Finally deciding I want to have a HT done. This is a bit of story: MPB runs very aggressively in my family and I started losing my hair around age 15. I've never even known what it's like to have a full head of thick hair as an adult because I started buzzing my head in my early teens and then it just disappeared rather quickly. By 22 I had lost pretty much all the hair on top. NW 6. For years I just accepted it, but that meant suffering in silence. (Age progression pics: https://imgur.com/a/drWI9yl) I felt like I had no options. A dermatologist offered me finasteride at 22 and I rejected it because I was (irrationally) scared after reading too many horror stories online about it. Last year, I gave hair systems a try since my father has worn systems since 20s and I never would've known if he didn't tell me about 3 years ago. That's how great they can look. I wore systems for about 9 months, and enjoyed certain aspects of it...including the look...but ultimately that became too annoying for my lifestyle and it's not something I wanted to do forever.
I made the decision to begin taking finasteride in late December 2021, while still wearing systems. I quickly noticed that when the system was being removed at the salon, I had more hair growth on the top of my head than I had seen in years. I subsequently ditched the systems and am back to being bald, but I've worn hats everywhere since my teens so I'm just used to covering it now. As soon as I ditched the systems, I added in minoxidil 2x/day, microneedling occasionally, and nizoral shampoo.
In just 4 months, I've noticed substantial regrowth of lost hair, which I assume is primarily from finasteride (4 days/week) but likely a combination of this entire regimen I finally decided to dedicate myself to. I've heard that finasteride can sometimes take 6 months to show noticeable improvement, so the fact that it began happening immediately in my case was a huge boost of hope. I feel like I've gone from a NW 6.5 to 5ish in just these 4 months. I've also experienced no negative side effects, so we're completely good there.
Prior to all of this, I was essentially not a HT candidate because I had lost so much hair already: https://imgur.com/a/LnmEGre
I had a consultation with Dr. Bernstein in NYC in 2020 and they kindly rejected me because they said 1) I had too much area to cover and not enough donor grafts for what they desired to see, and 2) they require patients to take finasteride for 1 year first to see what can be stabilized or regrown, which I had not begun at the time. I was discouraged, but that was all before I've achieved this regrowth now.
After 4 months of fin + min + minox + nizoral: https://imgur.com/a/TQm4C93
Accepting the hair loss has never been something I settled on, and it's the horseshoe-looking pattern that has always bothered me more than anything else. I can accept thin hair, I can accept a high hairline, but the ring pattern that is so visible...it's unacceptable to me and I am determined to resolve it to the best of my capacity. Even if I can just get back to a NW 3 or 2 with better permanent framing of my face and hair on top that I can grow to some length, I will be thrilled.
I've done some research lately on HT centers and it seems Eugenix in India is the best place to go for a higher Norwood case like me. USA is far too expensive, and most clinics in Turkey are probably too risky to justify the cheap cost (and I hate risky).
I don't know exactly how many grafts I will require, but I assume somewhere around 5000-7000; a large haul still, even assuming finasteride will hang onto some of that regrown hair. Eugenix has different packages to choose from...the question is, which one should I go with? How important is it to have one of the founding doctors or experts involved in my case? I think the highest I'd be willing to pay for is the Premium Package ($2.74 per graft), which brings Dr. Bansal into most of the transplant except for final implantation. But I feel like even the Exclusive Package ($1.57 per graft) could be sufficient. I just want some uniform hair on top of my head at this point that can stop me from wearing hats forever!
I appreciate any advice anyone could give me on if Eugenix is the place to go and anything I should know about this process. Thank you!