Does baldness start off with thinning in the frontal region?

[pick]

Hello. I'm a 21 year old guy.

Unlike most people here and elsewhere who lose hair in the crown and have receeding hairlines near the temple, I don't have any of those issues.

But my hair in the frontal region/mid-scalp has been thinning a lot. I can see a lot of my scalp. This has been the case since 1 year.

My dermatologist told me I'm balding without any tests and put me on Minoxidil. I'm still waiting for results from Minoxidil.

Can someone please answer these questions:
1. Am I balding weirdly that I'm completely fine but have really thinning hair in the frontal and mid-scalp regions.
2. How long can I expect the balding process to take? I'll probably shave it when it gets "ugly", but I really want it to stick around for another 5 years.
3. Can it be a telogen shed phase? How long can such a phase last? 1 year?

Thanks a lot.

[pick]

anyone?

[TotallyScrewed]

Different people have different balding patterns based on their genes. I think it varies a lot by ethnicity, actually (Greeks for example supposedly have a distinct balding pattern). I saw one guy on TV who had an island in the front, a bit in the very back of his head, and nothing else (sides were gone... it was pretty weird.

No way to know, but generally the younger you start the faster/worse it is.

Minox may well not work for you. Jump on finasteride if you have to (don't wait). You should see a dermatologist who knows what he/she's talking about, btw, and get a real assessment.

[pick]

but what about side effects from Finasteride? Permanent sexual dysfunction is not something I'm ok with.

[Morbo]

Do you have pictures Pick? Just curious about the pattern.

This was mine btw.

https://www.baldtruthtalk.com/showthread.php?7527-Anyone-who-has-my-type-of-hairloss&highlight=