DPA (?) general thoughts on a hair transplant

[ShinyEgg]

Hello fellow balds. 

I'm 28 from France. I always knew I'd end up bald but never really noticed the hair loss. I think lockdown really hit me hard as just before I still had a good amount of hair:

During lockdown I decided to shave down for fun as I never went out (literally) and I kind of liked it so it didn't bother me. 

When I regrew though I noticed horrible gulfs/vertex and a lot of thinning in general. 

 

I did all the research I could, and decided to go with a HT. I contacted a surgeon in Turkey with good reputation. They said that they can do the gulfs for sure and potentially the vertex. Obviously they only saw pictures, but they seem honest on what is doable and don't want to tell me a number of grefts without being there first.

Yet I can't help but feel anxious about it. I feel like the donor zone isn't great, and I'm afraid that if I go with the transplant and it doesn't work well (for whatever reason) then I won't be able to totally shave, I saw many white dots on donor zones (FUE) 

(back shot after a month of growth since full shave)

 

So I have two questions

1- do you think it's not too bad of a situation to attempt a HT? I know you people aren't surgeons but you can have experience crawling on this forum ^^

2- will FUE leave white dots that even a clean (razor) shave can't hide? 

[hairman22]

your donor looks fine for a transplant.

You still have alot of hair. Grow it out & you can look at getting on hair loss medication possibly.

Although both Finasteride & oral minoxidil can have siide affects but they are rare in most people.

[ShinyEgg]

thank you for the answer.

I heard that if you stop taking minoxidil, the hair loss can accelerate. Is it the same with fina?

 

[ray35]

Yes shiny egg... that's what they say about fin. If you tolerate fin which most people do, you can be at 1mg and stablize things then look at a procedure. and I've seen fue results that I can't tell a difference... but be sure to research and go to for a quality procedure. You're close to some great and reasonable places being in France.

[BurnieBurns]

Stopping any hair loss treatment minoxidil, finasteride or otherwise can accelerate hair loss. Your hair will simply revert to a state as if you had never taken anything to begin with.

A hair transplant is definitely possible for you but unless your loss is stopped or very slowed down, you won’t be a great candidate.

You also want to consult with a lot more Than one doctor, and research them all thoroughly. Unfortunately there are many out there who could do you more harm than good in the long run.

Edited December 1, 2022 by BurnieBurns

[Gatsby]

6 hours ago, ShinyEgg said:

During lockdown I decided to shave down for fun as I never went out (literally) and I kind of liked it so it didn't bother me. 

If you have any thoughts in the back of your mind of ever shaving your head in the future at any time do not get a hair transplant. Surgery is always a last resort and you have dodged a huge bullet by canceling that clinic (mill) in Turkey. Medication is a first line resort and with finsteride and minoxidil you may be surprised with how much you might stabalize (and potentially regrow) your hair. My suggestion is to give meds a good year and during this time learn as much as you can about MPB and look at surgeons recommended on the forum with hair loss similar to yours. All the best!

[Rahal Hair Transplant]

@ShinyEgg,

For starters, are you currently using any non-surgical treatments such as finasteride or minoxidil to attempt to slow down or stop the progression of male pattern baldness? You’re definitely losing hair but you still have a good amount of natural hair on top of your head. As a result, I strongly recommend that you consider using finasteride, even possibly for a year or so before you undergo hair transplant surgery. There are some real important reasons for this.  

For example, many of the natural hairs on top of your scalp are likely in the process of miniaturizing which means that they are highly vulnerable. Taking finasteride may strengthen and even thicken these miniaturizing hairs so that your hair looks fuller again even without surgery.

On the flipside, if you undergo hair transplant surgery without using finasteride, you may end up with permanent shock loss of those miniaturizing hairs.  While hair transplant surgery can cause temporary shock loss to natural terminal hairs due to trauma to the scalp during surgery, they will grow back between 6 to 12 months.  Miniaturizing hairs that were already on their way out anyway due to male pattern baldness will likely not grow back after being shocked through surgery.

So what do you prefer?

Would you rather use finasteride for a year before surgery, transforming many if not all of the miniaturizing hairs to terminal hairs so that any that are shocked will grow back.  Thus, you’ll end up with a net gain of terminal hair on top of your scalp after your hair transplant results grow in.

Or would you rather undergo hair transplant surgery and possibly risk permanently shocking miniaturizing hairs and when the hair transplant results grow in, you will likely break even in regards to the number of terminal hairs you have on top of the scalp. In other words, you will likely be replacing natural miniaturizing hairs with permanent transplanted hair instead of keeping both.

in my opinion, definitely consider using finasteride for at least six months to a year prior to undergoing hair surgery.  There’s no guarantee that you’ll be a good responder to the medication but if you are, you could just save a plethora of natural hair.

Best wishes,

Rahal Hair Transplant 

[Vann]

Mm, its hard to say your hair loss pattern. Its kind of forming into a norwood scale but it kinda looks diffuse. Its really hard to say how many grafts you would need in the future. I always say plan like youre a NW7 so you can make the most of each procedure. But small and steady is the way in my opinion--- if you choose to get a HT.

If you arent already on medication, theres finasteride, minox, etc. Probably look into Dutasteride 0.5mg, speak with your doctor about that. Try to take them for at least 12-18 months, you would be surprised at how much it can help mitigate and stabilize your hairloss when you start it early on.

If you stop any medications your hair loss will continue to worsen. Regardless of choice (HT or not), you will need to address the root cause of your hair loss which is your hairs sensitivity to DHT. 

My best advice, take as many medical options that you can (fin, dut, minox, oral minox, etc.). Do your research on other people that have similar hair loss types to yours. Look up surgeons, get a free consult, and just wait to see how everything pans out. With time you will definitely notice some improvement or see more of a hairloss pattern.

If you are worried about the FUE scars (white tiny dots) you can look into SMP. But no matter what you do there will be some kind of scar, regardless of how well it heals. Some people can get lucky with FUT scars and barely have anything showing. It really varies between technical experience of the surgeon and your own bodys response.

Personally if I was in your position, I would get some lab tests done to rule out any form of DUPA, auto immunity issues, or any type of scarring that could potentially work against a hair transplant. Your hair loss pattern isnt too different from mine (the thinning I mean). I was a lurker on this forum for awhile just looking at peoples scalps and seeing what options were available.

One thing I would say from my experience is that I would have done FUT the first go around. If the healing time for FUT wasnt so long I would have done FUT first (maybe first 2 surgeries) then have done FUE to cover whatever ground in the future.