shock loss from rogaine and transplant at same time

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First post. Suppose this is an introduction as well as a question. Started viewing these forums over a year ago and gradually have increased my time on it month by month. Spent lot of time researching though it seems there are so many differing schools of thought here and I often end up with more questions than answers! Anyway, after much lurking I decided to make a start with my own specific questions.

 

I'm now 1 week post surgery. Things going fine so far but so many questions and worries. I havn't started a blog yet but will get working on it in the coming months and will get more info and pics up. Had my surgery with Dr. Path in Bangkok after great recommendations here and so far, so good. I got 2,076 grafts. I'm a 29 year old caucasian male. Started noticing myself thinning about 3 years ago. Pain has been pretty minimal so far. Redness virtually gone.

 

 

Just some questions and worries at the moment. The hair just above my neck seems to be quite fluffy (check my pics). I think it has always been very much like this around here and often gets fluffy and curly like this when I havn't cut it for over a month but I have read about reterograde alopecia. I know this usually occurs within Norwood 6 or 7 so not sure if I could have it. I'm guessing I'm a 3 (opinions? - I'll try to upload more pics when I can. Seems to be such a big difference between the wet and dry hair!). However, we know hair loss can deviate slightly from the Norwood scale and not follow an exact direction. Dr. Path recommended I put rogaine on this part anyway.

 

 

This leads me on to my next point and question. I'm probably in the minority in that I havn't started rogaine or propecia yet so fearing bad shock loss. I intend to begin rogaine in the next week. I am quite against propecia for the side effects and am reluctant to take it. Hopefully rogaine will help and I won't need to go near propecia. My balding was mainly at the front so went for the ht to combat that as the drugs aren't so effecive there. Thinning a bit near the crown now. Dr. Path didn't want to transplant that as he didn't think it was too bad yet and hopefully I have a decent chance of fighting that with the rogaine. I'm wondering though......if i begin rogaine next week will the hairs affected by the shock loss from the rogaine be the same hairs affected by the shock loss from the ht? Or would it mean I could likely lose double the amount in the same area? should I risk the shock loss from both near the same time or wait till I get over the ht shock loss and then begin the rogaine. I assume the shock loss I could get from the ht will be in the weaker hairs in the front 1/2 or 1/3 of my head and the shock loss from the rogaine would affect the thinning hairs nearer my crown.

 

I know shock loss is unpredictable but I should probably prepare for the worst. I'm hoping toppik and dermmatch will cover whatever I lose. Used it before the ht and my thinness on top was undetectable with it.

Edited July 4, 2011 by logo

[Dr. Carlos Wesley]

Thanks, logo, for your post. Peri-operative use of minoxidil (Rogaine) is something that can actually minimize (rather than magnifying) shock-loss from an HT session. One of the primary benefits of minoxidil is that it shifts a larger percentage of hair follicles into the growth (anagen) phase of the hair cycle. Hair follicles that are susceptible to falling out are in the telogen phase. So, the percentage of telogen-phase hairs is reduced with minoxidil use. While a mild degree of thinning may certainly occur within a few months of using any product that promotes hair growth due to the influx of fine, new vellus hairs replacing their more coarse telogen counterparts, the benefit of using minoxidil for a few weeks around a session encourages us to recommend this to patients in our practice.

Regards,

Carlos K. Wesley, M.D.