5mg Finpecia ordered, pill cutter bought -- it's time

[BigThinker]

You're both right. Just ordered more fin and minox liquid. The battle continues on my scalp, not beneath it.

[Notcoolanymore]

You're both right. Just ordered more fin and minox liquid. The battle continues on my scalp, not beneath it.

Regardless of the reason for leaving. I think you are doing the right thing. Stressing about hair loss blows, and such an effin waste of time. Treat it like you are doing and put it on the back burner. You will be missed around here. A level headed poster on these forums is sometimes hard to find. Hopefully you will drop by every now and then and give your input.

[unk]

Great stuff BT. Yes I believe you are absolutely right about prowling the forums serves to just weigh on your mind the issue. Theres truths in surrounding yourself with positivity vs negativity. I experience joy when I am present in the now, in flow of living, such as participating in sports and hobbies, or hanging out with friends or girls. I dont think forums are redundant, as people do need help here and there are people in a position to help them, but I dont consider myself either of those groups.

I thought you should know I have arranged to meet Dr. Feriduni of Belgium, in London, for an FUE consultation in a few weeks. I will post my experience I should think, I am excited

Apologies for lack of apostrophe, my keyboard is busted!

[capitan]

Good luck with everything man.

I think no matter what you gotta keep women and gym in your life, hair or no hair. Maybe it's because I'm in high school but that's all I want.

For now I like to remind myself of the statistics whenever I realize my hair has gotten worse in some way. 90% chance? I should be happy about that.

[BigThinker]

Great stuff BT. Yes I believe you are absolutely right about prowling the forums serves to just weigh on your mind the issue. Theres truths in surrounding yourself with positivity vs negativity. I experience joy when I am present in the now, in flow of living, such as participating in sports and hobbies, or hanging out with friends or girls. I dont think forums are redundant, as people do need help here and there are people in a position to help them, but I dont consider myself either of those groups.

I thought you should know I have arranged to meet Dr. Feriduni of Belgium, in London, for an FUE consultation in a few weeks. I will post my experience I should think, I am excited

Apologies for lack of apostrophe, my keyboard is busted!

Appreciate the feedback, friend.

Good luck with your consultation and tentative HT. I'll be interested in hearing your results!

Good luck with everything man.

I think no matter what you gotta keep women and gym in your life, hair or no hair. Maybe it's because I'm in high school but that's all I want.

For now I like to remind myself of the statistics whenever I realize my hair has gotten worse in some way. 90% chance? I should be happy about that.

Hey, fella. I'm almost 26 and I still care about my physical appearance as much as I did in high school. The difference at my age is the women aren't as conceited (most of them anyways) and the "measure of the man" has slowly shifted towards career (income, prestige, identity), stability/confidence, ability to engage in stimulating conversation, etc.

Better believe looks still matter, but less so than in Highschool; I don't think there's a time in our lives where we're judged more on looks than at your age.

I'm certain you'll triumph hair loss regardless of the outcome. Never lose sight of the long-term; stay diligent in your studies, career development, social skill promotion, etc.

I'll end with saying I'm always very impressed with dudes your age who endure this condition. It gives slightly older dudes like me a little perspective.

Best.

[unk]

Hey BT,

Just checking in about my consult experience a week or two ago. Hope you are well, whats new?

So I met Spex and Dr Feriduni in a very luxurious hotel, and it was an absolutely pleasure, both are great fellas. It was a surreal experience, but they were very complimentary toward me and overall a very fun experience.

I told him I was just here to get his opinion, and that if I were to have something, FUE would be the only option for me.

The Doc did some examinations on my head, and showed me live images of my hair. My donor was slightly above average, I dont remember exactly, perhaps around 80FU/whatever, though he said it varied between around 60 in one patch and nearer 100 elsewhere, a variation surprised me, but it was cool to know. With lots of 2,3,4 FUs (multiple hairs per follicle) which is good.

He measured in my balding area (2/3 the top of my head) where I was contemplating FUE, and he determined that the distance between native follicles was too small for a procedure, in that to transplant new hair there would cause trauma or transection to the native hair. Basically, I would get newly transplanted hair, but probably lose the native hair, making it nonsensical. He said that to not get him wrong, he would love to just be able to tell me yes, but it is not his recommendation, that if he were me he would not do it yet himself. I really appreciated his sincerity, and I absolutely trust his opinion on the matter.

I dont have numbers to crunch to know how diffuse my balding zones are, but asides from the consultation I appear to myself to be very diffuse, more so than many patients I have seen, though the guys didnt seem to think so. The reality must be that you dont often see FUE in zones 1-4 unless the density is very very low, because most procedures are filling in temples or creating a hairline, both of which are unlikely to have native follicle to damage. He recommended to continue with medication, and we can maybe talk again another time, as he consults in the UK every year.

Though he had made the diagnosis, he was very willing to reassure me of any questions I had, and we talked for a while. He determined there was no miniaturization on my swirl which also surprised me, as with a shaved head It appears as though my density is low in all norwood zones, but he noted the miniaturization stops around 70% back on the top of my head.

I must confess I felt mixed emotions. There was slightly disappointment, but relief and optimism too. I feel I was prepared to resolve my hair situation with surgery, whilst I have the money, and to some extent the time. Though I was certainly not looking forward to figuring out how to hide from the world, and work, without an excuse, for 4-5-6 weeks at my moms whilst my head healed. I did however come away very positive about my own situation. Their compliments were heartfelt, not that I feel I need it as I feel I have an accurate grasp on my own situation, but it was appreciated. To top it all off, my crown appears to be safe for now, that is great.

[BigThinker]

Hey BT,

Just checking in about my consult experience a week or two ago. Hope you are well, whats new?

Hey unk, sorry I didn't see this message from a year ago (whoa!). Hope all is well with you. Not being able to get a HT due to too dense of hair sounds like a win to me! Hope that's still the case. Also, I must say it's great that they turned you away out of best practice. Let me know how things are.

[Notcoolanymore]

Damn, how it going? Still on meds? How's the hair looking?

[BigThinker]

Update.

Figured I'd stop in and update my situation. I've taken a break from these forums, and I must say it was definitely the right move. I advise anyone who finds themselves incessantly combing the internet, typing in the same searches you have 20 other times, looking for information that doesn't exist, perusing these forums full of anger, anxiety, worry, spite, resent, etc., to take a break and go better yourself in every domain of your life.

Anyways, here's my situation:
~21 months on finasteride
~15 months on minoxidil
~6 months on nizoral and ketocarozole and......

My hair loss isn't stopping. It just isn't. I won't say I'm a non-responder, but I'm definitely not a good responder. Bummer, right? Sorta.

See, while I was gone from these forums, I had a relationship with pretty, smart girl. I got my Master's. I have a job at a company that's grooming me for leadership. I hit the gym 6 days a week. I eat good. I sleep good. I play guitar all the time. I party when I feel like it. Life isn't too bad. But, the hair, man!

Well, about a month ago I got fed up and went to the hair dress/barber/whatever, and told her to get the clippers. 1 guard on the sides, 2 guard on top. Pure and utter liberation. I absolute feared the day my weird head shape would be exposed, but it ended up not being that bad. Since then, I've bought a pair of clippers, thrown on the 1 guard and went all over with it. Nothing but compliments, girls rubbing my head and petting on my majestic beard -- seriously.

So, in previous posts, I had mentioned I took solace in having my crown being nice in full, that I was only dealing with a recessed hair line. Well, that didn't remain true, and the crown started to go (and I can definitely tell now that I buzz my head). The treatments just aren't strong enough. So what's next?

Well, I only used to use minoxidil on the hair line/frontal lobe, but now I have access to my whole head, so I'll give minoxidil a shot on my crown (have 6 months worth to burn anyways). I may or may not order finasteride again (got about 2 months left). I will probably continue with the shampoos, since I don't want an oily scalp if I go chrome dome.

That's it, guys. Hair loss is winning and probably will ultimately win the battle on the scalp battleground. But, I'll win the war. It won't bug me anymore. I'm 27 and have gotten to enjoy hair for a good portion of my life.

Hope everyone is doing well. I'll probably be infrequent at best, but look forward to touching with some of you guys who have been here a while.

[BigThinker]

Here's some pics. Camera is dark, but the thinning up top is pretty damn noticeable, especially in bright light.snapshot(1).jpgsnapshot.jpg

[Notcoolanymore]

Good to see you are winning the battle. Glad to hear you are taking care of business in all areas of your life.

BTW, your head shape doesn't look that bad at all.