hairgreedy

Just so everyone knows, I am 32, so not old, but not in my twenties either. I have a very young face, most people don't get guess more than 25. And I agree with what Julius said, its great that cloning might be available in the next 20 years, but I want to look my best now, not in 20 years. Right now is my time to find that great catch, and I know its not all about looks, but my feeling is that the more my hair loss progresses, the lesser chance i'll have of meeting and attracting the kind of woman I want. (L.A. is tough!) That said, my hair loss is not even that bad, probably between a Norwood 1 and 2, and the progression is pretty slow. Also, I've started taking Propecia 6 months ago just to prevent and further loss. I have consulted with several coalition doctors from this site, and they had no problem with giving me a pretty young/low hairline due to my young face, my slow progression, and the assumption that I'll be on Propecia. But I have just stopped taking Propecia a couple days ago due to the side effects. I want to wait and see if everything returns to normal. Now my concern is what will I do with the hair loss? I am scared that if I don't do anything to prevent it, it will only get worse. Are there any good alternatives to Propecia, without the side effects? Is Provillus or any of those so called DHT blocking shampoos(Nizoral, Nisim) a good option? Obviously I am also concerned about what kind of ht I should get, but that's something I will talk to a doctor about.

Obie one, thank you for your response. My concern is if I get a transplant with dense packing at the hairline and temples, and then I cannot keep my native hair because I will not be taking Propecia, I will keep having to get more transplants in the future to chase my hair loss, which also means that I probably shouldn't do as much dense packing as I want. Either that or have a hairline full of hair, and then nothing behind it! That's what I meant by "retarded". You get what I mean?

I've been taking Propecia for a little over 6 months now, and I'm starting to think that I am one of those 1%-2% of people who are suffering from the side effects. Because of this, and the forums with tons of people complaining about the side effects, I have officially freaked out and decided to stop taking it. My hair loss only consists of a receding hairline, and loss at the temples, but no loss in the back. Since minoxidil wouldn't help since it's not meant for the back, would it be beneficial in my situation to get a transplant? I mean if I get a transplant for the hairline and temples, but have no way to save my existing hair, then if I lose the native hair behind the hairline, wouldn't I look kind of ummmmmm retarded!? lol Seriously though, what are my options? Is there an alternative to finasteride? Are there other DHT blockers that have been proven to work?

so whats the latest technique?

Another question. Is it possible that with Propecia, if taken for a year, I can strengthen the hairs in the front, which will give me a higher chance of avoiding shock loss in the front to thinning hairs? Or does it not even matter since Propecia doesn't really have an effect on the hairs in the front?

John, thanks for sharing your story, I am sorry to hear about your bad experience. Just wondering though, I thought that with a highly skilled doctor, who does micro grafting, any shock loss that occurs should be temporary. Is this why you had to wear a hat, because you experienced shock loss in the front, and it took 6 months for it to grow back? Spanky, besides the donor scar, why would you suggest FUE? Also, can anyone post an example picture of an unnatural or fake looking hairline. Just want to understand what you guys mean by this. Thanks.

i'm based out of Los Angeles, do you think any doctors our here could achieve a good hairline with good density? Maybe Siporin? Or Alexander in Phoenix? Or is it best to try Feller or Shapiro like you said? By the way, which Shapiro are you talking about?

holy crap, I AM drooling!! wow, I can't wait till I get this HT done! thanks sparky!

sparky thats freakin amazing! lol, a little funny looking, but still awesome, they should hire you at an HT office to show ppl their potential look! i don't have another front shot with a line, but i'm adding another front shot without a line. If its not too hard, maybe you could photoshop this one and just kinda guess where the line would be (bout half an inch below the current hairline in the front and then pretty much straight across the temples) it would be interesting for me to see how it would look. if its too much work don't worry about it. thank you. oh and i think you guys are right about the temple points, they might be a bit too aggressive, and maybe i should have the temples a bit more recessed than the line drawn. i'm not sure if my hairline ever looked like that!

Thanks to everyone who have weighed in so far. B, I have a couple of questions for you. When you say filling in the temples like the line drawn is excessive, do you mean because of how it would look now, or how it would look in the future when I age? And when you say you you would not target temple points aggressively, are you talking about the same thing or something else? Also would 1400-1800 provide enough density to match my existing hair? If not, wouldn't it look weird if I had less dense hair in the temples compared to the rest of my hair? I would love to do FUE, and eliminate any scarring in the donor area, but as I understand, most doctors offer it at $9-$10 a graft, which is a little much, especially if i'm doing 1500-2000 grafts. Thank you.

So I've started my research on hair transplants, and I've had a couple of consultations with different doctors, and I could really use everyone's opinions on what course of action I should take. I am 31, and have some recession in my hairline, mostly in my temples. I don't see any issues with my crown area, but started taking propecia as a preventative measure. So to get to my point. I attached a couple of pictures here to depict my situation. Some of the pictures contain a line drawn by one of the doctors I had a consultation with which shows where he thought he would do the hairline. This doctor (i'll call him doctor A) recommended between 1300-1500 grafts. He said not only would he fill in the temples, and lower the hairline a bit, but he would also fill in some hair where I have existing hair in the front. Another doctor (doctor B) I had an in person consultation with told me basically the same thing. At first I thought this was a lot of grafts, until another highly recommended doctor (doctor C), with whom I've only had a phone conversation with and who saw my pictures, told me he thought I needed 2000. His reasoning for this was that he thought 1500 grafts would not be dense enough, and would not match the rest of my hair. And actually doctor A did say that there would be a possibility that I may want more density and would want to do another HT in the future. Doctor C also mentioned he would not do the side area as far out as doctor A drew it. This got me thinking, why would I want to do multiple sessions, if I can get the right density the first time? But i'm also concerned about the limited donor area. Ideally I can do 2000 grafts to get the hairline I want, and with the help of propecia, I wouldn't need any more. Is that wishful thinking? But what if I did have more loss in the middle area or the crown? Do I have enough donor to cover it? How much donor grafts do I have in the back? I know this varies from person to person, but whats a realistic range? Whats worst and best case scenario? Doctor C said realistically a person has 8000 grafts back there. 10,000 at the most. And either i'm on crack or Doctor A is, because I think I remember him telling me I have 20,000 back there. Is that true or BS? The other big concern I have is that I think all of these doctors wanted to fill in more hair in the front where I have existing hair, but whats the chances I have shock loss in the recipient area, and whats the chances it will be permanent? As you can see, I am a confused person, who is still researching all this stuff. I tend to be indecisive but in this case I think it serves me well, or else I would have listened to my brother and went to Bosley. Or jump right in like my cousin and gone to MHR. Not that they are upset with their results, but there is just too much negative stuff on this forum for me to ever consider taking a risk and going to any of those clinics. I would rather stick with the highly recommended doctors which only have positive comments about them. Sorry if this is long. And all of your opinions are greatly appreciated. I would really love to hear your thoughts on which course of action I should take, the number of grafts I should do, and your feelings about my concerns. Thank you.