question about Propecia, minoxidil, and hair transplant

[hairgreedy]

I've been taking Propecia for a little over 6 months now, and I'm starting to think that I am one of those 1%-2% of people who are suffering from the side effects. Because of this, and the forums with tons of people complaining about the side effects, I have officially freaked out and decided to stop taking it.

My hair loss only consists of a receding hairline, and loss at the temples, but no loss in the back.

Since minoxidil wouldn't help since it's not meant for the back, would it be beneficial in my situation to get a transplant? I mean if I get a transplant for the hairline and temples, but have no way to save my existing hair, then if I lose the native hair behind the hairline, wouldn't I look kind of ummmmmm retarded!? lol

Seriously though, what are my options? Is there an alternative to finasteride? Are there other DHT blockers that have been proven to work?

[Obie one]

Hi hairgreedy-

 

What is available on the market for hair loss right now is the "Big Three" Propecia, Proscar and Minoxidil. From studies that have been done, Propeica is supposed to work in the crown but for a few, it has grown some hair or stopped thinning in the hairline.

 

Propecia as you know is supposed to stop and in some cases regrow hair on the scalp. Proscar is a generic brand of Propecia and is less expensive. Because of this, many patients prefer to use this over Propecia/Finesteride.

 

As far as any other treatments or drugs i.e. lotions and potions, you're wasting your time. Don't waste your money because at this point, it's a scam. What you have available right now to you besides the meds is either a hair system or hair transplantation.

 

Hair transplants have come a LONG WAY since I started my journey back in 1998. You now have ultra refined grafting which offers dense packing. Pick and excellent surgeon who specializes in this and it won't look fake or "retarded" if you lose native hair surrounding it.

 

You need to pick three or so recommended top surgeons and interview them and see what they have to say. Understand that if you're in your teens or early 20's, you will be considered too young for a transplant.

 

For right now, these are your options that are available to you.

[Obie one]

hairgreedy-

 

I had a typo in my last post and I didn't want you to get confused. In the first paragraph I said that Propecia will grow hair in the crown and in some cases has stopped and will regrow hair in the hairline. I meant to type Minoxidil,not Propecia.

[hairgreedy]

Obie one, thank you for your response.

 

My concern is if I get a transplant with dense packing at the hairline and temples, and then I cannot keep my native hair because I will not be taking Propecia, I will keep having to get more transplants in the future to chase my hair loss, which also means that I probably shouldn't do as much dense packing as I want. Either that or have a hairline full of hair, and then nothing behind it! That's what I meant by "retarded". You get what I mean?

[Obie one]

Hi hairgreedy-

 

I do understand what you are saying. All excellent hair transplant docs and especially the highly recommended ones on this site understand that as well. The top docs I'm sure have seen hundreds and thousands of patients over the years.

 

What they do with the patient in a consultation is to speak with you about your concerns and hear your expecations as to what you are looking for out of a transplant. They will then tell you which way you are headed as far as losing your hair and to make a plan of action.They will also tell you depending on your case what is realistic and what isn't.

 

Depending on your genes and your hairloss pattern, it is most likely that you will need follow up proceedures depending on how you want your hair to look. Patients such as myself who was a norwood 6 will need at least a couple of sessions of dense packing whereas a norwood 1-2 can nail it out in one session. How much donor you have and how elastic your scalp is means everything about how much hair will be available.

 

If you are that concerned about your loss and future loss, you really need to go see 3 good docs and ask their opinion. I would recommend doing your homework and going to see the docs who are highly recommended on this site.

 

You can get some really excellent feedback from patients on this site. Patients who are willing to share their experiences and have "been around the block" with this hair thing. In the end it will be the surgeon who will be able to give the best advice to you on this topic.

[EpilepticSceptic]

I think if you are in your 20s (yes, even late 20s) you cannot expect any HT doc to see your final balding pattern if it hasn't happened yet. Chasing your hairloss with HTs is never the best approach IMO. Like you say, you may plant too dense in certain areas and then the hair around that thins badly and the contrast between the 2 stands out like a sore thumb. It probably would look unusual in public at that point.

 

Most of the successful HTs I see are in patients whose loss patterns are stabilized, and so the HT doc's work ends up like a finished painting that lasts for awhile (hopefully). I think the smarter patients wait it out a little longer to see how far the loss will go on the meds. 10 years on finasteride, and then seeing where you are, is probably the safest approach to take. You might end up not being a good HT candidate by that time.

[Sunnycoastman]

Hey HG, why dont you try reducing the dosage of propecia. keep reducing it each month until you find a pont where the sides either go away or reduce enough so you can live with them. apparently even 0.2mg of propecia can make quite a difference to retaining hair. I think you can buy it in this dosage. just a thought. cheers

 

sunny

[Julius]

Labrat, I agree with a lot of what you say but not all. I was told there is no final balding pattern if one with mpb (who isn't castrated and on serious gender transformative drugs) if they lives long enough, they will eventually end up a Norwood 7. I generally agree the longer you wait the better. I believe ht patients before twenty five should proceed with extreme caution. I believe it is better if ht patient's loss has stabilized; though I know another poster who convincing argued that on some it may never stabilize because he lost rapidly in his early twenties then stabilized in his thirties but then in his fifties it accelerated. Unlike you I believe hts on guys in their late twenties are ok if they have the right characteristics, have looked at family history in trying to ascertain their likely balding pattern, they are on meds, have done their research and go to the best clinic. And have a mature hairline transplanted which I personally I think all hts should be. Also the loss of many at this age has stabilized. Further cloning maybe around in next twenty years and the younger man will have made the right decision if that is the case. They younger man just needs to weigh a few things up, he may most likely need multiple procedures (& if he eventually exhausts his grafts available from strip and fue including bht which will hopefully have evolved by the time he maxes out from strip, he may just have to live with a bald or thin crown which at that age is way more acceptable than on a young man). However any ht would look best on a young face, and do you want to look your best as a young man and not middle aged. Do you also want to spend your life waiting possibly suffering from insecurity waiting to get to an age you may never make, and possibly missing out on meeting your wife or having kids because of it; it's harder to marry and have kids when your middle aged.

I myself am waiting now but I know my self image and chances of meeting a good catch (yes they tend to get taken young) are diminishing with time

Cheers

[hairgreedy]

Just so everyone knows, I am 32, so not old, but not in my twenties either. I have a very young face, most people don't get guess more than 25.

And I agree with what Julius said, its great that cloning might be available in the next 20 years, but I want to look my best now, not in 20 years. Right now is my time to find that great catch, and I know its not all about looks, but my feeling is that the more my hair loss progresses, the lesser chance i'll have of meeting and attracting the kind of woman I want. (L.A. is tough!) That said, my hair loss is not even that bad, probably between a Norwood 1 and 2, and the progression is pretty slow. Also, I've started taking Propecia 6 months ago just to prevent and further loss. I have consulted with several coalition doctors from this site, and they had no problem with giving me a pretty young/low hairline due to my young face, my slow progression, and the assumption that I'll be on Propecia. But I have just stopped taking Propecia a couple days ago due to the side effects. I want to wait and see if everything returns to normal. Now my concern is what will I do with the hair loss? I am scared that if I don't do anything to prevent it, it will only get worse. Are there any good alternatives to Propecia, without the side effects? Is Provillus or any of those so called DHT blocking shampoos(Nizoral, Nisim) a good option? Obviously I am also concerned about what kind of ht I should get, but that's something I will talk to a doctor about.

[Obie one]

Hello again hairgreedy-

 

Ahhh....LA, my old stomping grounds. I used to live right smack in the middle of Hollywood. Miss it like crazy. I'm envious you're still there especially during the cold months.

 

I understand your concern. It sounds like what you are saying is that you want to date hot Hollywood type girls. The type that are more interested in model type looking guys that have a really nice head of hair. You also feel that if you are balding that these women won't find you attractive or want anything to do with you.

 

Three years ago when I lived in LA I had several friends who were completely bald so they went ahead and shaved their heads. Some were 5 foot 7 and others were 6' plus. They dated all kinds of models who were represented by top agencies. They didn't let this hair thing be a big deal at all. In fact, they attracted more women than a lot of the model looking guys with great heads of hair.

 

The point? Most women don't care as much about looks as you think they do. They care more about personality and confidence. Sometimes I think that it's not the wonderful hair transplants that make a guy better looking to women, it's the inner confidence it brings to the guy who's had it done. He feels better about himself and more confident so he's more attractive.

 

Advice: If you're going to go through with the hair transplant journey, it's going to be expensive and you're going to go through a lot in the short term. As long as you pick a great top doc and do your homework, it will be worth it if it is important to you which sounds like it is.

 

Currently, the only meds that will stop or help prevent hair loss is Propecia, Proscar and Minoxidil. If you do indeed get a transplant and don't take one of these meds, if it's in your genes to lose more hair then it's going to happen. What you will need to do is get another transplant if you want to fill in the areas that are thinning.

 

It sounds like you have been doing your homework and speaking with some top docs on this site. So good for you on that. They have given their opinion on your case so now you need to decide if getting a hair transplant is the right thing for you.

[Julius]

Are there other DHT blockers that have been proven to work?

 

Oral spiro and Avodart, but if you're having sides with propecia you will probably have even worst sides with these.

[EpilepticSceptic]

Julius,

 

Well, it sounds like that guy you mentioned who had a second wave of hairloss in his 50s was too old to be taking finasteride -- so is THAT maybe why he lost lots more hair in his 50s ? It's always good to clarify the specifics when people blurt out things on the internet.

 

One thing I can tell you for sure from my experience: the worst time for hairloss is BY FAR in your 20s. Ages 25 to 35 is generally the range where your typical Norwood 6/7 is going to either start showing obvious signs of heading in that dirction, or already be there. I see alot of guys on here getting mega HTs in their late 20s, and some look like they could easily head to NW7 10 years down the road. I think in 10 years if HM doesn't materialize you're going to see alot of strange looking photos of people in the repair sections of some of these HT forums.

[Julius]

The guy I was talking about has never been on any meds.

My hair loss also seems to have been worst at the beginning but it is not the same for everyone, there is a past post on it here somewhere.

Generally I think your right but not everyone who loses early is destined to be a higher Norwood. I know a poster from another forum who lost his temples and hairline at age 22 and who had a ht with H&W but since has stabilized and now is in his thirties walking around with a Norwood 1 full head of hair. Yeah he took a big risk, but he look at his family history and the gambit payed off. The opposite happened to my uncle my uncle who is fifty-four (an in-law), his hair loss started two years ago from a full head of hair. He is on no meds and has no illness but now he is half bald.

Finally I agree that in 10 years if HM doesn't materialize there are going to be alot of strange looking photos of people in the repair sections.