32 Yr Old Male. Looking for some advice as to what I can do to combat my hair loss.

[Mysterio88]

Hi everyone,

 

I'm a 32 year old male and I've been on this site for a while now for research purposes but it's come to the point where I feel like I need to make this post. 

So my hairline has been gradually receding in the past 5/7 years. I noticed it but it didn't particularly bother me as hair loss is something a lot of men deal with as they get older. However, in the past 2 years I have started to get diffuse thinning. My left temple area looks super thin, the right side wasn't so bad but it's starting to get there now. Also have something weird going on with my crown. I think I'm receding but my mum says my hair always looked like that?  The cowlick is pretty crazy, haha. 

 

Once I saw the direction the left side was going in I started taking 0.5mg of fin everyday. A few weeks after starting I started to experience ED and loss of libido. The ED was bad... Like really bad, so much it really put a strain on my relationship with my GF at the time. I stopped after 4 months and something like 10 days later my sides were gone. Did some more research and found out that even 0.25mg fin can help with hair loss so half a year after stopping I started taking 0.25mg fin every other day and started to experience sides again... This time it was worse. My libido was done. No Cialis or Viagra helped, my dick did not work, lmao... Literally didn't want to have sex. By this time me and my GF were having issues and split up. It wasn't completely due to my obsession with my hair or the ED/not wanting to have sex but it definitely played a part.

 

Fast forward now and my hair has gotten worse but it's happening slowly. I haven't tried minoxidil and may try it in the future but fin for me just isn't an option and I'm not going to try dutasteride. I should also say that I've always had weird results whenever I've had hormone blood tests. My testosterone, free test and SBGH is always super high but the endocrinologists all say it's fine. Also had pubertal gyno growing up. 

 

Anyway, I'm here to see if anyone can give me advice on how to go about trying to combat this. I'm not looking to get my young hairline back but I want a hairline and I want my temples to not make me look like I'm balding. 

 

I make good money so money itself is no object as long as I don't have to spend 6 figures, haha. I've been looking at getting a hair transplant just to fix my hairline a bit and add a bit more density to the left temple. Using no finasteride would mean I will continue to lose hair and would definitely need more transplants in the future so I've been looking at doctors who don't use a lot of grafts but give decent/great results. Maybe I could get SMP (in combination with a HT) to create the illusion that my hair looks more dense, if that's even a thing? My donor area feel and looks very thick and I have somewhat of a small head (lol) so I guess I could get 2/3 transplants? 

 

Seems like when it comes to hair loss - there won't be a cure, at least not in our lifetime. The best thing you can do is try and work around it with a combination of things until you get to a point in your life where you don't really care if you have hair anymore. Maybe I will give finasteride a try again when I'm in my 40s/50s but as someone in their early 30s with no kids, it's not what I want. 

 

Just to also be clear, I have friends who have been using finasteride for years and have had great results. I in no way think it's a bad drug, it just doesn't work for me. But, the fact that it doesn't work for me doesn't mean that I have to just throw in the towel and say game over, time to shave my head. 

 

To the more experienced people in here, if you were in my position what would you do? 

 

I've posted some pictures below. The first pic is from 2010 and 2nd is from 2015. The rest are from yesterday. 

 

Apologies for the long post. 

 

[Rahal Hair Transplant]

@Mysterio88,

for starters, thanks for sharing a detailed account of your hair loss experience and exactly how it’s impacted you physically, emotionally and practically.  We spend a lot of time here talking about the technical specifics of hair loss and surgical hair restoration but it’s not very often we take the time to recognize and discuss how it impacts us on a personal level.  How we feel about ourselves affects us in a major way and hair loss is one of those plagues that can impact us emotionally and personally more than we realize. So I’m sorry for what you’ve been experiencing.

The good news is, you’re in your 30s and you still have a lot of your hair.  if you haven’t tried minoxidil yet, I do suggest trying that especially in the areas where you are losing hair such as the one side of your scalp. On the other hand, surgical hair restoration might be an option for you but if your hair loss is continuing to progress, you may have to come back for subsequent procedures

At this point, I wouldn’t touch your crown area or even the middle scalp but instead, work on refining your hairline and filling in the areas in the frontal part of your scalp that you are concerned about.

In my opinion, I would take some time to research hair transplant surgeons and narrow your search down to a few that you are most impressed with. Below I presented some steps on finding and selecting a quality physician that’s best for you.

in the meantime, if you’re interested in a no obligation, one-on-one information session with Dr. Rahal, feel free to send me a private message and I’ll be happy to get that set up for you.

——

How to Select an outstanding hair transplant surgeon. 

1.  Start by looking at the surgeons recommended by this community, in particular the Coalition of Independent Hair Restoration Physicians.  Surgeons recommended by this community have met a demanding set of standards and are approved based on meeting those high standards.  Many online hair surgeon memberships don’t have any criteria other than to pay a membership fee.  Furthermore, physician members of the coalition have met an even higher and more demanding set of standards and have proven to be amongst the best of the best in the profession.

2. Now even amongst a list of outstanding surgeons, not all surgeons are created equally. Therefore, while it’s tempting to select a surgeon based on price or location, try to avoid this as many individuals travel great distances to undergo surgery with an elite surgeon they are most impressed with. Thus choose a surgeon based on their proven ability to produce outstanding results rather than because of cost or location.

3. Narrow your selection down to 3 to 5 surgeons you are most impressed with.  You can do this by using this discussion forum and others to view examples of patient results posted by both the clinic and their patients.  Speak with and meet with real patients in person if possible. If not, video chat works pretty well.

4. Come up with a list of consult questions to ask each surgeon/clinic you are considering. I’ve created several different posts on this forum with good questions to ask doctors.  If you need help coming up with a list of good questions, please let me know.

5. Consult with each doctor you are considering and ultimately, choose the surgeon you feel can best meet your goals.

I hope this helps  

Rahal Hair Transplant

Edited February 1, 2023 by Rahal Hair Transplant

[Rafael Manelli]

Your hair looks super coarse. You probably have a good donor.

[mr_peanutbutter]

i have the same issue with my front

 

for some reason my whole hairline receeds as a whole and not just the corner, its a very unpleasant feeling to realize those smaller hairs will go soon and set your whole hairline 1-2cm back

[Mysterio88]

8 hours ago, Rahal Hair Transplant said:

@Mysterio88,

for starters, thanks for sharing a detailed account of your hair loss experience and exactly how it’s impacted you physically, emotionally and practically.  We spend a lot of time here talking about the technical specifics of hair loss and surgical hair restoration but it’s not very often we take the time to recognize and discuss how it impacts us on a personal level.  How we feel about ourselves affects us in a major way and hair loss is one of those plagues that can impact us emotionally and personally more than we realize. So I’m sorry for what you’ve been experiencing.

The good news is, you’re in your 30s and you still have a lot of your hair.  if you haven’t tried minoxidil yet, I do suggest trying that especially in the areas where you are losing hair such as the one side of your scalp. On the other hand, surgical hair restoration might be an option for you but if your hair loss is continuing to progress, you may have to come back for subsequent procedures

At this point, I wouldn’t touch your crown area or even the middle scalp but instead, work on refining your hairline and filling in the areas in the frontal part of your scalp that you are concerned about.

In my opinion, I would take some time to research hair transplant surgeons and narrow your search down to a few that you are most impressed with. Below I presented some steps on finding and selecting a quality physician that’s best for you.

in the meantime, if you’re interested in a no obligation, one-on-one information session with Dr. Rahal, feel free to send me a private message and I’ll be happy to get that set up for you.

——

How to Select an outstanding hair transplant surgeon. 

1.  Start by looking at the surgeons recommended by this community, in particular the Coalition of Independent Hair Restoration Physicians.  Surgeons recommended by this community have met a demanding set of standards and are approved based on meeting those high standards.  Many online hair surgeon memberships don’t have any criteria other than to pay a membership fee.  Furthermore, physician members of the coalition have met an even higher and more demanding set of standards and have proven to be amongst the best of the best in the profession.

2. Now even amongst a list of outstanding surgeons, not all surgeons are created equally. Therefore, while it’s tempting to select a surgeon based on price or location, try to avoid this as many individuals travel great distances to undergo surgery with an elite surgeon they are most impressed with. Thus choose a surgeon based on their proven ability to produce outstanding results rather than because of cost or location.

3. Narrow your selection down to 3 to 5 surgeons you are most impressed with.  You can do this by using this discussion forum and others to view examples of patient results posted by both the clinic and their patients.  Speak with and meet with real patients in person if possible. If not, video chat works pretty well.

4. Come up with a list of consult questions to ask each surgeon/clinic you are considering. I’ve created several different posts on this forum with good questions to ask doctors.  If you need help coming up with a list of good questions, please let me know.

5. Consult with each doctor you are considering and ultimately, choose the surgeon you feel can best meet your goals.

I hope this helps  

Rahal Hair Transplant

Thank you so much for the detailed reply. 

I will give minoxidil a try and see how it goes. 

I am definitely considering the surgical hair restoration route and I do understand that I will most likely need subsequent procedures if the hair loss does progress, but I'm fine with this. Before I did the research, I would see men who would go from a NW6 to NW1 and would think wow, 1 hair transplant is the answer to all my hair problems but came to find out that really isn't the case. I'm really trying to approach this with realistic expectations. 

Yeah, the crown and middle scalp area doesn't really bother me at all. My hairline and frontal scalp areas are what I would want to focus on and I guess my hope is to not use a lot of grafts in order to leave some for future procedures. 

Your actually on my shortlist of surgeons that I'm currently looking at but the only issue I'm having is finding time off work to fly over to Canada haha. 

But once again, thank you for all the information. 

 

8 hours ago, Rafael Manelli said:

Your hair looks super coarse. You probably have a good donor.

Haha, I hope so bro 🙏

 

8 hours ago, mr_peanutbutter said:

i have the same issue with my front

 

for some reason my whole hairline receeds as a whole and not just the corner, its a very unpleasant feeling to realize those smaller hairs will go soon and set your whole hairline 1-2cm back

Yeah, it doesn't feel good at all but it is what it is. All you can do is try to find a solution. 

[A_4_Archan]

Start the medication as soon as possible .. As u got side effects from finasteride u cn use minoxidil lotion ..and u cn try prp and laser therapy as well..i guess by medication and prp ur hair loss wud be stabilised and will nt need surgery for crown as of now and it can be delayed for few years...

Edited February 2, 2023 by Archan

[Mike10]

you must first stabilise hair loss before thinking of HT

[Mysterio88]

17 hours ago, Archan said:

Start the medication as soon as possible .. As u got side effects from finasteride u cn use minoxidil lotion ..and u cn try prp and laser therapy as well..i guess by medication and prp ur hair loss wud be stabilised and will nt need surgery for crown as of now and it can be delayed for few years...

Thanks for the advice! I'll definitely give minoxdil a try! Prp and laser therapy are things I've briefly looked at in the past. I don't know how much scientific evidence there is to show that it helps but I might as well give it ago and find out!.

 

8 hours ago, Mike10 said:

you must first stabilise hair loss before thinking of HT

As I can't take fin, I will need to find other ways to stabilise it. From what I have read, min doesn't actually keep the hair you have but maybe I can stabilise it with PRP and laser therapy. 

[A_4_Archan]

2 hours ago, Mysterio88 said:

Thanks for the advice! I'll definitely give minoxdil a try! Prp and laser therapy are things I've briefly looked at in the past. I don't know how much scientific evidence there is to show that it helps but I might as well give it ago and find out!.

 

As I can't take fin, I will need to find other ways to stabilise it. From what I have read, min doesn't actually keep the hair you have but maybe I can stabilise it with PRP and laser therapy. 

Yeah u cn consult a good doctor ...actually to my knowledge prp will help boost ur grafts growth which got miniaturised and with minoxidil u can keep the boosted graft healthy and scalp will get better coverage as ur grafts would get thicker...and u can look for saw palmetto as an alternative to finasteride if tht suits u and if gives u a gud result ...actually all ths thngs are always trial and error thngs...

[Mysterio88]

15 hours ago, Archan said:

Yeah u cn consult a good doctor ...actually to my knowledge prp will help boost ur grafts growth which got miniaturised and with minoxidil u can keep the boosted graft healthy and scalp will get better coverage as ur grafts would get thicker...and u can look for saw palmetto as an alternative to finasteride if tht suits u and if gives u a gud result ...actually all ths thngs are always trial and error thngs...

Yeah, I've actually did some research on PRP today and it seems very promising!!!  I'll also take a look at saw palmetto. 

I also agree with what you said about everything being trial and error! Its good to try everything and see what works and what doesn't. 

[A_4_Archan]

4 hours ago, Mysterio88 said:

Yeah, I've actually did some research on PRP today and it seems very promising!!!  I'll also take a look at saw palmetto. 

I also agree with what you said about everything being trial and error! Its good to try everything and see what works and what doesn't. 

Yeh so try it see what suits u more and go with it..best of luck and keep updating 😊