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Hey guys, I need some help figuring out what the hell is going on with my hair.
Quick facts:
I’m 20 years old, always had a problem with dermatitis, dandruff, oily scalp, dad suffers from mpb. Always had thick wavy hair. I’ve narrowed it down between mpb and telogen effluvium but I’m still conflicted.
Since mid July, something’s been off with my hair. I noticed that whenever I ran my hands through my hair, tons and tons of strands would just fly out. I remember one time in particular where I decided to test it by just running my hands through my hair over my sink. I did this for around 10 seconds and it strands and strands just started falling out and coated my bathroom sink. This wasn’t normal. This sudden, dramatic shedding lasted for a little over a month. But at the end of it, the damage was done, in a over a month I went from having a thick mane that I could get wet without worry, to still a mane but a much thinner one that I could see my scalp through and did everything I could to keep from getting wet.
Just look at this pic from early July where my normal hair is damp, to these that are wet from a few weeks ago (looked the same in September just don’t have pics from back then), this is the change that happened within a month and a half. I went from thick luscious hair to thin weak hair in a little over a month.
(Note first pic is my normal hair, next two are water, rest are with olive oil)
When the shedding first started I was convinced it was mpb due to only noticing diffuse pattern thinning on the top, mostly an awkward spot in the middle between my hairline and crown. But after awhile I realized that my sides where also quite thin(maybe from the hair growing longer?), even my back felt thin when I ran my fingers through it. I can make contact with my scalp (top, back, sides) with my finger using very little effort when previously it was a battle.
But the thinning is still by far most noticeable on the top (maybe due to the fact that hair on sides and back falls with gravity to cover thin areas whereas the top can't). However my entire scalp as a whole feels thinner than it used to be. My hairline is a mild classic M-shape, around an NW 1.5 but hasn't changed in awhile, or if it has it hasn’t been enough for me to notice because my hair always covered it up. But the hair at the frontal hairline is quite thin and I’m worried it’s gonna progress.
Some context, I spent May-Early July in Guatemala. This is where the TE trigger might come into play. Within my first week there I got a terrible fever that lasted for a few days, and then around a week or two later I ended up with amoebic dysentery. And when you add long days of construction work and adjusting to the high altitude, it was a rough first few weeks. If you guys have never had this, believe me you don’t want it, imagine having to shit soup every 20 minutes for a week an half. Gave me an intense fever for the first few days I had it and the most intense fatigue and lack of appetite I’ve ever experienced. There were definitely a few days where I felt like a straight up zombie, probably the worst I’ve felt physically from any illness.
If what I have is TE, then I believe this is most likely what triggered it as it occurred two months before my big shed and ticks the boxes for a TE trigger. Also important to mention that between April and July I was on atleast 5 different antibiotics (maybe more) due to the amoebas, a tonsil infection that kept coming back, and cellulitis from a spider bite. And I’ve seen some reports online of antibiotics leading to hairloss like amoxicillin or whatever sketchy non-FDA approved shit I took in Guat. And I probably showered a total of 4-5 times in my 8 weeks there (cold showers at high altitudes are not fun) so my already grease prone hair and scalp became an itchy mess and probably aggravated the shit out of my dermatitis.
I saw 3 medical professionals for help.
1. First visit was a dermatologist office, but I never saw a doctor just a nurse practitioner who diagnosed me with mpb after looking at my scalp and cited that there is only thinning on top(at this point I hadn’t really noticed thinning on the sides). She also diagnosed me with dermatitis and prescribed propecia and nizoral.
2. Second was a visit to a hair restoration clinic, the dude wasn’t a doctor and tried to sell me a laser device, kinda gave me a snake oil salesman vibe. He also said it looked like mpb but was surprised at how sudden it had come.
3. The third was another dermatologist office but this time I actually saw a doctor and he said it was most likely telogen effluvium given it’s sudden onset and the amoebic dysentery serving as the trigger. He said to expect around a year for full recovery and that it could get worse before it get’s better. He also said it’s normal for hair loss to be more visible on the top.
I hope you guys can see why I’m confused as to what’s going on. I've learned that even medical professionals can make mistakes. MPB runs on my dad’s side, but even his hairloss wasn’t this bad or in this pattern, he’s in his sixties now and has a NW4. And the thinning is a lot more noticeable at the hairline, top, and crown as is common in mpb. There's also the possibility I've been thinning for awhile and it's only now become noticeable. But at the same time, the sudden timing, diffuse thinning, and the presecence of a potential trigger also point to TE. And let’s be real, all of us going through this want it to be TE, even tho it is quite rare for men. I have the propecia prescription sitting in my room right now but I don't want to spend the money and risk the sides for a medication I might not need.
It’s December now, so around 4 months since the big shed and while my shedding is under control, I haven’t seen an improvement in my hair, sometimes I feel like it’ gotten worse but that could also be due to the long length I have it at. I’m still terrified of getting it wet in public and still have to style it each morning to make sure no scalp is showing. Styling has become so much harder now due to a lack of hair density and the bald spots all over my scalp.
Personally I have a feeling this could be a horrible mixture of mpb and TE, just because of my family history and the thinning being more apparent in the mpb areas. But I wanna hear what you guys think and any advice you may have. I’m planning on going to a derm in my hometown soon and get some mapping done to find out for sure.
Quick facts:
I’m 20 years old, always had a problem with dermatitis, dandruff, oily scalp, dad suffers from mpb. Always had thick wavy hair. I’ve narrowed it down between mpb and telogen effluvium but I’m still conflicted.
Since mid July, something’s been off with my hair. I noticed that whenever I ran my hands through my hair, tons and tons of strands would just fly out. I remember one time in particular where I decided to test it by just running my hands through my hair over my sink. I did this for around 10 seconds and it strands and strands just started falling out and coated my bathroom sink. This wasn’t normal. This sudden, dramatic shedding lasted for a little over a month. But at the end of it, the damage was done, in a over a month I went from having a thick mane that I could get wet without worry, to still a mane but a much thinner one that I could see my scalp through and did everything I could to keep from getting wet.
Just look at this pic from early July where my normal hair is damp, to these that are wet from a few weeks ago (looked the same in September just don’t have pics from back then), this is the change that happened within a month and a half. I went from thick luscious hair to thin weak hair in a little over a month.
(Note first pic is my normal hair, next two are water, rest are with olive oil)
When the shedding first started I was convinced it was mpb due to only noticing diffuse pattern thinning on the top, mostly an awkward spot in the middle between my hairline and crown. But after awhile I realized that my sides where also quite thin(maybe from the hair growing longer?), even my back felt thin when I ran my fingers through it. I can make contact with my scalp (top, back, sides) with my finger using very little effort when previously it was a battle.
But the thinning is still by far most noticeable on the top (maybe due to the fact that hair on sides and back falls with gravity to cover thin areas whereas the top can't). However my entire scalp as a whole feels thinner than it used to be. My hairline is a mild classic M-shape, around an NW 1.5 but hasn't changed in awhile, or if it has it hasn’t been enough for me to notice because my hair always covered it up. But the hair at the frontal hairline is quite thin and I’m worried it’s gonna progress.
Some context, I spent May-Early July in Guatemala. This is where the TE trigger might come into play. Within my first week there I got a terrible fever that lasted for a few days, and then around a week or two later I ended up with amoebic dysentery. And when you add long days of construction work and adjusting to the high altitude, it was a rough first few weeks. If you guys have never had this, believe me you don’t want it, imagine having to shit soup every 20 minutes for a week an half. Gave me an intense fever for the first few days I had it and the most intense fatigue and lack of appetite I’ve ever experienced. There were definitely a few days where I felt like a straight up zombie, probably the worst I’ve felt physically from any illness.
If what I have is TE, then I believe this is most likely what triggered it as it occurred two months before my big shed and ticks the boxes for a TE trigger. Also important to mention that between April and July I was on atleast 5 different antibiotics (maybe more) due to the amoebas, a tonsil infection that kept coming back, and cellulitis from a spider bite. And I’ve seen some reports online of antibiotics leading to hairloss like amoxicillin or whatever sketchy non-FDA approved shit I took in Guat. And I probably showered a total of 4-5 times in my 8 weeks there (cold showers at high altitudes are not fun) so my already grease prone hair and scalp became an itchy mess and probably aggravated the shit out of my dermatitis.
I saw 3 medical professionals for help.
1. First visit was a dermatologist office, but I never saw a doctor just a nurse practitioner who diagnosed me with mpb after looking at my scalp and cited that there is only thinning on top(at this point I hadn’t really noticed thinning on the sides). She also diagnosed me with dermatitis and prescribed propecia and nizoral.
2. Second was a visit to a hair restoration clinic, the dude wasn’t a doctor and tried to sell me a laser device, kinda gave me a snake oil salesman vibe. He also said it looked like mpb but was surprised at how sudden it had come.
3. The third was another dermatologist office but this time I actually saw a doctor and he said it was most likely telogen effluvium given it’s sudden onset and the amoebic dysentery serving as the trigger. He said to expect around a year for full recovery and that it could get worse before it get’s better. He also said it’s normal for hair loss to be more visible on the top.
I hope you guys can see why I’m confused as to what’s going on. I've learned that even medical professionals can make mistakes. MPB runs on my dad’s side, but even his hairloss wasn’t this bad or in this pattern, he’s in his sixties now and has a NW4. And the thinning is a lot more noticeable at the hairline, top, and crown as is common in mpb. There's also the possibility I've been thinning for awhile and it's only now become noticeable. But at the same time, the sudden timing, diffuse thinning, and the presecence of a potential trigger also point to TE. And let’s be real, all of us going through this want it to be TE, even tho it is quite rare for men. I have the propecia prescription sitting in my room right now but I don't want to spend the money and risk the sides for a medication I might not need.
It’s December now, so around 4 months since the big shed and while my shedding is under control, I haven’t seen an improvement in my hair, sometimes I feel like it’ gotten worse but that could also be due to the long length I have it at. I’m still terrified of getting it wet in public and still have to style it each morning to make sure no scalp is showing. Styling has become so much harder now due to a lack of hair density and the bald spots all over my scalp.
Personally I have a feeling this could be a horrible mixture of mpb and TE, just because of my family history and the thinning being more apparent in the mpb areas. But I wanna hear what you guys think and any advice you may have. I’m planning on going to a derm in my hometown soon and get some mapping done to find out for sure.
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