Am I way off base?

[Blake2010]

Here's what I'm thinking...

Norwood 3 at 29 years old with a thinning crown...and no family history of hair loss. Unfortunately I'm the black sheep of the family...

-Either a Strip or FUE to go very aggressive with the front hair line...I want a great hairline again...so bad.

-Remain on Propecia and Rogaine as I have for the past (2) years...I guess indefinitely.

-With the hope that HSC or another therapy comes around to fill-in my crown and fight future hair loss.

[CIT_Girl]

If you are having success with Propecia, I would definitely recommend you continue taking it for as long as the benefit outweighs any cost. I think that it does make sense to save your limited donor supply for your hairline since having a nice 'frame' for your face can make a world of difference, and will require much less hair than it would to achieve a similar density in the crown. My only concern would be that you are still young and therefore do not want to create too aggressive of a hairline in case your hair loss progresses further and you run out of donor hair prematurely. Also, because you will live with the results of your transplant for the rest of your life, you want to be sure that you receive a hairline that will still look appropriate as you age.

I would suggest that you submit photos to a few IAHRS-recommended physicians to see whether they believe you would be a good candidate, to get an idea of what sort of long-term plan they feel would work for you, and also to see how many grafts you will likely need to achieve the hairline you desire. Although you are young, you seem to have realistic expectations and a solid understanding of the progressive nature of hair loss so, if a small number of grafts would restore your confidence, I wouldn't necessarily discourage you from proceeding with a small procedure.

[Blake2010]

Thanks for the reply CIT Girl...

Would it make sense to use as much donor hair as needed to get my Front hairline really nice...and then...Fill in my crown and any future loss with:

1) remaining donor hair
2) move on to body hair
3) and then hope for HSC or another therapy like PRP

[mattj]

If you can handle the crown loss then more power to you, and I can understand prioritizing the face-framing frontal aspect of your hair.
If you're a NW3 you could have a great job done on your hairline without completely depleting your donor area, assuming that you have at least average density in the donor region.

[NateDog]

To all the Doctor Representatives or even Doctors

I have thinning on my top vertex/crown. When is a little thinning just a no go area to getting hair restoration. Lets say one doctor says it will take 800 grafts to get appropriate density is it better to hold for another couple of years to let it progress

I worry about small sessions and to have a number of them over and over might destroy the donor area. But I also worry about aggressive packing in thinning areas and using up donor for future loss. I notice most guys see best results if they are over forty and do some major mega sessions. I guess its all about what is possible and expectations

I am a norwood 3 (starting to thin in vertex) and 33 years old

[Dr. Glenn Charles]

At your age you may want to consider trying Propecia for a year before transplanting to the crown. There is no doubt that the results are more dramatic when the recipient area is totally bald before the procedure. However, more and more patients are being pro-active and transplanting areas before the hair loss becomes more obvious.

[NateDog]

Doctor Charles can I pick your brain please

Is it true that It is ideal to have fewer transplant sessions as the scalp can only take so much trauma and donor gets more and more depleted over multiple sessions

In saying this it is tough on a patient to wait until they can appropriately move into an area and safely place 4000 grafts (versus 2 or 3 top up sessions totally 4000 grafts)

Being in New Zealand makes it so tough I would be consulting and meeting past patients all over the place if I was in the States. I have only photos to key off and even then its hard to tell. I have had 1200 grafts to date and before going the full noise (scar is only 9 cm and I can live with shaved on that) I am trying to manage my own expectations and what is achievable based on worse case scenarios

That is norwood 6 on Chinese medium or just above average thickness straight black hair. After the 1200 grafts I was also told I had 6000+ remaining donor. I guess in my head say donor over time depletes and I have 5500 available and 1200 used I am thinking norwood 6 Chinese. If I sacraficed a low hairline and went with a naturally receeding high hairline what would it look like and would I find it acceptable in terms of density and look. The twenty thousand dollar question :S

Alas we all cannot be Jotronic or Bobman *sigh*