JakeVig

Hi Paddy_Boy, Welcome to the forums, if its one thing you will learn here, it is that you should go to the best regardless of location. You only have one head so the results you get will last a lifetime. Its best not to risk it with substandard doctors. In my opinion there are no high quality doctors in the UK/Ireland, the best doctors in the world reside in the US and Canada. I have not seen an outstanding result from the UK or Ireland. Im also in the UK and based on this forum I decided to go to Dr Ron Shapiro in the US as an excellent result and a completely undetectable hairline was very important to me. I recommend having a few free online consults before deciding on your doctor. Note if you decide on a US doctor you will probably get a discount as an international patient and the prices are much less than the UK.

Sujay if cost is an issue you should buy Proscar and cut it into 1/4's, it has the same active ingredient as Propecia.

dhuge, On my travels for understanding hairloss I read somewhere to stay away from Steroids and creatine. You can quickly do a search of "Creatine hair loss" on google and you will get 1,120,000+ results. A lot of it is personal experience but a lot of people think that creatine can accelerate your hair loss. Personally I don't think it is worth the risk.

Hi Dyson, You should add a link to you pics to this post so everyone can follow your progress

Hi Dyson, So far its looking good, though its hard to tell how much of a difference its made because you have no pre op pics.

YoungGuy, You're looking pretty confident with your shaved head. Unfortunately it is too shaved to be able to tell what NW level you are. The results you will ultimely get boils down to density. Density is a function of donor grafts and coverage. So if you have little coverage and a good donor than you will get a good result.

Im giving YoungGuy 10/10 for telling it like it is!

Bobman, Congrats!, It looks like your steps to positive self-improvement has helped make you a happy man! Hope it works out well for you!

Hi waittosee, Its hard to believe that you consider yourself unlucky, but I can understand that because of your amazing growth you are a slave to the bottle (and propecia) in order to keep what you have. I woul'dve considered you to be a NW3-NW3.5 before treatment and no MPB after treatment. Because you seem to respond to medications the best, I think we will all urge you to stay on Propecia/Rogaine to see how long you can keep your medicated hair. Good luck waittosee, and keep posting those pics.

Suntop, Within 2 weeks the redness in your recipient area should be gone so the only noticeable part of your HT will be your donor area. If you want to be sure that no one can notice your HT you should grow your hair long to around 2-3 inches. I took 3 weeks off myself and because my donor hair wasnt long I had to use dermmatch to successfully hide the shaved area around the scar.

adding to the obvious... You need numbers, start your scalp excercises now.

YoungGuy, Seriously if you can pull off the shaved look you are going to regret having a HT. After a HT you will not be able to shave down again without the scar being visible. I believe if you are lucky enought to pull it off, a slick scalp looks better than a thinning scalp. Do not do the HT unless your sure that you do not want to shave down again. If I were you I would get on the meds and stay on them for a while. I would also grow out your hair again to make sure you prefer hair over a shaved look. Do not go for a HT unless you are sure.

Absolutely great result Michaellovesnyc, you must be stoked with your last months growth, some people have largely peaked at 4-5 months looks like 7 was your lucky number - hopefully it well get even better in the coming months!

john, I believe hair multiplication and/or gene therapy is still 8 years away from reality. I would not be making any decisions based on future technologies. Man has been trying to curtail hair loss for centuries it would be optomistic to think that a cure will develop in the next few years.

Hi frak82, Your mileage will vary with Propecia, in some men it will actually cause some regrowth but in most cases it will just slow/halt your hair loss. The fact that you may be getting side effects is not an indication of how well you will respond with Propecia, only time will tell. I would give it 6-12 months before judging its efficacy. I believe I was one of the cases where Propecia was not working well for me as I have had most of my hairloss while on it. It is only after adding Minioxidil to my regimen did I notice that my hairloss has slowed/halted. The idea that the Propecia loses its effictiveness after a few years is probably based on the fact that Patients have gained hair in the few years while on propecia but then proceed to experience hair loss after a while. Patients are still better off for having been on (and continue to stay on) Propecia so this should not discourage you as it is the most effective treatment currently available for hairloss at the moment. In conclusion Propecia should be the corner stone of your regimen, if you want to do more to halt your hairloss I would add Minoxidil and Nizoral shampoo to your regimen as well.

Hi all, I am nearly 2 months post op and I think Im detecting some minor growth in the recipient area. Basically I have what be described as peach fuzz - thin colourless hair that don't really add much of a cosmetic difference. I am also starting to see a couple of short thin dark brown hairs (my native hair colour), Im guessing this is transplanted hair since it is in the middle of my receeded temples. So is the peach fuzz also transplanted hair?

Hi all, I am nearly 2 months post op and I think Im detecting some minor growth in the recipient area. Basically I have what be described as peach fuzz - thin colourless hair that don't really add much of a cosmetic difference. I am also starting to see a couple of short thin dark brown hairs (my native hair colour), Im guessing this is transplanted hair since it is in the middle of my receeded temples. So is the peach fuzz also transplanted hair?

He wasn't specific about the brand of emu oil so I don't think there is much benefit to be gained by his post. Although I would still prefer to see some pre/post pics detailing the growth.

I took a few weeks holiday off myself. when I got back no one was none the wiser.

Ummm L'Anonyme losing hair in your early 20's is very hard especially when knowing that it is having a negative impact on your personal appearance. There is nothing wrong with trying your best (or being obsessed?) at keeping your hair unless it is going against your long term interests. I don't think its an indication on whether someone needs counselling.

dhuge, Also since you are young you should think about managing your donor supply in the future. FUE does not yield as many grafts as FUT which was the deciding factor for me when deciding between the two. But I dont think another HT at this time is right for you, I would be looking at possible effective treatments. It appears that some people respond well to Xandros and Revivogen over Minioxidil, as they contain other active ingredients like Azelic acid which is supposedly proven to block up to 100% of DHT where applied: http://www.minoxidil.com/azelaic.htm Also there is topical spironolactone which is a powerful anti-androgen which also a DHT blocker: http://www.minoxidil.com/topical.htm Lastly there is Avodart which is proven to block around 90% of DHT (though it is not approved for hairloss yet). Remember on whatever treatment you try out you should stay with them for 6-12 months in order to judge its efficacy. It is always said that retaining your hair is always better than having a HT since Hair Multiplication is not available yet so we all have a finite donor supply.

Hi Cantona, Since minoxidil is dose dependant, the higher the concentration the better the result. 12.5% Minoxidil is available from Dr Lee's website at http://www.minoxidil.com But he only recommends it for areas where 5% is not responsive and only once per day.

I believe that Jotronic and Bobman are examples of the best results of a HT on a NW5/6 patient, and are not typical of the results that everyone can expect. They both had a good donor that allowed them to get the max grafts possible.

Diet and your environment also comes into play. For instance it is known that many chinese immigrants who would not otherwise be susceptible to MPB start to develop MPB when they immigrate over to western countries like the US. It appears that a high fat diet can also contribute to hairloss. But its also true that there are some people like Elvis that can take drugs, smoke, etc and still end up with a teenage hairline! It kind of sucks that I see plenty of morbidly obese people with a full head of hair. It seems like a waste of good genes to me Genetics is definately the basis but there are also other outside contributing factors that will affect the extent of your hairloss. I would definately stay away from anything that effects hormone levels like steroids - except for drugs that reduce DHT of course

Hi htownballa, Unfortunately there are no cures for hairloss and only treatments. The only 2 FDA approved treatments for hairloss is Propecia and Minoxidil. It doesn't matter what treatment you undergo they are both a life sentence, i.e. you will need to take them indefinately if you want to retain their benefit. Basically I would start with Propecia for at least 6-12 months to judge its efficacy as it is a relatively 'safe drug' and is convenient as you only need to take a pill a day. If you are unsatisfied with the results, you can add Minoxidil to your regimen although it is a messy regimen and I would only recommend it if you plan on using it indefinately.