Hi, 28 year old, lack of hair on crown

I saw Dr Panagotacos in San Francisco.

I will say that I went for a free consultation, so perhaps I cannot complain about having limited attention. Honestly, I'm happy I walked out with some Propecia.

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Originally Posted by 25 going on 65

keepingmyhair and mnx, can I ask you guys what doctors you saw?

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25 going on 65, I first saw a Dermatology Nurse Practitioner who knew nothing about anything, then I saw a Dr. Marina Pizarro which was a free consultation just like Mnx. She said Rogaine twice a day the rest of my life...

She spent about 8-10 seconds looking at my hair also. She was nice, but I don't know. I'm upset over it again today. She was also the doctor that said my scalp didn't look inflamed at all, yet when I saw my mother yesterday she freaked out going through my hair for 5 minutes because of how red and inflamed it looked. It's all so ridiculous, some days I wake up and it looks like my hair is back to normal again.. then after fiddling for a moment i'm like "oh.. wait, there it is." When i told my father that the hair specialist Dr. said I was thinning like a norwood 3 vertex he started cussing at me, said they're full of shit, and I'm not to listen to them.

So you can see, stressful. Someone just give me a flipping test that gives me a 100% answer and then friggen fix me.

I'm not familiar with Pizarro, but Pantagatacos is IAHRS-recommended. Sounds like they both should have spent more time with you guys from the sound of things. I understand we can only expect so much from a free consultation, but what's the point if he's only going to glance and prescribe finasteride? Your regular GP could do that much.

Anyway, best of luck to you guys. I can definitely understand being annoyed by your experiences.

mnx... if Propecia gets too pricey, try getting an rx for 5 mg finasteride tablets and cutting them into fourths.

keepingmyhair, as you've probably figured out by now, Rogaine alone doesn't top male-pattern hair loss. If stopping it is your goal, you'll need finasteride or dutasteride unfortunately.
The scalp inflammation sounds pretty intense. Ketoconazole shampoo might address it, but it seems like one of the doctors you saw should have tried to give you something for it.

sorry mnx, meant to post my update in my own thread not hijack yours!

I lasted all of about 4 days on propecia before I felt cause to skip a day. Not sure if I'm even going to pick it up again tomorrow.

I'm not sure if this was early side effects or just a coincidence, but I have been crushed by depression, anxiety, and loss of appetite over the last 2-3 days. I was so ****ing out of it that I was pulling my hair out this morning.

I skipped my dose for the day and am feeling fairly human again.

I know people are going to say this is all in my head, or that it will go away if I persist. You are probably right, but holy shit I could endure baldness better than the way I've felt the last two days.

I may start on a smaller dose after all as chrisis and others recommended.

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Originally Posted by mnx

Did it happen aggressively for you? How is it now?

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Yeah it's been pretty aggressive over the last 8 months. I had a thick head of hair beforehand, just thinning at the crown. It's still coming out pretty badly. Don't know how much longer before I'm gonna need to buzz it. My doctor isn't sure now if I have aggressive mpb or telogen effluvium. I'm having allergy tests done this week to see if it might be the chemicals in Rogaine that is causing the redness/irritation on my scalp, which he thinks might be a reason I'm having hair loss all over. I also have drops to put on my head. I'm none too pleased since he got my hopes up a few weeks back when he said it was probably just the diet/weight loss that was causing the excessive hair loss. Now he says if the allergy tests don't show anything then I should go on Propecia. Despite the successes of so many others I don't want to go on the drug.

I didn't want to go on Propecia either, but to be honest, it was the biggest anti-climax of my life when I actually did get round to taking it.

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Originally Posted by Kirby_

I didn't want to go on Propecia either, but to be honest, it was the biggest anti-climax of my life when I actually did get round to taking it.

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Kirby; how long have you been on propecia?

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Originally Posted by mnx

I lasted all of about 4 days on propecia before I felt cause to skip a day. Not sure if I'm even going to pick it up again tomorrow.

I'm not sure if this was early side effects or just a coincidence, but I have been crushed by depression, anxiety, and loss of appetite over the last 2-3 days. I was so ****ing out of it that I was pulling my hair out this morning.

I skipped my dose for the day and am feeling fairly human again.

I know people are going to say this is all in my head, or that it will go away if I persist. You are probably right, but holy shit I could endure baldness better than the way I've felt the last two days.

I may start on a smaller dose after all as chrisis and others recommended.

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you don't take any other medications mnx? If not, that would indeed freak me out as well. anything that has the potential to increase anxiety in a patient is something I run hard and fast from. The unfortunate part is that because we are already anxious about taking the drugs, we often will end up creating symptoms regardless of whether they're real side effects or not. People like us it's lose lose. Maybe smaller dose or just push on through a week and see if it ends up not being the problem.

We are both suddenly realizing our great thick hair is apparently shedding and thinning on the crown and we might bald.. We have a legitimate reason to be both depressed and quite anxious! I wish I was married, I'd care so much less. Having my identity tied to my physical appearance is so very unfortunate.

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Originally Posted by keepingmyhair

Having my identity tied to my physical appearance is so very unfortunate.

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Then don't.