Newbie Questions

[Flick]

This is my first post here - hope I've posted it in the right place.

 

Started losing hair from a very early age ca. 17

I am now 34 and a Norwood 4 (I think). Considering hair replacement (or am going to try and convince myself that women really do find bald men sexy ) but don't really know where to start or what to avoid, what drugs to take, what sort of replacement technique to have etc. Been reading many posts here but can someone help me with the basics?

 

One more question to those that have had treatment - how much time did you need to take away from work to let the swelling go down etc?

[Flick]

This is my first post here - hope I've posted it in the right place.

 

Started losing hair from a very early age ca. 17

I am now 34 and a Norwood 4 (I think). Considering hair replacement (or am going to try and convince myself that women really do find bald men sexy ) but don't really know where to start or what to avoid, what drugs to take, what sort of replacement technique to have etc. Been reading many posts here but can someone help me with the basics?

 

One more question to those that have had treatment - how much time did you need to take away from work to let the swelling go down etc?

[arfy]

Propecia is a good choice, it will very likely slow down the progression of hair loss. It supposedly does that in 83% of all users. Since you are a Norwood 4, you still have quite a bit of hair to save. If you started losing hair young, chances are good you will go all the way to Norwood 7. Since hair loss is progressive, your first task is to stop or slow the progression if possible. Get a prescription from your general practicioner ('family doctor') or dermatologist.

 

As far as hair transplants, there is a lot to learn and discuss. You have to be really careful because most doctors do not do an excellent job of it, which can result in a recognizable transplant look... not dolls hair necessarily but recognizable as a transplant. Only the very best doctors are worth patronizing, and in most cases they are not more expensive than the average or below average doctors.

 

If you want to get a hair transplant, there are a few things I recommend reading first... first look at the link "Best_hair_transplant_procedure" for a crash-course in what Follicular Unit grafts are, and why you want to avoid Minigrafts.

 

Then go to the site http://www.hairtransplantadviser.org/ for some general information on transplants.

 

Finally, look at the Patient's Guide at http://www.forhair.com/ as well as the section on "Follicular Isolation". You will have to decide if you want a strip excision or non-strip excision approach, and this will introduce you to the non-strip concepts.

 

That's a lot of reading... give yourself time to get through it, but you will learn quite a bit about transplants this way.

[FUTzyhead]

True- Look, read and study. The best starting point in the mean time is the Propecia. Proscar is the same thing if you cut it into 1/4's. It's a lot cheaper. I buy from a Canadian pharmacy and pay $11.00usd per month for proscar.