Hi Dr. Rassman,
I was just wondering. My family has some history of baldness, on my mom’s side, with my grandfather going balding, and having a receding hairline far back at my age. However, I still have a maturing hairline, but over the last year, I have been under heavy stress, as I am pre-med. I’ve lost hair in the front of my head, behind my hairline, but no thinning beyond that. HOwever, my father, thinking it is Telogen Effluvium (he is a physician, and loses hair in the same pattern when he gets stressed) gave me some rogaine. I’ve been applying it for barely 3 weeks now, and I can feel a huge amount of stubble, even in weird areas it shouldn’t be filling in, like the temples. Shouldn’t it take longer to work if it is male pattern baldness? Or is the minoxidil likely just forcing the schocked hair follices back into anagen?
Thanks so much

Yes, this is an unusual response with classic genetic patterned hair loss. If you had telogen effluvium it might reverse rapidly as you reported. To be on the safe side, I always like to get a diagnosis with your hair mapped out for miniaturization to determine if you have a pattern thinning occurring. By knowing if you have a genetic hair loss component, you can create a Master Plan should this happen again.

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