Hi everyone, I’m 24 (turning 25 later this year). I first noticed early thinning around the second half of 2023 when I was 22.
On my father’s side there is a strong history of diffuse thinning with vertex involvement. My father developed gradual crown thinning while keeping a relatively preserved hairline, and my grandfather had a similar pattern. On my mother’s side things look more favorable, with one uncle still having full hair in his fifties.
I started treatment in January 2024 with finasteride 1 mg daily and topical minoxidil twice per day. During the first year I saw a clear improvement, especially in the vertex and mid-scalp areas, and the thinning was basically not noticeable in daily life.
Around early 2025 I started experiencing more persistent shedding and some density loss, so I decided to buzz my hair and intensify treatment under medical supervision. Dutasteride was introduced during summer 2025 and I reached full daily dosing around late August / early September 2025.
My current regimen is finasteride 1 mg, dutasteride 1 mg, oral minoxidil 5 mg daily together with topical minoxidil and topical tretinoin.
At this point I’m a little over two years on finasteride, about 6–7 months on full-dose dutasteride and around 5 months into oral minoxidil.
I haven’t experienced noticeable side effects and my blood tests are normal.
Right now my hairline is still mostly preserved but I have diffuse thinning in the mid-scalp and especially the crown, which has always been the most vulnerable area. There are still many miniaturized hairs and no completely bald areas.
Over the past months I also consulted several doctors and advisors in the hair restoration field to better understand the best long-term approach.
The general consensus has been to continue medical treatment and give it enough time to stabilize before considering any surgical option, since there is still the possibility of avoiding surgery altogether.
For this reason the plan most doctors suggested is simply to continue the regimen and reassess around August 2026, which would correspond to roughly one full year on stable dutasteride therapy combined with oral minoxidil.
I’d be very interested to hear from people who had early diffuse thinning in their twenties and eventually achieved long-term stability, either with medication alone or later with a conservative transplant.
Any advice or experiences would be greatly appreciated.
Photos in chronological order (different folders) attached via google drive + family history :https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1ajqY0cz-8N-xWxOUMuM6HtKpmeGu78S2