Whats the damage here?

[quailo]

Citizens of the Hair Restoration Network,

 

Im hoping you can sort out my confusion. I am contemplating having hair restoration surgery on my crown area and because i have always had a high hairline, i figure why not treat myself to a bit of a cheeky hairline advancement.

 

So, i have been speaking to a few surgeons and i have narrowed it down to just a few but the problem is, one of them suggested against having me crown filled in and i should just stick to the meds i.e. Fin and Minox. I have been on Fin for about 8 months and i can't really tell if it has improved much. At least i can say it hasn't all fallen out yet.

 

Does anyone know what the complications are of having new hairs placed where thinning hairs still exist? do they just not have room? or do they create in grown hairs?

 

My next question is: As we all know the donor hair area has a finite amount of donor hair to spare and we seem to be limited to 3-4 MAX surgeries. is it irresponsible of me to treat myself to a new hairline when i could potentially need more donor hair in the future?

 

I will attach photos of my current situation for your viewing pleasure.

 

I eagerly await your opinions

[Spanker]

Can't see your hairline so I can't give an opinion on that. I will say that I agree for now that you should stick to meds in the crown. Looks like you have a wide area of crown miniaturization. In 10 to 15 years on meds, you may have close to the same amount of hair, or you could lose aggressively. If that happened you may now have enough to do the front and crown fully, but have enough to shrink the hairloss from the outer ring, going in. If you place now you could end up with a island of hair in the crown and not enough to blend it well. So, I agree.

[ontop]

When they did trials for propicia, it was done over a 5 yr period & most will tell you to wait 12.o ths before you can see if any improvements but the truth is that propicia can continue to work upto 24 /30 months before it just maintains so I. Your instance taking for just 8mths your not halfway through just yet.

 

I would wait it out till that 24month before you do any HT & see where your at then.

take close up pictures of your head especially the crown & compare notes or even go & see a qualified HT surgeon who can monitor your progress over the next year or so.

 

I see your still relatively young so keep doing what your doing as by the looks of it you still have some decent amount of hair to save still.

 

I wish you well.

[gillenator]

quailo,

 

I agree to give Propecia more time before evaluating its full efficiency.

 

The thing about the crown is that it can potentially demand as much as 60% of one's available scalp donor. And if you are losing in the frontal region, most guys will want to restore that area as a priority because it's the hairline that frames our face and we are viewed from the front more often as we interact with others.

 

You also have diffused loss in the crown and the potential risk is shock loss to that area when grafts are added. If the grafted density is at a lower level, that can certainly help keep the level of trauma down and help minimize shock loss.

 

Grafting into a thinning crown can also potentially induce a faster progression of loss in the crown, not for everyone but definitely for some individuals.

 

Oh and before I forget, congrats on your first post in this community!

[quailo]

Hello Spanker, ontop and gillenator,

 

Thank you for your timely responses and advice. I will continue to maintain faith in the Finateride, it has in fact been performing wonders until a few weeks ago when a fresh shed started. Although, my current shedding cant be entirely blamed on the Fin. It coincides with a helicopter incident and 3x 40+ degree days without much food, water or a blanket in SE Asia a few weeks ago. Now it looks like things are on the way back up.

 

I will also give Minoxodil a try. I hadn't originally because i quite get bad Seborrheic Dermatitis on my crown area and i was nervous about getting a reaction. I also thought, if i start both medications at the same time and started getting bad side effects, i wouldn't know which medication to stop.

 

Anyway thanks again. I will continue to fill in my blog and post more photos for the benefit of others on the hair restoration network.

 

quailo.

[MrGio-WHTCClinic]

The crown could show hair loss that may or may not be permanent. Be very cautious when you aggressively add hair and don't have significant loss. The crown is very complex due to hair growth at all angles.

[ontop]

Also take note if you start to use Min/ Rogain there is a chance that you will also get shedding, this is normal & indicates that you are responding to the drug.

power through any shedding especially the first 8 / 12 wks it should turn around for the better.

the key to all this is being consistent as you may know.

best wishes to you.