I Started Losing Hair Before I Hit Puberty!

dear doctor,

PLEASE HELP ME!
i am a 16 year old male teen. the hair on the top of my head has been thinning since age 9-10, and i fear that at the rate i will not have hair on the top of my head by this time next year. this has been 6 long years that have been devastating to my self-confidence and i dont know if i can deal with being bald at age 16.

i did plenty of research on my dilemma, and i didnt find any record of a case that is similar to mine. i have been to a doctor, and have been tested for things such as thyroid, but it always come out negative. my doctors dont really seem to care much to help me. they tell me its just hereditary, but i dont understand how it could be. i started losing my hair before i hit puberty, and also my my whole family still has there hair. even my grandma and grandpa who are in his 70’s have nearly all there hair.

at age 12 i was told to start using rogaine, but stopped because i know that there is something else wrong that is not being found. every day i wake up and look in the mirror to see that i have lost more hair. it getting harder and harder to hide it from my friends. and everywhere i go im constantly reminded of it because my hair shows up everywhere like in my sink, or on my desk at school.

anyway, please please please answer me back. you’ll be the one person in the world that cares enough to truly help me find out the problem and hopefully the answer. thank you for listening.

I wish I could offer you some solid advice or anything of substance, but you really need to be examined, as your case is quite unusual. I couldn’t do you any justice by just guessing at your problem via the web. As you indicated in your email that you’re located in New Jersey, try to arrange a visit with Dr. Robert Bernstein (with offices in Fort Lee, NJ and Manhattan, NY). He can examine you and offer suggestions.