My experience with rogaine, hair transplant, and toppik

[Prudence]

I have been benefiting from this blog for a long time so I figured it was time for me to contribute with my own experience with hair loss and measures to combat it.

 

I started losing my hair at the age of 24 beginning with minor loss to the crown. I used rogaine originally at 2% then later 5% throughout the front and back of my head. I have attached a picture at 33 years old after 9 years of Rogaine (and immediately prior to my transplant). At the time I did not believe Rogaine was doing much as my hair loss progressed, however, for reasons explained below I think it was very beneficial.

 

For my transplant I picked a clinic well known in this blog and well experienced. The reputation of the doctor here contributed to my decision but I also had the benefit of working with one of his former techs who advised me that she has never known someone to have a bad experience with this doctor or a failed transplant. I was very concerned with the idea of having a transplant and coming out looking like a "hair plug" guy or otherwise being disfigured and was not willing to take any chances.

 

The surgery itself was relatively comfortable. I had 2500 grafts to the front of my head. Attached is a picture of me the night of the surgery. I never experienced any significant pain during or after the procedure, but I did use all of the prescribed pain killers.

 

As far as the recovery period, it is my opinion that this stage is downplayed by the hair transplant industry. I spent the first three days with minimal sleep and terrified of knocking out transplanted hair. After that I was functional but my face was swollen and head looked disfigured for about 7- 10 days. My red head, bizarre haircut (I recommend shaving your head before surgery) and row of staples made being inconspicuous without a hat impossible for the first 3 weeks following the surgery. If you can wear a hat then I can see going back to work in 7 days, but I have a public speaking job and did not feel comfortable without a hat until five weeks after my surgery. I looked worse off than when I went in until about 4 months subsequent to the surgery. That being said only one person has ever questioned me on having a transplant who coincidentally had a transplant at the same clinic.

 

I am now at 9 months. All side effects from the procedure have long dissipated. I have attached pictures of me without any toppik from the front (red shirt) and from the top. I am very pleased with the growth I have experienced. As for the crown you can see that over the past nine months my hair loss has accelerated pretty substantially. In my layman opinion this has something to do the passage of time, surgery knocking out weak hairs, but mostly with the fact that I have stopped using Rogaine since the surgery. I believe that had I not had the surgery the hair loss would have accelerated in the front as well. In retrospect the 9 years of Rogaine masked what would have been a much more severe case of male pattern baldness.

 

Going forward I intend to have a second transplant to my crown with the same doctor. I have two reasons for discontinuing Rogaine. The first is that Toppik is unbelievably effective at naturally camouflaging my crown hair loss. I have attached two pictures of myself presently with toppik. With the combination of Toppik and the Hair Transplant my hair is looking as good as it did when I was twenty years old. I highly recommend Toppik. The price is well worth it, however, I am trying to find a generic that is equally effectively. So far the only one I have found as good is Xfusion but it is the same price. Any recommendations on this would be appreciated.

 

The second reason, and I am not super confident on this, is that I do not want rogaine masking my hair loss prior to the my second procedure. If I continue with rogaine I fear I will start a cycle of having the transplant to cover the balding area and then immediately losing the weak hairs as a result of needing to stop the rogaine in connection with the surgery. To the extent possible, I would prefer one very large session as oppose to multiple smaller procedures but will defer to my doctor on this issue. After this second surgery, I will go back on rogaine/ propecia to delay the third procedure as long as possible.

 

I still have some fears of what my head will look like in 10 years, 20 years and so on. Specifically, I am concerned that my hair loss will continue to progress and I'll run out of donor hair some day. But at this point I am extremely pleased with my decisions and have not felt this good about my appearance in a very long time, if ever.

[Spanker]

Abstaining what the minox was doing. I think it gets a bad rap, but obviously it was doing something for you.

[Prudence]

Guess it did not go through, these are me now with transplant plus toppik

[AB2000]

How long does a bottle of Toppik last for you?

[HockeyGuy]

Looks good. I use the Toppik too and (actually switched to Caboki for a stretch as a had an infection with my last TP and the Caboki was less irritating on it.

 

As good as Toppik is I will say it gets old having to doctor up the do every single day. I haven't gone swimming in 6 years. Hoping this go around of TP makes that possible without me being embarrassed.

 

I thought with just a few days off you can resume Rogaine right after a TP. Did the doctor tell you that you couldn't stay on it?

[gijedi]

Re: Post-op rogaine.

The reality is that there is no consensus. Different docs give different recommendations. Some will give you a thumbs up to use after 5-7 days and some say avoid for three months. None of this is based on any really good data. For what it's worth, I have used Rogaine beginning a week after two FUT's and again after recent FUE. I do believe it has helped. I've been very happy with my results.....

[azdz]

Hair looks good! Who was the doctor that did your surgery? My hair used to have that poofy look in the front like yours does after the transplant. I loved it. Never had to do anything to my hair! Now looks thin and greasy after it started falling out.

 

I tried the powder treatments (Topik worked best for me) but I think my hair is too thin now. Yours looks great but I have to put too much in mine and it ends up looking fake. I think it being in the front makes it worse. I want to use it as soon as I can after surgery though because I think it will look good with the transplants in and I can go back to work quicker. I have been trying to talk to doctors about when I can use it again after surgery. Did your doctor say when you could use it after the surgery? This is a big deal for me actually getting a transplant!

[Prudence]

I buy the 1.94 ounce bottle, biggest one they sell and it last me 2 months. I also use their spray. The spray accessory was useless for me, but I could see it working for someone with minor hair loss. So for me Toppik is costing about $50/ month. I will gladly pay this if it is the difference between balding and having a full head of hair but there are cheaper products out there and I am hoping one of them work just as well. As far as the time to doctor up and take off, I have this down to about two minutes in the morning. Toppik alleges you could swim with it but I am not too interested in testing it out.

 

As far as the rogaine, I don't recall the exact time frame but I believe I had to stop 10 days prior to surgery and 4 weeks post. I am not sure if this amount of time will undue the benefits of rogaine as I never resumed it after my HT because I intend on getting the second.

 

Azdz, from my experience I really encourage a front transplant. My frontal hairline is great, and toppik is really effective in the crown. I can appear to have a full head of hair even if I put off the second HT indefinitely. The poofy hair you refer to is not my natural hair texture, and I am wondering when if ever my hair texture will return to normal. My doctor advised me that I could start using Toppik 4 weeks after the surgery, but from my experience I think you have to prepare yourself that you are going to look really bad for a month after the surgery. But now nobody seems to remember how bad I looked, and I would do it all over again in a second. As I saw recommended here, growing a beard for some reason takes everyones attention off your head.

[BadBeat]

Hairline looks like Dr. Shapiro's work

[azdz]

Prudence.... Good to hear that you would do it again in a second! I need frontal work just like you had done. I think the back is okay for now. I would like to use topik before 4 weeks though. That seems like a long time.

 

But who is the doctor man? The work looks really good. I would be very happy if my front looked like that after the transplant so let us know if you can.

[azdz]

Hairline looks like Dr. Shapiro's work

 

I think it is either Shapiro or Alexander.

[Prudence]

Dr. Bloxham did my transplant

[azdz]

Bloxham! I guessed wrong. Lol. He is actually one I have considered for surgery. He put up some front surgery cases that looked awesome. I would be a very happy camper if I turned out like that or you when my ht grew out. I want to ask him more about the topik thing though because I hope I can use it sooner than a month. Great growth though man! Congrats again.