15 - Worrying I may be receding

[Muz]

Hey, I'm 15 turning 16 next month and over the last view months I have been worrying that my hair has been showing signs of early receding. Also I use the term "worrying" lightly, I'm very happy with my hair, but lately it's kind of caught me off guard as I had one of my friend's comment on it jokingly. So im here to ask you opinions, and If I am indeed actually receding or if im just over thinking. Also, I definitely don't want anything sugar coated, please tell me as it is. I'm also going to a doctor to see what he think's. Finally I feel I should say that my Dad dosent have much hair now and has completely receded at the temples, but used to have really long thick hair in his teens/early adult hood and also his Dad was completely bold (My grandad) for as long as I can remember but ofcourse that's expected.

Pictures: (Click for full screen)



Note: Ignore the rings around my ears, just wear my head phones have been.

Any advice/feedback would be greatly appreciated.

[Muz]

http://imgur.com/CyuIDlv

Hair line

[Notcoolanymore]

When I first read the title I was thinking "Great, another kid with a full head of hair thinking he is going bald". Unfortunately I think I am wrong. It actually does look like you are receding. I am not going to recommend treatments to a 15 yo. Dude, talk to your parents and ask them to make an appointment to see a Dr. preferably one that knows about hair loss and how to treat it.

Again, sorry and good luck.

[Trenblastoise]

Looks like you are receding. Your temples seem to be thinning and your hair line is receding to an M. I don't know if you color your hair, but if you aren't another give away is your hair is lighter at the top than the sides. I'd also take a look on the hair receding, if any, on the males of your mother side: Your mothers father or brothers. Also, plenty of grandfathers are not bald at all. Some people get happily through life without a single worry of hair loss.

Just to expand somewhat on Notcoolanymore about "treatments".
Currently there is no cure, and it does not seem like there will be any cure for at least 10-20 years.

The current treatments are:
1) Hair transplants
2) Drugs

The most used drugs are propecia/finasteride: These drugs are inhibiting testosterone to convert into dihydrotestosterone which has been proven to be a major contributor to hair loss - however just for those sensitive to it. Inhibiting dihydrotestosterone often results in negative sexual side effects, libido, sensation to complete erectile dysfunction, which in some cases persist after discontinuation of the drug.

There is another common drug called rogaine/Minoxidil. These drugs cause a lot of hair shedding when you start with them, and the hair usually becomes stronger when it grows back. However, it seem to be just a temporarily effect of ~2-2.5 years. After that - or if you discontinue the usage you will recede/bald quicker than ever. It can cause development of wrinkles as it dries out the skin, redness and irritation, quicker to get sunburned etc.

I am not a fan of drugs. I will not recommend them to anyone because of the dangerous side effects, especially of propecia/finasteride.

Hair transplants are expensive, and there is a limit on how the results you can get: You don't get more hair follicles you just move them around. So without a good donor area there wont be a lot to do. Be sure to get a really good doctor if you opt for this sometime in the future. It can buy you some time without any severe side effects that I know of(If you take FuE method). There is of course risk of infections, but there is a lot of tools you can do to manage these if you get any.

[Trenblastoise]

Just wanted to clarify that "
The most used drugs are propecia/finasteride: These drugs are inhibiting testosterone to convert into dihydrotestosterone which has been proven to be a major contributor to hair loss - however just for those sensitive to it. "

When I say "just for those sensitive to it" I mean plenty of men never have any hair loss, they still got normal dihydrotestosterone levels or above - they aren't sensitive to dihydrotestosterone, which those men that do lose hair almost always are.

[Illusion]

Welcome to the world of hair loss as a teenager. You're receding but you're too young to undergo most treatments, the worst of both worlds.


You should talk to your doctor about this although I'm pretty sure he's not going to do anything against it other than to just prescribe minoxidil to you. And actually, that's probably the best for your health.

I started finasteride shortly after I turned 17 and that was already way too young according to a lot of people, something I can't really disagree with but I was paranoid enough about my hair to make that decision. The thing you should understand about most current treatments is that they affect your hormone profile. Trenblastoise told you some things about finasteride, but inhibiting important hormones while your body is still in development can stunt some of that development, depending on what the hormone is used for. Therefore it's not really potentional side effects of finasteride you should worry, but more the effects on your development as a male imo. The minimum age of taking drugs such as finasteride/propecia is 18, though some dermatologists might prescribe them to younger patients as well (it's rare though).


But maybe you'll recede slowly over the next few years and you won't lose too much ground before your 18th, at which you can start finasteride. Possibly earlier if you stress a lot about it.


Best of luck. Try to not get too obsessed over hair loss. Many people claim that hair loss itself has ruined their life, while it's actually their obsession over their hair loss that caused them to lose themselves. Besides that, when you actually start to get obsessed with hair loss it's pretty hard to get out of that state of mind.

[Hairmore]

Hey Muz, did you do anything about your hair since feb last year? Really looks like you may really have male pattern hair loss so it would be intersting to know how things are going for you now.

[keebler239]

I see the receding hair, especially in the last picture. It doesn't look bad at all, but 15 is very young to have it start to happen. I think taking a medication like Propecia may cause more harm than good considering you're still going through puberty and you should not try to this. Like the others have said, it would be best to talk to a doctor who can better evaluate your options.