32 year old male receding near temples

[jfisher]

Hi,

I'm joining all of the popular hair loss forums since keeping my hair is a concern to me. I am 32 years old, physically fit and baby-faced. I still look like I am in my early 20s, and hair loss is the only thing that is starting to make me look older. I currently use finasteride, minoxidil, and nizoral. I have a full head of hair except for receding near the temples and it is thicker and grows faster on the sides. I'd like to get advice about other treatments I can do at home, and learn about hair restoration surgery options since eventually I believe I will need it.

Here is the long winded version of my story:

I noticed that I was starting to lose my hair in 2012, at age 27. I had my hair long and cut it short and noticed that it my hair had receded back near the temples (and it was thinning slightly in the back). I immediately started using generic minoxidil (the walmart brand, started applying it in the front of my head). At some point I started using nizoral shampoo also. By early 2014 I noticed that my hair was growing slower in the back than it was in the front. I started applying minoxidil over a larger surface area (I started applying minoxidil foam in the back), and then I asked my doctor for finasteride in March of 2014, and I have been using it ever since.

The finasteride was extremely effective in restoring hair growth near the back of my head where it was starting to slow. Before I started taking it, the hair near the front of my head was starting to look noticeably thicker than the hair in the back. Eventually, I think it took about a year, this was no longer the case (my hair looked equally thick in the very front and toward the back).

My hair line seems to be receeding around the temples still, but very slowly. This is getting to be a problem since my hair is getting harder to style. I still am grateful that I have a substantial amount of hair and most people cannot tell that I am balding at all.

I have a very thick head of hair, and it grows much faster on the sides now which makes it harder to style. I have to get it cut very frequently and have the sides cut much shorter so they don't out grow the top. I have a small forehead and in the front I seem to only recede near the temples. Eventually I'll probably have young Jack Nicholson style hair, but I don't want to be bald at all.

At this point it looks like there won't be any cure for baldness within the next 20 years, so I'll probably get hair restoration surgery eventually.

Also, it's worth mentioning that minoxidil and finasteride seemed to work exactly as expected. Minoxidil worked very well for me in the back of the head, but not so well in the front. Finasteride worked in the back and front center of my hairline, and I my hair got thicker in areas where it was previously thinning. After two years on finasteride I seemed to start thinning in some of those areas again. Also, I had no noticeable side effects from finasteride.

[Simar]

ok

[JohnMPB]

You are already on the most scientifically backed treatments that have long term data. In terms of additional treatments you're going to get into the more expiremental zone which includes things like dutasteride, LLLT, dermarolling, copper peptides, topical antiandrogens, etc. it's unknown how well a lot of these expiremental drugs work or how you'll respond.

Also, some of these drugs are expensive and not easily sourced (people end up using the black market to get antiandrogens from places like Chinese manufacturers/distributors). Lots of safety and credibility concerns imo.

If your loss is relatively stable, then you can also look into hai transplants. There is FUE and FUT. you can read about hair transplants here and see many cases. Make sure u visit a reputeable surgeon, stay away from places like bosley.

[jfisher]

Thanks JohnMPB. I did not know that Bosley had a reputation. However, I should have guessed since my dad got transplants from them about 10 years ago and you can count the hairs he has left where they put the transplants. It looks really bad.

Propecia seemed to reverse my hair loss a bit for about 2 years, but the hair loss seems to be accelerating a bit now, especially near the front. I'm lucky to have mostly a full head of hair but I'm receding asymmetrically near the temples. That combined with the slower growth in the back relative to the sides, is making my hair exceedingly difficult to style.

[pkipling]

Your story is very similar to mine and you're honestly doing everything you possibly can right now to set yourself up for success in regards to maintaining your hair. Should you eventually decide to go the hair transplant route, make sure you do tons of research to make sure you're choosing the right surgeon and taking the right approach. While there are quite a few fantastic surgeons out there, there are infinitely more bad ones, so really do your homework. Avoiding Bosley is step 1.
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I am a patient advocate for Dr. Parsa Mohebi in Los Angeles, CA. My views/opinions are my own and don't necessarily reflect the opinions of Dr. Mohebi and his staff.