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Any help appreciated on my hair loss and reccomdations for a hair transplant


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IMG_20200702_191223__01__01.thumb.jpg.10c52f9a46d9fa9cdfd027f2c0f144b2.jpgHi, this is my first time posting here and I apologies in advance if my post is not appropriate or correct in this forum. I am looking for advice on my hairloss as I am only 23 years old and would like to think that I could get a hair transplant. 

Since the age of 19 my hair has began to thin and go back at the temples, it has gotten alot worse in the last 12-18 months and I have lost alot of density. 

I would appreciate any feedback on the following questions. I will attach a link to my photos.

1. Firstly, I think I have a NW3 pattern which is also diffuse. I presume this is the worst sort to have when considering a transplant as all my hair is thin and wispy. 

2. My hair was never really thick  so I feel I won't have adequate donor area supply, from the photos attached would anyone be able to advice if this is correct?

3. I am only currently taking botion, dermarolling and  rogaine for my hair loss as I tried finasteride and could not tolerate it. Is getting a transplant at my age not a good idea without finasteride.

4. This last question is something which isn't easily answered I know but from experience what pattern do you think I'll end up with and how fast will it progress. 

*Pictures* 

All photos within 2 weeks https://imgur.com/a/cXbVHO3

I would appreciate any advice and thank you in advance. During my research I was encouraged that new treatments such as brezzula and hair cloning might be viable options in the near future but I quickly realized such new innovations are always 5-10 years out. 

Should I just accept my faith due to the fact I can't take finasteride? 

 

 

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Edited by Ireland6593
Adding photos
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Ya I was on it for 6 months at 1mg Mon/wed/Fri. Got the usual  listed side effects 4 months in. Then lowered back to 0.25 but didn't change. I don't have anything against the drug I am just disappointed that I can't tolerate it as I know how important it is. I will try and change the photos now, my apologies. 

Edited by Ireland6593
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  • Senior Member

I was the same on fin as you described. And I had contra indications from other meds I have to take. 
Difference being I was already a high Norwood and I’m now 48. At your age you need to do what you can. If a Clinic would agree to doing a Ht they would at least ask your on meds too. 
You don’t want to spend your 20s chasing the hair loss with one ht after another. 

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Yes I understand fully about finasteride. I'm not against it and I wasn't thinking about side effects when I started it they only devoloped after 4 months, I'm not against trying it again but I just don't want to devoloped any health concerns either. Its a pity cause I can't really fight this Battle or consider a HT without it and there also doesn't seem to be any new treatments which will be available in time for me either. Thank you for your help I do appreciate the feedback. 

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depending on how you look with a buzz/shaved cut may want to consider smp with the temporary ink that disappears after a few years to frame your face, and just get touchups every few years in the meantime until like you were saying, that blessed day 5-10 yrs out when there's a cure actually comes to pass.

https://www.hairrestorationnetwork.com/forum/83-scalp-micropigmentation-smp/

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Thank you for your reply. I'm not sure if the smp is for me, I will look into it now thanks. do you think I am at the stage where I should consider to buzz/shave my head ? I don't really have many options do I ? 

Edited by Ireland6593
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I've been looking into smp myself and thinking about it, I have a scarring alopecia condition that destroys hair follicles, hard to treat and pretty rare, and it could potentially flare up at any time so the HT route is no longer one I can follow.  There's a member on here that owns an smp operation just outside of NY city that I'm considering, has alot of posts and excellent reputation -https://www.hairrestorationnetwork.com/profile/4660-hairthere/ 

There's a link to his results page  https://www.aheadink.com/gallery

Edited by ciaus
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8 minutes ago, Ireland6593 said:

Thank you for your reply. I'm not sure if the smp is for me, I will look into it now thanks. do you think I am at the stage where I should consider to buzz/shave my head ? I don't really have many options do I ? 

To your question about whether you should consider buzzing your head, if you are hesitant and are working from home or stuck at home due to the pandemic, it could be a great time to buzz your head down and see what you look like without having to be around other people if you are shy. That's what I did a few months ago and was surprised to find that my head shape and face features actually look alright with the shaved look.

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np, and you might want to experiment a little with temporary concealers to give you maybe a few years of thicker appearing hair, but be warned over time they become more time consuming to effectively apply as your hair thins more and they can only do so much -toppik and/or dermatch are the two popular ones that actually work (search on amazon), and they work well together too, you need to re-apply them after you wash your hair -some say they sweat off too but I never had that issue when I used them. But if you lead an active life with alot of sweating/swimming, contact sports, girfriends running fingers through your hair, etc and are worried about others finding out you use them, then those are probably not going to be something to bother with.

 

 

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If you're not able to commit to Fin for the longterm I would suggest against getting a HT.  You'll probably shock the rest of your native hair - even though it's already on the way out, a HT without fin will likely accelerate the loss of your native hair.  It'll look worse than before the HT.  Let nature take its course and reevaluate things once you have settled into your MPB pattern.

It's too bad you are having difficulty with Fin as you still have a ton of native hair.  I started Fin at 26, wish I started at 22. 

Dr. G: 1,000 grafts (FUT) 2008

Dr. Paul Shapiro: 2,348 grafts (FUT) 2009 ~ 1,999 grafts (FUT) 2011 ~ 300 grafts (Scar Reduction) 2013

Dr. Konior: 771 grafts (FUT) 2015 ~ 558 grafts (FUT) 2017 ~ 1,124 grafts (FUE) 2020

My Hair Transplant Journey with Shapiro Medical Group

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6 hours ago, Ireland6593 said:

During my research I was encouraged that new treatments such as brezzula and hair cloning might be viable options in the near future but I quickly realized such new innovations are always 5-10 years out. 

Yeah, don't hold your breath for hair cloning.  I heard about that in 2006.... 🤣

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Dr. G: 1,000 grafts (FUT) 2008

Dr. Paul Shapiro: 2,348 grafts (FUT) 2009 ~ 1,999 grafts (FUT) 2011 ~ 300 grafts (Scar Reduction) 2013

Dr. Konior: 771 grafts (FUT) 2015 ~ 558 grafts (FUT) 2017 ~ 1,124 grafts (FUE) 2020

My Hair Transplant Journey with Shapiro Medical Group

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Aaron, 

Thanks for your reply, I am going to try finasteride again, do you think taking 1mg Mon/wed/Friday would be sufficient ? I was also considering trying breezula as I know it can be got now but is expensive. My final question is would you think if I was able to stabilize my hair loss now would I have sufficient donor hair ( from looking at my pictures) to achieve a good HT result in the future ? As I feel my donor area is not very dense and would be well below average. 

Edited by Ireland6593
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I'm not a doctor, but I know other forum members take fin every other day and it seems to have stabilized their hair loss. Might be worth a try - or maybe a lower daily dosage. 🤷‍♂️  I remember when I started fin I experienced ball ache for a couple weeks.  I almost quit but decided to give it another couple days.  It went away and I haven't had a problem since for 14 years.  

Dr. G: 1,000 grafts (FUT) 2008

Dr. Paul Shapiro: 2,348 grafts (FUT) 2009 ~ 1,999 grafts (FUT) 2011 ~ 300 grafts (Scar Reduction) 2013

Dr. Konior: 771 grafts (FUT) 2015 ~ 558 grafts (FUT) 2017 ~ 1,124 grafts (FUE) 2020

My Hair Transplant Journey with Shapiro Medical Group

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About reducing fin dosage, give it a try. Check out the links below about dosage and DHT level (which is what finasteride lowers to help prevent the hairloss). And maybe the topical version of finasteride may give you some help?

--

After taking 1 pill of finasteride, the drug itself is largely eliminated from the body in 1-2 days given that the half life of finasteride is about 4-6 hours (after five half lives a drug is significantly reduced in the body). However the same is not true of DHT levels. After a single dose of finasteride, DHT levels are reduced by 60 % (ie from 65 ng/dL to 25 ng/dL). However, the DHT levels don't rise back up quickly even though the drug is out of the body.

 

https://donovanmedical.com/hair-blog/dht-finasteride

https://donovanmedical.com/hair-blog/topical-finasteride

 

Edited by ciaus
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