asterix0

Yes, keeping a short hair style it can be hidden. I was just surprised when I shaved my head how noticeable it was.

Does anyone have any examples they can share of patients who had a lot of FUE grafts (4000+) with a shaved head, and if the FUE scars are really noticeable? Perhaps it is just my physiology, I had 4000+ grafts with a small punch with a recommended surgeon with a long wait list. My results were good, my donor was not overharvested, but when I recently shaved my head, the white specs from the extractions were quite visible in my donor. Perhaps my skin/hair contrast color makes them more noticeable, or it is just how my head healed. My surgeon said I healed well but some patients just have more noticeable scar healing pigmentation (or lack there of) than others. I shaved my head because I wanted a small 1300 graft touch up procedure to increase density in the front. Nevertheless, when I saw how noticeable the scarring was, I pretty much realized I better stay on finasteride, otherwise if I lose the hair on top it'll look ridiculous with my donor area if I shaved my head. If I buzz the donor down to a 2 grade though for example the scarring cannot be noticed to the human eye.

I mean, look always think for yourself first, no matter the credentials of whom you are speaking with. Read up on the appeal to authority fallacy. Are you sure you will be on dutasteride for the rest of your life? Are you sure it will continue to hold your hair? It probably will to be honest, it is much stronger than finasteride. But it is still a serious consideration to think about.

Dude, think about what you are saying. You only have 1.5k donor supply left, and you want to dense pack your temples? What if you go norwood 6 slick bald? You will look completely foolish with a dense pack hairline and temples and nothing behind it.

Without finasteride or some DHT blocker your donor may continue to weaken, thus I am not sure you would be accepted as a candidate. Have you tried different dosage levels? Or gradually increasing the dosage?

I think it looks good, can you take some more pictures just outside in any natural light? Indoor car photos for example are the most flattering, as there is no direct light on the head.

How is your donor area looking, I see above the ears it appears to be pretty thin? I think your result is pretty good considering you were almost slick bald. A lot of those miniaturized hairs probably fell out permanently during the transplant process, so you are looking at 4.5k grafts for your entire head, which is not enough obviously for full illusion of density. Another surgery to fill in the gaps would do the trick, it just depends how much donor reserve you have.

You can potentially, you never know how a person will respond. The problem is, finasteride can hold your healthy pre-miniaturized hairs pretty well, but once the miniaturization process starts, it will just prolong their life, but rarely will they be healthy again. When you combine it with minoxidil that is the best chance of success, I personally use both. It will almost certainly strengthen your donor and make it better suitable for a transplant. I mean, look the choice for medication is never easy, for myself personally I was going to be slick bald like you, and I thought my life would be more miserable slick bald than the side effects of finasteride, I would be depressed either way. So I might as well try to have hair and give myself a chance.

You will follow the path of your dad and uncles and be slick bald, it's just a matter of when. You can see the pattern going to Norwood 6 most likely with the potential for Norwood 7. Without finasteride probably the transplant would be a very expensive and long ordeal to get back to where you are now once your miniaturized hair is lost.

@Stam21 Judging from your hair, you will likely hit norwood 6 at some point, meaning without medication you will lose everything on top. Even with medication this still may happen, but the process will slow down significantly. With medication maybe your hairloss stops completely where you are. Currently, you would need probably 3000 grafts for your front going into the midscalp.

How's it looking now?

Nice results so far!

That is always risky. You never know the credentials of the technicians, one would hope the Doctor trained them properly but still.

Did Dr.Wong mention anything about the "railroad track" scarring around the FUT line? I have seen some patients have this, and others not, not sure if it is due to techniques on how the FUT extraction is closed or moreso individual patient physiology. Of course you could just grow your donor out longer and cover it up and no one would see.

You will be chasing it, but this is the game we play, ultimately some hair is still better than being slick bald, much better in fact.

That is similar to me. I have been religiously using finasteride and minoxidil and my hair loss has continued. But I was destined to go to Norwood 6 too in my twenties. But if I hadn't used them, my donor would be a lot worse, remember finasteride strengthens the donor are as well, as does dutasteride.

Dude in my opinion I know you want to fix your hair, but it looks ok as of right now, to the casual observer it looks pretty normal. Probably you would want to save money and grafts down the line if your Norwood level progresses.

Maybe he retired, he was quite old.

Unfortunately I could tell from your first pictures that your donor was likely to be over harvested, and the recipient area was not looking quite correct. Did the doctor do the whole procedure, or were technicians involved?

If you are to do a mega session for the highest Norwoods like OP, I don't see an alternative. If that large number of extractions were to be done in a narrow strip, the donor would look completely weird.

5 euros per graft is the price I believe

Slickback styles can look good, certainly for the average person they will think with some concealer that you have a full head of hair. It is still better than being bald, 100%. I personally just think temple work is very, very tricky to do. Perhaps the hardest part of a transplant, because there are very limited nape hairs that can mimic the softness of our original temple hairs. Also the angle is tricky to get right.

Without updated pictures (from today) in clear lighting outside, no one can tell you.

But yes, finasteride is not a magic bullet if you are a high Norwood with likely higher than average DHT sensitivity. Combining it with minoxidil is the best approach to keep your transplanted hair healthy. I use both finasteride and minoxidil because I was heading to Norwood 6 in my twenties, so I'm pretty sure my DHT sensitivity is high in my recipient area. I don't want to risk losing my transplanted hair.

To be fair, according to that study, only 35% of patients continued to use finasteride. 57% of the patients were Norwood 4, and the others were Norwood 5. That means there is still quite a bit of native hair to be lost.