Diagnosis required

[Amorion]

Hello guys, I really need an opinion. I am a 22 y.o. male. A couple of month ago my girlfriend suggested that I might be balding. I haven't noticed anything of the sort before, but since then, I started getting really paranoid about it. Found myself staring at men temples and foreheads whenever I was taking the public transport... It's really getting to me now. I've attached several webcam pictures.

I believe I should go ahead with a little background story as well: I used to dye my hair in various colors since I was 17 which obviously damaged it quite a bit. Last time I had my hair dyed in a natural color was a year ago. Right now I'm experiencing something like this: my hair has gone thinner and there seems to be much less of it overall. Perhaps a little bit less in the frontal area. What I would like to know, is if my problem is indeed man pattern balding as it is, or it is simply an overall medical and possibly stress-related (I started loosing hair a year ago once I broke up with my fiance). I have a certain genetic disorder that could suggest that. My forehead was always pretty high btw.

The final picture I've attached is of me 1 year ago... The hairline doesn't look any different, but I certainly have way less hair than I used to. Please answer as soon as possible and sorry for making you guys read through all of this... Thanks in advance!!

http://cl.ly/1i052R2J3w1K1J271h2Z
http://cl.ly/46080o283e0n1L2G0Y1s
http://cl.ly/3I1U3w3w0x1c3r3j0609
http://cl.ly/0y3b1U1M3e3N2I18262G
http://cl.ly/3G370c0R0E2x3H263530

[Amorion]

Damn it, screwed up the last pic lol. Here it is, I cannot edit the initial post for some reason.
http://cl.ly/1O2x0j040X2j3h0Q0Z1e

[stillcold]

Hey buddy,

First of all, I want you to know that I've been there with the paranoia; I used to always look at people's hairlines, examine their temples, and everything else in between lol. So I just ask you try not to worry so much (even though it is hard not to) for your own sanity... we'll try to get this cleared up for you!

Ok, first of all, your hairline is pretty high as you say and your temples have receeded quite a bit. When a male's hairline begins to recede to a certain point and stop, we call that the mature hairline. Just to clarify, you CAN have a mature hairline and not completely bald; almost all males after 18 develop a mature hairline so don't worry about that! If you could provide us with a picture of you when you were a child, say less than 15, that would be a good start to see where your juvenlie hairline was. That way, we could start off with a better evaluation and have something to compare your hairline to.

Second, you say you broke up with your fiannce. Did that event cause a lot of stress and depression? Because if it did, you might have a condition we call telogen effluvium. Telogen effluvium is a TEMPORARY form of balding that causes your hair to enter into the "dead" state prematurely. Our hair follicles have 3 stages, and when your body experiences some form of shock, such as excessive amounts of stress, depression, and poor diet (not always), your hair follicles are "shocked" into the "dead" state prematurely. When your hair follicle is in the "dead" state, simply combing or pulling it out will cause the hair strand to fall out; that is normal since hair shedding is a part of the hair growth cycle! With any healthy scalp, roughly 10% of the hairs are in the "dead" state. But with telogen effluvium, more than 10% enter into the "dead" state very quickly and fall out. So that could very well be what you have and the recovery depends on how severe the "shock" was. It could take up to a year or more, it all depends on how bad the shock was and how your hair growth cycle is (fast, slow, etc.). Nevertheless, with telogen effluvium, you will be able to recover 100% so don't worry if that is what you have!

Third, have you noticed any abnormal amounts of hair shedding? Just describe it to me so I can help you to my best ability. And dying your hair could have definitely caused some damage, but I doubt it would lead to balding since there isn't much association between hair chemical products and hair genetics.

Overall, if you could provide me with a picture of your hairline from a younger age < 15 that would be great! If you can't find a photo no worries. Just get back to me on the hair shedding question.

But as of now, without seeing your juvenile hairline or a response to my question yet, I believe what you have is indeed telogen effluvium. I believe so simply because you say your hairloss started after the break up (I am assuming loads of stress and depression) and you haven't noticed anything different about your hair. The funny thing is, my mother got me into the hairloss paranoia the same way your girlfriend did lol! I say we blame the women and not our genetics LOL. It was Eve that deceived Adam, so in the end, women are to blame. Just kidding ahaha. Let me know ASAP.

Best of luck,
Allen.

[Amorion]

Hey, thank you so much for your reply! You actually gave me a certain glimpse of hope.

Ok, I unfortunately wasn't able to find any pics with visible hairline back when I was a kid, thats because I pretty much always my had hair long. The only distinguishing feature is that I had waaaaaaaay more hair overall, lol. I'm gonna post one certain picture though, dunno if it's gonna be of any use. Surprisingly enough it's a webcam picture as well lol. http://cl.ly/2i0p263F110y3q471j3D

Second, me and my ex-fiance took a couple of hours to look through some pictures we took while we were still in relationship, and I've actually got a feeling that you could be right! These two pictures were taken in February 2010. I think the hairline is clearly visible here. http://cl.ly/251h2M2r1T2o2D353f10
http://cl.ly/1g0d3t40393b3C2U0n2J Like I said I used to dye my hair in pretty much all colors there are so don't freak out please. So these were something like February, 15. And that summer pic I posted above was taken...Ummm. Something like June, 20-25. And I was indeed pretty much depressed, thought was kind of keeping it all inside. What we are thinking is that whatever the reason behind such drastic changes was, it probably could not have anything with genetics, no? I mean, it's been what, march, april, may, 4 month overall and this all of a sudden. I don't think my hair was ever falling out in clumps, BUT, when I was in Kiev in June I remember constantly noticing fallen out hairs on my shoulders. It was very disturbing, but I thought it had something to do with local water...

I took a picture of what I've found in the bathtub this morning. Okay, it's obviously a very unpleasant thing to see, but bear with me, please. It's also 50% cat wool. But the rest is my hair. I don't know if such ammount is normal or not though. http://www.cl.ly/442d1z421f2T2N1z2P0U

My ex-fiance name's Eve btw :D So, I've got a couple of questions in return. Is there a 100% guarantee way to test my hair and determine whether it's indeed telogen effluvium? And how to I restore the damaged areas of the scalp? Or it is a completely natural process? Whatever this thing is, it's been a year since it's started. Thank you so much again!
Cheers, Arhur

[top]

http://cl.ly/2i0p263F110y3q471j3D


I had to double check your photos, and re-read your initial post then. No offense (perhaps it's your intention?), but you look very feminine in this photo. However, in the first batch of photos, you certainly do not look feminine. So it's more of an observation.

Perhaps the changes you're experiencing are from a rise in testosterone (maturing from boy to man)?

I'm a complete novice, but I'd suggest you get a blood test done to check hormone levels etc.

Unfortunately, when one's hair is long, it's hard to notice anything. I usually get my hair cut every 3-4 months. A couple weeks ago I go my hair cut to a shorter than usual level, and that's when I realised something was up. But checking back at photos a year ago, there are subtle tell-tale signs present too.