Anyone get HT without taking Fin?

[Carve]

I ask because I tried taking Propecia and it gave me very bad mental side effects. I'm turning 26 soon and I'm a NW2. I wish for a straighter hairline now and it's frustrating not knowing how my hair loss will naturally progress.

[Mikey1970]

IMHO if anyone is serious enough about tackling their hair loss to undergo a HT, FIN is just a given! My surgeon doesnt like it because of the purported side effects but there is no way i would have undergone a HT if i thought there was a strong chance of hair loss continuing. IMHO, FIN is just as important as the surgical procedure.

[Sethticles]

IMHO if anyone is serious enough about tackling their hair loss to undergo a HT, FIN is just a given! My surgeon doesnt like it because of the purported side effects but there is no way i would have undergone a HT if i thought there was a strong chance of hair loss continuing. IMHO, FIN is just as important as the surgical procedure.

 

100% agree.

[voxman]

Unless your hair loss has stabilized - and I mean for 10+ years - I would recommend Fin.

 

In my own case, my loss was slowly over 40 years and stabilized for a decade. So I'm not on any hair drugs. I'm on too many otherwise!

[gbhscot]

Another post confirming that Voxman is the most entertaining guy on these forums by far. I really like the idea of occasionally being sober enough to fly to India to deal with hair loss, then getting back to substance abuse. I read Claptons autobiography once and he writes about a 10 month period where he had absolutely no idea what went on...Imagine getting a HT...getting wasted for 10 months...having a moment of clarity and realising you had hair again.

 

Back to the subject - everyone reckons it is a risky strategy, I have asked and looked into it myself. Thing is, I love my sex life too much to have even the slightest decrease in the quality of it, so I will instead opt for a different approach to Fin. I believe it is probably the most effective way to slow or stop MPB, but I also believe that certain lifestyle changes can help.

[BMW1990]

Def get on FIN if you are going to go through with a HT. Try to get through those beginning mental effects, give it time.

[Carve]

Def get on FIN if you are going to go through with a HT. Try to get through those beginning mental effects, give it time.

It also gave me nerve damage, so... Yeah.

[darlinglocks]

Carve,

 

Your health goes first. Talk to your doctor and see how he can help you.

It is certainly something you will have to discuss with your HT surgeon if you consider an HT procedure.

[Dolph1969]

I'm debating fin too. I'm nearly 46, hair loss has been a slowly receding hairline and some thinning. I really don't want to knacker my tadger by taking it, or end up with moobs, or other issues. Are your mid 40s a time that you can decree your hair loss is stabilising?

[gbhscot]

I'm debating fin too. I'm nearly 46, hair loss has been a slowly receding hairline and some thinning. I really don't want to knacker my tadger by taking it, or end up with moobs, or other issues. Are your mid 40s a time that you can decree your hair loss is stabilising?

 

This is when I genuinely wouldn't get on it. As we age, Testosterone decreases. Introducing something which is going to further eradicate male androgens at an age where they are already declining seems like a recipe for disaster. Slowly receding hair line and some thinning is nothing tragic, why not try a few lifestyle changes & natural things and see if it slows down or stops first? I disagree with the "JUMP ON FIN ASAP OR ELSE" approaches on this forum, especially where it concerns non aggressive MPB

[Dolph1969]

Is anyone in a position to advise, does fin effect younger males rather than those in middle age? Really not keen to start it, in case i'm one of the very unlucky ones that ends up with permanent damage.

[biolizard]

I'm 43 with NW 2/3 receding hairline, hair loss has been slow but steady for more than 2 decades now.

I just recently had a 2000 graft FUE in order to AVOID having to take Fenasteride. I may do one more HT FUE in a decade to fill in if needed but that's it for me. NO PROPECIA! NO FENASTERIDE! Beyond that, I'll just clip down the hair super short and rock and roll with the Bruse Willis Andre Aggassi look if needed.

 

For now I plan on a post op regimen to compliment my FUE of:

-Ketoconazole shampoo

- Rogaine foam

- biotin

 

Perhaps I should not have done the FUE if I wasn't willing to take finasteride? That's a valid argument and one I should've probably mulled over for a much longer time. But impetuously I saw and opportunity to grab a little youth back and in hindsight I likely decided too hastily to jump into a HT. Im chalking it up to a mid-life crisis is my excuse. However, it's too late now to go back and undo the HT. If I loss too much hair I'll deal with that when it happens. But I may get a full decade out of the FUE? Idk? I may severely regret ever having the HT done in 3-5 years? Idk? Too early at this stage to make those kid of predictions.

 

But .... One thing I know for sure....... whether I have hair or not, I have a wife that loves and cares for me; AND since I'm NOT taking Finasteride little sparky will be happy and plugging away for many more years! With or without hair I will still be getting sex, and my Jimmy will remain in tip top functioning working order.

 

Hair loss is undeniably bad, yes, but the side effects of finasteride are utterly annilating and completely destroy and CRUSH happy marriages and wreak havoc on otherwise productive and happy lives. Is hair worth rolling the dice on that too? I'm already taking a gamble that the HT turns out good. I'm only willing to risk so much for hair.

Go to Propeciahelp.com forums and Read for yourself the accounts of people's lives who were irrevocably trashed because of the Fenasteride side effects, then decide for yourself.... Is it worth it?

[Dolph1969]

Holy sh..t:eek::eek:

 

:eek:Just read some of the stories on that propecia help website. Nightmare.

[voxman]

ALLIPURINOL

METOPROPOL

ASPIRIN

ATORVASTATIN

CLOPIDOGREL

LEVOTHYROXINE

 

No way am I adding PROPECIA to that fu(%ing laundry list above.

 

But hey, my Cholesterol is 60 points down! :cool:

[mahhong]

Never an easy question to answer and one which plagues many men (myself included!).

 

I think it's worth starting by saying a great number of men take finasteride and see no significant side effects, or find the side effects to be manageable and non-important.

 

However, I think it's also worth saying there is a growing body of evidence (admittedly mostly anecdotal, but not entirely) that the effects of finasteride can sometimes be far more serious than first thought, and appear to be long-lasting in a small minority of men. Whilst there may be a placebo/nocebo effect going on in some men, I think it's safe to say not every story can be attributed to this. The bottom line is, finasteride would appear to have a rare but real chance of affecting an individual quite badly, sexually and neurologically, and the long-term use of the drug and its various side effects have not been fully explored.

 

That having been said, either the inability or refusal to take finasteride leaves you with a very real alternative scenario to think about - things could go a couple of ways eventually:

 

You're lucky to have a very minimal balding pattern and a strong family history that suggests advanced balding is unlikely to be in your genes.

 

You've already balded quite heavily and the hairloss appears to have stabilised for a period of years.

 

I think the truth is for the vast majority of us in our 20s/30s considering hair transplants, the latter is the more likely scenario over time. Most of us are, in the fullness of time, likely headed somewhere towards the higher end of the Norwood scale, and there is no reliable test or examination that can say for certain which follicles will be affected and which won't.

 

Now, it is of course possible to have one or more HTs without finasteride, but I think the frank reality is most good surgeons will be upfront about the facts:

 

You will likely continue to lose hair over a period of months or years. That may mean repeat HTs and it may ultimately mean you end up with more demand than supply (i.e. it becomes impossible to truly give coverage and/or density to the whole of the balding scalp). Which leads on to:

 

A conservative plan must be adopted that takes into account these considerations. No 60g/cm2 dense packing or low, straight hairlines, with a heavy emphasis on the framing of the face and a less radical approach for the mid-scalp and, particularly, the vertex.

 

I think if both the surgeon and the patient are really in tune and aware of the realities, surgery without finasteride is possible. But everything becomes riskier - the chance of shockloss, the chance of multiple surgeries being required, the chance that more modest goals must be agreed upon.

 

I'm in this very boat at the moment - I'd love to consider a HT but have tried finasteride briefly for two times a few years ago and both times experienced mild but persistent side effects that resolved after discontinuing the drug. Although I was fully aware it could have just been "in my head", I felt ultimately it wasn't a gamble I would take - especially considering it was a lifetime drug and to want or need to come off it at any stage would probably mean I'd lose any gains or maintained hair anyway.

 

Of course, I've lost a lot of hair as a result of my decision. Now I'm looking into the possibility of one or more HTs to deal with that, but I also have to be realistic. I'm at least an NW5 and there would appear to be 6s and 7s in my family history. My educated hope is that I don't go quite down the same road (I say educated hope because my balding pattern doesn't seem to indicate that currently), but no doctor can say for certain my hairloss won't start creeping down the crown and sides in 2 or 5 years time.

 

I'm sort of diffusing (with the crown and hairline the most affected), and there would appear to be a relatively stable horseshoe emerging out of that. I feel that if the horseshoe is stable, the chances of surgical hair restoration could be quite high and be successful. If the hairloss continues and my crown and sides erode further, suddenly that option becomes increasingly less likely to produce any outcomes I would consider satisfactory.

 

So, no, you don't need fin. But just because I or anybody else says that, it doesn't detract from the reality that without fin you could continue to bald and bald extensively. And that your plan would need to consider all outcomes and contingencies - which may mean less coverage, less density or a more conservative approach to the design of the hairline.

 

It's not easy weighing all these things up. The people who have a good experience with fin (probably most of those who have taken it) will tell you to jump on it and that's fair enough. However there is another side to that coin which would appear to be fairly tragic, rare though it may be. But that doesn't stop the reality from happening - without finasteride further loss is pretty likely, so you need to really think through how you plan your hair restoration if you're going to go on without finasteride.

[Carve]

Never an easy question to answer and one which plagues many men (myself included!).

 

I think it's worth starting by saying a great number of men take finasteride and see no significant side effects, or find the side effects to be manageable and non-important.

 

However, I think it's also worth saying there is a growing body of evidence (admittedly mostly anecdotal, but not entirely) that the effects of finasteride can sometimes be far more serious than first thought, and appear to be long-lasting in a small minority of men. Whilst there may be a placebo/nocebo effect going on in some men, I think it's safe to say not every story can be attributed to this. The bottom line is, finasteride would appear to have a rare but real chance of affecting an individual quite badly, sexually and neurologically, and the long-term use of the drug and its various side effects have not been fully explored.

 

That having been said, either the inability or refusal to take finasteride leaves you with a very real alternative scenario to think about - things could go a couple of ways eventually:

 

You're lucky to have a very minimal balding pattern and a strong family history that suggests advanced balding is unlikely to be in your genes.

 

You've already balded quite heavily and the hairloss appears to have stabilised for a period of years.

 

I think the truth is for the vast majority of us in our 20s/30s considering hair transplants, the latter is the more likely scenario over time. Most of us are, in the fullness of time, likely headed somewhere towards the higher end of the Norwood scale, and there is no reliable test or examination that can say for certain which follicles will be affected and which won't.

 

Now, it is of course possible to have one or more HTs without finasteride, but I think the frank reality is most good surgeons will be upfront about the facts:

 

You will likely continue to lose hair over a period of months or years. That may mean repeat HTs and it may ultimately mean you end up with more demand than supply (i.e. it becomes impossible to truly give coverage and/or density to the whole of the balding scalp). Which leads on to:

 

A conservative plan must be adopted that takes into account these considerations. No 60g/cm2 dense packing or low, straight hairlines, with a heavy emphasis on the framing of the face and a less radical approach for the mid-scalp and, particularly, the vertex.

 

I think if both the surgeon and the patient are really in tune and aware of the realities, surgery without finasteride is possible. But everything becomes riskier - the chance of shockloss, the chance of multiple surgeries being required, the chance that more modest goals must be agreed upon.

 

I'm in this very boat at the moment - I'd love to consider a HT but have tried finasteride briefly for two times a few years ago and both times experienced mild but persistent side effects that resolved after discontinuing the drug. Although I was fully aware it could have just been "in my head", I felt ultimately it wasn't a gamble I would take - especially considering it was a lifetime drug and to want or need to come off it at any stage would probably mean I'd lose any gains or maintained hair anyway.

 

Of course, I've lost a lot of hair as a result of my decision. Now I'm looking into the possibility of one or more HTs to deal with that, but I also have to be realistic. I'm at least an NW5 and there would appear to be 6s and 7s in my family history. My educated hope is that I don't go quite down the same road (I say educated hope because my balding pattern doesn't seem to indicate that currently), but no doctor can say for certain my hairloss won't start creeping down the crown and sides in 2 or 5 years time.

 

I'm sort of diffusing (with the crown and hairline the most affected), and there would appear to be a relatively stable horseshoe emerging out of that. I feel that if the horseshoe is stable, the chances of surgical hair restoration could be quite high and be successful. If the hairloss continues and my crown and sides erode further, suddenly that option becomes increasingly less likely to produce any outcomes I would consider satisfactory.

 

So, no, you don't need fin. But just because I or anybody else says that, it doesn't detract from the reality that without fin you could continue to bald and bald extensively. And that your plan would need to consider all outcomes and contingencies - which may mean less coverage, less density or a more conservative approach to the design of the hairline.

 

It's not easy weighing all these things up. The people who have a good experience with fin (probably most of those who have taken it) will tell you to jump on it and that's fair enough. However there is another side to that coin which would appear to be fairly tragic, rare though it may be. But that doesn't stop the reality from happening - without finasteride further loss is pretty likely, so you need to really think through how you plan your hair restoration if you're going to go on without finasteride.

Great post!

[KO]

If you get side effects, it is a good idea to try experimental treatments like RU. However your hairline is the problem and most treatments do not work well there.

[biolizard]

This is when I genuinely wouldn't get on it. As we age, Testosterone decreases. Introducing something which is going to further eradicate male androgens at an age where they are already declining seems like a recipe for disaster. Slowly receding hair line and some thinning is nothing tragic, why not try a few lifestyle changes & natural things and see if it slows down or stops first? I disagree with the "JUMP ON FIN ASAP OR ELSE" approaches on this forum, especially where it concerns non aggressive MPB

 

I agree with this. I'm 43, had a HT FUE to patch up the frontal areas of my male pattern baldness. I'm now using Ketoconazale shampoo and Rogaine to help slow native hair loss.

I wouldn't take Fin.

 

One could argue that if I wasn't going to take to Fin then I shouldn't have had the HT. That's a valid argument and one which the HT surgeon should've taken more time to explain that with me. But what's done is done. Looking back I was grossly uninformed and jumped into this HT too quick. So if anyone says, don't have a HT unless you are willing to take Fin, that's something that individual needs to decide BEFORE having a HT. My surgeon should've had these discussions with me prior to doing this HT. instead I feel in my case, most things were downplayed as 'no big deal'. Which is not the case at all. Having a HT is a much bigger deal than I was lead to believe. I was naive, I was an easy mark. I just wanted to patch up some of the hair loss and get a little youth back. Did I make a mistake. Maybe? Time will have to pass before I can judge that. But I do feel the surgeon was more interested in just doing the surgery, collecting his money, rather than taking time with me to make sure I was good candidate and addressing all the future implications of a HT that I'm now finding out AFTER THE FACT. But you can only blame someone else so much, i do have to blame myself for my impetuous mid-life crisis decision. However also I do feel more should've been done to save me from myself and my naiveness, instead I feel I was not given full disclosure to what I was entering into. Don't make my same mistake. I have A LOT to say about this, but I am pressed for time at the moment so I can't say everything I would like on this topic.

 

Bottom line is I'll hopefully get some good years from the HT FUE, but as native hair loss progress which, even if you take Fin its NO GUARANTEE that you won't continue to lose hair. There are those that take Fin, develop severe long lasting side effects AND continue to lose hair.in my particularl case I will have to address this HT down the road at some point I'm sure. Nothing I can do now, but wait and hope. So far I'm only a month out of my HT and not very pleased, but from what I read I'm still very much in thick of the ugly duckling phase. I wear hats EVERYWHERE now. I'm more self conscious now than before the HT. do I regret the HT, at this time, yes I do. But I may grow to like it in time. Idk.

[Melvin- Admin]

I agree with this. I'm 43, had a HT FUE to patch up the frontal areas of my male pattern baldness. I'm now using Ketoconazale shampoo and Rogaine to help slow native hair loss.

I wouldn't take Fin.

 

One could argue that if I wasn't going to take to Fin then I shouldn't have had the HT. That's a valid argument and one which the HT surgeon should've taken more time to explain that with me. But what's done is done. Looking back I was grossly uninformed and jumped into this HT too quick. So if anyone says, don't have a HT unless you are willing to take Fin, that's something that individual needs to decide BEFORE having a HT. My surgeon should've had these discussions with me prior to doing this HT. instead I feel in my case, most things were downplayed as 'no big deal'. Which is not the case at all. Having a HT is a much bigger deal than I was lead to believe. I was naive, I was an easy mark. I just wanted to patch up some of the hair loss and get a little youth back. Did I make a mistake. Maybe? Time will have to pass before I can judge that. But I do feel the surgeon was more interested in just doing the surgery, collecting his money, rather than taking time with me to make sure I was good candidate and addressing all the future implications of a HT that I'm now finding out AFTER THE FACT. But you can only blame someone else so much, i do have to blame myself for my impetuous mid-life crisis decision. However also I do feel more should've been done to save me from myself and my naiveness, instead I feel I was not given full disclosure to what I was entering into. Don't make my same mistake. I have A LOT to say about this, but I am pressed for time at the moment so I can't say everything I would like on this topic.

 

Bottom line is I'll hopefully get some good years from the HT FUE, but as native hair loss progress which, even if you take Fin its NO GUARANTEE that you won't continue to lose hair. There are those that take Fin, develop severe long lasting side effects AND continue to lose hair.in my particularl case I will have to address this HT down the road at some point I'm sure. Nothing I can do now, but wait and hope. So far I'm only a month out of my HT and not very pleased, but from what I read I'm still very much in thick of the ugly duckling phase. I wear hats EVERYWHERE now. I'm more self conscious now than before the HT. do I regret the HT, at this time, yes I do. But I may grow to like it in time. Idk.

 

Not sure what to gather from your post honestly, sounds like maybe you had unrealistic expectations. A hair transplant will not fix your hair problems for life. You're over 40 years old so it's safe to say your hairloss is not aggressive especially considering you only had frontal hairline baldness, in your case you're probably ok to not take finasteride. But hairloss progresses in everyone with the gene, even if you take finasteride, so my initial impression is that you wanted to have a procedure that would solve your problem for life, which is not the case ever.

 

1 month out you may actually look a little worse than you did before the transplant and this is perfectly normal, you look worse before you look better. I think finasteride is appropriate in really young guys who don't know how far their hairloss will progress, meaning a 20 year old guy with the same hairloss you have at 42, this would be a good indicator that this kid may end up to be Norwood 6 or 7, in this case finasteride is appropriate so that he retains most of his native hair for a long period of time. However, if you're in your 40's-50's and you have minor frontal hairloss, you're more than likely ok to get a transplant without finasteride because your hairloss is not aggressive, another scenario is think it's not appropriate to take finasteride is if your a Norwood 5-7 in these cases most of your hair is gone, the risk to benefit is completely swayed the opposite way, you risk permanent sexual dysfunction for a few hairs on your head, nevertheless you'll be bald either way, accept you'll be bald and impotent, not a good trade off.

[Sam23]

This is the same of my story i will take this chance to write my story here

 

i jumped quickly to HT and i was naive not well educated, being fooly astonished with remarkable results ignoring the disadvantage and the risks, i believed that it is so simple and it would be like a dentist visit and the clinics will easy convince you with that i wanna told you about the offer that i have received from my clinic that it will give you the impression that they are the best of the best, they told me :

 

" we have the best advanced technology and technique and the best ISHRS surgents in the whole region, it is not a surgery it is just a simple procedure without any pain, we will bring your hair and hairline to your life again with the best natural results, our technique is so unique will allow 50% to 30% of your hair to regrow again in your donor area, we are using the smallest punches ever made 0.9 to 0.5 we will not leave you after HT and will follow up with you for a whole year we will treat your native hair with best products and growth factors, stem cells, prp injection you will not suffer from lossing hair anymore and your Transplant hair would be permenant and we will give you a guarantee for that if your hair transplant is not grow by 95% we will correct it freely and even give your money back " you will see their place so crowded with people already did their HT, they would tell you that they have customers from everywhere and you would be lucky if you can book your procedure within 2 months". So you find yourself after all of that wow what i was doing i should did this from ages, hell yaa i will do it now, it seems the science has been advanced and everyone doing it now this is will work out especially after the briliant results that they show me, if the celebrities are doing it and they should have a fear for their appearance more than the normal people then this is safe, it will work definetly and if it is not then i will only loose my money, i will be bald again so no problem at the end it is just a hair and you can manage it somehow anything on my head would be better than baldness it is worth a shot espically i m 30 and not married i might enjoy my hair for more 10 years.

 

Then after my HT i started reading extensively at my recovery time about HT and i know now that the HT should be planned very well and the baldness should be stabilized first and you should be under meds espically fin, i read that the hair transplant is not scarless and you will end up with serious scars even if it is fue and if you shave you will have white dots and your receipient area might have some scars also, nothing guaranteed, the permenant hair promise it become a bless in the first couple of years but also it is a curse in the future as you cannot get rid of your transplant hair so if you have bad results or you continue loosing hair which the most likey for majority of people, it would appear so odd, so you want to shave it then the scars will chase you there is no way to run you are stucked and all you can do just wish that the surgent really was a good one and he was not sleepy when he did the surgery

 

then the depression start, before HT i was looking to the mirror one or two time in a day and say to myself ohh i become so bald i should do something, then after that i forget the idea the whole day. Now after HT and because i live alone away from my country i became so depressed looking to the mirror every hour i became paranoid skeptical and i start ruin my life and my work, just reading reading about HT as a hopeless way to find an exit from what i did i m thinking too much now knowing i m fighting a loosing battle and i cannot escape from it i brought this to my life and i have to live with it all my life, my hair in donor area now is sooooo thin i do not know if this a shock loss or it just ruined and will not be back normal, all i wish now if i can shave my head without maps on my scalp and visible scars.

 

Now if you asked me about Fin and its risks, i would say i already ruin somthing in my body definetly i will not gamble and ruin somthing else even if it will give me a full head of hair in return of 1% chance of risking my sexual life, this med you have to take it for a long long period nobody will know the effect in long term. This is a hermone level that you play with, there will be consequences no matter what if it is not now it would be in the future. For me i will use minoxidil, nizoral, pantogar, natural dht blocker like saw palmeto, biotin, put a shower filter with vitamen C and also i still have the gorwth factor and stem cell injection also i have an appointment with a new clinic so famous in europ espesialized in hair loss and have products customized for each case they will examin you each month and adjust the product to suit your baldness pattern, they claimed they already cure more than 50 thousands and start spreading around the world. I will try to give an update about that after i test it. So these my weapons for my hair fight but i will not use nuclear weapons to win a battle and loose the whole life

Edited September 10, 2015 by Sam23

[Bill - Seemiller]

Sam,

 

A lot of people get hair transplant surgery without taking Propecia (finasteride). Propecia can help slow down the progression of hair loss, which is why it's often considered a good adjunct to surgical hair restoration. However, some people are concerned about the possibility of side effects and thus, have opted not to use it - especially given more recent concern about ongoing side effects even after stopping treatment. To learn more about Propecia and discussion about possible long term side effects, view our editorial content on Propecia (finasteride) on the Hair Loss Learning Center.

 

Hair transplant surgery can stand alone. But for those who don't take non-surgical treatments like Propecia, there's greater risk of continued hair loss. Thus, planning for the long term and making adequate use of donor hair during hair transplantation is crucial.

 

I hope this helps.

 

Best wishes,

 

Bill

[biolizard]

This is the same of my story i will take this chance to write my story here

 

i jumped quickly to HT and i was naive not well educated, being fooly astonished with remarkable results ignoring the disadvantage and the risks, i believed that it is so simple and it would be like a dentist visit and the clinics will easy convince you with that i wanna told you about the offer that i have received from my clinic that it will give you the impression that they are the best of the best, they told me :

 

" we have the best advanced technology and technique and the best ISHRS surgents in the whole region, it is not a surgery it is just a simple procedure without any pain, we will bring your hair and hairline to your life again with the best natural results, our technique is so unique will allow 50% to 30% of your hair to regrow again in your donor area, we are using the smallest punches ever made 0.9 to 0.5 we will not leave you after HT and will follow up with you for a whole year we will treat your native hair with best products and growth factors, stem cells, prp injection you will not suffer from lossing hair anymore and your Transplant hair would be permenant and we will give you a guarantee for that if your hair transplant is not grow by 95% we will correct it freely and even give your money back " you will see their place so crowded with people already did their HT, they would tell you that they have customers from everywhere and you would be lucky if you can book your procedure within 2 months". So you find yourself after all of that wow what i was doing i should did this from ages, hell yaa i will do it now, it seems the science has been advanced and everyone doing it now this is will work out especially after the briliant results that they show me, if the celebrities are doing it and they should have a fear for their appearance more than the normal people then this is safe, it will work definetly and if it is not then i will only loose my money, i will be bald again so no problem at the end it is just a hair and you can manage it somehow anything on my head would be better than baldness it is worth a shot espically i m 30 and not married i might enjoy my hair for more 10 years.

 

Then after my HT i started reading extensively at my recovery time about HT and i know now that the HT should be planned very well and the baldness should be stabilized first and you should be under meds espically fin, i read that the hair transplant is not scarless and you will end up with serious scars even if it is fue and if you shave you will have white dots and your receipient area might have some scars also, nothing guaranteed, the permenant hair promise it become a bless in the first couple of years but also it is a curse in the future as you cannot get rid of your transplant hair so if you have bad results or you continue loosing hair which the most likey for majority of people, it would appear so odd, so you want to shave it then the scars will chase you there is no way to run you are stucked and all you can do just wish that the surgent really was a good one and he was not sleepy when he did the surgery

 

then the depression start, before HT i was looking to the mirror one or two time in a day and say to myself ohh i become so bald i should do something, then after that i forget the idea the whole day. Now after HT and because i live alone away from my country i became so depressed looking to the mirror every hour i became paranoid skeptical and i start ruin my life and my work, just reading reading about HT as a hopeless way to find an exit from what i did i m thinking too much now knowing i m fighting a loosing battle and i cannot escape from it i brought this to my life and i have to live with it all my life, my hair in donor area now is sooooo thin i do not know if this a shock loss or it just ruined and will not be back normal, all i wish now if i can shave my head without maps on my scalp and visible scars.

 

Now if you asked me about Fin and its risks, i would say i already ruin somthing in my body definetly i will not gamble and ruin somthing else even if it will give me a full head of hair in return of 1% chance of risking my sexual life, this med you have to take it for a long long period nobody will know the effect in long term. This is a hermone level that you play with, there will be consequences no matter what if it is not now it would be in the future. For me i will use minoxidil, nizoral, pantogar, natural dht blocker like saw palmeto, biotin, put a shower filter with vitamen C and also i still have the gorwth factor and stem cell injection also i have an appointment with a new clinic so famous in europ espesialized in hair loss and have products customized for each case they will examin you each month and adjust the product to suit your baldness pattern, they claimed they already cure more than 50 thousands and start spreading around the world. I will try to give an update about that after i test it. So these my weapons for my hair fight but i will not use nuclear weapons to win a battle and loose the whole life

 

Thank you for sharing your story. It's a story I can very much relate with and empathize with.

I feel the same way. I had SO much a similar experience as you, that as I'm reading your post I found myself nodding my head in agreement frequently.

 

They definitely didn't give me an accurate description of what the reality of the HT FUE was.

They told and sold me things like, it's just a simple procedure, we just simply use very small punches to relocate some hair to the frontal balding areas, it's so simple you could even go back to work the next day!

 

What a giant crock of BS! I nearly got reprimanded at work for having to call in sick, because NO FREAKING WAY I could've gone back to work. I looked like an alien straight out of Star Trek with my head and face swollen so badly my eyes were nearly swollen completely shut. It was misery. This was my first clue and indication that I might be in trouble and they were obviously not totally honest and up front with me about the realistic expectations following the FUE. My recipient area is still a ugly very noticeable reddish purple discoloration. Also you can see the recipient area has a bumpy, not smooth, scared acne look to it. its been just over a month since the FUE and I sure hope the recipient area heals better than this cause it looks AWFUL right now. It's embarrassingly bad at the moment.

 

I also share your feeling and sentiment about Fin, that is I've already boogered and messed up one part of my body,now I'm VERY extra cautious and hesitant to incur any more risk and risk something like permanent impotence, further exacerbation of depression, now. I already feel a little burned after this HT, I just can't bring myself to risk messing myself up anymore. Essentially compounding one problem by adding risk of more serious problems.

 

What was advertised to me as a simple easy 'procedure' has turned out to be THE MOST monumental decision I've ever made. I foolishly rushed into this HT, and as a result I'm suffering some. Suffering from body image issues and now I'm WAY MORE self conscious and embarrassed of my hair after the HT than I was before. Its as if having a failed HT or a mediocre and 'noticeable' HT carries more embarrassment and stigma than just accepting your baldness with dignity. I'll have to wait at least a year before adjudicating my final judgement. But right now, today, it feels like I've made a huge mistake.

 

It does help me to come to these forums and find others who have similar issues. Helps me to type, talk about it, get it off my chest. I need to work on forgiving myself for this mistake I made, it's a difficult thing for someone with my personality to do. I'm having trouble with this forgiveness of my mistake. Every time I walk past a mirror I become angry with myself all over again. That process repeats many many times a day.

[Sam23]

Same feeling buddy, now i m 45 days the redness now on the hairline, till now i did not forgive myself for this mistake, i m trying to think positive right now and prepare myself to the worst situation that can happen to me. i will give you some thoughts may be it will help you also:

 

Now we might face three types of problems:

- transplant hair might be fake and not good at all

- donor area thin and full of scars

- your native hair progress and large bald spot in the future and you end up with the hait transplant only which woulx be so odd

Now these are my thought of how we can face these issues

1- first of all, we are blessed that we have fue and not fut. so we do not have a visible scar if you end up with bad results or your hair loss is progressing, you can still shave without problem, i had doubts about this so i asked many people and i googled it, so i found that most people shaved it without huge problems, everything should be normal after healing except some little scars and this is depend on the skin and the skills of your surgent but in general 75% you are good only the hairline sometime, it might give an impression that there was somthing there but we cannot judge until we see. The famous white dots also it is not much visible at grade 1 so you can shave your head and keep it at 1 behind so everything should be normal. Even i asked if i can remove the transplant hair by laser so also it can be removed like any other hair but with risk of skin discoloration if your have a dark skin.

 

2- if you end up with thin donor area you can transplabt hair from your body to your donor area (donor area discharging) this is a new concept and not many people familiar with it and we have not seen any results for that, but by logic it can be done and if you think that fut patient usually use fue to fill the scars then fue scars should be filled easly with Acell injection probalby it will work. I ve checked Dr. Cole website and it seems he started doing this

3- for hair loss progression, thisxis an old battle everyone fight whether he has HT or not. But for most of people they can give up and forget it as it so hard to win this battle and you have to focus so much and be so organised with patience to have a small win. So most of people given up and dont think about it until they found themself so bald then the ideas of HT come to the mind and they end up like us. Now the battle for whom did the HT become more sever as now there is somthing fixed on your scalp and you cannot afford to loss more hair otherwise you have to make another HT or your appearance become so odd and this is also depend on your norwood scale, so as you are an FUE you still have the privilege of first point as shaving everything or you can have another session but this time you have more knowledge so you would be more cautious. Before deciding that you will loose the hair loss battle you can still fight by using many treatments ( minoxidil, prp and acell injection each 2 months, natural dht blocker and natural supplements) so there is still a chance to have some win ( propecia as i said before not an option for me even if i loss each damn hair) and as you have HT you will be more committed with hair loss treatment comaparing to other people as you already know that there would be serious consequences if you did not do it. So you would have a good chance to keep what you already have right now

 

3- from statestic approach, look how many people had HT, millions of people i think, as per ishrs if i remember correctly 250,000 HT surgeries in 2014 only and this number is increasing especially for fue which forms now 35% of total surgeries this number is increasing substantially so after couple of years fue might overcome FUT especially there are new players now in the market they only needs sometime to defeat FUT emperors which they are trying to fightback.

 

The people who have good HT will not bother themself to write on internet, only you will find who had problems, so that is why the internet are full with horror stories, furtheremore,

 

When you walked in the street or meet bew people or watch actors on tv you were not thinking about if they had HT or not becasue they look normal and definetly you met some people in your life who had HT but you could not recognize them because they were normal. Now when you know that they had an HT you start checking them more in details and try to figure out where are the fake spots. So most people will look normal at the end but only you or your close society will know that you had somthing done not by nature or god so it is somthing in ourself at the end

 

4- at the end it is just a damned hair why we bother ourself so much you still have many hairstyle options, think about people who made serious cosmetic surgeries like nose or liposection those should suffer a lot if anything goes wrong but for HT it is just a damned hair not much serious and usually the women should have the perfect hair not men so your appearance would still be acceptable whether you had bad HT or scars or bald or shaved.

 

You have many things in life to focus on, if it was a mistake in first place so Let be it, we are human and we do make mistakes and shit happen down the road so we have to learn to live with them, and we should be greatful that we have the luxury to think about those small things in our life. People suffer these days from poverty, death and wars. So nobody give a shit to what we suffer. People can have accidents, serious diseases and end up with serious injuries and scars and might they have body disfunction and disability, but they raised up and life goes on.

 

I m trying to convience myself with these thoughts everyday, and really i start feel that this experience open my mind on many things and let me know what pain can be and how small my problems are. So i will focus on more things in life and who guess after all maybe all the bad scenarios cannot happen at all, but at least i prepare myself to the worst things and i m trying to accept them, with this approach i think you might find yourself at the end of this year so happy and satisfied as you have now the lowest expectations

[Sam23]

You should see me now, i became so paranoid, i m thinking now only with my hair even i m measuring my old forehead with the new one, my new hairline gives me a frame that suit my face but it is not the old one, when i compare it with my old pictures i can say they gave me slightly lower forelock from my original one, also hair texture and its direction might not be the same as it depends on how they put the follicels So, it bothered me and i found myself depress with thinking with these small things i used to have great fine brown hair somthing better than Antonio conte (i hope i can achieve 60% of his results) i was so happy with it everyone envy me because my hair was attracting many girls at that time.

 

l m putting myself in an endless cycle of doubtness, i think this is because that i know what is on my head right now is from human not from god. So it is not perfect. The baldnss is from nature so you will accept it after while and you will give up without bothering yourself so much. But now ohhhh you know this is artifcial and it is not perfect so you continue thinking. I wish if i can remove it right now and back normal again.

 

Anyway, i m up and down manytimes and i will continue like this until i accept what is done. I m trying to convience myself with positive thoughts but the depress quickly attack again

 

At the end as a good though it is just a damn hair so there are many options to style it in the future and as we performed FUE we should be able to shave it if anything goes worng. I wonder how the people live with serious cosmotic surgeries like nose and liposection.

[biolizard]

+Sam23

 

I like the way you have outlined and articulated our options. I wish I would've gone through that process before leaping head first into this god awful HT.

 

I've been researching my options too. Since it's becoming increasingly apparent that I'm likely going to remain dissatisfied and regretful of this HT FUE. It's only getting worse, not better.

 

I too am starting to consider options like shaving down, and laser hair removal of the transplanted FUE hairs.

 

So far everything about this HT screams unnatural. My hair line is unfamiliar and too low. The grafted hairs are VERY thin, and the one that left have a 'pluggy' look, the recipient area is very discolored (pinkish/purple'ish) , also the skin or scalp of the recipient area has a very bumpy 'cobblestone' texture......all of this very noticeable and very unattractive and creates massive insecurity issues with my self confidence.

 

At this point I just want off the 'hair' ride. I seriously would pay double the price if only I could have this HT undone and go back to the way I looked before this HT.

 

Ironically I use to look at people with full heads of hair and think to myself how lucky they are, NOW .......after this poor HT decision I made, I frequently find myself staring enviously at people who made the decision to embrace and accept their baldness with dignity. They chose to keep the natural balding pattern and just go with a close cut. That my friend, is what I wish everyday I would've done!!

 

In a year or 2 once this FUE has fully ran its course, and done all its going to. I'm going to look into just removing the FUE grafts however possible, whether by laser or have them extract the grafts like they did from the donor area but maybe this time just discarding them? Not sure if that would be an option? Not sure what I'm going to have to do, but something will need to be done to return me to my pre-HT self as best as possible.

 

I only had 2000 grafts so hopefully my donor area won't appear too scarred or thin after I buzz down my hair. I only pray that my FUE scalp recipient area heals up enough that the bumpy texture and pink discoloration is minimal, so when I laser out or otherwise remove those FUE grafts the skin won't be too scarred and noticeable?

 

I may need some type of therapy or antidepressant medication before this is over. Such a mistake. Ugh. Just wish I could forgive myself and move on. But that's easier said than done for me.

 

Sam23 thank you agiain for sharing your story, it ALWAYS helps to know that there are others out there who can relate to what you are going through.

 

Good luck stay in touch with me and let me know how things are going and how things are turning out for you. Best of luck to you my friend.