Fox243

I was wondering if there’s any point to waiting a few years for a HT just generally. For example, there was talk about Verteporfin being able to lead to scarless hair transplants. Techniques such as FUE might continue to improve. Do you all see legitimacy in waiting for medical advances, and if so, how long?

@PsSAUDid you consider trying finasteride again? Sometimes side effects don’t show at a lower dose, and I know Eugenix is usually pretty adamant on finasteride. 

@MZiyad98I’d recommend you reach out to really conservative docs like Dr. Bisanga and see what he says. If he says yes, I think that gives you the green light. If no, then it’s a harder decision, as some clinics will say yes and others no. 

And just as an update, Dr. Couto also recommended I wait till 25 – so it really seems every surgeon has a different view towards young patients. 

17 minutes ago, ciaus said:

That's not correct, ALL types of FUE and FUT hair transplants leave scarring. And since scar tissue has less pigmentation than normal skin, making it whiter/lighter in appearance, they are more visible on people with darker skin shades.

Can’t we just SMP over FUE scars?

6 minutes ago, ciaus said:

 

Time is an even more critical factor when the hair loss is aggressive at a very young age. There's a big difference between a middle-aged NW7 man that has been losing hair for a few decades with a stable donor area, and a young guy that's finished puberty not even a decade ago with an already aggressive hair loss pattern that might end up even worse than a NW7, where he ends up with significant thinning even in the donor area as well.

Gotcha so the risk comes down to whether your donor thins too much. I’ll ask the doctors I consulted about this and see what they think. 

@Melvin- ModeratorI would appreciate it if you can set up some sort of interview at some point with an above doctor and ask them what their perspective is on young, aggressive bald era. Perhaps their views have changed over the recent years.

23 minutes ago, SadMan2021 said:

if you think its ok for a young 22 yr old such as yourself to get a HT, and you've already been quoted by multiple doctors, why haven't you pulled the trigger yet?

I don’t think it’s okay – I’m unsure. On one hand, many veterans on the forum tell me to either shave, wear a hair system, or stick it out with propecia for several more years. On the other hand, many clinics gave me the green light as long as I have realistic expectations.

I’m trying to figure out why this discrepancy exists. I’m also hoping things such as Verteporfin come out soon so I can have a scarless surgery. 

I’m really confused why people are so wary of having young people have transplants. If NW7s can get transplants, why can’t young people?
 

Not to hijack the thread, but many doctors, such as Eugenix, Dr. Bloxham, and Hasson and Wong were more than willing to do transplants on me despite me being a NW4-5 at 22. Some were more wary Ie Dr. Konior, but he was still willing to do the front half and leave the crown alone for now.

To answer your questions, I’d look into FUT since you’re a young balder. You’d probably go back to between 2018 and 2019 with a conservative surgeon. You can also try Dut tho I’m personally wary since it blocks way too much DHT (and also type 1, which is expressed in the brain).

Hey man, I’m in the same exact scenario but at 22. I have a worse hairline/frontal density but my crown isn’t receded as far back as yours. Would love to chat offline, but for now my plan is to hold onto my thin hair for as many years as possible with fin and hope something like Verteporfin or hairclone comes out. If they don’t within 3 years or so, I’ll start looking into a transplant despite not having stabilized on fin. If they can make a NW7 a NW2.5-3, not sure why they can’t do that for us.
 

I do think people tend to be pessimistic given that they’ve been burned decades ago but yield and usability of other types of grafts (Ie beard) has allowed it such that everyone can at least have a natural balding pattern at the very worst IMO.

@DrTBarghouthiWondering if you have any updates. 

56 minutes ago, DrTBarghouthi said:

 

Apologies for not getting back earlier. So yes this medication is FDA approved for some types of wet macular degeneration which is an age related retinal disease. This was the drug of choice to that condition years ago but has been abandoned with newer agents like Avastin etc. 

I spoke to some colleagues and it seems there is or has been recent delay or even shortage in production (possibly due to reduced demand?) 

I know it is hard to source here where I practice because ophthalmologist are no longer using it. It is around 1800 usd per vial but I’m not sure how much donor will this cover. 
I will try to source it and maybe get help from some of my ophthalmologist colleagues in preparing it and possibly testing it on some FUT scars as well as FUE scars hopefully. I just need to see what the requirements might be along with doing more reading about it (has been quite a busy period lately to do an extra reading unfortunately). 
Will keep you posted with how things go hopefully.

More generally, I don’t see cost being an issue. A NW6 may need 8k grafts each costing $6-$7, leading to a grand total of $50k. If it even takes under 20k to get rid of the scars to allow for a shaved head, many who could afford transplants will pay for this.

Furthermore, it’ll encourage a lot more people to get HTs when they know that worst case scenario, they can minimize their scars. 

Tagging @BeHappy@Gatsbyand some others who are unhappy with their scars. Maybe you or you can tag others who would be happy to allow the Dr to try on your FUT scars if he determines that it’s safe? Since it’s been FDA approved, I don’t imagine any problem though. 

@DrTBarghouthiHi dr., just following up again. This would really be great for people who’s hair transplants don’t end up working out, and the clinic could simply advise them to shave. Would also help people who don’t want to take finasteride, as they could shave if too much loss of native hair occurs.

I’m not referring to a miracle NW7 story but even a NW7 -> NW2.5 with low density and SMP to add density.

I was wondering why there’s such a stigma to get a hair transplant for young patients who have noticeable balding (NW4+) and have very conservative requirements (Ie high hairline, lower density in mid scalp and crown, willingness for use FUT/BHT if needed). Maybe this would make sense 15 years ago, but with the advent of techniques from clinics like hasson and Wong, Eugenix, Zarev, Hattingnen, etc, it seems we can even get a NW7 to have a reasonable hairline and density. 

14 minutes ago, JC71 said:

Nope only Eugenix do FUE only..but also supplement with BHT (Beard), Hattingen do mega FUT sessions as well as FUE. Bisanga is capable of doing combo hts, both FUT/FUE in one ht. 

Whoops you’re right – my point still stands for Eugenix. Why not FUT first then Eugenix if needed?

I’ve seen Eugenix, Bisanga, Hattingten recommended for high Norwoods, amongst others. However, they only perform FUE but research shows doing as many FUTs and then FUEs maximizes lifetime yield. 
 

tagging some ppl who are doing this: @Melvin- Moderator@Gatsby

45 minutes ago, Doron Harati said:

@JohnAC71is correct, HDC clinic and any clinic with high ethical morality must never accept 21 years old for a procedure, unfortunately I met guys that were botched at your age and even 19 years old guys, at HDC we accept at least around 24 years old youngest and also most of times we suggest them to wait more years to let the hairloss progress.

2 reasons for that, some 20 years guys have an early aggressive hairloss with NW7 potential, so even if we'll do the procedure and the paitent will be happy with the result, after few years his transplanted hair will certainly fall because the DHT will reach to those grafts.

Second reason, most early 20's paitents are only at NW1-NW2 stage, it's too early,  a procedure can hurt the natural hair and won't fit it, I have seen NW2 guys that had procedures only at temples without the central hairline and it looks really bad after few years, so we recommend that paitents will reach NW3 so the doctor can create the zigzags of the new hairline, we need a regression of 3cm around the hairline for that.

I also believe you have a DUPA, this create lack of stability at the donor area, many doctors believe it's genetics, I had DUPA around 17-18 years ago due to huge stress and hard time I had, but my hair came back after 3 months and around 6 months after my "normal" hair loss started.

Hmm perhaps that’s why some clinics were offering a HT procedure before. This is because I’m already NW4. They were giving a very conservative hairline, which I was fine with. I’m surprised my possible dupa emerged so quickly. 

It might be because I had sent them the longer hair pictures I had in the other post. Maybe the possible dupa wasn’t apparent in those. 

Yeah, I thought about it for a long time, but ultimately couldn’t pull the trigger

I am surprised people are saying ethical clinics won’t do this. A couple of the reputable clinics offered to do this such as hasson and Wong and eugenix. Some did say no, however, such as Dr. Bisanga. 

I’m 21 – I have met with a derm but with my hair longer and she didn’t mention anything about dupa.

This is the other side of my head and the back. I’ve been on finasteride for a year and minoxidil for 5 years or so.