I Feel Like A Lot Of People Here Misdiagnose Male Pattern Baldness

[john1181]

I'm looking at a lot of the posts here saying they're losing hair, and I feel like people just immediately jump to male pattern baldness and tell the person to jump on meds. When it can also be caused by stress, thyroid issues, low iron, etc etc. Literally my hair went from being literally perfect and thick to sh*t in literally a couple of months. I didn't even know anything about hairloss because it never occurred to me that it could happen to young people, until that time. A good bit of it actually came back but most didn't. But i'm hoping after treatment it will. Today I went to an endocrinologist and was diagnosed with hypothyroidism and low iron, and an autoimmune diesease, and she says its Alopecia areata, not male pattern baldness.. She said that was because the hair loss on my temples was in a circular pattern? I dont really see it though. When I lookup Alopecia areata it looks completely different from what I have... but my hair looks the same as most of the other people posting here in the "earlier stages" of male pattern baldness. So I don't know if shes wrong, or if a lot of the people here are. Heres a pic of my temples.. its still thin in other places but this is the only real noticable place now.

 

[hairblues]

I'm looking at a lot of the posts here saying they're losing hair, and I feel like people just immediately jump to male pattern baldness and tell the person to jump on meds. When it can also be caused by stress, thyroid issues, low iron, etc etc. Literally my hair went from being literally perfect and thick to sh*t in literally a couple of months. I didn't even know anything about hairloss because it never occurred to me that it could happen to young people, until that time. A good bit of it actually came back but most didn't. But i'm hoping after treatment it will. Today I went to an endocrinologist and was diagnosed with hypothyroidism and low iron, and an autoimmune diesease, and she says its Alopecia areata, not male pattern baldness.. She said that was because the hair loss on my temples was in a circular pattern? But when I lookup Alopecia areata it looks completely different from what I have... but it looks the same as most of the other people posting here. So I don't know if shes wrong, or if a lot of the people here are.

Respectfully you are an exception not a rule.
Did the thyroid trigger your areata?

 

[john1181]

Respectfully you are an exception not a rule.
Did the thyroid trigger your areata?

I hope so, and I guess it did. When it first happened a lot of stuff was happening with my body, I gained a LOT of weight intentionally, then lost a lot, and also went through some extreme stress, binge drank, and lots of all nighters... All of that could have triggered it. I dont know which is better, areata or male pattern baldness. I'm still not fully convinced it is areata though, like I said above.. dont see any areata on google images that looks like mine. I think a lot of people here would still diagnose me with male pattern baldness.

 

[hairblues]

I hope so, and I guess it did. When it first happened a lot of stuff was happening with my body, I gained a LOT of weight intentionally, then lost a lot, and also went through some extreme stress, binge drank, and lots of all nighters... All of that could have triggered it. I dont know which is better, areata or male pattern baldness. I'm still not fully convinced it is areata though, like I said above.. dont see any areata on google images that looks like mine. I think a lot of people here would still diagnose me with male pattern baldness.

If u go on Facebook their is a private group alopecoa areata and their is a lot of different looking areata.

Request a biopsy if you have doubts.

 

[The Baldy Man]

Maybe so. Some maturing of the hairline is natural for a lot of guys. However, I do think it is possible to have both alopecia areata AND male pattern baldness, if I recall correctly.

 

[hairblues]

Maybe so. Some maturing of the hairline is natural for a lot of guys. However, I do think it is possible to have both alopecia areata AND male pattern baldness, if I recall correctly.

It is

 

[john1181]

If u go on Facebook their is a private group alopecoa areata and their is a lot of different looking areata.

Request a biopsy if you have doubts.

thanks will check that out. Also do you guys think I could have both?

 

[WMQ]

She said that was because the hair loss on my temples was in a circular pattern?

Some dermatologists should seriously be sued.

 

[DKC]

You don't have alopecia aretea, I find that many of healthcare professionals don't fully understand hair loss, the first time I went to the doctor they had no clue about my condition and when I spoke about finasteride for my diffuse thinning male patten baldness, it was like they never heard about it before.

If you go to a endocrinologist, of course they will suspect endocrine issues like hypothyroidism. If you went to a trichologist I'm sure it will be a different diagnosis.

Not to degrade anyones posts but by posting on these forums people are actively looking for advice on their hair and some people who reply are just trying to provide a honest opinion based on the pictures provided, I don't think its necessarily people misdiagnosing it except for the odd person dishing out the 'get on drugs a$ap' on every thread.

In your case, AA is characterised by a random complete baldspot, its a auto-immune disease, a lot of times that I've seen it, its located on the back or sides (near ears). Simple google search will tell you that you don't have that.

You seem to have some temple thinning, if you have male pattern baldness, its actually really easy to detect because if a hair falls out from the hairline/temples, save those hairs, then compare them to the hair from the back of your head (near the neck), if your hair is consistently thinner on the times you look at it, its pretty much guaranteed that you have male pattern baldness, because male pattern baldness is characterised by the miniaturisation of the hair follicle.
In your pictures it looks to me that you have slight recession of the temples, also it seems that the sides are going back as well which is a indication of male pattern baldness.

My advice if you are unsure, is to go to a trichologist (hair specialist) to get it looked at, it is difficult to give you a diagnosis based on your one angle blurry picture with no comparison!

 

[john1181]

You don't have alopecia aretea, I find that many of healthcare professionals don't fully understand hair loss, the first time I went to the doctor they had no clue about my condition and when I spoke about finasteride for my diffuse thinning male patten baldness, it was like they never heard about it before.

If you go to a endocrinologist, of course they will suspect endocrine issues like hypothyroidism. If you went to a trichologist I'm sure it will be a different diagnosis.

Not to degrade anyones posts but by posting on these forums people are actively looking for advice on their hair and some people who reply are just trying to provide a honest opinion based on the pictures provided, I don't think its necessarily people misdiagnosing it except for the odd person dishing out the 'get on drugs a$ap' on every thread.

In your case, AA is characterised by a random complete baldspot, its a auto-immune disease, a lot of times that I've seen it, its located on the back or sides (near ears). Simple google search will tell you that you don't have that.

You seem to have some temple thinning, if you have male pattern baldness, its actually really easy to detect because if a hair falls out from the hairline/temples, save those hairs, then compare them to the hair from the back of your head (near the neck), if your hair is consistently thinner on the times you look at it, its pretty much guaranteed that you have male pattern baldness, because male pattern baldness is characterised by the miniaturisation of the hair follicle.
In your pictures it looks to me that you have slight recession of the temples, also it seems that the sides are going back as well which is a indication of male pattern baldness.

My advice if you are unsure, is to go to a trichologist (hair specialist) to get it looked at, it is difficult to give you a diagnosis based on your one angle blurry picture with no comparison!

Thanks. It seems that the hair that has been falling out lately is surprisingly long, thick strands of hair. But this is coming from all over though not just my temples. Also the thing is, some of the hair I lost ending up coming back.. except for at the temples. And it happened at the same time as the rest of my hair fell out. Which is why I think it is due to another problem than male pattern baldness. But yeah ,I guess the best solution isto see a trichologist. Thanks

 

[john1181]

View attachment 60595
Some dermatologists should seriously be sued.

Yeah I actually didnt know what she meant lol.

 

[DKC]

Thanks. It seems that the hair that has been falling out lately is surprisingly long, thick strands of hair. But this is coming from all over though not just my temples.

The process will normally take time, so the thick strands won't fall out and the next hair will be super thin, its a gradual process. For some people the process is a lot faster and for some people its a lot slower, completely depends on the individual.

Remember that there are lots of factors that can accelerate the appearance of hair loss as well, like seasonal shedding, normal hair cycle etc.

 

[HankPentagon]

Incorrect.

In fact, people constantly advise newbies to get analysis and to endocrinologists and derms.

Any reasonable question i s answered.

People try to help here.