Propecia and FUE question

[Guest]

I'm still in my early twenties, but I'm considering HT in near future. I'm not going bald, but I'm interested in filling-in my rather deep temporal recessions. I have two questions:

 

1. I'm on propecia, which I hope will prevent my hairline recession in the future - is this assumption correct, or propecia does not prevent hairloss in the frontal area?

 

2. Since the area I need transplanted is not big (a few square centimeters - however with relatively high density), would all follicular unit extraction, be a viable method for me. I just don't think strip extraction method would be neccessary, because I will most likely need less than 1000 grafts. What determines who's a likely candidate for FUE?

 

Thanks for taking time to read and answer.

 

"Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic''. Arthur C. Clarke

[Guest]

I'm still in my early twenties, but I'm considering HT in near future. I'm not going bald, but I'm interested in filling-in my rather deep temporal recessions. I have two questions:

 

1. I'm on propecia, which I hope will prevent my hairline recession in the future - is this assumption correct, or propecia does not prevent hairloss in the frontal area?

 

2. Since the area I need transplanted is not big (a few square centimeters - however with relatively high density), would all follicular unit extraction, be a viable method for me. I just don't think strip extraction method would be neccessary, because I will most likely need less than 1000 grafts. What determines who's a likely candidate for FUE?

 

Thanks for taking time to read and answer.

 

"Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic''. Arthur C. Clarke

[arfy]

I know you are probably sick of hearing from me, so I will try to make this quick, and then leave you alone...

 

The difference between FUE and regular FU transplants is only in the harvesting. The harvesting method doesn't change anything as far as a guy being a good candidate or a bad candidate for a transplant. First and foremost make sure that you are really a good candidate for cosmetic surgery.

 

There is a guy posting around here lately who is trying to hype FUE as a great idea for Norwood 2 patients. (Guess what, he says he's a Norwood 2 who just got a FUE. He doesn't know WHAT his results are yet). In my opinion, he is way off-base for trying to tell low-Norwood guys to get a hair transplant at all! Some guys are not bald enough for a hair transplant, no matter who their doctor is, or what his technique is.

 

If I can paraphrase Dr. Feller, (a doctor who uses FUE, as you know) "The balder you are, the better a hair transplant will work, and look."

 

PS. To answer your first question, Propecia can and does work in the front. For legal technicalities, Merck can't claim it works there, because the clinical trials were conducted in the crown area. Propecia can work on your whole head though. Good luck with Propecia, I hope you get good results with it.

[Guest]

arfy - thanks for the answer, especially about propecia, it's really uplifting. (do you have a source for your theory on Merc not claming Propecia's success in frontal areas due to technical difficulties?)

 

When I was asking about FUE, I meant who is a good candidate for FUE, not for HT in general. What are the downsides of FUE, when is it a prefferable method, and when strip harvesting would be more appropriate? It would seem to me that FUE gets rid of one of the downsides of HT, by eliminating visible donor scarring, but surely there must be a price to pay for this advantage, because why else wouldn't all doctors practice it by now?

 

"Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic''. Arthur C. Clarke

[arfy]

Micropose

Here's how i understand the clinical testing for Propecia went...

 

First they tattooed a small area in each guy's crown area, and did a hair count. Then at various points, or at least after the course of medication, they counted the hairs in the circle again.

 

Supposedly Merck had to limit their tests to one area of the head, because testing more than one area would have been too expensive. So for legal reasons, Merck cannot claim anything about areas of the head that weren't officially tested. Make sense?

 

Some people say that Propecia does work better on the crown, but actually it seems to be different for everybody. It seems to work best (and first) on the most recently-thinning areas, and not as good on areas that have been thinning longer. Remember that Propecia is best at prevention, and not as good at regrowth. Prevention should be attainable on all areas of your head.

 

About FUE, it is a fairly recent breakthrough. Dr. Woods has been doing it for years, but only recently broke into the US market, via websites like this one. All of the FUE activity is relatively recent, compared to the 30-plus years history of commercialized hair transplantation. Many doctors still do not believe in FUE, including some doctors who are recommended on this website. There has been a lot of resistance from many doctors. Other doctors think it is good but only in certain cases, and is not for everybody.

 

If you are interested in FUE and want to find out if you could be a candidate, just start reading up on it, start contacting doctors who perform it. Some doctors say everybody is a candidate. Dr. Bernstein and Rassman (NHI) say only certain guys are good candidates.

 

FUE is slower than strip excision in one way (limited to 500 or 600 grafts per session) but faster in total... you don't have to wait 9 months in between sessions for FUE like you do for strip excision. FUE is more expensive than strip excision usually (although there are also some very expensive strip excision doctors out there too. There are also less-expensive ones too. In strip-excision, higher price does not mean better quality, by the way).

 

As you noted, the benefit of FUE is no linear donor scar. Some people have speculated that because it is less invasive, that it results in less shock fallout. I don't believe this was proven yet, although it sounds promising. And because you can take FUE donor grafts from all over the head and not just in the certain strip-zone, FUE appears to be able to ultimately provide more grafts in the long run.

 

FUE is an exciting development, but keep in mind the main difference there is just in the harvesting method. All the other usual warnings and limitations regarding hair transplants still remain.

[Franklin]

Arfy don't mean to disagree.But from talking to Woods I got the impression that a lot of the young guy's from Australia have been comming to him for years for just a (Top Up)That is how this all got started his technique can be used for thickening to just small regions.He is very careful on tarnsplanting in really young guys 20 or so but if you are in your 30's he often will see guy's for touch.I wish in the near future when Doctor Woods does come to N.Y make plans on attending and you will see alot and be able to ask him questions.I value your post's tremendously but on this one a little bit more education would help you get a real good idea on his technoque and how it differs from all the rest.

[Franklin]

Sorry for type o's in a hurry!

[arfy]

I don't believe that Dr. Woods recommends using Propecia. So that is one thing I disagree strongly with him about.

 

Guys who are Norwood 2 should not get a hair transplant, they should use Propecia and hopefully they will never need a hair transplant in the first place.

 

I don't care who the doctor is or what the technique is!