Transplant/medication expected results?

[eccoj]

Half a year ago I posted some photos of my buzzed head, asking whether I would be a good candidate. You can read the post and see th epictures on my profile. I have some retrograde alopecia, a receding hairline and crown thinning so I got a few comments telling me that it would not be a good decision. There were some, however that told me to hop on fin and other medication. Because of my fear of finasteride specifically, I decided to give my hair a few months of growth to see what it would look like when it reached a normal length.

My hair is still far from healthy, but I have to say I am a bit surprisd by how much better it looks (to me at least) than when it was buzzed. I am posting again with the updated pictures to hopefully get some new perspectives. I'd like to know what I could expect by taking medication, or getting a HT. Is my situation actually more salvagable than I thought?

 

[GoliGoliGoli]

I think you're not a great candidate unfortunately andI'm not sure you'd get a lot of mileage out of Fin/Min.

Usually I tell people to get a HT as long as they are fine with getting multiple procedures but that all depends on their donor hair availability and beard hair availability and ability to afford multiple procedures. And while you do have a beard that seems to match your scalp hair well, your overall donor looks quite a bit below average. 

[eccoj]

3 minutes ago, GoliGoliGoli said:

I think you're not a great candidate unfortunately andI'm not sure you'd get a lot of mileage out of Fin/Min.

Usually I tell people to get a HT as long as they are fine with getting multiple procedures but that all depends on their donor hair availability and beard hair availability and ability to afford multiple procedures. And while you do have a beard that seems to match your scalp hair well, your overall donor looks quite a bit below average. 

Thank you, may I ask why you think I wouldnt get much mileage out of fin, as well as what you mean by that?

[GoliGoliGoli]

Fin is really only meant to keep the hairs you have, not regrow hairs. Min is better are regrowing hairs. 

However results vary person to person. A lot of people continue losing despite being on Fin/Min. It's possible that if you jumped on Fin/Min you would see some pretty good regrowth, but my personal opinion is that it isn't likely to be enough to get you to the point where you could reasonably get a HT that you would be happy with long term due to your limited donor availability.

That said, you could probably still get a good aesthetic improvement out of a HT and if you wanted to try Fin/Min that would be the place to start, but I think due to your donor would be hard to to really get great results. Your beard is working in your favor, your scalp donor is working against you, and I don't know your financial situation. 

I personally am anti-Fin but am still planning on getting my first HT in a few months. My donor is good, my beard is as thick as one could hope for (and the beard hair matches my scalp hair), and I have enough money in the bank to get multiple HT's. Everyone is different and their are a ton of factors that go into determining whether you are a good candidate and a lot comes down to how reasonable your expectations are. 

[civic]

Depending on your expectation, if you will be fine with only frontal restorarion via FUT, i think it will look good with very conservative doctor who works with less grafts, Bernstein in NYC specializes in small graft proceedures, i think Dr Wesley in NYC as well, & Dr Dorin.

[GoliGoliGoli]

1 minute ago, civic said:

Depending on your expectation, if you will be fine with only frontal restorarion via FUT, i think it will look good with very conservative doctor who works with less grafts, Bernstein in NYC specializes in small graft proceedures, i think Dr Wesley in NYC as well, & Dr Dorin.

Even with the front restored, overtime he will lose what is behind it and be left with hairline island though

[Savemyhairline]

It looks like your crown is dipping into NW7 territory unfortunately. The lower part is obviously not as thinned out yet as the top part, but you can see the thinning pattern which will continue to progress. Based on your skin I’m guessing you are on the younger side, less than 35? Imo you are not a good candidate based on what I see in these photos. Especially if you are not willing to take fin/dut. You seem to have a decent beard so at least you can experiment with different styles and a shave head.

[eccoj]

20 minutes ago, Savemyhairline said:

It looks like your crown is dipping into NW7 territory unfortunately. The lower part is obviously not as thinned out yet as the top part, but you can see the thinning pattern which will continue to progress. Based on your skin I’m guessing you are on the younger side, less than 35? Imo you are not a good candidate based on what I see in these photos. Especially if you are not willing to take fin/dut. You seem to have a decent beard so at least you can experiment with different styles and a shave head.

I'm 26, started blading around 16.I don't really mind shaving my head, that's what I used to do, although lately I just go to a barber and I'm kinda liking the look, even if it's not perfect. I've actually come around to at least trying medication though, but I'm not sure if I can expect drastic results. I wouldn't really bother if all I can expect is not to get any worse. The risks aren't really worth it to me at that point.

[Savemyhairline]

3 minutes ago, eccoj said:

I'm 26, started blading around 16.I don't really mind shaving my head, that's what I used to do, although lately I just go to a barber and I'm kinda liking the look, even if it's not perfect. I've actually come around to at least trying medication though, but I'm not sure if I can expect drastic results. I wouldn't really bother if all I can expect is not to get any worse. The risks aren't really worth it to me at that point.

That is quite young for the amount of loss you have, we’re the same age. If you don’t mind shaving your head that really is the easiest and best option. If you’re willing to try fin/min you can see what happens, maybe you’re a really good responder to it and your hair will look a lot better in one year. Only one way to find out. I had a good response to them. Some people are hyper responders. I’d say if having hair would make you significantly more happy than it is worth trying, you don’t want to look back on your life with regrets. Just my 02.

[GoliGoliGoli]

26 minutes ago, eccoj said:

although lately I just go to a barber and I'm kinda liking the look, even if it's not perfect.

You know this is one down side of getting a HT. A lot of guys look better keeping what remaining hair they have even though they're NW4 like you are or even NW5. Getting a HT and then not getting additional HT's as you continue to lose basically means you will look unnatural doing this (I would imagine anyways). Maybe some people can still pull it off but I think it would look unnatural, and you're basically forced into shaving it all off to the skin. 

Edited August 15, 2022 by GoliGoliGoli

[eccoj]

5 minutes ago, GoliGoliGoli said:

You know this is one down side of getting a HT. A lot of guys look better keeping what remaining hair they have even though they're NW4 like you are or even NW5. Getting a HT and then not getting additional HT's as you continue to lose basically means you will look unnatural doing this (I would imagine anyways). Maybe some people can still pull it off but I think it would look unnatural, and you're basically forced into shaving it all off to the skin. 

Yeah, that's one of my fears, because at that point even shaving it won't look great with all the scarring, unless you go the SMP way. At this point I'm more interested in medication and what results I can expect.

[GoliGoliGoli]

It's possible you would get great results from med's. It's possible you will get no results at all as some people continue losing on meds (Perhaps at a slower pace but nevertheless). No way of telling until you try. 

[asterix0]

It always surprises me a bit to see this, that guys are willing to spend tens of thousands of dollars, proceed to a life altering surgery (either good or bad), yet are too scared to take a pill that millions of men take a day safely that can drastically improve their situation.

 

[StillAlive]

You are too young and your loss seems to be aggressive. 

What a lot of guys are OK with is fixing the frontal third of their heads and then going through life with a bald crown. Concealers can work wonders there as well, but for me it's always worth it fixing the front, as that is what people will immediately see when looking at you. Still, in your case, I would wait at least another 4 years to see what happens to your forelock. If you got a transplant now and then your forelock completely fell out in 4 years time, you'd still look really thin down the front and it wouldn't make any sense. 

[eccoj]

7 hours ago, asterix0 said:

It always surprises me a bit to see this, that guys are willing to spend tens of thousands of dollars, proceed to a life altering surgery (either good or bad), yet are too scared to take a pill that millions of men take a day safely that can drastically improve their situation.

 

Well, yes, considering the horror stories you read online about libido and ED, either temporary or permanent side effects are very scary. I don't find it that surprising, although it is exagerated probably.

[NickJ]

You should give it a try if being bald is really bothering you, but I wouldn't expect too much either

[Rahal Hair Transplant]

Eccoj,

I think you’re possibly a candidate for hair transplant surgery but admittedly, your donor area is a bit on the thinner side and you do have a pretty large area to cover. Also, while I understand the General concerns you have about finasteride, side effects are reportedly rare and most men who use it don’t experience though.

wild hair always looks a little thicker when longer, my question to you is whether or not you are still experiencing hair loss and how aggressive it is. In my opinion, you should definitely consider getting over your fear of trying finasteride, talk to a doctor and then as long as you have a doctor approval, proceed with trying finasteride for a year to see if it helps thicken anything up.

I do think a consultation with a reputable hair transplant surgeon would be a good idea for you so that you can get A professional opinion rather than just the thoughts of forum members on a website.

if you would like to set up at one on one information session with Dr. Rahal, I’d be happy to help you set that up. Feel free to send me a private message and I can set it up for you so that you can begin developing a strategic long-term hair restoration plan.  In my opinion, this will be far better than making decisions based strictly on what forum members have to say based on a few photos.

Best wishes,

Rahal Hair Transplant