Misguided

[Nicholas]

I am going on 19 years old and I have significant hairloss. I have been taking propecia, but quit about 3 months ago (too expensive). I am tired of wearing my hat everywhere and I dont look good with a shaved/bald head. I am in college right now, and completely embarrassed about the whole situation. I do not have enough self esteem to date in my current state. I have been considering a hair transplant for the past year, but the whole idea of scarring makes me a bit uneasy. I wouldnt have a problem financing the operation, but some say that you shouldnt have a HT at such a young age. I am very confused, aggrivated, and depressed all at once. I am too ashamed to talk about hairloss with family or friends. PLEASE HELP!

[Nicholas]

I am going on 19 years old and I have significant hairloss. I have been taking propecia, but quit about 3 months ago (too expensive). I am tired of wearing my hat everywhere and I dont look good with a shaved/bald head. I am in college right now, and completely embarrassed about the whole situation. I do not have enough self esteem to date in my current state. I have been considering a hair transplant for the past year, but the whole idea of scarring makes me a bit uneasy. I wouldnt have a problem financing the operation, but some say that you shouldnt have a HT at such a young age. I am very confused, aggrivated, and depressed all at once. I am too ashamed to talk about hairloss with family or friends. PLEASE HELP!

[HK500]

You've come to the right place for help, actually this the best place I know of in the known Universe ....

Based on my personal experience and my readings from this Forum and others, I would first get back on Propecia immediately unless if you are positive it never did anything for you, to make it WAY more economically reasonable I will personally be switching to Proscar in a few days: 1/4 pill every other day or maybe every day, not sure yet. Then it would be a good idea to post pictures of your hair on this site, you'll get plenty of feedback and finally, you can consult for free with several Dr's recommended on this site. There may be more options than you originally thought.

[Bill - Seemiller]

Hellol Nicholas and welcome to the forums,

 

I'm sorry to hear about your situation...I know how devastating losing your hair can feel. Many people start to lose their hair at an early age, though I'm sure you are like me...and you look around you seeing only the people with full heads of hair and you wonder where all the bald men are right?

 

My first line of advice would be to reconsider the medication. HK500 gave you some good advice about using Proscar...though you would need a prescription for that as well. I assume someone has prescribed propecia to you so certainly you have had to tell someone about your struggle with your hairloss? My advice is use them as people for moral support too...and we are here for you too....you are in good company here. People here are friendly and helpful and truly understand the problem. We all have different backgrounds and experience but have a common bond with a similar insecurity. It's easier for me to talk about this struggle with some than others, even today. However, everyone understands insecurities...not necessarily about hair, but we all have them. Anything from weight to hair to skin to breast size (in women...heh, maybe even in men), to height, etc are all struggles for people. Most people wish they had something they didn't. Women especially with straight hair want curly hair, and women with curly hair want straight hair. It's a tough world we live in and EVERYONE understand insecurities. Some people are more in touch with their insecurities than others and surely some will understand your struggle with your hairloss more than others. Yet, I think many people fail to make the connection sometimes between one insecurity and another...that's where you have to use logic to help them bridge the gap.

 

Anyway...back to advice regarding your hair. Get back on the medication if you can, get a prescription for Proscar and you'll pay much less, especially since it's covered by most medical benefits. You would only take 1/4 or 1/5 of a pill a day, however, because the dosage of finasteride is 5X greater in a Proscar pill, so you will need to split the pill.

 

Feel free to post photos on this site so we can get a better idea of what to tell you regarding your hairloss.

 

One more thing...age should be a factor, but I don't believe it's the only factor in determining candidates for HTs. That doesn't mean I'm encouraging you to run out and get one...I think you should do some good research before jumping in to anything. The problem is most people, especially your age (please don't take offense) see the first signs of hairloss and want to jump into an HT to restore their perfect hair and find a doctor to densely pack the area. Problem is, since donor hair is limited, you'll run out of donor hair quickly if you try to dense pack all the areas of hair you lose if you are destined to lose a lot of hair, and you wont' have enough to cover the whole norwood area, leaving you with a patchy unnatural look. It's important to think about the long term regarding surgeries and NOT the short term. I hope this helps get you started.

 

Bill

[Bill - Seemiller]

P.S. You really don't have anything to be ashamed of. There is no shame in balding...even though it feels like the worse thing in the world...there is nothing wrong with it...it doesn't mean there is anything wrong with you, and certainly women can and will still desire you.

 

Feel free to read the below link...it's more about the emotional side of hairloss than the physical...but I hope it helps:

 

http://www.hairrestorationnetwork.com/eve/showthread.php?t=145009

 

My best advice is...do everything you can to get your hair back thinking long term as I already advised you, but DON'T let your hair rule your life or effect who you are as a person. Live your life and enjoy it...learn to be confident in who you are...and hair will become a bonus if you can get some of it back.

 

Bill

[Guest Cousin_It]

Nicholas...

 

Sorry to hear about the early hair loss. I am sure your will obtain good information on this forum to assist you in combating this problem.

 

Because hair loss at such an early age can be aggressive, I suggest you begin medications as soon as possible. Since the cost of propecia was prohibitive in your case, you can alternatively use the 5mg generic form of finesteride. Its way cheaper and should be within your budget. Just cut the pill into quarters. Another suggestion would be to begin using Rogaine Foam. The combination of both can be synergistic and may be immensely helpful to you at this early stage.

 

At this time I would not suggest considering a surgical procedure. Since the inception of hair loss at such an early age can note a higher eventual Norwood stage in later years any corrections at this time may result in an unsightly appearance as hair loss progresses. This may further result in additional surgeries to correct this cosmetically eventually depleting your donor hair.

 

I would further suggest a consultation with a doctor to document the degree of scalp miniaturization. This can be very helpful in predicting future hair loss.

 

I hope these suggestions help. Feel free to post any additional concerns. Best of Luck!

[PB]

Originally posted by Nicholas:

I am going on 19 years old and I have significant hairloss.

Hi Nicholas,

 

Can you show us a photo? I have seen teenagers on other sites freaking out about their hair loss but when I've seen their picture, they look like they have a full head of hair. Is your hair loss really as bad as you think it is?

[Nicholas]

Here is a quick webcam photo that I took...

[Bill - Seemiller]

Where webcam photos aren't typically the best kinds of photos, it is evident that you are experiencing a good amount of loss all over. Though, admittedly, I think the top of your hair would appear much thicker if you shaved the sides and back down to a 1 clip blending into the top of your hair.

 

I still wouldn't recommend an HT at this point...due to your age and the fact that your hairloss is pretty aggressive, sad to say, you will most likely lose a lot more hair. Though I'd say you have a pretty good chance of slowing it down or stopping it if you get back on Finasteride. I seriously recommend getting a prescription for Proscar and cut it into quarters, much cheaper than Propecia and it's the same thing when cut with a pill cutter into quarters (or actually fifths, though that would be difficult, so probably just quarters).

 

Bill

[Shorty B]

Nicholas,

 

Your posting gave me flashbacks I, like many others on this site, started losing my hair at a young age. I started around 20 and lost alot over the next 4 years, then it started to slow down. It was devastating, but I still found a way to enjoy college, dating, going out, etc. I did wear a hat 9 out of 10 days but it worked for me. Looking back, it was much harder to deal with hairloss at that age than in my mid 30's since there didn't seem to be nearly as any people suffering from it (at least that I hung out with).

 

I think all the advice you have gotten so far advice on this site is good, continue to use it. Believe me, I wish this type of support, and information was available when I was your age. It would have save me some painful (and expensive) mistakes. I had a HT at 21 with one of the old hair clinics and it was a bad choice, I should have waited a least another year and found a top doc (easier said than done at the time), but I was desperate for a solution and not wasn't looking at the longterm plan.

 

I see no reason you shouldn't seek a consultation with a surgeon listed on this site, since they are the best.

 

I know you may feel your world is coming to an end, but it isn't. Do your research, use this site as much as possible, get back on the meds. and things will fall in place with you. The advancements made in the HT field have been amazing over the last few years, so you'll have options that wouldn't have been available to you a number of years ago. DON'T RUSH INTO SOMETHING LIKE A HT SINCE THE RESULTS (GOOD or BAD) WILL BE WITH WITH YOU FOR A LIFETIME.

 

In the meantime, make every effort to enjoy your college experieince, since they turn out to be some of the most memorable years in many people's lives.

 

Keep us posted on your situation.

[Nicholas]

I just want to to thank all of you for your support firstly. I am going through some tough times in my life right now (not only with hairloss) and it is nice to have someone to talk to who understands what I am going through. Thank you.

 

Second thing on my mind is Proscar. It seems like a good idea for me at the time, but im not quite sure how to go about getting a prescripton for it. Will my Propecia prescriber write me a prescription for Proscar too?

[HK500]

He should be open minded about it. Another solution is this: set up a free consultation with a HT Dr. and at the end ask him to write it up for you, he should do it no problem, for free and you'll have gotten a consult out of it as well, if he is nice he might even give you some free Propecia samples . Two birds with one stone .....

[Bill - Seemiller]

Nicholas,

 

Whoever prescribes you Propecia should hopefully be open minded to it as HK500 says...however, I had problems with my general practioner and had to get my HT doc to prescribe it for me. Talk to your doctor first, if he/she won't do it, try consulting with an HT doctor.

 

Bill