BJ47

@bostonguy Yes, I am currently on finasteride. I started finasteride at age 19, and had a period of a couple years in the time after my first HT that I stopped taking it. For the first HT, Dr. Cooley recommended 2000 grafts and we ended up at almost 2200. It was a FUT procedure and the grafts were placed into the hairline and frontal 2/3 or so. I had some thinning in the crown area, but Dr. Cooley said he did not feel comfortable transplanting into that area until age 40 or later once the hairloss had stabilized a bit more. My hair is slightly damp in the photos I shared in the original post. These are the images I sent to Dr. Cooley's office as part of the initial conversation for a second procedure and wanted to show the extent of the thinning. My instinct is that what we're seeing from hairline back in the middle are transplanted hairs, and the natural hairs have continued to thin from age and discontinuing finasteride for a time. My dad and two younger brothers are all slick bald on top and in the crown area. I very religiously and agressively use Toppik, so I'll try to see if I can find some "post HT 1" photos that were taking during the time that I was able to give it up. I know there were a few years in the time after the first HT that I was able to give it up completely, then continued it back up once I noticed the thinning was progressing. I do have a bit of peach fuzz in the crown area. Enough for Toppik to cling to. That makes me hopeful about the exosomes if they really do work as "advertised." I want to be smart about using the donor grafts that remain, but I also want to be realistic about what's possible and definitely want to do something to address the crown in my second procedure. Lollie said something along the lines of "I'd recommend putting off transplanting into the crown as long as possible and focus on the frontal 2/3." UPDATE: I was able to locate the photos that I sent for my first evaluation in 2008. These were pre-op and what Ailene used to make recommendations prior to an in-person visit. Also, in looking for photos I realized that my first procedure was in December 2008. So almost 13 years ago.

Hi all, I had a transplant 10 years ago with Dr. Cooley. Great experience. Time marched on and I'm on board for a second transplant to fill in behind the hairline and restore the temple areas. I've been given a few options and was curious as to what your thoughts are? 1) 2500 to 3000 grafts to frontal 2/3 (depending on donor) 2) 2500 to frontal 2/3 + 500 grafts to crown 3) leave crown alone, no grafts but do exosomes 4) any of the above options + exosomes to crown and/or frontal 2/3 My main area of concern is the frontal 2/3 but I would honestly love to address the crown area in some way. Even a sprinkling of grafts would give my Toppik more to grab onto. Having a tough time visualizing what 500 grafts would look like in that sized area. Also wondering if exosomes would be a good alternative to the grafts, a good option to supplement the grafts, or if the improvement to the crown area would be minimal to the point that going with the option of grafts makes more sense. Thanks!