Is Regrowth the Same as Thickening?

[Leftwithrope]

This question probably doesn't deserve a thread on its own, but I feel it's pretty important for me and anyone else who wants to have their expectations managed when it comes to hair loss treatments. I've recently hopped onto Finasteride and pretty soon, Minoxidil. I see two words being thrown around quite often when people talk about them - regrowth and thickening. For example here is an excerpt from ForHims' website:

"In one clinical study, 26% of men reported moderate to dense hair regrowth after using a 2% minoxidil topical treatment for 4 months. This shows that minoxidil does work if you’re patient and willing to use it consistently."

My question is: is there any difference between what the two terms actually mean for patients? Personally, it seems like regrowth refers to the emergence of new hairs where previously there might have been none (visually or physically), while thickening refers to the fattening up of miniaturized follicles. I have a band of hair  behind my transplants that has been miniaturized. They're not vellus yet but they're short, weak and don't offer any cosmetic coverage at all. As such, I'm hoping to hear whether these two terms mean the same, as it will be disheartening to know that the chances of thickening up these existing hairs are as slim as the chances of my personal assumption of what regrowth means.

Thanks guys.

Edited May 15, 2019 by Leftwithrope

[Shera]

4 hours ago, Leftwithrope said:

Personally, it seems like regrowth refers to the emergence of new hairs where previously there might have been none (visually or physically), while thickening refers to the fattening up of miniaturized follicles.

You have actually answered your own question here.

I would be a bit skeptical about the regrowth though, once a hair graft has died, it will not miraculously come back to life. Sometimes the recovery of barely visible miniaturized hairs can be mistaken for regrowth.