Am I a good candidate?

[DualPower]

And if so, what should I expect? Both in terms of grafts needed and end result.

 

I am 48 and have been thinning for some years now. For the last year or two I have been using Minoxidil foam and that seems to have stemmed the loss.

 

I have taken and uploaded some photos and it is the best light I had available. If I am honest I think this available light did me some justice. In brighter light it looks thinner than this.

 

I have a consultation booked but would interested in the thoughts of those here who have a lot more experience of this than me and have been through this.

 

Just to add, if I go ahead with this I am only interested in FUE.

 

Thanks

[javy123]

although I am not a professional in this field but I think you are a candidate and whether you want to undergo surgery or not is totally your decision which depends on your goals

[gillenator]

The photos came out quite blurry however your thinning pattern is very typical.

 

Obviously at 48, you are not too young for the procedure, just hard to say how much more you will lose in the coming years. Your crown is thinning and low dose finasteride would potentially be of great help to you in preserving your crown and possibly your mid-scalp from getting worse.

 

Can you state what your goals are? We presume that you would like to restore your frontal zone? That area would support 3500 grafts easily and your donor zone appears strong.

[DualPower]

If I am honest, I would like to restore the frontal zone, mid scalp and what ever is possible of the crown. I really don't know at this stage though what is possible and realistic.

[gillenator]

DP,

 

The best thing to do at this point in time would be to get several opinions and a physical exam of your donor to see what your donor density level is. This would give you an idea of how many transplantable grafts that you would have to work with.

 

Are you taking low dose finasteride such as Propecia? That can be potentially effective in stabilizing further loss in the mid-scalp and crown.

 

If it were me, I would start with focusing on the frontal zone with a nice mature hairline because the crown can potentially demand so much of one's available donor.

[kensington]

Nice to see someone older in my age range checking out transplant. Most of these forum posts seem to be people in their late 20's to 30's. I assume our older age drawback is the slower growth and healing time. Our advantage is the hair loss pattern is more set and wondering what other advantages and disadvantages we have at older age for hair transplant?

[Rashid36]

I guess we have more realistic expectations.

 

Also we can change hair style i mean alot of the pictures i've seen of young people who had ht keep the hair bit long and comb there hair back so the hairline can be seen and it is more back rather then front.

 

I keep my hair short and comb my hair down in french crop style so my hair line at the front where it starts cannot be easily seen. So grafts can be saved this way and hair looks better, less bald.

 

After seeing reccomended docs in person and sending second set of pictures without flash to many doctors i have now been told I can have around 4000 grafts.

 

The question is using them in the best way?

Edited May 19, 2016 by Rashid35