Kieran2020

Yeh he is a very ethical doctor! We will see how I get on with oral minoxidil. Like I say, I am a little disappointed but sometimes doing nothing is better  

Just had my consultation with Dr Bisanga, my donor density is around 70 which is about average. He said I’m too young to have a transplant at the moment which I did expect. (25 years old)

What surprised me is he told me I’m only a Norwood 2, I initially told them I thought I was a 3/4!! 
 

I have been prescribed oral minoxidil to help with any miniaturisation and I will carry on to take finasteride as I have been for many years now.

I can’t lie I’m a little gutted that I can’t have one as present, but I will continue with Dr Bisangas advice and pray he doesn’t retire within 10 years haha.

Finally seeing Dr Bisanga tomorrow! Super excited. Interested to hear his thoughts on topical dutasteride and oral minox. Any questions I should be asking in particular? I know there’s a thread somewhere but I can’t seem to find it  @Melvin- Moderator?

Hi guys,

Just a quick question with regards to having your first transplant which includes the crown. In my case personally my crown is a little thin but not to the point where it would warrant a mega amount of grafts to be transplanted.

From just general advice around the forum, it probably isn’t best to get the crown included on your first procedure - and I understand the reason because you just don’t know how low your crown will dip in 20 years or so. However having looked at clinics like De Freitas, Hasson & Wong, Eugenix which are all extremely respected clinics on the forum, I’ve seen exceptions of this on patients 25-40 years old. 
 

If you compare to clinics like Dr Bisanga, Dr Ferreira who seem to usually transplant on the crown on second procedures - who are also extremely respectable clinics. I’m just trying to get clarification if personally I should be asking for a small amount of grafts in my crown.

I have a in person consultation with Dr Bisanga at the start of October (extremely excited by the way 😁) and I just don’t want to seem foolish to ask the question when I meet him. 

Edit

On 6/25/2021 at 2:37 PM, Raphael84 said:

Thanks for the kind words @Melvin- Moderator. 

@Kieran2020 Great to see that you are doing your research and please continue to do so. You can never be "too" educated in something so important. I appreciate that it can be frustrating to be recommended to attend an in person consultation as opposed to receiving an approximate graft count.
From the clinic´s perspective it would be easier to provide an approximate recommendation allowing the patient to potentially schedule their surgery, but this is not our personal approach and our code of ethics is always at the forefront of any of our recommendations and consultations etc. which is always in the patient´s best interests.

I wish you the best and you have our support in your final decision.

Thank you for the reply Raphael, can I send you a DM to discuss a few things?

9 hours ago, gillenator said:

And the great ones are worth traveling to!

You’re right I haven’t really considered anyone in the US at all, I know there are some good surgeons there, other than Hasson & Wong (in Vancouver) I don’t really know the top top surgeons over that side of the Atlantic.

I’ll make sure to take a browse!

11 hours ago, 5BetaReductase said:

All great choices. Don’t cross of a doctor just because of distance, this can be a life altering procedure both good and bad. Most importantly…DONT RUSH

Haha you’re completely right, I need to be patient with the choice rather than just jump in - thank you for the advice.

Hi John,

I hadn’t really considered HDC, but there’s no harm in getting an estimation from them and see what their approach would be - thanks for the suggestion! 

Hi everyone, 

I think I’ve made my decision with regards to which surgeon to go ahead with for a procedure however wanted a little advice before taking the plunge.

The 3 surgeons/clinics that I came down to were Hasson & Wong, Dr Freitas and Dr Bisanga. 
 

Out of the 3 I eliminated Hasson & Wong as it is about a 11 hour flight and thought it maybe wasn’t necessary to travel that far with the other two great surgeons being so close. 
 

Dr Bisanga is very open and honest which made me steer towards him, he has great results and is a big advocate for oral minoxidil which I wanted to give a try anyway. The only downsides are that he won’t give me an estimation online (which in all fairness, made me more confident in his opinion and professionalism) and that I haven’t seen many diffuse thinning cases carried out by him. (which are similar to my hair loss)

Dr Freitas on the other hand has many diffuse thinning cases on this forum and on his website from people that are a similar age to myself (25 if you were wondering) and his results are simply stunning, in-fact some I honestly thought were genuinely too good to be true. 
 

So out of the two surgeons I’m kind of stuck, do I wait to see Dr Bisanga before making a decision (which could be months away due to Covid restrictions still) or get booked up with Dr Freitas? (Earliest appointments being July next year!)

Also a little side note, thank you to Melvin and everyone on this forum - if it wasn’t for yourselves I probably would have just gone to Turkey and booked up with a hair mill. If you’re new to this forum, this is the place to find yourselves a good surgeon and ask for advice. 

Perhaps the oral minoxidil speeding up the process? Congrats my friend, I’m waiting to have an in person consultation with Bisanga as I feel he’s the most open and honest surgeon around, alongside his amazing results. 

These are my direct comparisons being on Propecia 1mg for 5 years. The first couple of photos are me at 18 years old (albeit not the greatest crown photo as a lot of the hair from the back of my head was covering) to me nearly at 25 years old. 
 

I was convinced I’d fully lose my hair by the time I was 21, although I feel comparing I have lost some still, I’ve definitely slowed the process - which is what my aim was in the first place. 

18 minutes ago, Newyear newhair said:

Hi I also use Dr Fox for ordering finasteride 1mg tablets , I’ve been using for 3.5 months... what is the difference between generic fin (which I’ve got) and propecia ?

thanks in advance 

I did some research when I had to switch earlier this year for a couple of months, from what I found in people’s experiences was that there isn’t much of a difference at all (please correct me if I’m wrong someone who is more knowledgeable). 
 

The reason I use Propecia is because it’s a well known brand, and assuming it’s made in the correct way and conditions. Maybe I’m being too paranoid? Better to be safe than sorry anyhow.

Wow I got a lot more information on fin than I thought I would for this thread haha. Much appreciated everyone for your input. 
 

I’m using Dr Fox (an online pharmacy for the UK) for my Propecia 1mg. It is important to note that I had to switch to generic fin during the first lockdown as they ran out of stock however that was back in March/April last year so maybe it didn’t make too much of a difference. Unfortunately I don’t think UK pharmacies prescribe 5mg otherwise I would probably do the same thing you are doing @ciaus as you have clearly done your research. 
 

I’m hoping to look into oral minoxidil (2.5mg) in the near future however I will have to find a doctor familiar with this prescription who thinks it is safe to do so. 

Hi all,

I’ve been losing my hair for about 5 years but have maintained well on 1mg finasteride daily for the majority of those years. However I had Covid around 4 months ago and have noticed my crown density has decreased quite a lot. I’m not entirely sure if it’s Covid or whether my body has adjusted to finasteride over the past years? 
 

I seem to have long Covid as I have a fast heart rate and my smell and taste is still pretty much not there. 
 

Is there anyone in a similar position/knowledgable about this that could shed some advice?

Hi all,

I’ve been looking into oral minoxidil the last couple of days and read a few research papers that say it has been pretty effective - obviously I’ve read about the various different side effects also.

I can’t seem to find many posts with 6+ months experience on them, anyone out there that can share their experience?

6 minutes ago, Gareth said:

It's not noticeable AT ALL. And if it ever becomes noticeable - well, you've seen that you can get it back. Now stop worrying and enjoy life! 

I appreciate the words Gareth, I read once that if hair loss is the biggest worry in your life, then you have a pretty easy life. (Sometimes I need to focus on the bigger picture of enjoying my 20s instead of worrying about what I will look like during/after!)

3 minutes ago, JohnAC71 said:

We are being polite, but also honest 😂 your at a point when you can go to a decent clinic and get a good result. Check out Melvins situation, as he said himself he was in a much worse position. And look at him now ! 

Haha that made me laugh. Thanks John, I agree Melvin has had a great result! 

7 hours ago, MarkLui said:

Genetics plays important role, as you know. How is the situation with your father, uncle/s. It will give you an idea if it's worth trying in order to achieve a long-term result.

My fathers side including my uncle and grandfather have lost their hair, however I’m not sure what age. My mothers side of the family have full heads of hair, so maybe I got unlucky. My younger brother has completely lost his hair (23), so maybe fin has slowed down my hair loss when comparing the two of us.

17 minutes ago, Gareth said:

A lost cause? You've lost a tiny bit of hair, if that!! No worries!

Just remember that the options are available if you ever need them. And they're getting better all the time. 

Haha thank you for the kind words Gareth - maybe it seems worse to myself, I feel like it’s extremely noticeable and maybe people are being polite? Who knows! I agree with your last statement, hopefully exciting times are approaching in the near future. 

18 hours ago, DrTBarghouthi said:

It’s always better to spot the issue early and that will help you a lot. Don’t worry, you’re miles ahead of others within your age who are not taking things seriously in terms of maintenance. 
You seem well aware of the problem and your options and taking a good medication to slow things down. 

I agree, sometimes I wish I took it earlier even though I started taking fin at 19! I feel like I’ve read enough stories to be realistic, my hair will never be the same as I was when I was 16 - I just want to maintain and maybe improve in the future with a hair transplant, however I will continue with consultations for now and get a few suggestions. (Also thanks for replying 😁)

6 hours ago, UnbaldEagle said:

@Kieran2020, my hair loss is very similar to yours and weirdly enough I posted the same question (verbatim these words) in a thread I made about diffuse thinning some while ago.  Since then I've been assured we're not a lost cause and anecdotally speaking, I'm a decade older than you, diffuse thinning badly since 19 and I still have some hair left. My only regret is not taking meds earlier. But I can 100% understand where you're coming from and quite often DPA certainly feels worse than regular patterned alopecia, simply because we feel like there's NOT A LOT left to lose and we're losing it evenly everywhere. 

Stay on meds and choose a good clinic, reconstruct the front regardless what happens behind it because that's what most people see, and do smaller procedures instead rather than risking shocking out the natives with a one and done. That's my advice but of course try to get as many 2nd opinions from top clinics on what should be done.

P.S. I'm also in the UK and in the end it was a tie between Dr. Edward Ball and Dr. Maras at HDC. I choose the latter.

Thank you for the message, it really does help knowing people like yourself have been through a similar pattern of hair loss and have managed to maintain. Could I drop you a DM if possible?

21 hours ago, ciaus said:

One of the ways minoxidil works to give you the fuller head of hair look is by extending your hair growth cycles so more of them are growing at the same time. The shedding is just some of your hairs cycling out getting ready for the new longer cycles.

If you're going to do finasteride to keep your hair follicles around as long as possible, minoxidil is a great addition to enhance them while you have them. But if you have trouble sticking to the regimen of applying it each day it might not be something worth trying. But then there's also oral minoxidil, I use it, popping a pill like you do with finasteride. There's a topic here where you can read more about it:

 

 

Thank you for directing me to this article, this is definitely something to consider taking also. I’d like to read a few different reviews but can’t seem to find many unfortunately. 

14 minutes ago, Dr. Suhail Khokhar said:

You're definitely not a lost cause. Are you on minoxidil? If not, hop on it right away. I personally use a topical solution of finasteride/minoxidil and it's worked wonders on my hair. I've gotten 2 FUTs as well. 

Hi, thanks for the reply. 
 

I’m not on minoxidil at the moment due to reading a few posts saying it wasn’t very effective and could cause shedding when starting - although I may start in the near future seeing as fin has slowed down my hair loss.

Thanks for the suggestions John, I’ll make sure to reach out to these surgeons also!