21 y.o, hairloss from chemo, please help.

[InItToWinIt]

I will try and keep this short, but it may be hard to. I have a very unique case, so bear with me. I had testicular cancer 2 years ago, right when i turned 18. I had my right testicle removed and then had 3 months of BEP chemotherapy. I lost all my hair on my head and face, as well as some body hair. After I beat cancer and finished chemotherapy, I waited patiently for my hair on my head to grow back. Over the course of 3 or 4 months, my hair was growing back everywhere but on the top, back park of my head and it was also thin in the front as well.

 

Now, over 2 years later, my hair has not improved at all. I have plently of hair on the sides and lower back of my head but I have a large bald spot on the top back of my head and it is very thin all up front. I wear a hat everywhere I go. The only 2 people who see me without my hat is my mother, and my roommate. I absolutley hate the fact that I look like im balding because I am not balding, I am just missing hair because of the chemotherapy and it is never going to grow back. I have been using Rogaine for 6 months and have not noticed really any improvement, maybe a tad regrowth but it is VERY minimal.

 

So now im here, doing research about hair restoration surgery. I made a consultation appointment with Bosley and just got home from it. The guy told me I need 1000-1500 grafts at least, and that it will cost 6,500$. I have heard bad things about Bosley, and hair restoration in general but I am very desperate. I am 21 years old and I really want a full head of hair. These are my prime years and I despise wearing a hat everywhere I go. It is affecting me mentally, emotionally, physically, socially, etc. I feel if anyone deserves to get hair restoration, its me! I dont want Bosley to do my surgery, because I do no trust them, they seem shady from what I have read etc.

 

There is a local plastic surgeon in my area (maryland) named Dr. Vogel and I called him to make an appoitment and his secretary told me that he does not do hair surgery on people under the age of 25. She said that since im so young, I might have more hair loss in the near future and that its not worth the risk. This made me mad because I am NOT expieriencing hair loss, I am just missing hair from chemotherapy. I am hoping to somehow convince Dr. Vogel to do my operation because he is very skilled and a lot of Bosley customers end up going to Dr. Vogel to get repair work done. So thats my story, I hope I can learn a lot from these forums and end up making the right decision.

 

Here are three pictures, taken today at the Bosley consultation office..:

Edited February 16, 2011 by InItToWinIt

[moses0324]

first off welcome to the forum. you will find tons of information on here regarding hairloss, so i recommend you start reading some threads...

 

you have a very heart warming story. i am glad you are healthy and beat cancer...your health and well being is the most important part of life...dont forget that.

 

 

let me try to offer some advice...

 

this is a very unique case of hairloss so i am not sure what to even recommend...the problem you may encounter from people like me and doctors is the cause of your hairloss. is it due to MPB or is it due to chemo? It seems to me like it is chemo as your baldness is not the typical horseshoe pattern. so i am unsure if rogaine, finasteride, or nizoral shampoo would do you any good. maybe some veterans or doctors can chime in...

 

what i would do if i were you, is see a recommended hair restoration doctor or dermatologist and see what they recommend...come up with a long term approach for your hairloss and situation.

 

although this might not be what you want to hear...i dont think you will get to where you want to be with a HT at the moment. I think you should explore other avenues first with a doctor. They will know whats best for you. Do not, I repeat do not go to bosely...find an ethical doctor. there are tons on this forum.

 

i wish you the best of luck...i will be sure to check this thread and track your progress from time to time...i hope things turn out for the best. let me know if you have any further questions.

 

remember to keep your head up...its not the end of the world. all of us are suffering from hairloss. you arent alone...

[InItToWinIt]

Thanks for the response! i know my health and wellbeing is most important, and im working on all of that. ive been working out, improving social life, eating healthy, etc. but im just very self conscious about my hair. i shy away from girls sometimes because i dont want them to see me without my hat, and that sucks haha. do you think just shaving my head to a #3 or 4 would look better? i think your right, bosley is not the way to go and i was afraid you would mention that surgery might not even make a significant diff. I just dont know what to do. its really bugging me, and i understand when you say were all going suffering from hair loss, but im 21 and its A LOT diff. when your older like...40 and start balding naturally. I am only suffering from hair loss because of cancer. it sucks! /rant

[Rowdey]

I can't even start to relate to you, as it puts my situation in perspective.

I started receding at 18, but it is really noticeable until now (20), and it's only at my temples. But I can absolutely understand the pressure on social aspects (and girls) when it comes to hair. It was a huge part of me and despite being relatively confident, I can feel that fading away with each lost hair.

I can't really offer any advice on surgery, as I'm not at that stage yet. I'll be starting meds and hopefully having surgery next year to sort it out.

 

But I just wanted to say that when I shaved my head around a year ago, it was great. It looks much better than trying to cover it (even though at the time, I was the only one who could see the hair loss) and I felt better not having to be reminded all day, every day about it.

Very quickly my friends, flatmates and people at university got used to it, and socially I was much better.

I did experience a poor reaction from professionals in the field I want to enter (which is extremely annoying), which is why I've had to grow my hair back.

 

Try shaving your head, I can guarantee you'll be pleasantly surprised.

 

Best of luck.

[Speegs]

I don't know how long it takes to recover from a chemo shed but i'd say in six months if there isn't noteworthy improvement you can go to a dermatologist and get on finasteride (propecia).

[moses0324]

Thanks for the response! i know my health and wellbeing is most important, and im working on all of that. ive been working out, improving social life, eating healthy, etc. but im just very self conscious about my hair. i shy away from girls sometimes because i dont want them to see me without my hat, and that sucks haha. do you think just shaving my head to a #3 or 4 would look better? i think your right, bosley is not the way to go and i was afraid you would mention that surgery might not even make a significant diff. I just dont know what to do. its really bugging me, and i understand when you say were all going suffering from hair loss, but im 21 and its A LOT diff. when your older like...40 and start balding naturally. I am only suffering from hair loss because of cancer. it sucks! /rant

 

i would recommend you shave it down a little and see how it looks...i shave down to a zero. i included a picture. i think i can pull off the look. its all about confidence my man. i think you are doing the right things. eat right, get into shape, focus on other things....especially personality. hairloss bothers all of us differently and i understand how you feel. i am only 24 years old. it sucks but we have to make the best of it.

 

[InItToWinIt]

thanks guys. it usually takes a few months for the hair to grow back fully after chemo. it can take up to a year to get full growth, but still..its been 2 years since i beat cancer and stopped chemo..the hair aint growing back. im going to try and convince dr. vogel to do my surgery, as he is very good at what he does and i dont want to have bosley do it...

[InItToWinIt]

bump for any more responses/help..im not going to do bosley, i dont trust them and if im gonna do HT i want it done right... im hoping dr. vogel will take my case, even tho im under 25 y.o...also would some kind of topik concealer help me? somehow mask my baldness? i was thinking nano gen and or dermmatch?

[TroyPolamalu79]

Chemo is a terrible thing and it messes up everything in your body. Maybe it is just taking longer for your hair to grow back. I would NOT get a HT for many years until you see it as the only resort. If you shave your head you will have a good frontal hairline and that's what girls notice. I would not use propecia or minoxidil or anything like that because you do not have male pattern baldness hence you do not have DHT issues.

 

My friend I swear not me paid 3K to learn how to pick up girls and professional pickup artist was completely bald with a shaved head.

 

Also, shaving your head is nice when you have a full head of hair. You do not notice how often yo check your hair for alfalfas and such and when there is not hair why even look.

 

Hang in there bud!

[wb280]

I feel for u mate, thats really a tough pill to swallow. Anyway I have been a concealer user for the last decade, i would really want to say yes but based on my experience, no, concealers aint gonna do u wonders as your hair is quite sparse. Concealers need hair to bind to and it works perfectly for crown problem or just receding hairlines. However, for sparse spots throughout the scalp, i am afraid u might not be able to pull it off. Anyway, dun lose heart, why not try getting a bottle? I would be more than pleased to be wrong in my opinion

 

Lastly, if u r talking abt HT, your hair loss does not seem to be MPB, i would think its more like the after effects of chemo. Correct me if i m wrong, but i thought hair loss caused by chemo is temporary?

[InItToWinIt]

what do you mean when u say 'why not try getting a bottle?'

 

also, my hair loss is not MBP. you are correct. it is the after effects of chemo, but i finished chemo 2 years ago. my hair looks the same it did 2 months after i finished chemo..my hair is not going to grow back, its stuck like it is. sometimes in can take a year for all the hair to grow back, but its been 2 years for me, and hasnt changed in thickness or fullness at all in the last 2 years basically.. so yea btw i shaved my head to a # 3 last night, i look fresh outa chemo..sad really

[Al - Moderator]

You should try using a laser comb daily for several months. Seriously. A lot of people here may tell you it's a waste of money, but your type of hairloss is what I think a lasercomb works best on. I used one for a while a few years ago and it grew hair back in shock loss areas from old transplants done 20 years ago. I hadn't grown hair in those areas in all those years, but I got a bit of new growth from the lasercomb.

[Dr. William Lindsey]

First off, I feel for you. My daughter had chemo last year and fortunately she has most of her hair back but I definitely understand your predicament and sympathize with you.

 

Second, I had the occasion to meet someone with a very similar story and similar pictures to what you posted, just last week. The story is strikingly similar yet I know you all are not the same person.

 

Here is my advice that I gave this fellow, who is a decade older than you, but just as concerned.

 

I found that his donor hair was fairly thin, and not very dense. For him and likely you, the limiting factor is not money, but rather quantity and quality of donor hair. I suggested that he, who is noting further loss up front now, wait and use his limited donor hair in the front at some point down the road when he can get a good result with his limited supply of hair.

 

I'd suggest you consider the same route. If you use the donor hair you have now, in the top and crown; and later lose the front, you will be less happy than you are now. And I suspect you aren't happy at this point with your hair or you'd not have posted.

 

Given that this is just my guess from your pictures, I'd be happy to see you in person where I may have the same or a different opinion.

 

Good luck to you either way.

 

Dr. Lindsey McLean VA

[aaron1234]

This is a tough one but here is my advice. You may not have been balding before the chemo treatments, but that doesn't necessarily mean you didn't have the genetic deposition for hair loss either. Going through chemo is stressful (to put it mildly) and stressful times have been known to trigger male pattern baldness - for instance many guys in their twenties first recall losing their hair during a bad break up or divorce. So while the chemo may have been the reason why you lost your hair in the first place, a MPB gene could be the reason why it is not growing back. Of course, there is no way to know for sure. I'm simply speculating.

 

But not knowing for sure is why you should be very careful because, as lot of guys have already said, you don't know what your baseline will be 5 to 10 years down the road. I would hold off from getting a transplant for awhile, but I'm not so sure you should avoid Finasteride. I would ask a few docs their opinion on that one.

 

In the meantime, try either shaving your head or using concealer's. Your hair loss seems a bit diffuse right now, which actually can work quite well with Dermmatch or Toppik. Experiment with those kind of products. They won't grow your hair back but if used correctly they can make a bad situation more tolerable. Hope this helps.

[InItToWinIt]

You should try using a laser comb daily for several months. Seriously. A lot of people here may tell you it's a waste of money, but your type of hairloss is what I think a lasercomb works best on. I used one for a while a few years ago and it grew hair back in shock loss areas from old transplants done 20 years ago. I hadn't grown hair in those areas in all those years, but I got a bit of new growth from the lasercomb.

 

hmm, i thought about using a laser comb. I think im going to give that a try, it couldnt hurt. thanks!

 

First off, I feel for you. My daughter had chemo last year and fortunately she has most of her hair back but I definitely understand your predicament and sympathize with you.

 

Second, I had the occasion to meet someone with a very similar story and similar pictures to what you posted, just last week. The story is strikingly similar yet I know you all are not the same person.

 

Here is my advice that I gave this fellow, who is a decade older than you, but just as concerned.

 

I found that his donor hair was fairly thin, and not very dense. For him and likely you, the limiting factor is not money, but rather quantity and quality of donor hair. I suggested that he, who is noting further loss up front now, wait and use his limited donor hair in the front at some point down the road when he can get a good result with his limited supply of hair.

 

I'd suggest you consider the same route. If you use the donor hair you have now, in the top and crown; and later lose the front, you will be less happy than you are now. And I suspect you aren't happy at this point with your hair or you'd not have posted.

 

Given that this is just my guess from your pictures, I'd be happy to see you in person where I may have the same or a different opinion.

 

Good luck to you either way.

 

Dr. Lindsey McLean VA

 

i appreciate the response. i feel like i have pretty thick/dense hair on the sides and lower back of my scalp, but i do agree with you in that i should hold off any kind of surgery. i would also like to see you in person as well, though im not sure how long of a drive that would be for me. i live in towson maryland.

 

This is a tough one but here is my advice. You may not have been balding before the chemo treatments, but that doesn't necessarily mean you didn't have the genetic deposition for hair loss either. Going through chemo is stressful (to put it mildly) and stressful times have been known to trigger male pattern baldness - for instance many guys in their twenties first recall losing their hair during a bad break up or divorce. So while the chemo may have been the reason why you lost your hair in the first place, a MPB gene could be the reason why it is not growing back. Of course, there is no way to know for sure. I'm simply speculating.

 

But not knowing for sure is why you should be very careful because, as lot of guys have already said, you don't know what your baseline will be 5 to 10 years down the road. I would hold off from getting a transplant for awhile, but I'm not so sure you should avoid Finasteride. I would ask a few docs their opinion on that one.

 

In the meantime, try either shaving your head or using concealer's. Your hair loss seems a bit diffuse right now, which actually can work quite well with Dermmatch or Toppik. Experiment with those kind of products. They won't grow your hair back but if used correctly they can make a bad situation more tolerable. Hope this helps.

 

i think you may be right, my dad is bald and the stress from the chemo could have very easily started my MPB early, tho i havent lost any more hair in the past 2 years sicne my hair grew back from chemo so im not sure really. im going to start using the laser comb, start back up on the rogaine, and start using some concealers like toppik etc. i hve been doing some research on concealers, maybe some kind of hair system might be good for me? you just tape it on and get a new hair piece every few months..