Do I have MPB or is it stress?

[VictimOfDHT]

Thanks for the update, appleguy. I have Seborrheic Dermatitis and have had it for the longest time. My older brother had it too and he's now completely bald because he never used any meds like minox or Fin. I have little doubt that this shitty condition can be responsible for hair loss or at least speeding up the process and miniaturizing hair. There's hardly a shampoo I haven't used and nothing has worked. I use Nizoral some times 4-5 times a week. Just bought a new shampoo that's especially made for this condition and I'm hoping it will work.

Yeah, I understand all the anxiety you're feeling. I just went through hell the last couple of months myself. The anxiety from losing so much hair suddenly literally ****ed up my nervous system.

[Hurts]

is this "Seborrheic Dermatitis" thing basically dandruff? Because I have some sort of skin condition beneath my scalp and my forehead. After prolonged exposure to water it turns white-ish and can be "scraped" off with my nails. I thought it was just dead/dry skin but it surely cant have anything to do with dryness if it happens due to contact with warm/hot water?

Also every time I examine a strand of hair that's fallen out, there's some sort of white dead skin attached to the follicle.

I've looked at images on google and mine looks nothing like those pictures of people with some sort of inflammed skin, but the description matches. Weird...

[appleguy]

I didn't get the patchy scabby areas myself but I don't know wether it's exactly the same or not.

Basically from what I learned from my trichologist if hair is coming out at an accelerated rate it isn't MPB although you can still have that at the same time.

The hair will have a little white bulb at the end which is tiny.

If you have something that is coming off under your nails you could have something like this.

I was getting a form of dandruff too which i noticed especially when I was putting in hair product that now I am taking the treatment I do not get.

Anythign that clogs the base of the follicle will make it go dormant and stop processing new hairs

TBH with all the stress of the meeting it may not be SD I just remember her mentioning it was a form of dermatisis and everything I lost through this condition will grow back.

I highly reccomend seeing a Trichologist and one who is registered and qualified.

[UK_]

Yeah, appleguy. We'd really like to know if your hair grows back. That MIGHT, MIGHT give us some hope that we too might get our hair back since we all seem to have similar conditions.

Regarding your hairline - have you considered ACELL+PRP? You know it might help stop further loss and thicken existing hairs.

[appleguy]

I'd need to do some research on it so far. If it works, fantastic, I'll jump at it but so far only the Private Clinic (Raghu Reddy) is doing it and I would need to see more proof of it working before throwing money at it.
Unless of course you know something I don't!

[VictimOfDHT]

Regarding your hairline - have you considered ACELL+PRP? You know it might help stop further loss and thicken existing hairs.

We're waiting for a word on this stuff, whether it works or not. My understanding is that it is being offered in the UK at Raghu and his partner or something -forgot his name. If this stuff works, I'm getting it, cancer or not.

[ohlife]

Had my visit to the Trichologist today. Wow can't believe how stressed I was the night before.

I do have excessive shedding which me being such a daydreamer I never noticed, she was pulling it out right before my eyes and my pillow looks like a mans hairy back.
What was coming out had small little white plugs at the end which is a classic sign of TE

She told me I have a dermatological problem that is a form of TE caused by stress, my scalp is super oily and follicles and becoming clogged with oil and dead skin.
They first flatten against the scalp making it feel thin to begin with and then they cannot get through whatsoever and so fall out.

I would like to add at this point I have been having long and short hairs fall out. Someone on another forum said that means it's definite MPB due to antongen phase or something but the Trichologist said it is ridiculous as long and short can go and there is no difference. (makes you wonder why we consult forums for help when a lot of the guys there are just guessing - no offense intended though)

She says she does see signs of Genetic thinning but believes it is very slight and I don't have too much to worry about.

I've been given this awful cream which is like hair putty I have to rub into my scalp and it's hard to do and gets everywhere which you have to leave in for an hour which stops the oily secretions building up and eventually my body should takeover there after I think out the medication to zero.
Luckily the paste is a once a week treatment, it's horrible stuff honstely.

I was also given shampoo and spray. The shampoo I have been recommended to use indefinitley but so what it costs only a little bit more than regular stuff anyhow.

Basically this condition is reverseable she reckons everything I have lost through it I should get back but as I don't know how much I have lost on top we won't know for sure until it begins regrowing again.

I have to go back in two weeks when she will let me know what is happening.

She did tell me she has had guys with similar conditions which have been reversed and they have lost all signs of genetic thinning as sometimes the one can look like the other.

The only caveat to all of this is sometimes and I stress 'SOMETIMES' as someone else has pointed out above me it can accelerate MPB. However as I have mentioned she has had guys reverse their condition entirely and show no signs of thinning at all or at least back to before all this hellish sleigh ride started. As I mentioned above I have receded back at the temples 5 years ago but it hasn't moved since.
MPB can also be exaccerbated by not addressing the condition relatively quickly and getting treatment as these kinds of hair problems can increase DHT levels bringing it sooner than it shoudl have come.

The Trichologist was very good she said I didn't need finasteride or at least shouldn't once this has all cleaned up due to my frontal recession coming to a halt. She also warned about just diving right into it and suggested always checking with a GP, she herself would never just prescribe it or any of the other variants (this made me relax instantly, you don;t want a doc trying to sell you loads of product if you don't need it.)
She did recommend Minoxidil if need be and told me it had a 70% success rate and thinks it would work for me should I need it.
I had to pay for one session and that's it after that I just keep seeing her till it's fixed which she reckons shouldnn't take long.
Two weeks to fix it and up to 12 weeks (obviously) for the hair to grow back but she can tell by examining the scalp at two weeks.
She was Manchester based (I'm in the UK) and has ties with the Farjo clinic and is certified so she isn't some quack.

I was also advised to take more Iron and vitamin B and gave me a list of foods and supplements to take to help in future.

So although it's good news it's still a tense wait for two weeks to go by to see how much on top I get back again. She did say I should be optimistic though and thinks I am one of the more fortunate cases she has had.

I'm hoping if I can keep my hair for another five - ten years there'll be some new treatment out there that should fix anything major.

Ok, reporting in.. Wow dude, that's good news for you. As for me, I saw a dermatologist recently. Basically said that I probably do have at least some degree of MPB, but I also have dermatitis (like you, don't know how I've left it so long before getting it checked out).. I got the cream too, a long with antibiotics to hopefully 'kill' the dermatitis. Anyway, I'm hoping the excess shedding over the last 6 months or so was down to the scalp issues and that at least some of it will grow back and the excess shedding will cease - whether or not it was caused by stress I do not know, but I wouldn't be overly surprised.

[Hurts]

appleguy can you please explain more about your dermatitis condition? I think I have it too. I have it a lot on the side of my head, my scalp, sometimes forehead and under my eyebrows. When you scratch your head do you get clumps of dried/dead skin between your finger nails?

thanks

[Hurts]

in fact i think my eyebrow hairs are thinner than they used to be because of this. I've seen many doctors about it but non of them know wtf it is. maybe i should see a dematologist

[ziggomatic]

Hey Appleguy - my hairloss sounds quite similar to yours, VERY greasy hair every morning, white bulbs on the end of my fallen hair and I can pull around 8 hairs from the BACK of head (near the neck area) very easily.

What was the name of the Clinic/Trichologist you went to visit?

Thanks!

[ohlife]

Hey Appleguy - my hairloss sounds quite similar to yours, VERY greasy hair every morning, white bulbs on the end of my fallen hair and I can pull around 8 hairs from the BACK of head (near the neck area) very easily.

What was the name of the Clinic/Trichologist you went to visit?

Thanks!

Yes that's true, When I rub or gently pull on the hair in the donor area, hair still usually falls out - its more resistant in this area I guess, but still.

Hurts - definitely go get it checked out. Plus, doctors seem slack.. emphasize that its really bothering you.

[appleguy]

The clinic is called the trichology Clinic Manchester.

In regards to some questions about what I have. I do not have the scabby scalp and if you search online you will find many people saying that is exactly what it is but mine is not quite that. I have excessive sebum production which collects on the scalp, stops skin from coming away and collects there until it basically smothers the follicle which then goes to sleep.
The scabby kind is the same condition but at a different severity.

I was even losing a bit of chest hair if I did a tug test as well as scalp hair.

I was meant to be seeing them today for an update but my appointment was cancelled due to a problem at their end so it's another week away for me.

I do know that what she has given me is definitely working. I'm hardly losing any hairs now and my hair is nowhere near as greasy as it once was.

The main worries are will this trigger MPB on top of my head?
How much will I get back (As I never noticed if I was losing at the top before this and have no evidence to show where I was before it kicked off.)
Also I have a receding hairline which I thought had stopped but hasn't which I dont think has anything to do with this condition (unless I'm pleasantly surprised by what she says to me when I go for my check up) and I don't know what I should do about that.

Someone above me mentioned Acell PRP as a potential hairloss stopper but we won't know anything on that from what I have been able to glean till later this year. If it works as a hairloss stopper I will be over the moon but we have to wait and see about that.
Until then I have been giving serious thought to Finasteride.

[Fruit59]

Appleguy,

How did your 2nd visit go? and not sure if i understand how can their treatment further progress MPB ?

Thanks
F59

[appleguy]

Hi

I didn't mean treatment, I meant this condition can 'sometimes' accelerate any MPB that you may have so treatment needs to be quick and fast.

I had my 2nd appointment which got cancelled once by her and once by me due to work.

She gave me a quick check and said I was responding well to the medication that my scalp was much less irritated but she said it was way too early to tell how much regrowth I was going to get. I have a few new hairs growing here and there but the condition is not gone and until then I won't see anything significant.
I also got very scared a few days before because in the shower I started shedding like crazy again but I was told it is normal to have the occasional off day where you shed so shit happens.

I do seem to be more receded on my left temple than my right but that could be down to this condition and again I will not know for sure until this is all cleared up and I start to regrow what I have lost.

Another 4 weeks wait I'm afraid before I find out where I stand.

At the moment I'm trying to put this behind me and get on with things as anxiety over this really isn't helping the condition but as soon as I get my next appointment I will update again.

[Fruit59]

Thank you for the update,

I attended my first consultation yesterday with the same clinic and was given exactly the same as you, she said i had seborrhoeic dermatitis, I have my second appointment a week today.

She also said ill see re growth once its cleared up so i am hopeful too, it is really difficult trying to not think too much about it all, especially as you have to apply the spray every night.

I just hope i get everything i have lost back, she said it will thicken up again within 3 - 4 months.

Ill also keep you updated on my status.

Thanks
F59