Identifying broad hair thinning and possible treatments? (Photos)

i’m a male in my mid thirties. i always had very thick, healthy hair, but in my early thirties i went through a period of a couple years where i was wearing it in a ponytail 24/7 while also picking at my scalp like crazy every night. last year i noticed my hair had dramatically thinned- i still have close to full coverage (a little withdrawal on my forehead but barely) but it’s much, much thinner than it used to be. when i noticed that i immediately stopped wearing a ponytail and stopped picking at my scalp. it’s now been around a year since then. a couple months ago i started using 5% topical minoxidil in hopes of bringing my hair density to where it used to be. i know it takes time for results but i don’t even see vellus hairs yet, and i’m starting to think that between the ponytail and the picking i might have scarred my scalp, which from what im reading would imply that minoxidil will not be useful and the only solution is a hair transplant. i am hoping for an assessment of if that’s the case- if i should keep trying the minoxidil, or if my scalp looks scarred. i’ve attached a few pictures of my scalp (please excuse my forehead, which is covered in moisturizer). the pictures were taken shortly after leaving the shower, so my hair is a little damp. thank you for your help.