Need Help With a Few Questions About HT

[sathya]

Hello Guys,

 

First of all, this is a great forum guys and I am really glad I have found it. Well, I am 23 yrs old and I have been suffering from hair loss since I was 19 yrs old. I have been on 1 mg finasteride and 2 ml minoxidil per day for the past 8 months now and I am very happy with the results. My hairline has significantly improved. I have consulted with a doctor in New Delhi about getting a hair transplant and was suggested that I should go for 1500-2000 grafts.

 

But there are a few things that I would like to get clarified before deciding to go for a HT. Despite the fact that my whole crown area is affected, the doctor suggested me to go for the frontal and temple regions transplant and leave the mid scalp for now as the hair over there has good roots and may be go for another HT later if I lose the hair over there! I'm confused really confused here! The doctor gave the reason that the anesthesia injected during HT might damage the good hair roots nearby.

I am not questioning the doctor or anything, I just want to know your experienced second opinion on this.

Edited June 10, 2011 by TakingThePlunge

[sathya]

I will upload my pics by tomorrow. But meanwhile could someone please answer my question?

[Dutch]

Too young for surgery- because you just don't know where your loss is heading so early on.

 

The doctor is correct. You could end up damaging good hair, you may do more harm than good going early and/or doing the crown that doesn't need it.

 

Pics will definitely help to give you more info.

[sathya]

thanx dutch! but does that mean I'll have to wait till I go completely bald? :confused: hair in the front portion of my scalp has become curly due to thinning and I believe that I can get a transplant at least there. what do you think? I'm kinda desperate to improve my looks please don't tell me to wait have a look at my pics...

[TakingThePlunge]

sathya,

 

In my opinion, you should not pursue hair transplant surgery at this time given your age and the fact that your hairline, while thinning, is still quite low.

 

As Dutch point out, the future progression of your hair loss is still unpredictable. Restoring your hairline now to where it once was may have you chasing your hair loss with multiple procedures until you eventually run out of available grafts to address further balding.

[sathya]

TakingThePlunge, thank you for your valuable suggestions. But candidly speaking, only made me sad (may be that's why they say the truth is always bitter ). I strongly believe that a 1500 graft HT would fetch me my young look back! Do you think 1500 grafts are too much to spare right now?

[Spanker]

I would say more like 2500....but the fact is that your hairline is too low to support the loss that you can expect given your age. Personally, I would not do anything at this time.

[aaron1234]

Yeah, absolutely too young for surgery! But not too young to start on Finasteride. You still have a lot of hair to save.

[Dutch]

Great that you posted pics.

You do indeed have a lot of hair to protect. Using 1mg of propecia tablet everyday or every other day will help, a lot.

Also, definitely use minoxidil lotion. My friend uses the 10% in strength mino. Its done wonders to his hairline. So it's not all bad!

If you do decide to pursue surgery so early, just remember to be conservative in the grafts amount you allow the surgeon to extract bearing in mind the future.

[rich91403]

Hi Sathya,

What is your familial history of hair loss? Did the doctor perform a miniaturization study of your hair to render a prognosis as to which hair loss classification level you may eventually be? Miniaturization percentages of 20% or greater are usually suggestive of active hair loss.

How is quality of your donor hair? Did you get a measurement of hair per square millimeter in the donor area?

I had my first procedure at about age 22 or 23. In some cases it is certainly medically suitable and indicated. There are so many factors involved in making a decision to undergo a hair transplant.

Sathya, if you can obtain some of the information I suggested above, it helps making a more decisive clinical decision about getting a procedure done at this age. I realize psychologically as a young man, it weighs heavily on you and your desire to correct it. We're here to help and support you in making the appropriate decision.

Best of health!

Rich

[TakingThePlunge]

sathya,

 

I can totally relate you how you are feeling. I had my first hair transplant consultations in the early 90s when I was in my early 20s. I visited Bosley in Los Angeles, Dr. Friedman here in Arizona and one other place that I can't recall but I remember it was a disgusting old dump located in a bad part of town. At the time, I was desperate to have my juvenile hairline back and used to make myself sick with envy looking at all of my friends and their youthful hairlines.

 

I was told by Bosley and Dr. Friedman tha I was not a candidate and I should monitor my hair loss for the next ten years and then return for a follow up. This was excellent advice but it left me feeling quite sad and helpless. The sketchy looking place wanted to operate on me for $10,000. I still thank God every time I think about it that I did not have the money or I surely would have gone though with it with disastrous results.

 

As I stated, the big obstacle I see for you is the pattern of your hair loss. You would have no choice at this point but to restore a very low and youthful hairline. That may sound great now but, if you continue to lose hair, you will have difficulty maintaining the subsequent procedures necessary to maintain an illusion of density as you deplete your donor supply.

 

Often young guys feel that they won't care how they look at 40 or 50 as long as they can look good in their 20s but, as a 42 (almost 43) year old, I can tell you that I'm not ready to hang it up yet. I still want to look my best and I'm sure I'll still want to look my best at 50 and beyond.

 

Having said all that, there is nothing to stop you from consulting with any number of our recommended physicians. You can schedule free online consultations and get their professional opinions.

 

Best of luck to you!

[chix]

TakingThePlunge, am new here. Would appreciate your comment on my post.

[bonkerstonker]

The text book answer is to say you're too young and don't do it but screw that people told me that too when i was 20 years old and i didn't bother listening to them what i did do is get my loss stabalized with meds and went for a small 1000 graft fue transplant which as a result enabled me to spend the last ten years very happy and probably the most important ten years of my life with it being my 20's. my loss progressed further at age 30 where i went in for a 5300 graft strip ht that i am currently waiting the result for now. my head has been completely filled now from front to crown with ht hair and i also have 65% of my existing hair. I also have another 6000 grafts for ht at least if needed.

 

Your loss is enough to ruin your life i know the feeling it hurts much more when your young so my next step if i was you would be to give it another 6 months for your meds to have full effect then check how much donor you have with a good surgeon meaning elasticity and density if he says you have a good supply then have a small surgery no more than a 1000 grafts fue to fix your hairline and when that has grown in get a haircut every week with your your back and sides shaved high up like a marine with a blade 1 and grow your top long this gives a amazing effect with the less is more effect. This made me very happy for many years but you need to keep the sides and back shaved to create the illusion.

 

All this is useless if you have no way of getting hold of a lot money. I personally am not wealthy but i managed to get some money for my first session. I had the luxuary of knowing i was gonna need more work in the future so i saved and didn't spend as much money over the years while i was enjoying life and waiting for my hair to slip again and when it did i had saved enough money to get the big ht i always wanted.

[MusoInOz]

Going by the pictures posted I would stick to a medical regimen for now.

23 is way to young for surgery, for myself being 28 I am still considered young.

 

If you were to work on your current hair line that would be a grave mistake mate, far to low at this stage. If you have this level of diffuse loss it is likely you will develop higher on the NW scale, not a definite but a strong probability. Losing hair at a youg age sucks trust me I know first hand but surgery is not to be taken lightly. It is something you must really think about for years before jumping the gun.

 

Cheers,

[fortune11]

I got mine at 28, I had hairloss since I was 19. Thinking back now it was a good decision -- BUT note this - I also think now that I was foolish to stress so much over it when I was 21 or when I was 23 - compared to what I am now, I had much thicker hair at 23 - I just needed some good hairstyling and / or haircut. I had a certain notion of how my hair should look when I was 21 and 23 and once I got over that, I changed my hairstyle (it also helped that fashion changed around the same time to make short cropped hair more in style unlike the unkempt long hair look of the early - mid 90s) - and I became much more satisfied with how my face profile looked with that.

 

I definitely suggest playing with hairstyle first. I am asuming unless you have wealthy parents and no shortage of money, at this stage you are just starting out in your career and HT $$ load can be a needless burden that wil stretch your finances for not that much material aesthetic gain given the other items I mentioned above.

[sathya]

Thanq guys for all your valuable suggestions. I feel much better now seeing that there are a lot of people who can understand. I have decided to wait and let my meds do their work at least for the next six months...meanwhile I am trying to find a doctor who does "miniaturization study" and other tests suggested by "rich91403" in New Delhi.

During consultation, the doctor performed a naked eye study of my hair and beard and told me that I have very nice donor hair and about 10,000 grafts available in total. Thats why I was so obdurate about getting a 1500 grafts HT done but reading about miniaturization study made me change my opinion.

and all the best "bonkerstonker"

[rich91403]

Dear Sathya,

 

I'm very glad to hear that you are doing your due diligence and will be making an informed consent decision. Please keep us updated on the information you gather and how it influences your decision. You are in the beginning of the prime years of your life so good luck with your search. Ask questions and your decision will be clear.

Rich