Young Man with Progressive Thinning of His Scalp Hair

Heya doc, I was told to shoot you a message and get some advise. Thanks in advance :) I’ve had recession for the past few years, but honestly, it’s been very slow and hasn’t bothered me that much – I kind of like it how it is, even. The last 6-12 months have been very stressful, with the end of a relationship and losing my job. Recently, I’ve noticed the top/front of my head is looking quite thin, but still only noticeable in harsher light, or if I’m looking closely. I felt it’s getting worse and more noticeable though. I was told this might be diffuse thinning? I’m not really sure what this means. Is it the same as MPB? It’s not like this at the back/side. I can’t see any short/new hairs coming through. I suspect its just MPB but im not sure if stress could have exacerbated it. I also had a habit of scratching/scraping my scalp while stressed.

age 18: https://i.imgur.com/Xxqxwxw.jpg https://i.imgur.com/RBnNTkS.jpg

age 24 hairline: https://imgur.com/a/3KToSwb https://i.imgur.com/nVX1gUg.jpg https://i.imgur.com/yOCcGgWl.jpg

age 24, detailed close-ups: https://imgur.com/a/iEnRotm

I’ve ordered Finasteride and Minox. I should be starting them next week and going from there. My family history of baldness is alright. Most men have some balding at 40+, but no one has started balding at my age.  I’m open to a transplant in a few years if I think it would benefit me. I was curious if I could have additional hairs transplanted in places where I would likely continue to lose hair down the line in order to preemptively fill them in?

Young men often slowly develop thinning that will eventually lead to some balding pattern. What I do in my practice is perform a HAIRCHECK instrument test to determine the amount of bulk hair loss that your photos do not show. This gives me an objective measurement before I start treatment as shown in this man: https://baldingblog.com/2017/09/15/follow-haircheck-test-5-years/