What is happening to me and why don’t I have hair there?

For those of you who don’t know what retrograde alopecia is, it is a loss of hair (or thinning of hair) at the nape of the neck or sometimes more rarely on the sides above the ears. I believe that this is genetic.

I know you’re not supposed to brush wet hair after the shower, but I didn’t know that until today… After I’ve been doing it for years… Thankfully, currently, I have a pretty full head of pretty thick hair and I’m obviously prepared to stop brushing my wet hair indefinitely. However, I’m worried that I’ve done damage that can’t be undone that could eventually lead to severe hair loss in the future. Should I be concerned?

When people brush hair roughly, then they can pull out miniaturized hairs easily causing evident balding in those men or women with genetic hair loss and significant miniaturization. I tell people to use gentle brushing or a wide tooth brush or comb to minimize the pulling effect on these miniaturized hairs.

Does miniaturized hair gradually grow shorter with each cycle or can a miniaturized hair be long, say 5-6 inches then fall and stop growing?

At the start of the year my hair was thick but after a stressful couple of months, all my hair turned super thin with bald patches. The hair turned so thin it has very wide partings. Also all my body hair thinned too. Beard, arms, legs and pubic area. It’s like every hair on my body miniaturized.  I can see my scalp now with wet hair. It all happened quickly, this wasn’t a gradual thing. The hair texture feels weird. My beard hair has thinned the same. I had thick hair on arms and legs now it’s all very fine. My pubes are now thin and wispy.  I started taking fin a few months ago. I was prescribed it for prostate. Will this help? I can’t find anything about this when searching the net, only TE but does hair thin during that? At the start of the year I was very stressed, hardly eating or sleeping for a couple of months which I”m sure caused this.

Let’s imagine a hair that grows out for two years and is 12 inches long. If miniaturized started into the second year, the hair closest to the scalp would be thinning then the hair at the end which was made 2 years earlier. So a miniaturized hair can be seen simply by pulling out a long hair and looking at both ends. Another aspect of these miniaturized hairs is that they will grow slower and slower over time, eventually they stop growing and just stay there, falling out with washing, brushing and just the wind.

There is another condition that I just recently defined in the literature called Age Related Thinning. In this situation, all of the scalp hairs become thinner all at once and it is uniform thinning throughout the scalp. Although this is more common in men and women over 50, it does appear in younger men and women. I have seen it in men in their 20s and they make the mistake to think that this is balding because they can see through the hair to the scalp. There is no known treatment for this and neither minoxidil nor finasteride can reverse this as I know it. This is my article about it: https://newhair.com/pdf/Kumaresan-Muthuvel-Bernstein-Rassman-Commentary.pdf

Do you happen to know if topical fin is considered safer in terms of side effects then oral?

For those who have no side effects, oral finasteride is fine. For others, the topical may be a better solution as it is reported to have far less side effects.

These areas of necrosis for some technical problem induced by the surgeon usually heal with a large scar as shown here (before with necrosis on left, after healing on the right).

I get side effects from fin so I can’t take it. I’m 23 and thinking at 25 I’ll get a hair transplant. I was wondering if I’m required to take fin for it to work.

Finasteride protects young men (under 30) from shock loss after a hair transplant. When a young man doesn’t take it, they run a risk if significant shock loss of the native hair. Many surgeons don’t use finasteride with surgery in young men, and these men are writing or calling me all of the time about their shock loss.

So I’ve been taking Finasteride for about 2.5 years with no problems at all and with very good results. However, I recently did a hormone check and my Prolactin was very high (almost double the normal range).  Now while I feel fine and don’t have any of the symptoms of high prolactin would you recommend I stopped the fin? Is there a chance this could be causing my very high prolactin levels?  Any help would be really appreciated as I am a bit worried about what the future may hold.

There is information that is difficult to integrate with a high prolactin level in men. We don’t know, for example, that this was caused by finasteride. You should see your doctor for clarification of the issues which gets confusing as you can see below.

This is what I found in the internet: Men — When a high blood prolactin concentration interferes with the function of the testicles, the production of testosterone (the main male sex hormone), and sperm production. … High levels of prolactin in the blood also cause difficulty in getting an erection, as well as breast tenderness and enlargement.

One common cause of hyperprolactinemia is a growth or tumor on the pituitary gland called a prolactinoma. The tumor produces high levels of prolactin. … Large tumors can also cause headaches, vision problems, or both. Prolactinomas are more common in women than in men and rarely occur in children

In Men — When a high blood prolactin concentration interferes with the function of the testicles, the production of testosterone (the main male sex hormone), and sperm production. Low testosterone causes decreased energy, sex drive, muscle mass and strength, and blood count (anemia).

That is why you need to see your doctor.