

[Guest]

Nothing spectacular from my side as well.

The Big 3 are your way to go:

1. 1 mg of Finasteride every day as the active ingredient of Propecia/Proscar/Finpecia or Fincar. This should maintain your hair.

2. Minoxidil as the active ingredient of Rogaine. I recommend the foam over the liquid. This should give you some extra regrowth.

3. Nizoral shampoo available at your local super market. This should cleanse your scalp and make it feel better.

This is your way to go for a hairier head. Good Luck!

 

[Xeon22]

Well as of recently, I started rogaine foam and nizoral shampoo, but have not started any sort of finasteride. In the US, I need a prescription to obtain it, which means I'm going to go to a Doctor, should this be a dermatologist? It would also be nice to be able to confirm whether it is or isn't male pattern baldness, but that's the pattern it's taking, although I have absolutely no history (that I can find anyway) of anybody else in my family losing their hair, on both sides. I can just see myself going to a Doctor of some sort, even a derm and they not know what the heck they're talking about.

 

[haunted-ballroom]

Well as of recently, I started rogaine foam and nizoral shampoo, but have not started any sort of finasteride. In the US, I need a prescription to obtain it, which means I'm going to go to a Doctor, should this be a dermatologist? It would also be nice to be able to confirm whether it is or isn't male pattern baldness, but that's the pattern it's taking, although I have absolutely no history (that I can find anyway) of anybody else in my family losing their hair, on both sides. I can just see myself going to a Doctor of some sort, even a derm and they not know what the heck they're talking about.

I have that issue aswell, my Doctor knows feck all about male pattern baldness. You can order finasteride online without a prescription. Thats what I did

 

[Far Too Young]

It's definitely male pattern baldness. I think the genes can lie dorman within a family, only to be activated (unluckily, for all of us) in a male. You've got a decent head of hair and from the pictures I'd tack you at about 32. That's better than a number of guys on here. I think your male pattern baldness isn't that aggressive, and that you will probably respond well to treatment.

 

[Xeon22]

Well I think my diet has alot to do with it aswell. I mean I started gradually losing hair a couple of years out of high school. I used to lift weights alot, along with eating a ton of calories a day. I had decent muscle mass too, ofcourse after i quit all the excercise, all of it started, my guess is that my body produces alot of testerone anyway, and not excercising contributed to alot of free test, which probably has raised my DHT levels over the years.

Are there alternatives to propecia? It seems a bit expensive.

 

[Far Too Young]

Buy fincar which is generic proscar. This is the form of finasteride used to treat benign prostatic hyperplasia (bph), but it is the same drug. The fincar (or whatever other legitimate generic you may purchase) will come in 5 mg caplets that can easily be split into four or five pieces with a pill cutter, giving you a 1-1.25 mg dose, which is the exact same as a Propecia tablet (for about 1/5-1/6 of the cost).

It is suggested that the reducing of dosage to .25 mg only reduces the amount of blocked DHT by 20%. Many report a considerable decrease in sides under the lower dosage. You could cut the cost of Propecia by a fraction of 1/4 by splitting it into .25 mg doses. However this would still be more expensive and yield far less finasteride.

Hell, it's your call. Browse the forums, everything you could possibly need to figure out about it is probably on here.

I'm about to start on the drug myself, though I'm 18 and have suffered considerable less loss. I also am on Rogaine foam and Nizoral at the moment.

Good luck.

 

[Xeon22]

So, is there anything else that I could add to help this out? I've seen alot of post suggesting retin-a, but looking online, it seems that I need a prescription for that too? Anyway, any suggestions for topicals, sprays, ect would be helpful too, and where I might obtain them too aswell. I have also thought about an hair transplant when I get back to work, but first I need to take the time and se if I can get it under control before i do anything like that.

I've got no issues with trying out finasteride, and I will add that ASAP.

 

[Far Too Young]

Within the U.S. you're going to need a perscription for Retin A. You can, however, order it offline through various avenues (particularly a certain Dr. Lee comes to mind). The idea with Retin A is that you should use it with minoxidil as it will encourage heightened absorption of the active ingredient. Wouldn't be a bad idea if you're at the point where you want to throw the whole hog in.

 

[sphlanx2006]

Good to see you are open for all kind of treatments. I think adding retin-a is very important. My dermatologist who has a very good reputation, says that retin-a is extremely important and can boost minoxidil's effectivenes plus its very good for hair on itself.

 

[Xeon22]

Well I did look online and saw a dr lees minoxidil with retin-a added, would this be a good addition?

 

[roki]

Well I did look online and saw a dr lees minoxidil with retin-a added, would this be a good addition?

no that's not what you want - get the rogaine foam it is much much better and cheaper as for retin-a i use it too you could do few things 1. look for an online pharmecy that selles it ive seen a few i dont remmber now but do a search on it youll find,2.i just get i from a privet pharmecist i think many will agree to sell without prescription 3.you can just ask it from your DR he will write it for you

 

[Norwood3McGee]

Check out Dr. Lees product: 002 (Retonic Acid .025) & 003 (Retonic Acid .05) both in 60ml bottles. They are the cheapest I've seen on the web.