Recession1

I 100% do. Dr Rassman who came up with DUPA did a microscopic evaluation and densiometer on me and I do have it.

It really has nothing to do with how thick the hair looks in the donor. You can have 20% miniturization and that classifies as Dupa and is hard to detect with the naked eye. I have Dupa and mine looks somewhat thick. I’m not saying OP has it im just saying you can’t go off of how it looks only.

I went to the surgeon twice…. After the first time I was apprehensive because I felt that my hair was thinning so had him look again to make sure and he still thought things were fine. So yes, 2 in person visits! He was annoyed that I questioned him and said if he didn’t like me he would drop me as a patient because he thought I was hard to please…. In reality I was the one who had the right to question him because I ended up being right and he either didn’t care that my donor was thinning or doesn’t know how to diagnose Dupa. Both times he would throw his high mag glasses on and comb my hair around for about 10 seconds and say it’s fine. Again, my post isn’t to degrade surgeons… I think there are wonderful ones it’s mainly to caution people to get multiple opinions from doctors that know what they are looking at and make sure they don’t have Dupa or thinning donors.

Hard telling… I think sometimes we put surgeons on a pedestal and give them all the credit and talk about how “ethical” they are. At the end of the day they perform surgery to make money… I think we hear about surgeons who turn people down and then we think how “ethical” they are but in reality they know they can’t achieve short term cosmetic improvements with certain patients which would tarnish their reputations. In a case like mine with the current state of my donor they know they can get great results in the short term to promote business but would be a nightmare in 5 years and beyond and claim that I have just further thinned. The doctors even told me that my donor was so great that they would almost allow me to go as low as I want with a hairline. Then I hear from Dr Rassman that I have Dupa which is the worst donor you can have. Makes no sense

I wanted to share my experience not to throw any surgeon under the bus, but to help others before getting a hair transplant. I am 35 years old and am on dutasteride 2.5 mg and oral minoxidil 5 mg daily… yes I know very aggressive. I started to recede at 23 years old and would say i am NW 3 now. I visited 2 renown surgeons that members of this forum speak very highly of. Both of them said I have awesome donor hair and no miniaturization and I would be an awesome candidate for surgery. I was excited but in the back of my mind I was skeptical because I felt like my donor when short looked very thin and I felt that the top of my head changed texture and thickness in the last 2 years. I decided to book surgery for the end of this year due to “experts” saying I was a great candidate with no miniaturization. With doubts in my mind and feeling that my donor has been thinning for many years I started to research DUPA. I came across Dr. William Rassman who coined the term DUPA along with Dr. Bernstein. I reached out to Dr Rassman who had me order a densometer and microscope and we set up a zoom call. He had me clip 20 hairs in a small circle in my donor and the hairs measured in density from 30-90 which reflected that I have a high percentage of hairs in the donor that are miniaturizing. I also shaved a small circle and took pictures with microscope that showed over 20% miniturization which classifies DUPA. Also I have miniturization on top of my head that wasn’t initially spotted. Dr. Rassman stated it is Dupa and would have been a disaster to move forward with surgery as my transplanted hair would thin and my donor would also look thinned out. I would have been in a bad spot because I would then have to shave my head and would have scars in donor and recipient areas. What I am getting at is I think a lot of surgeons are great artists and surgeons but at the end of the day they either don’t know how to spot miniaturization in the donor or just turn a blind eye to it to turn you into a patient. When hair is long in the donor it may look great as you can see in my pictures but that doesn’t tell the whole story. Attached are pictures of my donor long which appears to be fine but under a microscope is not fine. Very disappointed but thankful I didn’t move forward with procedure.

Does anybody have any pictures of what their head looks like shaved or buzzed really short that has DUPA? Like taken down to a no guard or 1?

Thanks for the reply did you take any medication prior to age 36?

Looks impressive… like the hairline and density. How old were you when you had first procedure done?

Any update? Thanks

This is going to be a great result! Really clean and love the hairline design. Also looks dense

What would be the point of this? Not being smart…. Just curious? Are you saying everyone should delay until it comes out? Chances are it won’t come to fruition like every other hopeful treatment. Am I wrong?

Hey guys I have a hair transplant surgery scheduled in 3 months. I am 35 years old and am on 2.5mg dutasteride daily and 5mg oral minoxidil daily. I have been on this regimen for a long time. I have noticed the last 2 months I have been shedding a lot of hair. Way more than normal…. I know it’s common to shed 100-150 hairs per day but I have noticed at least half of that in the shower and a lot when I apply minoxidil. The look of my hair hasn’t really changed much. Below is the current state of my hair. Do you think this is alarming and I should postpone surgery? Or could it just be a seasonal heavy shed? Do some people just shed a lot of hair at certain times?

I think when you feel you have a taller forehead and you go to Nw 2 or 3 it becomes bothersome because your face isn’t framed. When you already feel you have a big or tall forehead the little bit of recession becomes a big deal in appearance.

What do you mean fear for them? I’m not being smart… I’m just curious what you mean? If they were to lose more hair in the future and went to a NW 4 they could do another hair transplant or two if they wanted to.

Agreed… it makes no sense. I see a lot of nw 3s that are getting transplants and skilled surgeons bringing their hairline back to original hairline before loss… so why would somebody 30 wait to lose a bunch of hair before they do anything. Everybody talks about the importance of meds, but it seems counterintuitive because it’s only okay to do if you lose a bunch of hair first? I thought meds were used to prevent losing more hair. I think the point of a hair transplant is to make you look great for many years to come so why wait until your bald… why not look good now and then have more surgeries if you need them… and who knows you might not ever need another one… and if that’s the case you just waited a a bunch of years of not liking your hair. I don’t get it.