HT a few months away... Anxiety building

[SD1984]

I didn't want to make another thread until after my surgery, but things change I guess. I'm now a few months away from my HT, and while I'm not having second thoughts necessarily, I'm definitely feeling the anxiety of my overall situation. I love all the stories and journeys on this forum, but since so many are not very comparable to me, I end up feeling quite alone in all of this and I guess I am just looking for some support. The deal is, in a nutshell, is that I am not on Finasteride or really any other medication except for minox (Rogaine) that in my opinion is possibly keeping my already very thinned out crown alive and with enough whispy hairs to take on Dermatch well. My standards are super low and ALL I really want again is a nice frontal third and ever so slightly dropped humps repaired and my face reframed what what I'm estimating will be approximately 2000 grafts. (I still have a semi decent 50% thinned out forelock already in place)

The problem is simple though.... My hair loss is not stabilized(tried Fin, had rather serious brain fog), my donor is very limited (4000 grafts max according to two HT surgeons in NYC who did an in person assessment, and there are two Norwood 7's in my family. That being said, my Dad is a Norwood 6 with some super thick sides and humps and my mothers side of the family all have phenomenal hair. Whether or not the positives will help me out in the long run I don't know, but at only 37 years old, in my brutal honest opinion, things don't exactly look good. The thing that has concerned me the most with norwood 7 fears are the slight dropping of my lateral humps as you will see below. At the same time I know some wild things can be done these days with hair transplants for people who's hair loss isn't stabilized and progresses far. If it ever came to it, I'm more than willing to go with beard, chest, etc hair to help my impending doom. @Gatsby's week long story from Eugenix has really given me hope, and also made me somewhat regret not booking my HT with them. But make no mistake I am happy with where I'm going and would rather not deal with two 15 hour flights seeing as how I'm coming from NY. There is also a 2 surgery plan in place in my head. First surgery would be to reframe my face with a frontal third and dropped hump reconstruction around the forelock(very high conservative hairline too btw) and the second however many years down the road to go back and cover the forelock should it thin out too far. As far as the crown goes I am comfortable either doing SMP or even a partial hairpiece. To me it really is all about my frontal third, but if I ever do start progressing to Norwood 7, I'll be in a world of trouble, even if I can somehow fix it one day.

Below are the most raw and harsh lighting pics possible, with ZERO combover effect or concealers in my hair, and with the top of my hair cut very short to show just how thin it is. One thing to take note of with regards to my outlines for the recipient area is that my scalp range is also smaller than it appears in the photos. What most people might think needs 3000 grafts to fill out a frontal third I could probably get away with 2500 if I were slick bald. Strong density is not important to me. Just general coverage. I'd appreciate some honest thoughts, advice, support, etc.

Thank you.

 

 

Edited February 20, 2022 by SD1984

[Gatsby]

@SD1984I would imagine that you also have good beard hair going by the pic showing some of your beard? In terms of results, your goals I have to say are very realistic. I do have to say though that I respect your choice when it comes to medication. However you would be positioning yourself into a much better place if you were able to take finasteride (oral or topical). This would not only conserve the hair that you still have, but also reduce the amount of grafts required for surgery and possibly even improve your current crown area. This is not a hard and fast rule by any means but if you were able to take finasteride and assuming it is able to halt your hairloss, it would prevent you from having to chase your tail once you have surgery. I would definitely recommend looking at surgeons who specialize in Norwood 6/7 results and present your goals with them. You have a lot of options ahead of you so take your time and do your research and I wish you all the best!

[SD1984]

Yes my beard is insane. Ultimately I know I'd have enough extra grafts after this first surgery, probably just from beard alone, to take care of things down the road. But I guess my anxiety is coming from knowing that I'm about to go through this entire first surgery and journey and all the emotions that will come with it, only to more than likely have to get ready for round 2 sooner than later once healed up with the result. Thank you for your response.

[JoeMan]

What Dr are you having surgery with? 

[civic]

I know the feeling. My surgery is also booked few months from now, early summer. I just try to think positive, sometimes you just have to trust the universe, if you did proper research on doctor, just let the rest work out itself. I too consulted with a doc in Ny, but decided against FUT.  I strongly believe FUE came a long way even for high Norwoods & feel peaceful with my decision. But if you still worry, perhaps you have doubts on set doctor?

[SD1984]

8 hours ago, JoeMan said:

What Dr are you having surgery with? 

I would rather not say at this moment but in time I will definitely be making my own thread going over what the entire process was like. 

 

7 hours ago, civic said:

I strongly believe FUE came a long way even for high Norwoods & feel peaceful with my decision. But if you still worry, perhaps you have doubts on set doctor?

No doubts on the doctor at all, but that said part of my anxiety is definitely me feeling that I may have booked Eugenix if I could do it all over again. This is considering just how successful they appear to be in treating more difficult cases and/or higher norwoods, etc. The clinic I chose has been very well spoken about on these forums and elsewhere. 

[NARMAK]

It's pretty common to get anxiety about a procedure i think beforehand but even more so when connected to an emotional aspect like hair loss. 

OP, i always respect a persons choice to use or not use medication but you are imo doing yourself a really big disservice. You do jot look like a "true" Norwood 6. By that, i mean there's diffuse thinning in those areas and a pattern that can become like that but you could potentially save a LOT of those hairs and i know you said you're already using Minoxidil so you would have to keep using that for the hair that are now dependent on that. 

I actually think if you did start Finasteride alongside the Minoxodil, it might reduce the number of grafts required for any second procedure. 

All the best either way with whatever you decide. 

[ML488]

I can understand your anxiety about knowing how you'll have to be back in the chair again no matter what as opposed to so many guys who are already stabilized. The chasing game is never a situation anyone wants to be in as Gatsby implied. I am in a similar boat only using minox and still progressing a bit but also want to book a HT soon.

Try and look at it this way as far as the future goes before your potential second transplant... you will likely lose just about all of the hair you have outlined in that frontal third region. Right now it looks like you have about the same amount of hair there that you would have if the grafts proposed for that area make it in(1600). You can subtract a bit from going into the middle of the forelock and figure they would instead go into your bald temples. So the question is how happy would you be with that kind of density, or even a bit less really, for your frontal third down the road?

[SD1984]

9 minutes ago, NARMAK said:

It's pretty common to get anxiety about a procedure i think beforehand but even more so when connected to an emotional aspect like hair loss. 

OP, i always respect a persons choice to use or not use medication but you are imo doing yourself a really big disservice. You do jot look like a "true" Norwood 6. By that, i mean there's diffuse thinning in those areas and a pattern that can become like that but you could potentially save a LOT of those hairs and i know you said you're already using Minoxidil so you would have to keep using that for the hair that are now dependent on that. 

I actually think if you did start Finasteride alongside the Minoxodil, it might reduce the number of grafts required for any second procedure. 

All the best either way with whatever you decide. 

I should have been more clear in my original post which I now edited. I absolutely tried Finasteride in the past, but I had bad sides. Brain fog to be exact. It was a huge disappointment that I have since made peace about and moved on with. There was no getting away from not trying Fin when I began seeing how much my hair loss was progressing.

 

7 minutes ago, ML488 said:

Try and look at it this way as far as the future goes before your potential second transplant... you will likely lose just about all of the hair you have outlined in that frontal third region. Right now it looks like you have about the same amount of hair there that you would have if the grafts proposed for that area make it in(1600). You can subtract a bit from going into the middle of the forelock and figure they would instead go into your bald temples. So the question is how happy would you be with that kind of density, or even a bit less really, for your frontal third down the road?

Yes I would be happy with that kind of mediocre density if it in fact filled out most of my frontal third. I've already accepted the fact that concealers will be a part of my life for a long long time, but the goal now is to just have some hair to work with.

Edited February 20, 2022 by SD1984

[Gokuhairline]

name the doctor....for your own safety......specially if its a dr. in Turkey help us help you. good luck

[civic]

43 minutes ago, Gokuhairline said:

name the doctor....for your own safety......specially if its a dr. in Turkey help us help you. good luck

 

2 hours ago, SD1984 said:

I would rather not say at this moment but in time I will definitely be making my own thread going over what the entire process was like. 

 

No doubts on the doctor at all, but that said part of my anxiety is definitely me feeling that I may have booked Eugenix if I could do it all over again. This is considering just how successful they appear to be in treating more difficult cases and/or higher norwoods, etc. The clinic I chose has been very well spoken about on these forums and elsewhere. 

I think Eugenix require one to take finaseteride or they would not perform HT, seen that under their youtube comments several times when someone asked. 

[JoeMan]

I'd also say that you seem to be having some buyers remorse. Seems like you're wishing that Eugenix was performing your surgery. 

I had similar anxiety for my procedure. I stayed with my chosen Dr. (Dr Ferreira) instead of the highly recommended Dr. De Freitas. But it had me 2nd guessing up until surgery day. I'm really glad I stayed the course though. I think the most important thing is that you choose from one of the top Dr's in the world. 

Seems like you have although I'm not sure I understand the reluctance of sharing his/her name. Are you worried that people will tell you that Eugenix is better putting further anxiety into your decision? 

[Gokuhairline]

didn't read thoroughly but if you are going with eugenix then you are in good hands especially for a high norwood like yours, regardless of dr performing surgery....i would say make sure you double triple look if they are also working on your temple peaks, they seem to have an aggressive design which works for some and others might not like it. good luck

[NARMAK]

4 hours ago, SD1984 said:

I should have been more clear in my original post which I now edited. I absolutely tried Finasteride in the past, but I had bad sides. Brain fog to be exact. It was a huge disappointment that I have since made peace about and moved on with. There was no getting away from not trying Fin when I began seeing how much my hair loss was progressing.

Apologies, i didn't read that part it seems. Have you looked at potentially trying Topical Finasteride? Apparently some are well compounded and have been tolerated by people unable to use the oral version. 

[Fue3361]

Let me be blunt, I think you have honestly very little to be nervous about.

 

1.  You are going to a good clinic, not a hair mill.  That means the Dr knows what he's doing. 

2.  Your hairline design is quite conservative, and shouldn't be much of an issue.

3.  Even if you need more grafts in the future and you only have 4k available, you have amazing beard grafts, which are always available.

The only thing to be nervous about is the ugly duckling phase, it kinda sucks.  But the result should be a big improvement no matter what happens.