Donor area thoughts?

[Esten]

I am 25 and have gone through a few online consultations. All clinics have recommends about 2000-2500 grafts for hairline and crown. Thoughts on my donor zone? Currently NW3 but do have diffuse thinning and possible NW7 pattern but have been stable with finasteride and minox for the past 4 years. Do I have retrograde or DUPA?   

[Rahal Hair Transplant]

@Esten,

I’ll be honest with you, it’s really not easy to give you feedback from photos alone especially since you are still quite young and as far as I can tell, Still possess a lot of your natural hair. But, the fact that you think that you are heading towards a Norwood 7 pattern, tells me that you’ve had an assessment where a surgeon or two has told you that.  Can you confirm this? 

If that’s the case and you are heading towards a higher Norwood level, then I don’t know if I’m going for a hair transplant surgery at this point would be wise. are you currently on any non-surgical treatments such as finasteride or minoxidil? If not, I suggest speaking to a physician about the possibility, evaluating the potential side effects versus the benefits and then make a decision. Non-surgical solutions could really help you keep the existing hair you have and make hair restoration a real possibility in the next couple of years.

I hope this helps.

Rahal Hair Transplant 

Edited June 22, 2023 by Rahal Hair Transplant

[Esten]

5 minutes ago, Rahal Hair Transplant said:

@Esten,

i’ll be honest with you, it’s really not easy to give you feedback like that via photos alone especially since you are still quite young and as far as I can tell, Still possess a lot of your natural hair. But, the fact that you think that you are heading towards a Norwood 7 pattern, tells me that you’ve had an assessment where a surgeon or two has told you that.  Can you confirm this?

if that’s the case and you are heading towards a higher Norwood level, then I don’t know if I’m going for a hair transplant surgery at this point would be wise. are you currently on any non-surgical treatments such as finasteride or minoxidil? If not, I suggest speaking to a physician about the possibility, evaluating the potential side effects versus the benefits and then make a decision. Non-surgical solutions could really help you keep the existing hair you have and make hair restoration a real possibility in the next couple of years.

I hope this helps.

Rahal Hair Transplant 

I’ve been in both finasteride and topical minoxidil for 4 years. My hair seems to have stabilized since taking medication. I only say I have a NW7 pattern due to my father baldness pattern being NW7. I have global thinness but still have enough density for coverage on my head. I’ve been classified as anywhere from NW2-NW3V from the clinics I’ve talked to.  

[ThePerseverantWarrior]

Retrograde doesn't seem obvious from these pictures, but you may have an average or maybe below average donor. Surgeons should be able to confirm that on physical examination. 

Could you post images of your front & crown too? And since you say you have been stable for 4 years, were you already a NW3 at 21?

[A_4_Archan]

The only thing which can confirm this is an in person consultation with a good experienced doctor...you should first do that and than see what he/she has to say and than be on medication dosage /form on that basis ....i don't think surgery should be an option at this stage though you may post some photos of your front so evryone can understand your situation well ...but good that you hav started the medication soon and as you said that helped you to stabilise your hairloss progression...be on medication and other non surgical therapy for a bit more if you can and than you may consider a surgery if there is a need...

[Esten]

3 hours ago, ThePerseverantWarrior said:

Retrograde doesn't seem obvious from these pictures, but you may have an average or maybe below average donor. Surgeons should be able to confirm that on physical examination. 

Could you post images of your front & crown too? And since you say you have been stable for 4 years, were you already a NW3 at 21?

Here are a few pictures of current hair. Included one when wet to show overall thinness. The scalp thinness is pretty similar to the thinness on the side. Back is a little more thick but I think could be thinned as well.  I think I was probably a NW2 close to NW3 at 21. If I have thinned more since taking finasteride it would have been a slight amount. Haven’t noticed too much if any of a difference. 

[Esten]

3 hours ago, A_4_Archan said:

The only thing which can confirm this is an in person consultation with a good experienced doctor...you should first do that and than see what he/she has to say and than be on medication dosage /form on that basis ....i don't think surgery should be an option at this stage though you may post some photos of your front so evryone can understand your situation well ...but good that you hav started the medication soon and as you said that helped you to stabilise your hairloss progression...be on medication and other non surgical therapy for a bit more if you can and than you may consider a surgery if there is a need...

Thank you for the response. Any reason why you recommend staying away from surgery as of now? Do you think I might be too young of a candidate for my Norwood pattern? 

[A_4_Archan]

25 minutes ago, Esten said:

Thank you for the response. Any reason why you recommend staying away from surgery as of now? Do you think I might be too young of a candidate for my Norwood pattern? 

You welcome brother ...Yeh due to your age and you are yet to know if your are diffused or not and if you are diffused than its a tricky situation for surgery...plus you have good amount of native hairs right now and there is a chance they may get damaged due to surgery...just use hair fibres when needed and be on medication religiously...you can consult a good smp artist as well and see what he can do with this cause smp may be helpful and can give an illusion of density...thn whenever you get a clear bald patch than you can plan for implanting new grafts..

[Al - Moderator]

The hairs in the back don't look miniaturized to me, so it could be that you just naturally have the low end of normal density. I had a girlfriend a long time ago who had hair follicles spaced very far apart all over her head (much further apart than yours), but the hairs were very thick and gave her great coverage. She wasn't thinning at all. She was only 19 at the time. She just had a naturally low hair count per cm.