Give me your opnions please

[aw33]

I am currently 20 and I am a NW3 with vertex balding. This summer, I will mark my 5th anniversary of the start of my MPB. I will also have used Propecia for 2 years.

 

Propecia has kept most of my hair at the top of my head relatively stable. No one can tell a change, but I myself can see my temples receding a bit more and my crown getting a bit balder.

 

I cannot have an HT but I am thinking about an HT in 2 years when I am 22. At age 22, I will have used Propecia for 4 years and I will mark my 7th year of MPB. Judging from the 5 year Propecia studies, I believe my hair loss will have progressed a tidy bit then but I will still have a decent head of hair.

 

Would an HT then be suitable? I do have family history of strong balding on the top of the head.

 

I have spoken with Bill and I have consulted with Hasson and Wong. I was told to wait at least 2 years before considering an HT and I was told to stay on Propecia and Rogaine.

 

Thanks

[aw33]

Yeah I have been using Rogaine for 2 months but I am having 2nd thoughts about it because I am a sweaty guy, wear hats sometimes and wouldn't want to apply foam onto my head for the rest of my life.

 

H/W are the best in the business and if they tell me to wait for 2 more years, then that is fine with me as I have already gone through almost 5 years of this nightmare-of-an ordeal.

 

My hair loss started at age 16 so it wasn't pleasant. I am in excellent shape, tall and good looking but hair loss in most men just pulls down your self-perceived image to the ground.

 

I am however confident because of Propecia. In the 5 year studies most people benefited positively from it and kept large amounts of their hair, and I am okay with taking this pill daily indefinitely.

 

Here is what my hair looks like right now:

http://img690.imageshack.us/img690/3940/1004023.jpg

 

http://img687.imageshack.us/i/1004025.jpg/

 

You can see that my temples are receding and that my crown is slowly balding.

 

Here is what I am hoping for 2 years from now. This guy is pretty young, my pattern resembles his and I have pretty dense hair and good elasticity (when I try to stretch and play with my scalp)

http://www.hassonandwong.com/p...type=normal&nwScale=

[aw33]

Any other opinions guys?

[Jotronic]

Aw33,

 

I think that based on your photos you do not appear to be a NW3V. You are barely a NW3 and I would actually put you in between a NW2 and NW3. It also appears that you have a good head shape for shaving and the short length shows little weakness in the top and the back so I think staying on the meds is the best idea and not rush into any surgery. I know it's easier said than done but I'd try to not let this bother you too much and continue doing your research. You have nothing to lose and everything to gain by doing this.

[mattj]

I have to agree with Jotronic, you're a NW2 - 3, and if a 3 then only just.

 

Is your buzzed look your chosen style or is it your 'I'm going bald' style? I ask because it looks like you still have enough hair to sustain a longer cut if you wanted to. (Not that there's anything wrong with the buzzed look).

[aw33]

Getting a reply from somebody who has thorough knowledge about this topic is certainly much appreciated - thank you for your response

 

My hair is thinner at the top than at the sides and back - The extent of my crown's baldness is not fully shown in those 2 other pictures. I have uploaded a picture that shows the back of my head.

 

http://i42.tinypic.com/91maer.jpg

 

 

I do have a good head shape but I would rather not get all of my head shaven bald. What I can do is shave the sides and back of my head bald and buzz my hair at the top, so that the my thinner hair at the top can match closely the rest of my hair.

 

I wanted to ask you, most people say that an HT at a young age isn't right. But can this be because of the fact that most people are under the assumption that at a younger age, the majority of people don't have much hair loss? I think 2 years from now, when I will have used Propecia for 4 years and when I will have dealt with MPB for 7 years, an HT should hopefully be suitable for me, what do you think? (considering of course that Propecia keeps my hair relatively stable, I am sure H/W can perform something that can be safe for the future and give me good coverage).

 

And lastly, you had your HT at age 23 with a horrible Doc, but if you had the chance to re-do your first-ever surgery with Dr. Hasson at age 23, would you?

[aw33]

Originally posted by mattj:

I have to agree with Jotronic, you're a NW2 - 3, and if a 3 then only just.

 

Is your buzzed look your chosen style or is it your 'I'm going bald' style? I ask because it looks like you still have enough hair to sustain a longer cut if you wanted to. (Not that there's anything wrong with the buzzed look).

 

Thanks for your reply Matt.

 

I keep it buzzed because most of the time, I try to do a "high & tight" cut by myself, and I just cannot get the back of my head to match with the rest of my hair, so I just buzz it all off.

 

I will grow my hair out over the summer and go to a barber for a change and see what I can get, but the buzz cut sure does a decent job of lowering the effects of my thinning at the top.

[Jotronic]

Aw33,

 

I had my bigger procedures with Dr. Wong.

 

Not sure what you are asking. Are you asking me if I had H&W back when I was 23 would I go through this all over again? Absolutely but I think the real question to ask is knowing what I know now would I have gone through with the old work from Dr. Norris again when I was 23? I have to think that I most likely would only because I enjoy who I am now and because I am a firm believer in one's past making them who they are today I have to say I don't know if I'd want to be anybody else. Make sense? I do know however that if I had a chance to go back in time and start Propecia when I was your age I would start it and NEVER stop. If I had I would not have any issues of having a thin crown and I would not have progressed nearly as far as I did.

 

I think that you have a good handle on things but you need to realize that even in two years you will still only be 22 years old. Transplanting crowns is a tricky issue but I think that in two years time when you have a stronger take on how you are progressing (or not progressing) then you will be in a better position to present your case.

[aw33]

Sorry, I meant Dr. Wong not Dr. Hasson.

 

What I meant to ask was that, if you were 23 and looking into an HT at that age and came across H/W and if you knew all that you know now, would you have gone through it?

 

Although my crown is important to me, it is not my priority. and I wouldn't want to do an HT for that particular region at a young age. My priority is my hairline and my frontal hair.

[EpilepticSceptic]

Aw33,

 

Since you asked for opinions I'll give you mine. That last photo you posted is IMO quite worrying. Your crown loss looks to be about the same as mine, and I am 41 years old. I didn't even start noticing any crown loss at all until age 30 when I started propecia. You are only 20 years old so you have another 21 years of balding to catch up with me. Where you will be then only god knows.

 

I am in the more conservative camp when it comes to HTs. IMO age 30 is probably the earliest age anybody should even remotely consider a HT, unless they have already gone bald and have superman donor traits. 40 is probably the very beginning of the "safe zone" for having some kind of an idea of where your final pattern will be. 50 is most likely the safest age of all to plan something that will likely last a lifetime without any major suprises.

 

If you have cases of extreme balding on both sides of your family, then IMO even at age 25 you're rolling the dice in a potentially risky game of future loss.

[aw33]

Thanks for your opinion Labrat69.

 

My MPB was really aggressive up until the point I started taking Propecia. I STRONGLY believe that I would be an NW5/6 if I wasn't using the pill.

 

Nobody In my family lost their hair in their teens. My father and most of my uncles started losing their hair during their mid 20s and early 30s. There are no cases of MPB from my mother's side.

 

I STRONGLY believe that if an individual has had MPB for 6-10 years and if that individual has been using a DHT-inhibitor such as Finasteride for 4-5 years, an HT can be possible.

 

As you say, there is a major risk for future hair loss, more times than not, up until you reach a mature age (40-50). Going through high-school and university with MPB hasn't been easy, I cannot picture myself waiting for 20-30 years for an HT. When I do plan for my HT 2-3 years down the road, it is just a risk I will have to take.

 

I am okay with less than-normal coverage with my crown/vertex. My main goal is my hairline, temporal regions and my frontal hair.