Timeline

[stvobadia]

I have a question for anyone who can answer it for me. I have been told that a hair transplant reaches its apex after one year, or close to that. I have also researched some forums and found that there are those who say that 15-18 months is more realistic to achieve full maturity and the final "look". In my case, it's been 10.5 months since the transplant and the crown hair, and i know it typically takes longer than the rest of the hairs ie. frontal area, seems to be lagging a few months behind in terms of thickness and maturity. If i were to estimate I would say the crown hair is where my frontal area hair was 4 months or more ago. I have asked the clinic where I got the transplant, who have said from the beginning that the one year mark is the apex in appearance and maturity. They have assured me that one year mark is when I would see the final result. However, in my opinion, the crown hair has much further to go. Has anyone had any experience where the crown would take much longer than a year to mature? Is this typical? Out of the ordinary? When I went to see the surgeon he doubled my finasteride prescription after seeing the crown. Not sure why he did or what this will achieve. Thanks for listening.

[StaggerLee123]

12-18 months is needed to see the final result. This seems to be concensus among top clinics. 1mg daily dose of Finasteride is what is recommended for hairloss as you know. 5mg per day is the recommended dose used to treat BPH. How many mg's are you taking now?

 

The crown area as you mentioned is known for growing and maturing slower than hairline and top. I think you are correct in assuming that you have further to go with your crown. It is surprising to hear that any Doc would assume that your results would be final at 12 months.

[stvobadia]

Thank you for your quick response and for confirming what I thought was the case. I am taking one half a pill a day, or 2.5mg. I am not sure if the doctor believes that this will help speed up the hair growth in the crown or not, but found it kind of odd that that would be his recommendation. I have the feeling that only time would help the crown and that doubling up on finasteride would not really help. Maybe I'm wrong but this is the only conclusion I can draw at this point. I did email the clinic and asked that if it's a question of patience I would rather wait than doubling up on the finasteride dose to avoid potential side effects, but they insisted that I continue with the double dose.

 

I also found it strange that the clinic kept pushing the one year mark as the indication of a final result. Perhaps, they are trying to advertise the one year mark to attract potential new patients? Either way, in the end all it did for me is make me doubt the final result. I think they would have done better to tell me straight out that it could take up to 18 months then I wouldn't have been concerned.

 

Thanks again for your response!

[richie48]

Hi

 

I'm a veteran of two hair transplants with Dr Feller in New York .

 

I had 2100 crown grafts in 2007 and it took 18 months before I could really say I was fully grown out , after this my transplanted hair condition got better and better as the years rolled by ., thicker and more like my native hair , i have over a 100 photos documenting this on this forum , search my name and take a look .

 

Due to me being a crown restoration patient , from my own experience I would say don't worry yet , my crown seemed to take forever , I used to get frustrated at all these 12month hairline results looking great and my crown looking weak at 12 months .

 

Stick with it , we are different physically , but mine deffo took atleast 18 months .

 

Also it is universally accepted that 1mg of finasterdie daily is the optimum amount for hairloss and above that dose does very little extra , please research the forums alot more but you will see this is true .

 

Why your clinic has told you to double your dose , i don't know , I can only assume it's due to there lack of knowledge and insecurity over you concerns at 10.5 months .

 

Forget the clinic , take no more than 1mg finasteride daily and give it atleast another 8 months to really see where you HT will be .

 

Good luck

richie

[stvobadia]

Hello,

 

Thank you for your reply and putting my mind at ease. I was suspicious of the reasons why they insisted that I double the dose and suspected that it was to ease my concerns. They referred to finasteride as "medication" suggesting that I had a condition that needed to be treated, I really didn't buy into that reference. It is my impression that the clinic finds it important to maintain that the 1 year mark as the measure in determing the final result in order to promote their clinic over others. It is obvious that if potential patients thought that they only had 1 year to wait rather than 18 months that that might attract more people to their clinic. The clinic strongly encouraged me to come back at the one year mark for a visit in order to take pictures and convince me that the hair transplant was a complete success. The last time I was there, which was this past December, was the first time they asked me to smile for the camera, clearly to show potential clients the state of satisfaction and happiness of their transplant.

 

The lesson here is clear to me. The clinic is first and foremost a business. Any dissatification is deflected away from the clinic and what is promoted and protected is the clinic's insistence regarding their claims, in this case the one year mark. What ires me a little is that the clinic in essence put their interests above mine when insisting that I double the dose. There are potential harmful side effects from taking finasteride and doubling the dose can cause them to develop. The clinic would rather have me take that risk, despite my willingness to wait it out, rather than have a dissatisfied customer complain on boards such as these and the clinic in the end having negative advertising. After all people who are thinking of getting a hair transplant would visit these boards for advise.

 

Lesson learned! Thank you for your response. Much appreciated!

[richie48]

Hey bud

 

I agree with your observations of your clinic , sadly this is the case with lots of cosmetic surgery places and larger hair mill type clinics .

 

This is why so many of the hair transplant vets on this forum activly encourage loads and loads of research , and all the reasearch should be conducted with a certain amount of cynicism and suspicion .

 

I'm glad I helped ease your worries , now sit back , open a beer and forget about hair surgery for another 8 months or so ! hahahaha

 

richie

[stvobadia]

Hey Richie,

 

Thanks for your response. Forgot to mention, what I have observed anyway, what might be considered their main motivation for pushing the one year mark. Simply, if a patient realizes that they are not quite happy at the one year mark the clinic would suggest that they get a second transplant. This has already been suggested this to me. Instead of having the patient wait it out longer, the clinic would try to get them to book as second or third, depending on the patient, transplant. I guess there is no such thing as business ethics, hehe. Thanks again!

[NEWHAIRPLEASE]

Stvobadia

I think you will find this helpful...posted by Spex a while back...should give you a good understanding of growth times!!!

http://www.hairrestorationnetwork.com/eve/158665-growth-times-patience.html

[stvobadia]

Thank your response. Yes, my experience has definitely followed along the same line as your timeline, patience, growth descriptions. The issue for me is to get the clinic to admit that 12-18 months is the true timeline for growth and maturation is difficult, it's like pulling teeth! They seem to be insistent on the 12 month full maturation period, which, from my experience thus far and my research is inaccurate and in the end creates more frustration than satisfaction. If they would have indicated this to me I would not have been deeply concerned at seeing limited improvement as I quickly approach the one year mark.

 

I have a comment to make regarding what you wrote about the claim the huge majority of the patients get a second transplant to further improve density. Although it is likely that I will have a second one further down the road, hopefully much further down the road. I beleive it is much easier for someone who has adjusted to hair loss over a long period to accept thinner and less dense hair than it is for someone who lost their hair over a very short period of time. For me, if I achieve a full head of hair, even if it is not as dense as it could be, it already such a huge improvement that strong density, although of course is better, it is at this point anyway, not a concern. Who knows what the future will bring but I thought I would make the point regarding slow thinners versus quick hair loss and what would satisfy them.