donor concern

[franz85]

Hi,

I started losing hair when I was 18, and was not really concerned because I (naively) thought that it was a temporary thing. Maybe it was a good thing because at least I did not worry myself at such a young age. Besides, no-one in my family had lost hair. Grandads, uncles etc having heads of hair, although my father started thinning at 45. My brother, 31, has good hair too. I had probably denied it for seven years, until last Friday when I checked my hair very closely and was nothing short of horrified.

I had a few problems when I was 18 - depression and it took 2 years to get some normality back to my life. I had real issues. I have felt ok for five years. Some of the surgeons I have written to in the US have said it is down to the MPT and the problem could not have been caused by stress.

I am considering doing something about it. Dr Devgoye is the man I think. It is hard to find a bad word about him on the net. I am going to meet him in June. I am a little wary of propecia, although that is what all the surgeons are recommending.

I am no expert, but I fancy my donor hair is good, though not great. I am never going to have a full head of hair, and my expectations are realistic. I am just sensitive about the crown more than anything else.

My biggest fear, assuming Dr Devgoye will do something, is lack of or quality of donor hair. This worries me more than what's happening on top now, and I wonder if this is normal?

I have attached a few pics. (note ten minutes after a haircut)

[FauxHawk]

Whats up Franz, are you using Minox at the moment. There are def alot of other things you can start using if your not intrested in propecia. If I was you I would give propecia a chance and see if you experience and side effects.

Im also looking to get some work done, i would like to thicken up my crown, and some minimal hairline work. Well good luck with everything, hopefully you get started on a regimen ASAP.

[NEWHAIRPLEASE]

I'm no expert, but your donor hair looks great to me!

[Thehairupthere]

I do not know what your age is but you seem like a relatively young, guy possibly in his 20's? If you are, than transplanting into the crown is not an option at this point, as you are too young and do not want to deplete your donor supply for the crown instead of the frontal portion of your head. Typically surgeons will defer surgery to the crown until you are around 40 years old, and would definitely want you to start on rogaine or propecia as soon as possible. You may experience hair regrowth with the medication but like for most people it should at least stabilize your hair loss. There are side effects to the medication but they are quite rare, and if you do experience them you can stop the medication and return to normal in a few weeks once it leaves your system. After using the medication for at least 6 months you should get re-evaluated and then possibly a smaller procedure for the hairline, corners and possibly forelock, but you should be conservative as you are experiencing quite a bit of thinning without any medicaiton yet. I believe the doctor you are going to see is going to recommend a similar approach but do some more research and you'll see this is the correct approach to follow.

[franz85]

Yes, I am 26. I will start the rogaine and propecia together soon.

[Sparky]

It doesn't always leave your system after 6 weeks, it's rare, but sometimes it remains for years. Propecia has been known to mess up people's lives. Google Propecia side effects.

I take Propecia and it doesn't affect me but read up first and make an informed choice.

[franz85]

Yes. I haven't stopped reading reviews and individual cases of side effects for rogaine and propecia for a few days now, and I am leaning towards trying rogaine on its own, even though I was advised to take it with propecia. I wrote in my last post that I would be trying them together soon, but Sparky's post on making an informed choice has to be the way forward, and brings me back to my original gut feelings. The side effects of propecia are a little scary, and I don't want to risk it to be frank. I have read many stories of people who have had positive results just using rogaine. I can approach it with the knowledge that I am at least trying something even though marked improvements may not occur.

[RodG]

Hi,

 

I am 49 years old and I recently underwent a HT procedure. I had similiar hairloss to you and started to lose my hair at about 20 years of age. In my day hairloss medication didn't exist until 10 years ago and it was quite expensive.

 

Prior to my HT I estimate that I was a norwood VI. I sure wish that I had the opportunity to slow down my hairloss by using proven medication.

 

Btw I recently tried propecia and I had side effects and stopped the medication. The side effects went away after a week. Give the medication a go and see how it affects you. No point in having a HT if you have further hairloss.

 

Good luck

 

Regards

 

Rod

[franz85]

How soon did you notice the first side effects, Rod?

[Sparky]

I don't want to sway you one way or the other, just don't assume that because the side effects go away quickly with one person, that they will do the same with you. I for example haven't noticed side effects, except my hair stopped falling out.

 

Rogaine on it's own won't work aswell as combining it with Propecia, i've just read a few horror stories about some people saying that it ruined their lives, so I felt I had to mention it. In all likeliness it won't effect you, but I couldn't be 100% about that.

[NEWHAIRPLEASE]

If you are concerned about really stopping your hair loss, I would definitely give finasteride a try. I stopped taking it for a while and I could kick myself for doing so. If I had stayed on the meds good I may not have had to had another transplant. I will certainly stay on proscar and rogaine from now on. I think the two together work extremely well. For the record, I have not noticed any side effects.

[Blake Bloxham]

Franz,

 

Thank you for sharing some images with the community. As others have stated, I know you're hesitant, but I would definitely do some research on finasteride/Propecia and/or minoxidil/Rogaine.

 

Having said that, I definitely recommend consulting with Dr. Devorye. Like you said, he's an excellent hair restoration surgeon (very cutting edge) and it's difficult to find many who don't agree.

 

As far as the donor area is concerned, while it does look a bit thin, my guess is that this isn't overly relevant and this could be thoroughly addressed and assessed during a consultation. I hope this helps! Please, feel free to ask any additional questions.

[RCWest]

Please don't buy into the "Propecia ruins your sex life" propoganda. Sexual side effects are so extremely rare I wouldn't worry about it. Low testosterone causes E.D., but nobody brings that up .

 

I think you are in a real good position to use Propecia. I believe your crown and midscalp would improve dramatically in about a year to a year and a half on the medication.

 

In other words give the medication 1 to 1=1/2 years, then consider transplantation.