Progress Pics 4 Months into .5mg DUT daily + topical Min 2/x daily - Thoughts on Progress?

[jfally]

The daily continued effort isn't totally cumbersome, but it still does require constant effort, and I'm trying to decide if the juice is worth the forever squeeze, at least working up until a HT (hopefully late this year or early next year).

Here's my progress on 4 months faithful DUT + minox.

First 4 pics (w/ shorter hair) were taken late Oct, last 3 pics from today Jan 5. I started my meds regiment a month prior to these first pics.

Thoughts welcomed please!

 

https://imgur.com/a/9Amk8lS

[Melvin- Admin]

I see slight improvement in the crown, but 4 months is still early. Keep taking monthly photos. Have you tried dermarolling?

[shiba1985]

to me it seems like your crown is too far gone to come back. i could bewrong. if u r not having any side effects though you still have great hair in front. so keep taking it to preserve. if you preserve the front, your crown can be transplanted a bit aggressively and then you will not have any signs of balding for the average eye. 

 

[Hairything]

Very interesting, I have a pretty similar hair status. There is often a debate about starting with the front zone(hairline) first, even in such a status. Does that make sense?

Furthermore, I would be interested in how old you are? Because I currently find it difficult to assess whether the hair loss will continue, even in my status.

 

Thanks helping guys.  

 

 

[jfally]

19 hours ago, Melvin- Moderator said:

I see slight improvement in the crown, but 4 months is still early. Keep taking monthly photos. Have you tried dermarolling?

Thanks for chiming in man!

Slight is about what I see as well. My wife is super excited each next week she looks closely in her salon with bright white lighting as she says the pores/follicles/whatever they are are now present whereas the crown used to look totally flat like palm of hand and she thinks it's working crazily well and urges me to stick with it.

All I see is a glaring bald spot when I pass a mirror lol.

I just started last week with .5mm dermarolling EOD and 1.0mm once weekly, most definitely open to suggestions for best practice there as far as depth-reccs and frequency reccs.

We'll keep going!

[jfally]

16 hours ago, shiba1985 said:

to me it seems like your crown is too far gone to come back. i could bewrong. if u r not having any side effects though you still have great hair in front. so keep taking it to preserve. if you preserve the front, your crown can be transplanted a bit aggressively and then you will not have any signs of balding for the average eye. 

 

That's the plan. By no means am I looking for full coverage from meds alone, plan is to do this for an honest year, see where we are, praying the whole way, and hope things look solid to make me ideal candidate for a transplant that'll make the crown look at least 90% better. Thanks for your thoughts!

[jfally]

4 hours ago, Hairything said:

Very interesting, I have a pretty similar hair status. There is often a debate about starting with the front zone(hairline) first, even in such a status. Does that make sense?

Furthermore, I would be interested in how old you are? Because I currently find it difficult to assess whether the hair loss will continue, even in my status.

 

Thanks helping guys.  

 

 

Yep, the one in-person consult I had, he mentioned the same. Start upfront then save donor for the back, later.

Here I am caring 3% about the front, 99% about the big ol bald spot in the back.

If I'm paying HT sums, I want to do it for what means the most to ME, which is the back, even if most start upfront.

Unfortunately this hair loss pattern seems to be much rarer than most so we have to take best advice possible then move forward in the way that makes sense to us.

I totally get the 'framing'/what others see when speaking to you' sentiment, but for me I don't mind my hairline much at all when its a bit longer, its the crown that affects my self-esteem largely.

[GoliGoliGoli]

Hanging out around hair loss forums you notice that a lot of the advice is "one size fits all". People ask the same question numerous times a month, so communities develop "stock answers" that serve as a general rule of thumb because it would take far too long to delve into every individual's family history/medication status/rate of loss/preferred hair style/donor quality etc.

But everyone's hair situation and goals are different. So my point is, do your own research and use it to come to your own conclusions. Listen to what people on here say, but at the end of the day realize that you need to integrate that "stock answer" advice into your own base of knowledge to determine what's right for you.

Personally, I went in for my first HT two months ago and focused only on the crown. I could not be more happy with this decision. I would really be kicking myself if I had done work on the hairline at this point. But I also have a great donor so just because this was the right decision for me doesn't mean it's the right decision for you.

In another thread recently, someone posted pics of Henry Cavil with a NW2 hairline with no crown loss, versus Ben Afleck with a NW0 or NW1 hairline but a bald spot in the crown. 99% of the public would say Cavil isn't going bald, whereas they would say Afleck was. A receded hairline looks age appropriate, but a bald spot on the crown really ages you and tbh looks kind of "diseased" (To use a harsh word) in a way that hairline recession doesn't 

Edited January 10, 2023 by GoliGoliGoli

[jfally]

1 minute ago, GoliGoliGoli said:

Hanging out around hair loss forums you notice that a lot of the advice is "one size fits all". People ask the same question numerous times a month, so communities develop "stock answers" that serve as a general rule of thumb because it would take far too long to delve into every individual's family history/medication status/rate of loss/preferred hair style/donor quality etc.

But everyone's hair situation and goals are different. So my point is, do your own research and use it to come to your own conclusions. Listen to what people on here say, but at the end of the day realize that you need to integrate that "stock answer" advice into your own base of knowledge to determine what's right for you.

Personally, I went in for my first HT two months ago and focused only on the crown. I could not be more happy with this decision. I would really be kicking myself if I had done work on the hairline at this point. But I also have a great donor so maybe just because this was the right decision for me doesn't mean it's the right decision for you.

In another thread recently, someone posted pics of Henry Cavil with a NW2 hairline with no crown loss, versus Ben Afleck with a NW0 or NW1 hairline but a bald spot in the crown. 99% of the public would say Cavil isn't going bald, whereas they would say Afleck was. A receded hairline looks age appropriate, but a bald spot on the crown really ages you and tbh looks kind of "diseased" (To use a harsh word) in a way that hairline recession doesn't 

Really appreciate you taking the time to write this all out.

I agree with everything you said literally 100%.

I am super fit, beautiful wife, young healthy kids, everything about me is age appropriate other than top of my head which appears to be that of someone 50 years older than me. 

I get it and you get it!

[GoliGoliGoli]

25 minutes ago, jfally said:

Really appreciate you taking the time to write this all out.

I agree with everything you said literally 100%.

I am super fit, beautiful wife, young healthy kids, everything about me is age appropriate other than top of my head which appears to be that of someone 50 years older than me. 

I get it and you get it!

I have probably NW2 or NW3 level recession in the hairline. But imagine me getting work done on the front based on the below pic… this was taken today. Had I gotten work done on the front I would be nervous about the result and worried that I would look unnatural or worse than when I started. Whereas having focused on the crown I am 100% certain it will be an improvement on what I had before. So now I get to sit back and wait for the results come in without having to worry too much about how it will all turn out.

Edited January 10, 2023 by GoliGoliGoli

[jfally]

7 minutes ago, GoliGoliGoli said:

I have probably NW2 or NW3 level recession in the hairline. But imagine me getting work done on the front based on the below pic… this was taken today. Had I gotten work done on the front I would be nervous about the result and worried that I would look unnatural or worse than when I started. Whereas having focused on the crown I am 100% certain it will be an improvement on what I had before. So now I get to sit back and wait for the results come in without having to worry too much about how it will all turn out.

It'd have been in line with 99% of advice given here but in your mind, just as it'd be for me if I were in your shoes, it wouldn't have addressed the area that plagued us most, so basically all a moot effort that leaves us longing for the next phase.

I remember following your thread in Nov, cannot wait to see how things start to look in a couple months for you.

Dr Nader is who I'm going with and first email back from him he proposed 3k-ish into my crown but wants to look at my donor area first. 

Like you, my donor area is silly thick, to the point that barbers forever comment they cannot believe how thick the sides and back are and what a shame that the top of my head isn't like that.

"Gee, thanks..." lol!

[Curious25]

Your plan is sound , I think after a year of meds you will be satisfied with some visible improvement for sure.
 

If you’re committing to minoxidil for the long haul, it’s worth reading up about 5mg oral daily, as it may offer you a preferable alternative to sticking on rogaine every day. 
 

Other than that, dutasteride is as good as it gets for what we have available at the moment, and it will almost certainly maintain what you have - and no doubt strengthen the hairs you still have remaining, and additionally your donor area.  
 

I would predict that your regime will strengthen your front and mid section to the point at which you could get away with not touching this section at all (given you are content with the receded temple points) and solely focus on your crown, which in this situation - I too, would recommend as being the optimal strategy to achieve aesthetic improvement. 
 

All the best, 

Edited January 10, 2023 by Curious25