Jejubumbee Posted May 19 Share Posted May 19 (edited) I had a 3,000 graft FUE in 2020 with really good results. I stupidly stopped taking minoxidil after, and my hair is much thinner. I read that hair loss stabilizes in mid-40's on average. I could get a 2nd surgery now or wait until I am mid-forties. The issue I only have enough donor hair for 1 more transplant. I'm on Minoxidil again, my brother was on finasteride and had terrible side effects, so I don't want to risk it. I'm single and about to go back to university. So I'm torn between getting it now and looking good for Uni and dating, or waiting until after and doing it then. I don't know what to do and could really use some advice! (Brother went bald in 30s, mother's father and that side of family extremely bald from 30s. Father thinning and didn't stop from mid-40s. My hair loss seems stable now, went back on minoxidil) 2 pics current, 3rd pic was before and after 2020 FUE Edited May 19 by Jejubumbee Add pictures Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Senior Member Shadman Posted May 19 Senior Member Share Posted May 19 @Jejubumbee can you share some photos ? 𝐄𝐮𝐠𝐞𝐧𝐢𝐱 / 𝐃𝐫. 𝐒𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐬𝐡 / 𝟏𝟖𝟎𝟑𝐆𝐫𝐚𝐟𝐭𝐬 / 𝐉𝐮𝐧𝐞 𝟐𝟎𝟐𝟑 / 𝐁𝐚𝐝 𝐇𝐚𝐢𝐫 𝐓𝐫𝐚𝐧𝐬𝐩𝐥𝐚𝐧𝐭 𝐑𝐞𝐩𝐚𝐢𝐫𝐞𝐝 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jejubumbee Posted May 19 Author Share Posted May 19 @Shadmanupdated Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Regular Member donpizmeov Posted May 19 Regular Member Share Posted May 19 With a limited donor your biggest mistake IMHO is not to try finasteride, perhaps on a smaller dosing as your balding pattern is quite wide. And hairloss continues well into your 50 & 60s too…. On top or retaining what you already have, you also ensure your not loosing more hairs in your donor for future needs. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Valued Contributor Berba11 Posted May 19 Valued Contributor Share Posted May 19 So there’s serval things: 1. What’s the risk with finasteride? If you get bad sides you just stop taking it. You might as well try it. 2. What is the basis for saying your donor only has one more surgery? And what size surgery? And FUE or FUT? Would be good to have more details about this statement. 3. Your hair looks pretty good right now. What are you hoping another surgery achieves? 4. It won’t negatively impact your appearance if you did a HT whilst at Uni. You already have lots of hair so the recovery from a second surgery would be easy provided your adding density up top (any redness will be covered by your existing hair in those areas). I don’t really see that there’s any real argument one way or another as to when you might pull the trigger - only you can answer that. 5. Who was your surgeon? Work looks quite nice so very keen to hear who did your HT! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jejubumbee Posted May 19 Author Share Posted May 19 47 minutes ago, Berba11 said: So there’s serval things: 1. What’s the risk with finasteride? If you get bad sides you just stop taking it. You might as well try it. 2. What is the basis for saying your donor only has one more surgery? And what size surgery? And FUE or FUT? Would be good to have more details about this statement. 3. Your hair looks pretty good right now. What are you hoping another surgery achieves? 4. It won’t negatively impact your appearance if you did a HT whilst at Uni. You already have lots of hair so the recovery from a second surgery would be easy provided your adding density up top (any redness will be covered by your existing hair in those areas). I don’t really see that there’s any real argument one way or another as to when you might pull the trigger - only you can answer that. 5. Who was your surgeon? Work looks quite nice so very keen to hear who did your HT! Hey, So my brother took it, gave him serious depression killed his sex drive. Even after he stopped it took months to normalize. Dr. Bicer in turkey did my surgery in 2020, it was really great until I stopped minoxidil. I was just looking to increase density in the hairline/ front because I'm tall. I saw 3 doctors, they told me I don't have much donor area left, 1500-2000 grafts. I would like to return to uni with a dense hairline, but was worried about if it would be patchy come mid-40s. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Valued Contributor Berba11 Posted May 19 Valued Contributor Share Posted May 19 3 hours ago, Jejubumbee said: So my brother took it, gave him serious depression killed his sex drive. Even after he stopped it took months to normalize. I can only assume he was taking it for while, having the sides but ploughing on anyway for as long as possible. Obviously that’s ill-advised. You’ll know pretty quickly if you’re getting sides, but I’m not here to advocate medication - it’s really your choice and for you to decide for yourself without influence or pressure. Which three doctors told you that your donor is limited, and what reasons did they give? Unless you’ve got a particularly bad donor naturally (doubtful!) or Dr Bicer did a terrible job with your donor (unlikely as she’s a very good surgeon), then I’d be surprised if you were limited to only 4,500-5,000 total scalp grafts available across your first and a potential second session. Your hairline/frontal third looks pretty decent to me, and a further touch up shouldn’t require many grafts at all. You’ll probably find something small like 500 grafts will go a long way to giving it a boost and won’t be particularly intrusive or hard to manage during those initial few months. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Administrators Melvin- Admin Posted May 19 Administrators Share Posted May 19 You should consider topical dutasteride. It’s been a game changer for me, and no side effects. You can get it relatively easy in the US and Europe. Definitely give that a try. Stabilizing hair loss is essential. 1 I’m a paid admin for Hair Transplant Network. I do not receive any compensation from any clinic. My comments are not medical advice. Check out my final hair transplant and topical dutasteride journey: View my thread Topical dutasteride journey Melvin- Managing Publisher and Forum Moderator for the Hair Transplant Network, the Coalition Hair Loss Learning Center, and the Hair Loss Q&A Blog. Follow our Social Media: Facebook, Instagram, Linkedin, and YouTube. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jejubumbee Posted May 20 Author Share Posted May 20 55 minutes ago, Berba11 said: I can only assume he was taking it for while, having the sides but ploughing on anyway for as long as possible. Obviously that’s ill-advised. You’ll know pretty quickly if you’re getting sides, but I’m not here to advocate medication - it’s really your choice and for you to decide for yourself without influence or pressure. Which three doctors told you that your donor is limited, and what reasons did they give? Unless you’ve got a particularly bad donor naturally (doubtful!) or Dr Bicer did a terrible job with your donor (unlikely as she’s a very good surgeon), then I’d be surprised if you were limited to only 4,500-5,000 total scalp grafts available across your first and a potential second session. Your hairline/frontal third looks pretty decent to me, and a further touch up shouldn’t require many grafts at all. You’ll probably find something small like 500 grafts will go a long way to giving it a boost and won’t be particularly intrusive or hard to manage during those initial few months. Thank you. I visited a friend in Colombia, so I stopped by Dr.Camacho in Bogota since he is well known, and I visited 2 other doctors on the ishrs list. They said because my hair is so fine and thin, they could only do 1500-2000 grafts without the donor area looking patchy and messed up. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Regular Member sekiro109 Posted May 20 Regular Member Share Posted May 20 1 hour ago, Melvin- Admin said: You should consider topical dutasteride. It’s been a game changer for me, and no side effects. You can get it relatively easy in the US and Europe. Definitely give that a try. Stabilizing hair loss is essential. I've switched to topical dutasteride and honestly, have seen better results, which to me is quite surprising. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Valued Contributor Gatsby Posted May 20 Valued Contributor Share Posted May 20 8 hours ago, Jejubumbee said: I stupidly stopped taking minoxidil after, and my hair is much thinner. I read that hair loss stabilizes in mid-40's on average. Your hair will continue to thin in the donor (ever so slightly) over the years even if you feel that your hair MPB loss stabilizes naturally. You might want to consider topical finasteride from a dermatologist. Still, staying on minoxidil now will help if you have had a good response before but it will never equal blocking hair loss at the root cause (pardon the pun). All the best. 1 GATSBY 'UNPLUGGED!' 15,671 (3 surgeries) Grafts FUE+BHT Dr. Sethi Eugenix Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Valued Contributor Gatsby Posted May 20 Valued Contributor Share Posted May 20 I should add also that I cannot take finasteride (after numerous attempts) due to sexual side effects. However I do take 5mg a day of oral minoxidil and it has definitely helped. All the best. GATSBY 'UNPLUGGED!' 15,671 (3 surgeries) Grafts FUE+BHT Dr. Sethi Eugenix Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Valued Contributor Berba11 Posted May 20 Valued Contributor Share Posted May 20 9 hours ago, Jejubumbee said: Thank you. I visited a friend in Colombia, so I stopped by Dr.Camacho in Bogota since he is well known, and I visited 2 other doctors on the ishrs list. They said because my hair is so fine and thin, they could only do 1500-2000 grafts without the donor area looking patchy and messed up. I'd want to seek the opinions of some surgeons who deal with bigger graft harvesting sessions if I were you. Pittella, Sethi, Zarev, Hattingen, H&W are the really big names in that area... My sense is you'd get quite a different evaluation from some of these guys versus other surgeons who may be more conservative in terms of what they're willing to take from a donor area. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators Al - Moderator Posted May 20 Moderators Share Posted May 20 If minoxidil was working then get back on that. If you were using topical min then you can try oral min which should work better. Whether you wait to do another transplant or do it now is up to you, but if it's bothering you now then why wait a few more years. You're already 40. It's not like your 25 and worried about using all your donor at a young age. 1 Al Forum Moderator (formerly BeHappy) I am a forum moderator for hairrestorationnetwork.com. I am not a Dr. and I do not work for any particular Dr. My opinions are my own and may not reflect the opinions of other moderators or the owner of this site. I am also a hair transplant patient and repair patient. You can view some of my repair journey here. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jejubumbee Posted May 21 Author Share Posted May 21 Does anyone have doctors they recommend in Latin America? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now