This is a difficult question so i will try to guess relying on my 30 years in this business. Using a 70% probability (my opinion), by the age of 26 and using the HAIRCHECK instrument and trichoscopy you will know your final balding pattern, a 80% statistical probability (my opinion), by the age of 30 and using the HAIRCHECK instrument and trichoscopy, you will know your final balding pattern, a 90-95% statistical probability (my opinion), by the age of 35 and using the HAIRCHECK instrument and trichoscopy you will know your final balding pattern. A few men may be normal past 35 and still develop balding, but that may reflect less than 5% of men.

Hello Im balding as a 16 yo guy. My temples are already norwood 2 (but it doesnt matter as my hair covers it) BUT now recently I started shedding in the crown. When I brush my crown I find 5-7 hairs everytime. It didnt used to be so much a few months ago. And This is scary as fuck. But I dont know what to do. Should I start minoxidil? Please note that my crown balding isnt really visible yet and seems more like a cowlick, but this is terribly scary.

Im also concerned that minoxidil wont stop the shedding, will destroy my collagen and make me look older. Of course finasteride and other DHT related meds are out of the question here because of my age.  What should I do?? Im really lost here, nobody believes me from my dermatologist to my family, they are all in denial.

Start off by getting a HAIRCHECK test ( https://newhair.com/baldingblog/haircheck-test-how-it-is-done-and-what-its-value/ ) to find out if you are really balding and then with a metric, you can follow the process over the years with yearly tests. As you treat the hair loss, you will know what is happening with the impact of the treatment.

The V-shaped hairline is the typical mature male hairline. I have written about hairlines here:https://newhair.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/phenotype-article-published.pdf which covers the different hairline shapes and how you get them as you get older.  This link shows examples of both types of hairlines with some good photos: https://newhair.com/baldingblog/juvenile-vs-mature-hairline-am-i-going-bald-with-photos/

Just coming back to leave an anecdote of my experiences on fin, as I remember how useful I found these sorts of posts in the past. I’ve been on fin 2.5 years now. I was initially on the recommended dosage of 1mg until just before the 2 year mark sides started to appear in my life (loss of libido, morning wood, slight feeling of emotional numbness/dissociation). I decided to drop down to 0.5mg and it has honestly been the best move I could have imagined. A lot of posts that I read seemed to suggest that this would not make any difference but by god has it. Im now roughly 6 months on from changing dose and I feel virtually as I did pre fin.. and my hair is still going strong as ever (way way thicker than pre fin). If you change dose what I would say is just ‘patience’. It probably took around 3 months after changing for my body to ‘stabilize’ but I’m fairly certain now I’ve just found a dose that works for me.

Reducing the dose from 1mg to half the dose will decrease the effects by only 20% but you should work with your doctor on this plan. What is your Personalized Master Plan?

Dementia tied to hormone-blocking prostate cancer treatment

Alzheimer’s disease may be a risk for older prostate cancer patients given hormone-blocking treatment, a large, U.S. government-funded analysis found.

Previous evidence has been mixed on whether the treatment might be linked with mental decline. But experts say the new results stand out because they’re from a respected national cancer database and the men were tracked for a long time—eight years on average.

Among 154,000 older patients, 13% who received hormone-blocking treatment developed Alzheimer’s, compared with 9% who had other treatment or chose no therapy, the study found.

The risk for dementia from strokes or other causes was higher: It was diagnosed in 22% of those who got hormone-blocking treatment, versus 16% of the other patients.

The results, using perhaps one of the largest and most reliable databases, suggests there truly may be a connection, said Dr. Sumanta Pal, a prostate cancer expert with the American Society of Clinical Oncology. Pal was not involved in the study.

The analysis from University of Pennsylvania researchers was published Friday in JAMA Network Open.

The results aren’t proof but experts say they underscore the importance of discussing potential risks and benefits when choosing cancer treatment.

The researchers analyzed data from a National Cancer Institute database of cancer cases and treatment and covers almost 30% of the U.S. population. The study focused on men in their 70s, on average, with local or advanced prostate cancer diagnosed between 1996 and 2003. They were followed until 2013. Medicare records indicated dementia or Alzheimer’s diagnosis.

Hormone-blocking treatment can include testes removal to reduce levels of testosterone, which fuels prostate cancer growth. But it more typically involves periodic drug injections or implants that achieve the same result.

Most U.S. men who receive this treatment are in their 70s or older. It’s sometimes used in men who might not be healthy enough to tolerate other cancer treatments including surgery to remove the prostate and radiation.

It’s unclear how the treatment might be linked with mental decline. The researchers noted that it can lead to diabetes, which also has been linked with dementia—perhaps because blood vessel damage from diabetes can restrict blood flow to the brain. Hormone treatment also raises risks for heart diseaseand depression, which both have been linked with dementia.

Researcher Grace Lu-Yao of the Sidney Kimmel Cancer Center in Philadelphia, said the potential dementia risks from hormone-blocking treatment may outweigh any benefit for younger, healthier patients with longer expected life spans.

While the study doesn’t prove that the treatment causes dementia, she said, it is important to tell patients “because of the potential impact of Alzheimer’s disease or dementia on the quality of life of patients and their family.” She was not involved in the study.

More information: Ravishankar Jayadevappa et al. Association Between Androgen Deprivation Therapy Use and Diagnosis of Dementia in Men With Prostate Cancer, JAMA Network Open (2019). DOI: 10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2019.6562

Journal information: JAMA Network Open

© 2019 The Associated Press. All rights reserved

I gave him two choices of hairlines and he selected the lower one and that is what he got.

This is an easy pattern for an expert’s eye to predict as outlined (in the right photo I marked up the left photo). The Norwood Class 5A pattern has a narrow crown component and when this man completes his balding pattern he will be bald back to the top of his crown (indicated on the photo). What is significant is the persistent forelock which has hair that is stronger than the surrounding hair. These forelocks tend to run in families and if this man keeps his forelock until he is 35, it is likely he could maintain it in the long term.  Looking back at his family patterns, he should see if his father or grandfathers had this persistent juvenile hairline into older ages.  From a transplant perpective, when this man’s balding becomes significant enough to require a hair transplant, having an “A” pattern is good news because almost everyone with the ‘A’ type patterns always have enough hair to get a full head of hair restored.