Journey to find an ideal Hair Transplant has begun!

[kassam]

Hi guys,

Pleasure to meet you all. My name is Kassam, I am 30 years old and I am from the UK. I am a newbie in terms of Hair Transplant knowledge as this is the start of my journey - which is very exciting.

My hair has been thinning/balding for about 5 years now and the top of my head is very thin and I want to do something about it!

I have heard about the hype with Turkish Hair Transplant Clinics and decided to contact a couple but did not appreciate the commercial incentives the clinics have with Hair Transplantation.

Pictures of my hair are below, and I'd like to request a few details that may be obvious to most here, but would be valuable to me. Apologies with the pictures, but my hairstyle is covering up a lot of the thinning hair on the crown - I hope it is visible enough for analysis.

Questions:

What stage is my hair at on the Norwood scale?

Are there any viable Turkish Hair Transplant Clinics / Surgeons that would provide a personalised experience with genuine interest in revitalising my hair?

Would Finasteride/Minoxidil help? (I stopped taking Finasteride after recently getting married, but may try to start again)

Can I take Oral Finasteride and Oral Minoxidil together as a form of medical treatment or does it have to be Topical Minoxidil with Oral Finasteride?

Regarding the pictures, Is there any specific thing you have seen that is good/bad in terms of Hair Transplant prospects?

 

Thank you so much!

[Al - Moderator]

Hello @kassam. Welcome to the forums. Thank you for posting your questions.

 

12 hours ago, kassam said:

Would Finasteride/Minoxidil help? (I stopped taking Finasteride after recently getting married, but may try to start again)

Yes they probably will help. You still have a lot of hair left and it's better to save it and maybe gain a bit back, then to let it fall out and then try to replace it with surgery. I would go that route first before having a hair transplant. You say you took Finasteride before. How long were you on it and did you see any positive results at that time?

 

12 hours ago, kassam said:

Can I take Oral Finasteride and Oral Minoxidil together as a form of medical treatment or does it have to be Topical Minoxidil with Oral Finasteride?

I believe there are several people who post on these forums who take both orally.

 

[kassam]

22 minutes ago, Al - Moderator said:

Hello @kassam. Welcome to the forums. Thank you for posting your questions.

 

Yes they probably will help. You still have a lot of hair left and it's better to save it and maybe gain a bit back, then to let it fall out and then try to replace it with surgery. I would go that route first before having a hair transplant. You say you took Finasteride before. How long were you on it and did you see any positive results at that time?

 

I believe there are several people who post on these forums who take both orally.

 

Hi there!

Thank you for the quick response. 
My personal thought was quite simple in commencing both medicinal therapy and hair transplant I.e. starting finasteride/minoxidil and prepare for a hair transplant in the near future.

I took oral finasteride for 3-6months and I noticed little to no hair loss with minimal side effects, which is what I was looking for.

I stopped when I got married 5 months ago.

What are the usual dosages when having oral finasteride and minoxidil together?

Thanks,

Kassam

[Berba11]

2 minutes ago, kassam said:

What are the usual dosages when having oral finasteride and minoxidil together?

The two are not in conflict with each other so there's no "perfect" dose, but most people would likely be on something like 0.5-1mg of finasteride daily (or every other day) and 2.5mg of oral minoxidil daily. You're not really going to know if they are working for you for a good 12 months, which leaves plenty of time to carry on researching clinics in the meantime.

13 hours ago, kassam said:

Are there any viable Turkish Hair Transplant Clinics / Surgeons that would provide a personalised experience with genuine interest in revitalising my hair?

Why Turkey?

[kassam]

28 minutes ago, Berba11 said:

The two are not in conflict with each other so there's no "perfect" dose, but most people would likely be on something like 0.5-1mg of finasteride daily (or every other day) and 2.5mg of oral minoxidil daily. You're not really going to know if they are working for you for a good 12 months, which leaves plenty of time to carry on researching clinics in the meantime.

Why Turkey?

Hi mate!

That sounds really good, I’ll certainly look into this  cheers.

Isn’t there a justification to have a hair transplant sooner to fix the current balding issues? Rather than just leave it be for a year or 2?

Turkey simply because that is where the hype is and simply within my budget (of €5000). However I have not done any extensive research on alternatives around the world within that price range.

On a side note, what stage am I at on the Norwood scale? I feel like I naturally hide how bad my hair really is, which isn’t very good for analysis! 
 

Cheers,

Kassam

[BaldReaper]

i dont think you should have a transplant at this point, your balding is very minor, try meds and reaccess in 1 year

[kassam]

I always thought hair transplant was one of the first options to correct balding issues. But it now seems like it’s more of a last resort. I definitely need to read up more on hair restoration…!

[Berba11]

7 minutes ago, kassam said:

Isn’t there a justification to have a hair transplant sooner to fix the current balding issues?

Surgery should always be the very last resort. The first resort should be the one that carries literally zero risk: done nothing/buzz everything off. You have a lot of hair left to keep and maybe improve (but at the very least, stabilise from future loss), so medical intervention makes a lot of sense.

9 minutes ago, kassam said:

Turkey simply because that is where the hype is and simply within my budget (of €5000).

Turkey has the world's highest number of terrible, terrible HT clinics. There's somewhere between 500-1,000 HT clinics in Turkey, and maybe only a dozen pretty sound options. That's means you've got roughly a 1.8% chance of ending up a good clinic in Turkey... Do you like those odds? I don't!

One of the reasons it might be best to wait in your case (beside giving the medical intervention time to kick in and be assessed) is that it also gives you a bit more time to save up some extra funds and give yourself a better chance of being able to go to a good clinic elsewhere. We have a few attractive options in the UK these days (in the past, not so much), and we have a lot of excellent options across Europe. There's also stronger budget options in India, Cyprus and Thailand than in Turkey.

19 minutes ago, kassam said:

On a side note, what stage am I at on the Norwood scale?

Probably around the NW5 mark, but I personally wouldn't get to hung up on the NW scale. You might find it useful to seek in-person consultations with some clinics in the UK, just for your own information and to get some eyes on your situation and some ideas and plans going forward. Dr Ball, Dr Mani and Dr Miln are three options that I would definitely consider for myself and would certainly have a consultation with at the very least before doing anything further.