25 yo need opinions on HT plan

[moses0324]

So i became a member about a year ago at which i took pictures (10/2/09). see some below...i used minoxidil for about 3 months, discontinued that and started finasteride for about 11 months between now and then. please see my latest pics. what do you guys think i should do for a game plan? continue using finas? at what point do i get a HT? i also use nizoral daily 2%...

 

note its hard to see the results from the drugs because of how close i shave my hair in the updated pics...

 

 

before: (10/02/09) longer hair, better res pics

 

 

 

 

after: (12/19/2010) shaved head, lower res

 

 

 

 

Edited December 19, 2010 by moses0324

[Thehairupthere]

Just like you said, it's very difficult to access how you have progressed or regressed with the medication as your hair is even shorter than the first photos. Let the hair grow out a little bit and then submit those photos. If your hair has regrown or has stabilized then you can consider having a small treatment to the hairline and corners, but at your age you just need to proceed cautiously and not do anything to rash as you may lose a significant amount of hair in your lifetime if the medication didn't work for you, so you have only a finite amount of grafts available to you, so you have to act accordingly.

[moses0324]

Thanks for your opinion. I will be sure to let my hair grow a little more and re-submit pictures. My main concern as you can see from the before pictures, I have diffused thinning through my crown and mid scalp sections. If that's the case I don't want to be aggressive on my hairline as I won't have enough donor hair.

[hair_me_out]

I don't think you should be using Nizoral every day. Most people recommend using it twice a week or so.

[moses0324]

I have heard to use 2% daily and 4% 3 times weekly. I stopped the minox because I really didn't notice it doing much. If i considered a procedure it would be fue. I wish hair transplants were cut and dry cases.

[Thehairupthere]

If you can I would suggest using minoxidil along with the propecia, as you should give yourself every opportunity to save or regrow hair. At your age you should not consider having transplants in the crown, as you may go on to lose significant amounts of hair in the hairline and top, and you do not want to use up your supply on the crown. If you were to consider an FUE transplant you should do a conservative hairline and top, and leave the crown for later (sometimes depending on the situation people should wait until their late 30s to transplant into the crown due to not knowing your full pattern yet at such a young age)

[moses0324]

i mis-spoke earlier...i use 1% daily nizoral.

 

If you can I would suggest using minoxidil along with the propecia, as you should give yourself every opportunity to save or regrow hair. At your age you should not consider having transplants in the crown, as you may go on to lose significant amounts of hair in the hairline and top, and you do not want to use up your supply on the crown. If you were to consider an FUE transplant you should do a conservative hairline and top, and leave the crown for later (sometimes depending on the situation people should wait until their late 30s to transplant into the crown due to not knowing your full pattern yet at such a young age)

 

i would use minox if i knew i would do it religiously but i dont. i often dont have time as i work from 7-7 and only could really apply it at night.

 

if i did consider a small session it would be fue...using a good doc, could i still shave down to a zero and not see any scarring? i know the benefits of fue is no major scar but would i see small white dots? i really only want to fill in my temples at this point. probably something like 1200 grafts which would be a modest not an agressive hairline. i would still probably have a widows peak. i will work on getting more pictures.

[Spanker]

You most likely would white dot scarring if you shaved to a zero.

[moses0324]

in my view getting a ht is a double edged sword...

 

on one side i get the ht: relocate hairs to locations I have lost hair to add fullness but I have to hide scars which requires longer hair, in turn looks like im thinning on top

 

on the other side i dont get the ht, continue shaving which hides the thinning but i still have missing hairs in the temple regions

 

ugh effin hair!!!!

[Tonycc]

there is no way to tell if the medication worked for you with the head shaved. You gotta grow your hair.

 

and with your hair really short FUT might be a problem because of the scar.

 

If you got FUT, would you be growing your hair or keeping it short?

 

Just curious. Good Luck!

[moses0324]

there is no way to tell if the medication worked for you with the head shaved. You gotta grow your hair.

 

and with your hair really short FUT might be a problem because of the scar.

 

If you got FUT, would you be growing your hair or keeping it short?

 

Just curious. Good Luck!

 

as i stated above i would only consider an fue procedure as i would still like to keep my hair a 1 at least.

 

i will grow my hair out a little more, probably sometime this weekend and take additional pictures. at this point i am only interested in temple fue. maybe 1500 grafts to build a mature hairline. the problem i am faced with is cost. for a reputable doctor and 1500 grafts...its probably two sessions and $13,000. yikes...

[CHB88]

I had 1000 FUE and my FUE scarring isn't bad but I definitely wouldn't recommend it for a hairstyle that short all over. I also buzz to a #1 but only to fade on the sides and back. There is some white dot scarring and it is noticeable but you can probably live with it if you're not too self-conscious. I've gone down to a #0 and felt fine but I had much more native hair at the time so it didn't bother me as much.

 

I would say I'm at the border of FUE becoming very obvious. I had grafts removed all over the donor zone randomly as well as in small patches so it is fairly well spread. Some doctors tend to remove them all from one specfic area for some reason, probably if you don't want to shave your entire head.

If I had double or triple the amount of FUE I think it would be glaringly obvious that something was a bit off. That said, my scarring is absolutely invisible if I grow my donor hair for 2 weeks (about 0.5 to 1.0 cm).

 

My recipient results weren't that good (I'm looking at reversal) but from what I've seen the recipient zone hair would not match your existing hair at very short length. The donor usually doesn't look natural compared to the native because of its thickness, placement and spacing. You would have to have a longer hairstyle for the HT to work best.

 

IMO you are also very likely to lose the rest of your native at some point so you would need a plan to fill the rest of your head which would one day require strip surgery. If you aren't willing to commit to that financially and mentally then you should rethink. I've become a bit biased about HTs lately but in your case, money aside I don't think the gain is worth the risks. That's not even introducing post-surgical complications into the matter.

[moses0324]

I had 1000 FUE and my FUE scarring isn't bad but I definitely wouldn't recommend it for a hairstyle that short all over. I also buzz to a #1 but only to fade on the sides and back. There is some white dot scarring and it is noticeable but you can probably live with it if you're not too self-conscious. I've gone down to a #0 and felt fine but I had much more native hair at the time so it didn't bother me as much.

 

I would say I'm at the border of FUE becoming very obvious. I had grafts removed all over the donor zone randomly as well as in small patches so it is fairly well spread. Some doctors tend to remove them all from one specfic area for some reason, probably if you don't want to shave your entire head.

If I had double or triple the amount of FUE I think it would be glaringly obvious that something was a bit off. That said, my scarring is absolutely invisible if I grow my donor hair for 2 weeks (about 0.5 to 1.0 cm).

 

My recipient results weren't that good (I'm looking at reversal) but from what I've seen the recipient zone hair would not match your existing hair at very short length. The donor usually doesn't look natural compared to the native because of its thickness, placement and spacing. You would have to have a longer hairstyle for the HT to work best.

 

IMO you are also very likely to lose the rest of your native at some point so you would need a plan to fill the rest of your head which would one day require strip surgery. If you aren't willing to commit to that financially and mentally then you should rethink. I've become a bit biased about HTs lately but in your case, money aside I don't think the gain is worth the risks. That's not even introducing post-surgical complications into the matter.

 

thanks for your personal experience...you are pretty spot on with my thinking. if i want to keep my hair short then fue is the only way to go. problem is like you said...the recipient area where fue is transplanted wont look the same as my native hair as spacing and density is different. it may actually look worse. anything over a #1/#2 cut, i can see definate thinning in the mid vertex and scalp area. thus the reason i shave it close.

 

the issue with going strip is obviously the scar. if i dont like the results and wanted to go short again, i couldnt. i wish a technique were available that leaves zero scars thus i could go back to shaving close if i didnt like the results. like you said over 1000 fue the scarring will look noticeable in the donor area. i have a feeling that if i went with strip and had even 3000 grafts done, i wouldnt like the result and be stuck!!

[scar5]

MOse, CHB88's post is a good one- a valuable one. I think it is important to note that his mixed feelings about FUE ala, "I definitely wouldn't recommend it" are somewhat due to the recipient issues rather than donor scarring.

 

FUE does give you the option to have short hair, however, if scalp-hair color contrast is wide, and if native hair is lost say because drugs don't work, then you are gonna have texture contrast issues if you buzz. If you are greying or use bleach you will be much better off, but it is absolutely essential to tell your doctor that you want to buzz first up and then three things might happen -

1) Doc believes you now, but knows through experience, that eventually u r gonna be more happy growing it out and thus makes the slits more vertical in order to maximize the 'illusion of density' - this will result in misery when you buzz

2) Doc says 'yes, oh yes' , but just does what he/she normally does regardless, i.e. plants more vertically for 'illusion'

3) YOur request is diluted through the clinic's system so that eventually you end up with spiky storks that don't blend in

 

The best option is of course to choose your doctor wisely, take medication but you may find that bleaching your hair really helps with the blending of recipient to donor.

 

HT is an illusion. A good FUE transplant lets you buzz, even shave, but there is no way that thick course hairs from your donor are going to look natural and blended on a shiny and sparse NW2 area without good planning, and help from the chemical world if short.

Edited December 23, 2010 by scar5

[moses0324]

update time as promised...the before and after (looks like fin worked)...What do you guys think?

 

befores:

 

 

 

 

 

after: (longer hair)