Probably MPB, what next?

[Illusion]

Hi all,

For the past 2 or 3 months, I've been experiencing more hair loss than usual. The thing that really scares me is that most of the hairs are peach fuzz, not at all uncommon for MPB. My normal hair length on top is about 6-8 cm, and these thin hairs are 1cm max. They're very thin and they sometimes even look like dust. Furthermore, the top of my scalp is starting to feel thinner than the sides. My temples have receded very slightly, but that's not yet a big deal. My hair loss isn't visible yet, but it is definitely noticable when I feel. Besides, the amount of hairs and the kind of hairs that fall out say enough.

This all points out to MPB. The thing is, I'm 16 years old. While not impossible, it seems incredibly unreal to me. I recently listened to a podcast of Spencer Kobren who gave advice to another 16 year old boy who had MPB (can't find the link right now). That was kind of reassuring, but only for a little bit. My point is, I really want to know if this is MPB and not something else. Again, it seems highly unlikely that this is something else than MPB and maybe I'm just delusional. But who knows.

Since two years ago, I have 4 very stressful periods each year. In this periods I have exams, which often result in an average of ~2-3 hours a sleep a night for ~1,5 week, which is pretty stressful. Is there perhaps a very slim chance that my hair condition is TE? Even though of all the peach fuzz and the thinning, which seems to be happening almost exclusively on the top of my head and not on the sides?

I should note that my dad was already balding in his early twenties and my brother (21) is getting a very thin crown. These things probably don't speak in my favour... I have also recently contacted a hairclinic (I thought hairclinics weren't for HT only but also for regular examination when taking propecia/applying minoxidil/etc), but they said I was too young to get a treatment at their clinic: I had to be 18 at least. They did give me some advise to take: "natural multi vitamines", "Natural vitamine hairplus (probably some kind of hairshampoo from the supermarket)", "Vitaal Shampoo" and "Haarkuur-conditioner" (it's dutch for hairconditioner or something like that). If this wouldn't give me any results within 5-6 months, there wouldn't be anything they could do for me anymore.

Yeah. So that's that. Most dermatologists know **** all about hair loss and the only hairclinic in my area doesn't want to treat me because of my age. I have talked to my parents about my hair loss, but they seemed to have their doubts. "You're only 16, I don't think you're experiencing hair loss already." or "Have you counted all the hairs that have been falling out? It's normal to lose around a 100 hairs a day". Well, I haven't counted my hairs but based on what is laying on my keyboard in front of me right now, 250 hairs is a pretty safe assumption.

Another thing is that I am not sure yet if I really want medication to 'fix' my hair loss. It would mean that I would be entering a world of a lot of insecurity about my hair. I'd be constantly checking if I'm shedding a lot of hairs, if my hairline is receding, if my crown is thinning and so on. And I'm then I haven't even begun about possible side effects, the inconvenience and the cost. If I would be able to accept my hair loss, I would be free from MPB. Forever. But you all know it: that's not something that's going to come overnight.

Sorry for the long story but it feels really good to vent and to put my thoughts in perspective. What should I do next? Any advice or tips?

Thanks in advance.

[Still deciding]

East to say *don't stress out* but when it is your head that saying is tough to follow. I started early 20s with recession. Runs in family. I immediately jumped on Rogaine and eventually added propecia/proscar. 16 is a bit young in my opinion but my suggestion is Rogaine foam asap. Give it a shot. Also add Nizoral shampoo 3 - 4 days a week when you shampoo hair. Stabilize what you can then add proscar/propeci when early 20s---assuming your doctor is ok with it and you have explored it thouroughly. Perhaps by then there will be more approved options (not fads or potions) to add to your fight. 15 yrs of proscar, rogaine, and nizoral use and I feel I managed to stay ahead of game. Also look into toppik - saved me as well. Hope this helps. I am not a doctor or rep for a dr just a longtime battler and researcher. Best of luck.

[Illusion]

^ Thanks for responding. I want to act fast, but shouldn't I see someone first? Since I'm too young for the only hairclinic in my area and most dermatologists know very little about hair loss, this might be a bit of a problem. Also, do you find a rogaine-routine inconvenient? I've read about some people saying it is pretty much a pain in the ass... I figured you would be the perfect person to ask these questions since you're a 'longtime battler', as you describe yourself. Also, since you're following a routine for so long, aren't you a bit obsessed with your hair? With that I simple mean that you're constantly checking for thinning or how much hair you're shedding, etc. That's one thing I'm scared of: me not being able to relax anymore, constantly stressing about my hair and what not...

[Still deciding]

Yes in my experience one will find that not many derms have much knowledgable ref treating MPB. Good thing the hair clinic turned you away because 16 is too young. However, if you made it to this site then hair loss is obviously a concern for you so in my opinion you have to decide how important of an issue it really is for you. Yes, it can become an obsession. There are only three medically approved techniques to attempt to regrow hair or halt/slow down the hair loss process: Rogaine, propecia/proscar, and a hair transplant. Few others are debatable (vitamins, laser comb/hat, some shampoos). Once I started on rogaine and propecia I noticed at a minimum a slowing down to my hair loss and even had some regrowth- enough to alleviate the daily concern for me. I still kept an eye on it but not daily as I did prior to starting the regime. Yes, it is daily upkeep taking rogaine but the foam applies easily and has been part of my everyday routine so does not bother me. I'd much rather do that every AM then watch hairs go down the drain. 16 is a young age to have this on your mind so again just have to decide how important it is to you. If there is truly nobody to see in your area there are many good websites like this one to help answer your questions. I think the majority if not all of well informed people will tell you to at the most try rogaine--stick with it--and also perhaps add nizoral shampoo every few days. 16 is quite young for propecia/proscar and can not imagine any dr - even one with little experience in dealing with mpb- would be open to prescribing that for you. Hope this helps.

[Illusion]

Thank you very much, it helps a lot. You're spot on about deciding if it's worth it though. Sometimes I think "what the hell, I just get a buzzcut when it gets too bad" and other times I get paranoid because I see older people with thick hair and start feeling so unfortunate about myself... Still got to make up my mind about that. In the mean time, I'm just going to gather as much information as I can.

I've opened a topic to ask some questions about routines and treatments in the appropriate subforum, since this is more of a "am I going bald? [insert pics here]" or "what should I do now" subforum. But you got me off to a very good start, really appreciate it!

[Illusion]

Here are some pics on how it looks now. I guess it's not that bad right now but I'm only 16 so this is probably only the beginning. Any comments are appreciated. And please be honest.








Is this a NW2? I thought I was more like a NW1,5 but after seeing this I doubt it...

[Illusion]

Bump for recognition. What do you guys think of the pictures I posted?

[JesseHeisenberg47]

Hey, I'm 16 as well, but I've lost a huge amount more than you have, so don't worry I've felt the worry too. Generally speaking, I'd say you have a good head of hair, considering nw2 (which I think you're at now, just from the looks of the temples) isn't even balding yet. So the good news is, you still have a good head of hair. However there is potential for thinning at the front, which isn't really thinning atm, but it might do in the future. So I think there could be balding to prevent, especially with your genetics, you may be going that way. However I could be talking BS because I can't predict the future. IMO you don't need to attack it very aggressively atm, and there's really nothing to worry about, because solutions are there. Perhaps try minoxidil or nizoral, to see if you can potentially thicken, but at 16 and nw2, you ideally don't want to be taking propecia. How bald are your father and brother/s? If they're very bald or if you lose more hair in the close future, then consider propecia at 18 imo, if there's no change perhaps even wait a bit later. Nevertheless, I can guarantee you, that MPB gets easier when you know what to do, and atm, what you have to do is just keep an eye on it now and again and think about and make sure which treatments you're planning to use and when. Inform yourself as much as possible on here (by which I mean the proven options information, not the pessimism lol) and you'll have it under control and know what you're doing. That's all you can really do, which should be enough since you caught it early. There's only one thing that's better at dealing with MPB than all that, and that's enjoying other things in life, and knowing every time you think about it, that there's a solution to it that means you won't go really bald. After all you got great hair, which you can practically still style anyway, so enjoy life and good luck!

[Illusion]

Thanks for your reply man, it's always nice to get some positive vibes! I know I shouldn't worry to much about it, which is why I haven't been a lot around here recently (I always get a bit down and paranoid after spending a lot of time on the forums). If I compare my hairline to older pictures I can see that I haven't been going backwards that much actually. I've always had a pretty high hairline so no worries in that I guess. But I am slightly receding (like you said), so I'm going to do something about it really soon. I'm starting RU within a few weeks if all goes right.

My father was a NW7 in his early 30's or so and my brother is a NW2 with diffuse thinning (like me) but in a more advanced stadium. His crown is thinner than mine is, although I can feel my crown getting thinner too. It's not visible yet though. Anyway, like I said, I'm going to start RU and stop worrying about all of this for a while, it would be good for my mental health