Game plan for a 26 year old.

[Reload67]

Hey guys so my question is I am in front of a camera often and although I’ve used fibers till now, it’s gotten to the point where I can’t really use fibers because it looks too fake on camera. 
 

I know the general trend is to fix your hairline first and then move backward, but as you guys can see my crown needs a a lot of work as well.  I’m thinking of splitting between the 2, but at the end of the day, and long term goals in tv, a more youthful hairline is more important.  But due to my young age I wanted to limit it to 2500-2700 grafts this time , and maybe again in 5 years I’ll top up.

Any ideas how to go about my situation? I get 4 months off from the network next year at which point I will do the hair transplant. 
 

Edit: don’t be fooled by the pics where my hair my hanging down, it’s just long and puffy and appears to add more volume and length than it actually there.

Edited June 8, 2022 by Reload67

[THE TRUTH]

Your hairline is still strong. I wouldn't touch it. The crown is the issue. Fortunately it is not completely bald yet. I think you need 2000 grafts. Maybe more. Probably more because on the crown hairs grow in different directions and they do not overlap each others...It always requires more grafts than the hairline or the midscalp. 

First thing you need to do is get on medication immediately to prevent further loss. Get on oral Finasteride 1mg /Dutasteride 0.5mg daily. Time is off the essence ESPECIALLY when it comes to crown baldness. Don't wait. 

Playing catch-up with crown baldness is INCREDIBLY hard and it can cost you tens of thousands of dollars. It can be extremely consuming both emotionnally anf financially. So be careful and proactive please.

The crown is a black hole for grafts and once you let it cross the point of no-return you can never achieve full coverage again.

Give medication some time. Do not rush into surgery. Do a ton of research before choosing a clinic. Deliberately look for bad results. Never trust the results posted by clinic's consultants since they are cherry picked. Look for independant reviews. 

Stay away from turkish hairmills of course. Avoid mega sessions. Never go all at once. Do a small test procedure first to see how you respond to it and judge the survival rate....Once the grafts are wasted they are wasted forever...

There are great doctors on the forum. Zarev seems the best for the ability to cover crowns. Even better than Eugenix. 

Pinto, Ximena, Bisanga, Konior etc...

You have a limited number of grafts to spend throughout your lifetime. Play it smart. Fighting androgenetic alopecia is a neverending ultramarathon. 

All the best good luck. 

[MAIZE1694]

Like the guy above me said, get on medication and see how you respond. That's the gameplan for young guys with aggressive diffuse loss. 

 

[NARMAK]

Medication first and foremost with Finasteride. Your frontal hairline at least in that image looks strong but your problem area, the crown is looking much worse because its wet. Wet hair particularly in the crown where we have a whorl pattern, doesn't do it any favours. If that area was dry and normal, you could probably easily get away with fibres whilst you wait for the Finasteride medication to help you recover some ground. Add in Microneedling one a week at 1mm to 1.5mm and if you are willing to commit, Minoxodil too on the crown and you should hopefully see a good improvement. 

Your issues right now that you haven't gauged a response to medication and honestly, the long term studies have shown improvement in the crown area over a 10 year period even but the one's who saw a positive response in the first 12 month were the people who this trend continued for. That's why imo medication is so important to helping recover ground where possible and also keeping what you have for as long as possible. 

I'd in your position hop on medication for probably 2 years, see how the crown situation shakes out and save up for a top doctor who specialises in crown work amongst native hair. That's a very hard part to nail. The Finasteride and Microneedling should help fill in the frontal hairline a bit too but ultimately you can go for a procedure if you want to now or like i said, wait to see how your situation develops. 

[Spring15]

I've managed to maintain my crown with micro needling & minoxidil. Those are worth a try - Finasteride is an option but beware of the potential side effects

[mr_peanutbutter]

do a gareth bale

[Otis james]

1 minute ago, mr_peanutbutter said:

do a gareth bale

Play golf?

[Rahal Hair Transplant]

@Reload67,

The truth is, everybody experiences hair loss differently. While some start with a receding hairline, others start thinning and balding in the crown.  The latter seems to be true in your case.  But before I would suggest surgical hair restoration for you, I have to ask, have you tried using Propecia/finasteride yet? And if not, why not?

Finasteride, especially in conjunction with minoxidil is your best non-surgical line of defense against the progression of male pattern baldness.  The earlier you start, better chance you have of slowing down, stopping or even reversing it’s a fax. In my opinion, if you haven’t already start now. You might even be able to thicken some of the thinning miniaturizing hair in your crown and make it appear much thicker than it is already without even having to consider undergoing surgery.

now, non-surgical solutions to take time so I suggest trying both finasteride I’m an accidental in the crown and any areas of thinning for at least a year. Finasteride can be taken orally or topically but I suggest oral finasteride unless you are experiencing side effects for some reason.  Minoxidil can also be taken orally or topically but I suggest topical minoxidil which is its traditional form.

now keep in mind that I am not a physician and I’m just a patient consult for Dr. Rachel. So please do not take my advice as medical advice. That said, I am a knowledgeable hair transplant patient who’s been in the profession for approximately 15 years.

after trying non-surgical solutions for a year or two, then you can reevaluate whether or not hair transplant surgery is right for you.

Just as an aside, I don’t think your age is necessarily the problem. I underwent my first hair transplant procedure when I was 27 years old and I had a lot more hair loss than you do.  i’ll admit that I wish that somebody gave me the advice I’m giving you when I first started my research. But by the time I started finasteride, I had lost a lot more hair and it really didn’t do much for me. But you have a pretty good chance of reversing some of its affects if you are a good responder to the medication. So research it, speak to a doctor and give it a shot in my opinion.

Best wishes,

Rahal Hair Transplant