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Turning 40, Finasteride, and Dr. Konior


Spanker

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Hello all, 

 

Wanted to drop a line and make and update and some observations. I am 6.5 years post op. 

1.  Finasteride has been a life saver for me. I've been on fin for almost 9 years.  This last decade on being on it have allowed me to pass up many of my peers.  As I have held steady, many have began to lose. The value is different for every person based on how picky they are and how aggressive their hairloss is. I have no thoughts that fin will work for me forever, but I do believe I'll always be above my baseline on it. IMO, anyone that is a NW4 and better needs to be on it when they get a HT.  There is just too much to hair lose and it's too hard to replace.

2. Turning 40 this week is something else. It's interesting how fast you age. I've said before that I would have been happy with a higher hairline and saved the grafts, had I been 40 when I had the surgery. However, I wasn't. Luckily, my hair looks great and I've been have to hold steady. My advice is to err on the conservative side and you can always come back and do a little drop, like Spex recently did. 

3.  Dr.Konior is still doing top notch work. I do not deal with scheduling or money.  I just give advice based on my almost decade of research , talk about my case, and answer questions that I can. 

 

So anyway, here is to turning 40, Dr. K, and Finasteride.

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Edited by Spanker

I am an online representative for Dr. Raymond Konior who is an elite member of the Coalition of Independent Hair Restoration Physicians.

View Dr. Konior's Website

View Spanker's Website

I am not a medical professional and my opinions should not be taken as medical advice.

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3 minutes ago, jj51702 said:

Looks great Spanker. Is finasteride all you use?

I also use minox at night once a day. 

I am an online representative for Dr. Raymond Konior who is an elite member of the Coalition of Independent Hair Restoration Physicians.

View Dr. Konior's Website

View Spanker's Website

I am not a medical professional and my opinions should not be taken as medical advice.

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Your natural hair caliber and wave are extraordinary for a male at age 40 (your native hair).  Frankly, I'm pleased you are so happy - but you're results are not typical.  They are so far outside the norm from a statistical standpoint.  I would put it at less than 1% of hair patients could possibly acheive your look - maybe those Spanish guys and dudes w/insanely thick/wavy donor hair that is the best of the best (comparitive to a woman's hair diameter and natural density).

Also, as a Norwood 2 who then had a hair transplant (considering how likely your donor hair's exceptional quality) - your doctor really did a great job cherry-picking the best fue's - after all he could use your entire donor area and be very picky 'cause you didn't have a large procedure, right?

Results like this used to trigger me - now I take the high road.  Rock-star hair my man.  And the hairline will serve you for a long time.  I'm sure you know all this and are grateful for your doctor's excellent work and your proactive research that most people don't fully appreciate.

Cheers!

 

Edited by jjsrader
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9 hours ago, jjsrader said:

Your natural hair caliber and wave are extraordinary for a male at age 40 (your native hair).  Frankly, I'm pleased you are so happy - but you're results are not typical.  They are so far outside the norm from a statistical standpoint.  I would put it at less than 1% of hair patients could possibly acheive your look - maybe those Spanish guys and dudes w/insanely thick/wavy donor hair that is the best of the best (comparitive to a woman's hair diameter and natural density).

Also, as a Norwood 2 who then had a hair transplant (considering how likely your donor hair's exceptional quality) - your doctor really did a great job cherry-picking the best fue's - after all he could use your entire donor area and be very picky 'cause you didn't have a large procedure, right?

Results like this used to trigger me - now I take the high road.  Rock-star hair my man.  And the hairline will serve you for a long time.  I'm sure you know all this and are grateful for your doctor's excellent work and your proactive research that most people don't fully appreciate.

Cheers!

 

I considered myself a NW2.5. 

I don't know that my caliber is extraordinary at all.  I think it's pretty medium, I just dont have a lot of miniaturization so it looks pretty solid. Super thick caliber hair is awesome, but it's also harder to get such soft result.

I had around 2200 grafts and it was strip.  At the time, when I was researching about 9 years ago, FUE was just coming into it's own.  The results were not as strong as they are now and the visible scarring was worse because most docs used a 1mm punch. I also have a scalp condition that prevents me from shaving my head, so I was OK with Strip. Dr. Konior was very picky about the caliber of each hair and where it was placed, meaning he split of 1s and F1s (fine 1s), which allowed for such a natural result by meticulously placing for the most natural result. 

My results may be out of the norm because there are so many variables for each if us, but there is nothing extra special about it either.  Anyone who is lucky enough to have have minor loss (so far), want better hair, commits to medication, and does extensive amounts of research to pick top doc can get a similar result I believe. 

 

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I am an online representative for Dr. Raymond Konior who is an elite member of the Coalition of Independent Hair Restoration Physicians.

View Dr. Konior's Website

View Spanker's Website

I am not a medical professional and my opinions should not be taken as medical advice.

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First off, fantastic results and thank you for sharing an update and photos.

Second, I'm now wrapping my brain around this new, more accurate image of you I now have and coming to terms with the fact that you're not Mr. Dos Equis... Lol. (In my head, you've always been a gray haired guy in his 60s. 😂 )

I also relate to you about maybe having gone more conservative had you had the procedure when you were older. That's something I've thought about as well, but then again, I'm holding steady over 4 years in and am extremely happy with the road I chose. 

I am a patient advocate for Dr. Parsa Mohebi in Los Angeles, CA. My views/opinions are my own and don't necessarily reflect the opinions of Dr. Mohebi and his staff.

Check out my hair loss website for photos

FUE surgery by Dr. Mohebi on 7/31/14
2,001 grafts - Ones: 607; Twos: 925; Threes: 413; Fours: 56

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14 hours ago, Spanker said:

I considered myself a NW2.5. 

I don't know that my caliber is extraordinary at all.  I think it's pretty medium, I just dont have a lot of miniaturization so it looks pretty solid. Super thick caliber hair is awesome, but it's also harder to get such soft result.

I had around 2200 grafts and it was strip.  At the time, when I was researching about 9 years ago, FUE was just coming into it's own.  The results were not as strong as they are now and the visible scarring was worse because most docs used a 1mm punch. I also have a scalp condition that prevents me from shaving my head, so I was OK with Strip. Dr. Konior was very picky about the caliber of each hair and where it was placed, meaning he split of 1s and F1s (fine 1s), which allowed for such a natural result by meticulously placing for the most natural result. 

My results may be out of the norm because there are so many variables for each if us, but there is nothing extra special about it either.  Anyone who is lucky enough to have have minor loss (so far), want better hair, commits to medication, and does extensive amounts of research to pick top doc can get a similar result I believe. 

 

Regardless, you waited 'til  your mid 30's - had very little miniaturization (as you noted) and got a great yield vis a vi strip and yea, Konior combines the ART of a hair transplant w/the science & has a very good eye for his craft.

How many grafts for your strip, btw?

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10 hours ago, jjsrader said:

Regardless, you waited 'til  your mid 30's - had very little miniaturization (as you noted) and got a great yield vis a vi strip and yea, Konior combines the ART of a hair transplant w/the science & has a very good eye for his craft.

How many grafts for your strip, btw?

I had a little less than 2200 I believe. 

I am an online representative for Dr. Raymond Konior who is an elite member of the Coalition of Independent Hair Restoration Physicians.

View Dr. Konior's Website

View Spanker's Website

I am not a medical professional and my opinions should not be taken as medical advice.

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At 40 and with tons of donor hair left you will be fine in the long term!

4,312 FUT grafts (7,676 hairs) with Ray Konior, MD - August 2013

1,145 FUE grafts (3,152 hairs) with Ray Konior, MD - August 2018

763 FUE grafts (2,094 hairs) with Ray Konior, MD - January 2020

Proscar 1.25mg every 3rd day

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Spanker, I'm happy for you and your hair looks great, but I think you give finisteride way too much credit for "saving" you. You were a very easy hair transplant case. You have thick hair, no loss in the crown even at age 40, and your temple peak areas are further forward and thicker than many men ever have even before they start losing their hair. Believe me, if finisteride was able to keep us all from losing any hair none of us would be bald. Sure it works to some extent, but I'm willing to bet that even if you never took it you still would have some decent hair.

 

Also... why would you want a higher hairline? You only did 2200 grafts, so you couldn't have moved it too far forward in the first place. It looks great where it is. I think possibly either any higher or lower would not look as good. Those thick temple peak areas is what makes the whole thing look better than it would if you didn't them

Edited by BeHappy

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(formerly BeHappy)

I am a forum moderator for hairrestorationnetwork.com. I am not a Dr. and I do not work for any particular Dr. My opinions are my own and may not reflect the opinions of other moderators or the owner of this site. I am also a hair transplant patient and repair patient. You can view some of my repair journey here.

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13 hours ago, BeHappy said:

Spanker, I'm happy for you and your hair looks great, but I think you give finisteride way too much credit for "saving" you. You were a very easy hair transplant case. You have thick hair, no loss in the crown even at age 40, and your temple peak areas are further forward and thicker than many men ever have even before they start losing their hair. Believe me, if finisteride was able to keep us all from losing any hair none of us would be bald. Sure it works to some extent, but I'm willing to bet that even if you never took it you still would have some decent hair.

 

Also... why would you want a higher hairline? You only did 2200 grafts, so you couldn't have moved it too far forward in the first place. It looks great where it is. I think possibly either any higher or lower would not look as good. Those thick temple peak areas is what makes the whole thing look better than it would if you didn't them

Thanks man.  I think that I give Fin a lot of credit because my family tends to be more bald. I do have some miniaturization throughout but it hasn't really changed since I started fin a decade ago.  Also, it is rare for me to see someone get a transplant like mine and not be on fin for 6.5 years and see have a result as solid as mine. 

 

I think fear of the future, aging, and just being more conservative makes me make the comment about being more conservative on the hairline. 

 

An old saying goes, "If You Are Not a Liberal at 25, You Have No Heart. If You Are Not a Conservative at 35, You Have No Brain."

I am an online representative for Dr. Raymond Konior who is an elite member of the Coalition of Independent Hair Restoration Physicians.

View Dr. Konior's Website

View Spanker's Website

I am not a medical professional and my opinions should not be taken as medical advice.

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