21 and might be starting to bald

[dex89]

My aim for now would be to stop it for the time being because from what I can see it hasn't progressed too much and I (hopefully) have time on my side, so I feel that if I act soon enough I could nip it in the bud. I would be interested in trying FIN but there are two problems to this: 1) I'm taking Roaccutane ATM and I don't know how my body would react to both at the same time; 2) and as mentioned earlier, I can't go home for Christmas which means that I can't show it to my parents or see my regular dermatologist, although I have obviously told my parents about it. They think that it isn't anything that I should be worried about, but they said that if I do insist on taking something that I should get Regaine or something like that, as they aren't too keen on me taking FIN just yet. I'm sure that my dermatologist saying so would change their mind, but as I said that's not an option available to me at the moment.

The only thing that worries me about Regaine/Minoxidil is that I've read that it can cause shedding and potentially further hair loss, so I'm really torn as to what I should do. Has anyone had any experience with either one?

You do know that accutane can cause severe hair loss, right?

Your in a tough pickle...When I started to see my hairline recede a bit the first hair loss product I use was rogaine at age 19. I used it for a couple of months and my hair loss slowed down. Sure, I shed a bit but that is the normal process when using a hair loss product. Right now I'm using Fin, minox, and 2 other products that i'm experimenting on. I'm a NW1-1.5 at age 23 and my hairline seem to get thicker and It stopped shedding.

[Confused91]

You do know that accutane can cause severe hair loss, right?

Your in a tough pickle...When I started to see my hairline recede a bit the first hair loss product I use was rogaine at age 19. I used it for a couple of months and my hair loss slowed down. Sure, I shed a bit but that is the normal process when using a hair loss product. Right now I'm using Fin, minox, and 2 other products that i'm experimenting on. I'm a NW1-1.5 at age 23 and my hairline seem to get thicker and It stopped shedding.

Sorry for the late reply Dex. Happy New Year! I am aware that Roaccutane can cause severe hair loss, but it seems to me that the hair that I am losing isn't growing back, so it's hard to tell whether it's due to the Roaccutane.

I really am in a tough situation right now because I know that in a situation like this time is valuable, but I'm equally worried by the prospect that things could potentially worsen if I started using Rogaine or something like that, which I have heard has happened in an albeit small number of cases. I think that I might stick it out until I go home next month and see my dermatologist, although right now a month seems like an extremely long time in hair loss terms.

[This Sucks]

Sorry for the late reply Dex. Happy New Year! I am aware that Roaccutane can cause severe hair loss, but it seems to me that the hair that I am losing isn't growing back, so it's hard to tell whether it's due to the Roaccutane.

I really am in a tough situation right now because I know that in a situation like this time is valuable, but I'm equally worried by the prospect that things could potentially worsen if I started using Rogaine or something like that, which I have heard has happened in an albeit small number of cases. I think that I might stick it out until I go home next month and see my dermatologist, although right now a month seems like an extremely long time in hair loss terms.

Dude, everything you've said sounds like me, except I've been off of accuatne for a year and a half.

It sucks.... I wish I never took accutane.

I picked up some finasteride today so hopefully that works without any side effects.

[rapid]

IMHO, it doesn't look like you're balding.
When you're washing your hair, do you get at least several strands of hair on your hands? For me, when I'm lathering my hair with shampoo, I count about 25-40 strands of hair. It is frightening and depressing man.

[Confused91]

Dude, everything you've said sounds like me, except I've been off of accuatne for a year and a half.

It sucks.... I wish I never took accutane.

I picked up some finasteride today so hopefully that works without any side effects.

Yeah, the fact of the matter is that I started noticing it in September, just after my dermatologist upped my dose from 30 to 40 mg/day. The good news is that my face is spotless - the bad news, apart from this, is a whole slew of other bizarre occurrences, such as sleeping problems, decreased night vision and other things like that. I came across an article recently by accident which set out the side effect Roaccutane can have, and after reading it I have to say that I don't know if I would've agreed to taking it in the first place if I had known.

Like I said, it all boils down to what my dermatologist says when I see her next month, although when my mother told her about the side effects that I had been experiencing, she seemed surprised and said that they should not occur that soon. Somehow, this lack of empathy on her part doesn't bode well.

[Confused91]

IMHO, it doesn't look like you're balding.
When you're washing your hair, do you get at least several strands of hair on your hands? For me, when I'm lathering my hair with shampoo, I count about 25-40 strands of hair. It is frightening and depressing man.

That's what I don't understand either. I look at my pillow every morning when I wake up, my hands when I wash my hair and my towel after I dry my hair, and nowhere do I see an inordinate amount of hair. Which makes me think that either I'm imagining things or that it's a slow-burn process.

[Confused91]

Here's an update guys, my scalp is definitely starting to show more where my parting is and after I wash my hair and slick it back I can see a lot more of my scalp than before. Having had a look around I believe that I may have what is referred to as diffuse thinning, which seems to be the absolute worst one of the lot. Whether it's the Roaccutane I don't know anymore but in any case I would like to get on something like Propecia, but I'm very wary as to doing this because I don't know how it'll turn out. Has anyone here had any luck with it? Has anyone not?

[custards]

Hi Confused91,
I think a little bit of thinning is fairly common on roaccutane. That's why the hair looks less even if it doesn't fall out. I noticed that at the time when I took it but it was still a good 7 years later before I saw any other changes that woke me up to MPB.
Unrelated to hair you might want to discuss with the doc possibly stopping early if it's been effective. I skipped my entire last box and still feel like I had too much to be honest.

As to whether you've got the hair gene or not, the advice about buzzing it short all over is sound if you really need to know. On the other hand your hair looks great how it is - seems a shame to buzz it. Tough call, heh.