My Doctor Doesn’t Do Miniaturization Mapping, But I Found a Non-Doctor That Does!

Hey Dr. Rassman, I am a male in his early twenties who has some questions about hair loss. My hairline has been receding for the last two years. I have seen a few specialists regarding my hairs future. One doctor is a very prominent hair doctor in the New England area. After seeing him he concluded that I had MPB, and put me on propecia and expensive luce laser treatments. After being skeptical for a little while and reading your blogs I saw that you stressed the importance of getting your hair mapped for miniaturization. This doctor does not have do miniaturization mapping and I became a little awry about that. Therefore I searched and found a hair specialist with the appropriate equipment to map my hair, he was not a doctor though. He looked at it and there wasn’t any signs of any miniaturized hairs. He told me I should stop the propecia and see what happens. Well I stopped and my hairline has slowly continued to recede, but its beginning to look like my fathers who has a full head of hair. Also, I saw the doctor again and he continues to tell me that I am losing my hair and didn’t think it was a good idea to stop the pills. I desperately need your advice because I have two different people telling me whats going on with my hair and I don’t know whose advice to take. It’s driving me crazy because I want to believe the doctor, but he totally disregarded the mapping of my hair when I brought it up. Your expert advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

Reading a miniaturization mapping is not rocket science. I have some patients who purchased magnifying systems to determine if they had miniaturization and did not depend upon any doctor. If you really do not have miniaturization (and realizing that I am not your doctor) I would not take Propecia. Are you just developing a mature male hairline (see Maturation of a Hairline — Moving From Juvenile to Mature)?

I would personally not be a fan of any doctor who is critical of the information obtained from a good miniaturization study, and especially a doctor that would put you on hair loss treatment medication when you’re just developing a mature hairline (assuming that this fits you).