Hey everyone,
I am new to this site and wanted to share my story so far with hair loss treatment and get a little input on my situation. So some background information, I am a 21 year old male that is suffering with hair loss. male pattern baldness does run in my family, but nowhere near around this age. I have a 23 year old brother and 18 year old brother with no hair loss whatsoever. My dad began balding in his 40s, one of his brothers started balding around 50, and the other at 50 is still a NW1. My mom's side of the family also all has full heads of hairs that are under 50 years old. So my story, Back around November/December of 2013 I began first noticing my hair loss. I was not losing anything on the vertex, but my hairline was receding at the temples a good amount. I would say I was getting near a NW2. I definitely noticed extra hairs on my hands when using shampoo in the shower. This worried me a bit but I did not think much of it. Fast forward a couple months to March/April of 2014 my shedding greatly accelerated at the temples, and at the very center of my hairline there was a small patch where my hairs were very frizzy, and kinky, and looked like they stopped growing (they were shorter than the rest of the hairs, but still around 6-7 inches long). At this time my hair was super long (probably like 8inches), so it was very noticeable to me that these hairs were so kinky and frizzy. The thing is I never noticed these hairs fall out and grow back like this, so I am assuming they shrunk into this kinky-looking hair. I scheduled an appointment with a derm and he said it was male pattern baldness because of the pattern. He may have not even noticed this patch of kinky hairs because they were still very thick. At this time I had no idea what male pattern baldness pattern was like so I assumed male pattern baldness was the case, and I started taking propecia and rogaine. My hairline at this point was a NW2 and I had this patch of kinky, frizzy hairs in the front center of my hairline. Around 6 months into my treatment (January 2015), this patch of hair completely fell out. I also had been getting these weird red swollen spots that felt irritated and kind of itched on my scalp on this area and other areas on my hairline where I was shedding hair. After the hair fell I had this weird patch of baldness in the front center of my hair that went about 1.5 inches back. I revisited my derm and I was told to continue my treatment. Also my hair was still receding at the same rate as it was prior to starting propecia. After 3 months or so my hair in this patch began growing back and has mostly filled in for the most part. I switched from Kirkland minoxidal to rogaine and have not really experienced the red spots since but this may be coincidence. The issue is that this spot grew back all frizzy haired again, and is growing much slower than the rest of my hair. Also my hairline is continuing to recede, and this spot seems like it may be losing hairs again. The propecia/rogaine is seeming to have no effect on slowing my hair loss, and things have gotten much worse since I started the treatment. I got a scalp swab for bacteria infection and it was negative. I was going to get a scalp biopsy, but when I visited my derm the hair seemed to be growing back, and I really don't have the money for one at the moment. This is really distressing me, and I feel like no one else is dealing with this ****. Is anyone else dealing with similar problems or have any idea what may be going on? I would appreciate the help, this has been very difficult. Thanks.
EDIT: Also no sexual sides from either medication
Also sorry the post is so long. I am sure many of you will not even read it all because of the length
I am new to this site and wanted to share my story so far with hair loss treatment and get a little input on my situation. So some background information, I am a 21 year old male that is suffering with hair loss. male pattern baldness does run in my family, but nowhere near around this age. I have a 23 year old brother and 18 year old brother with no hair loss whatsoever. My dad began balding in his 40s, one of his brothers started balding around 50, and the other at 50 is still a NW1. My mom's side of the family also all has full heads of hairs that are under 50 years old. So my story, Back around November/December of 2013 I began first noticing my hair loss. I was not losing anything on the vertex, but my hairline was receding at the temples a good amount. I would say I was getting near a NW2. I definitely noticed extra hairs on my hands when using shampoo in the shower. This worried me a bit but I did not think much of it. Fast forward a couple months to March/April of 2014 my shedding greatly accelerated at the temples, and at the very center of my hairline there was a small patch where my hairs were very frizzy, and kinky, and looked like they stopped growing (they were shorter than the rest of the hairs, but still around 6-7 inches long). At this time my hair was super long (probably like 8inches), so it was very noticeable to me that these hairs were so kinky and frizzy. The thing is I never noticed these hairs fall out and grow back like this, so I am assuming they shrunk into this kinky-looking hair. I scheduled an appointment with a derm and he said it was male pattern baldness because of the pattern. He may have not even noticed this patch of kinky hairs because they were still very thick. At this time I had no idea what male pattern baldness pattern was like so I assumed male pattern baldness was the case, and I started taking propecia and rogaine. My hairline at this point was a NW2 and I had this patch of kinky, frizzy hairs in the front center of my hairline. Around 6 months into my treatment (January 2015), this patch of hair completely fell out. I also had been getting these weird red swollen spots that felt irritated and kind of itched on my scalp on this area and other areas on my hairline where I was shedding hair. After the hair fell I had this weird patch of baldness in the front center of my hair that went about 1.5 inches back. I revisited my derm and I was told to continue my treatment. Also my hair was still receding at the same rate as it was prior to starting propecia. After 3 months or so my hair in this patch began growing back and has mostly filled in for the most part. I switched from Kirkland minoxidal to rogaine and have not really experienced the red spots since but this may be coincidence. The issue is that this spot grew back all frizzy haired again, and is growing much slower than the rest of my hair. Also my hairline is continuing to recede, and this spot seems like it may be losing hairs again. The propecia/rogaine is seeming to have no effect on slowing my hair loss, and things have gotten much worse since I started the treatment. I got a scalp swab for bacteria infection and it was negative. I was going to get a scalp biopsy, but when I visited my derm the hair seemed to be growing back, and I really don't have the money for one at the moment. This is really distressing me, and I feel like no one else is dealing with this ****. Is anyone else dealing with similar problems or have any idea what may be going on? I would appreciate the help, this has been very difficult. Thanks.
EDIT: Also no sexual sides from either medication
Also sorry the post is so long. I am sure many of you will not even read it all because of the length