Rate my hairloss

[Hugo123]

Hi all. I’m a new member as of today. Quick back story - Didn’t realise I was losing my hair until someone made a comment approximately 4 years ago. I’m 36 now and after coming to terms with my situation and pulling myself out of denial I started fin in Nov last year, 0.5mg ED. Now approaching 8 months I haven’t seen any cosmetic improvement quite yet although I understand this drug is for maintenance. 
 

id really like feedback so I can start planning out my next steps so, 
 

1. Norwood estimate please. would you agree this is a Norwood 3A type pattern with diffuse thinning? 
2. If my hairloss proves to stabilise after a year on Fin would I be a good candidate for a transplant and given the pics how many grafts would it take approximately?

3. before a transplant would it be best to maybe try oral minox for a year to see if I respond well and get some good regrowth? (Oral for convenience - I’m aware of side effects profile and would dose down accordingly) topical isn’t really an option for me. 
 

the pics attached. 
 

left temple - this is the worst affected side

crown pics - one pic is natural lit room with an iPhone camera flash and the other is standing directly under a really bright spot light with same iPhone camera flash. 

[1978matt]

3A sounds reasonable.

The crown is not advanced enough to make it worthwhile trying to fill it in.

The front doesnt look too bad either but you could HT it.  Just make sure you don't go to some clown who puts really thick pluggy hairs in there.  I'm not sure it is worth the risk but maybe up to 1000 grafts.  Problem is, once you hit it you're committed for life in chasing that hairline (with other procedures), should you have to stop fin for any reason or it stops working.

Not sure about oral minox as I'm unaware of it's efficacy or availablity where I live (UK).  I'm on fin 3 x a week only.

Edited June 27, 2020 by 1978matt

[Hugo123]

Thanks Matt. It’s a difficult choice. I’ve attached some baseline vs current pics (base top/current below). I’m not sure they really show much difference. Sometimes I think so and other times not so much. 

crown overhead normal lighting 

 

crown directly under spotlight

 

Left temple - circled a random hair that grows below my hairline so as to use that as a guide, normally I would pluck this as it’s such a random hair! 

 

when I pull the hair back tighter the temple looks like below (the random hair mentioned above plucked which I usually do)

 

 

 

 

Edited June 27, 2020 by Hugo123

[Hugo123]

I’m putting up some recent pics of temples. Would I still be looking at approximately 1k grafts? Is my hairline a Norwood 3? Sometimes I think it doesn’t look like the pics of a NW3 online? 
 
hairline is a little red as I’ve just microneedled. 

 

[1978matt]

You're probably on your way to NW3 if nothing else. 

Most people on here would do anything for hair like that. 

Depending on the level of annoyance your hair causes, I'd suggest just putting aside somme money for when you really need a HT. 

That is unless there is some other benefit to better hair, eg you're an actor and it would boost career. 

[Hugo123]

Thanks again Matt, I think I was clutching at straws and trying to be optimistic about my loss. You’re right though NW3 seems to be the pattern at least for now. Hopefully the meds keep me there at the very least. 

My hair does really bother me but I also appreciate that it’s definitely not the worst. It’s something that I’m allowing myself to obsess over and it’s taking over my time/happiness worrying about it and I think it’s for those reasons I just want to explore getting it fixed. I do have an obsessive personality and anyone who can relate and is going through this understands how negatively it can impact your life. I hate being miserable and I just want to give myself a chance at being my old self again.