Not eligible for transplant, apparently

[JagXJ]

hello one and all,

 

I am a 38 year old male, who has experienced hair loss over 12 years.

 

I have tried minoxidil over that period with limited success.

 

I have had a couple of consultations with surgeons only to be told that donor site hair is not thick enough for long term viability of the grafted follicles.

 

I have been asked to take a blood test, to see if this might explain the accelerated hair loss.

 

Any idea what any abnormalities from the blood test could be a plausible explanation for the accelerated hair loss? anemia? thyroid hormones?

[Spanker]

Photos would be helpful.

 

If several surgeons have told you this, you should take their advice. Tons of things besides MPB can cause hair loss, so a visit to you GP and some diagnostic tests may be worth looking into.

[JagXJ]

A photo is attached, as requested.

 

 

 

Agree wholeheartedly that the causes of hair loss could be multi-factorial, but I can assure you that my father has been bald for decades, as was his father before him........hence, me beginning to develop a bald patch at 25, which has enlarged over the last 12 years, is of no great surprise.

 

Should a surgeon be willing to assist, my goals are not to return to a full head of hair once again......just a bit more hair denisty than I have at present would be most welcome.

[gillenator]

Have you tried just buzzing your scalp?

 

Also, does your father or anyone on either side of your family history have donor zone thinning?

 

If yes, you want to stay away from surgical hair restoration altogethor.

 

Otherwise a low density pass or two could potentially provide enough visual density for you to wear your hair buzzed and not look bald. Potentially keep the hairline high and keep the hair cropped short so that you create a "less looks like more" illusion.

[Mp96]

Honestly if I was in your situation, I would wear hair. Honestly u are not going to get a good result and your hairline is going to be very conservative. Atleast if u went the non-surgical route u would get the result u are looking for..Going through surgery would be a huge waste of money in your case.

[StaggerLee123]

If several surgeons have come up with the same opinion about your donor I would not tempt fate and keep looking until you found the one that says "yeah ok I will give it a try, why not?" as there are surgeons out there that will do just about anything. You say you want a little more density than you have, the challenge is that you have zero density at the moment.

 

If you had a bald patch at 25 and it has progressed over the last 12 years it seems to me that Mother Nature has simply run its course with you and the dreaded DHT. I hope the blood tests put your mind at ease but nothing abrupt has happened and it sounds as if you realize that.

 

Now if you have the means and the patience to go through with it, body and beard hair transplantation may be a way to go for you but in my mind that is always saved for "last case" type scenarios. You are bald now but if you go through with a surgery that depletes what donor you have you may end up looking quite odd and that is a life changing headache you do not want to deal with.

 

There are many, many worse things in life than being bald! If you are in good health you are a lucky man. Best of luck.

[JagXJ]

Gillenator - pardon my ignorance, but what is buzzing? Also, I am not familiar with where the donor zone actually is?

 

I guess I should take a photo also of the back of my head to get this clarified.

 

MP96 - thanks, I paid a visit to the advanced hair a few weeks ago, and their proposal to wear someone else's hair on my head via a membrane, is not appealing to me.

 

StaggerLee123 - stating that I have zero density is harsh - I can count 5 to 10 follicles per square centimetre in places LOL.

[hairthere]

Which surgeons did you consult with?

[Mercury]

dude

 

if you had a lot of docs tell you not to do a transplant ---> Dont do it then. You don't want to end up with a scar that you will need to cover for the rest of your life.. Trust me - I live it with crappy work and keep coming back to this site to see if anything new pops up.

 

just out of curiosity, what does the back of you head look like - the donor hair?

[JagXJ]

Which surgeons did you consult with?

 

1st appointment was not with a surgeon, but someone at the Reading branch of the Advanced Hair Studio. He was pushing for a sale of the strand-by-strand stick on membrane.

 

2nd appointment was with a surgeon at the Courthouse Clinic in Maidenhead - he and her assistant would and could use either FUE or FUT (despite me having diffuse hair loss at the temples too), but I didn't feel the consultation was personal to my own needs and expectations. I may ring them back following more reading up on this forum.

 

3rd appointment was with Dr Reddy at the Harley St Clinic, London. He recommended I was not a suitable candidate for surgery, as he felt the long-term viability of the graft could be poor.

[gillenator]

JagXJ,

 

Buzzing is a method of using a clippers with a pre-set guide attachment that cuts the hair at a pre-determined hair length. The guides are numbered such as 1 for the shortest buzz cut, number 2 for a bit longer length, etc, etc.

 

So some guys who have extensive hairloss will typically buzz cut their scalps to create an illusion of uniformity to their hair style. Some refer to it as a military cut.

 

The donor zone typically refers to the occipital zone at the very back part of one's scalp. The sides of the scalp can also be harvested as long as it is terminal hair, meaning non receptive to DHT. This is called the parietal zone and should never be harvested by strip methods. This side area can however be potentially harvested with FUE.

 

Although you may not be interested in hair systems, they have come a long way as far as quality and appearance. You get what you pay for.

[hairthere]

jag, I would consult with some of the surgeons recommended by this forum. You might get some different opinions.

[Blake Bloxham]

Jag,

 

I'm glad you were able to consult with Dr. Reddy. I'm familiar with his practice, and I think you should take his advice to heart; if he says you aren't a good candidate, you likely are not a good candidate at this point in time.

 

What's more, you may want to consider a consultation with an Endocrinologist to have these blood tests done and ensure it isn't another internal issue that may be causing the diffuse thinning.

 

Good luck!

[Garageland]

Sorry to hear your situation it is never nice to hear that you are not suitable for a transplant but believe me it is much better to be told that than go ahead with surgery and be left out of pocket and scarred.

 

Unless you can achieve a cosmetic improvement that is going to make you happy then surgery should not be carried out in your case if the donor is too thin then there will not be enough grafts to make much of an improvement on top.

 

As Gillenator says you should try shaving your head and see how you get on with that. Before you do please post some photos of the donor area for the members of this community to comment. I am in London again next month if you wished to chat over your options.

[JagXJ]

gillenator - I thought buzzing was the sound bees make, or a buzzer, or a thrill, but hey, you learn something new everyday, and I registered on this forum to learn.........learn alot.

I have used some clippers and have an all-round short cut now.

Thanks for the information about the donor zone.

 

hairthere - I completely agree - I am certain there is a surgeon out there can help get me the short- to mid-term result I am looking for via a transplant procedure. Which is not complete scalp coverage with thick hair - I fully understand that is not physiologically possible for me.

 

Future_HT_Doc - Dr Reddy was very amiable and honest. And the clinic in Harley Street, very close to Regents Park was regal - I bet that building spread over 4 or 5 floors must be worth gazillions.

 

Garageland - I attach some more photos. My hope is to leave my bald patch at the back alone (had that for 12 years, so quite comfortable with it now) and just get approximately 8-10 follicles per square centimetre over 100 cm2 of scalp implanted (so only around 800-100 grafts needed). For me, that didn't sound an unrealistic goal, and Courthouse Clinic appeared to be willing to go ahead with either an FUE (?4900) or FUT procedure (?3500).

[irishsailor]

JagXJ,

 

Buzzing is a method of using a clippers with a pre-set guide attachment that cuts the hair at a pre-determined hair length. The guides are numbered such as 1 for the shortest buzz cut, number 2 for a bit longer length, etc, etc.

 

So some guys who have extensive hairloss will typically buzz cut their scalps to create an illusion of uniformity to their hair style. Some refer to it as a military cut.

 

The donor zone typically refers to the occipital zone at the very back part of one's scalp. The sides of the scalp can also be harvested as long as it is terminal hair, meaning non receptive to DHT. This is called the parietal zone and should never be harvested by strip methods. This side area can however be potentially harvested with FUE.

 

Although you may not be interested in hair systems, they have come a long way as far as quality and appearance. You get what you pay for.

 

Gillenator,

 

Why are you not best to use sides for strip? Is it due to there not as dense as the back of the head?

Just curious as I've seen a few of the larger cases use the sides as well