Any hope for a hair transplant??

[Breaking Bald]

Hey guys,

Been on and off this forum for years now, I've just turned 27 and my hair loss is so severe now :/ I started losing it at 20-21 years old, which as you can imagine was very difficult to come to terms with. Back then I was already dealing with some pretty horrific things that my family went through, so hair loss on top of that was a real soul destroyer and I suffered greatly for quite a few years. I'm at the point now where I have to either shave it off and accept it, or get a hair transplant for something to frame my face. It’s not a nice situation to be in, I still feel far too young to be fully bald, it will age me significantly and will affect my confidence unless I can fully accept it and be happy bald.

I won’t touch propecia and have been using minoxidil for years and it’s not really doing anything anymore, I think it helped to slow down my mpb for a while. I am well aware of hair transplants, the procedure, the expectations etc. I went to a reputable clinic recently who reckoned I had about 4,500 grafts worth of donor hair. They were reluctant to operate due to my age and said that they would only be willing to transplant 1,500 grafts for a frontal lock to frame my face until seeing how far my hair loss progressed in the future. However, the way I look at it is this; I am a diffuse thinner, you can see exactly where my hair loss is going to end at a norwood 5-6. I could use those 4,500 grafts for a semi decent result and possibly fill out the rest with body hair. I have a lot of chest and beard hair, the chest hair is even quite thick and grows pretty long!! I’m also aware that going down the HT route is a long, expensive and potentially risky. It’s a really tough to decision to come to so I was just hoping to get some opinions/advice on this forum from those more experienced than me who have gone down this route. It’s also worth mentioning that I can’t really afford prices in UK so I would be considering going to a reputable clinic in somewhere like Turkey.

I am really tired of hair loss affecting me so badly and I just want to move on with my life one way or another. I’ve attached some pictures for you to look at my donor hair and density. Look forward to hearing from some of you.

Thank you!
BB

[k9gatton]

Progesterone has regrown all of my diffuse areas. Where my scalp follicles are dead, it hasn't worked.

Currently I take five milligrams topically. It's been so successful I am doubling it to ten milligrams.

Think you would gain most of your hairline, and probably the majority of your vertex back.

[J_B_Davis]

First of all it looks like you would be able to pull off a close cropped look, so that might be an option. Since you have chosen not to take Propecia, I would say a hair transplant at your stage would be risky and probably will not provide you with the look you really want. It’s very possible that you will be worse off if you choose to have surgery even with the best FUE clinic.

[HTsoon]

I remember I responded to your thread a year ago, I believe Joe felt you were not a candidate, my suggestion will remain the same, if you are really interested in knowing whether you are a candidate for a hair transplantation you need to have an in person evaluation with an ethical surgeon, I went to Dr. Gabel in Portland Orgeon for evaluation, he's as ethical as they come, it's impossible for anyone to accurately asses your situation with out evaluating whats going on with your hair at the magnification level, some high magnification glasses are needed to do this. Most HT surgeons are equipped with this equipment, your donor looks fine to me, however under magnification you could have miniaturization that is not detected by the naked eye. I had my first transplant at 29 in 2014 I dont take finasteride, 3 years later its still going strong, but again only an in depth look at your family history and in person evaluation could give an estimate as to what your future hair loss could be.

[Louish]

Progesterone has regrown all of my diffuse areas. Where my scalp follicles are dead, it hasn't worked.

Currently I take five milligrams topically. It's been so successful I am doubling it to ten milligrams.

Think you would gain most of your hairline, and probably the majority of your vertex back.

Post some before/after pics!

[k9gatton]

Post some before/after pics!

Already did. Check out my Progesterone thread!

And, I'm getting another script as well. It's really working for me.

Of course, the scalp with no terminal hair isn't growing back that well.

Really believe BreakingBald would benefit from this. He would at least regrow
his diffuse areas, and the vertex, if anything.

[Louish]

Already did. Check out my Progesterone thread!

And, I'm getting another script as well. It's really working for me.

Of course, the scalp with no terminal hair isn't growing back that well.

Really believe BreakingBald would benefit from this. He would at least regrow
his diffuse areas, and the vertex, if anything.

I've seen those, the before is a super close up with so much light compared to the after pic you can't really make an assertion from it...More light makes everything look worse. You don't have a better set of pictures?

[k9gatton]

Attached the file. Wrong about that.



That's March 3rd, 2017. I need to update this more often.

Admin, could you please delete my post above? Thanks.

[Breaking Bald]

Sounds dogdy as to take something like that...and clearer pics would be more helpful in bright light.

[Breaking Bald]

I remember I responded to your thread a year ago, I believe Joe felt you were not a candidate, my suggestion will remain the same, if you are really interested in knowing whether you are a candidate for a hair transplantation you need to have an in person evaluation with an ethical surgeon, I went to Dr. Gabel in Portland Orgeon for evaluation, he's as ethical as they come, it's impossible for anyone to accurately asses your situation with out evaluating whats going on with your hair at the magnification level, some high magnification glasses are needed to do this. Most HT surgeons are equipped with this equipment, your donor looks fine to me, however under magnification you could have miniaturization that is not detected by the naked eye. I had my first transplant at 29 in 2014 I dont take finasteride, 3 years later its still going strong, but again only an in depth look at your family history and in person evaluation could give an estimate as to what your future hair loss could be.

Cheers for you reply man, I got preoccupied with this thread on another forum as it got more responses. Basically been told by ASHMED that they want me to take propecia which I'm not willing to do so looks like I am going to start living life as a bald man in the next 1-2 years. Glad things worked out for you so far, guess you were afraid of fin too? It just seems so dodgy to me no matter what people say.

[Breaking Bald]

First of all it looks like you would be able to pull off a close cropped look, so that might be an option. Since you have chosen not to take Propecia, I would say a hair transplant at your stage would be risky and probably will not provide you with the look you really want. It’s very possible that you will be worse off if you choose to have surgery even with the best FUE clinic.

Understood

[HTsoon]

Cheers for you reply man, I got preoccupied with this thread on another forum as it got more responses. Basically been told by ASHMED that they want me to take propecia which I'm not willing to do so looks like I am going to start living life as a bald man in the next 1-2 years. Glad things worked out for you so far, guess you were afraid of fin too? It just seems so dodgy to me no matter what people say.

I wasn't afraid of Fin, I took it when I was 21 and experienced negative side effects, so I can't tolerate Finasteride unfortunately if I could believe me I would be taking it. I do however take Lipogaine and Lipogaine big 3 shampoo. It has some mild 5 alpha reductase inhibitors. Things have worked out very well for me, I'm glad I did it, of course no one case is the same, I was basically the same level of hair loss at 27 and by 29 it had gotten REALLY bad, as you say you will be living life as a bald man in about 2 years.

ASMED and Dr. Lorenzo are big proponents for Finasteride, however you will find some doctors who do not require you to take Finasteride, again I can't stress enough how important a live consultation is, based on your family history and a thorough evaluation a surgeon can have a pretty good idea of what your future loss will look like, of course there are no guarantees but some surgeons who have been performing HT's for over 20 years have a pretty good track record. Worst case scenario are you open to hair systems?

This was my hair at 29 years old in 2014 right before my first procedure


This is a side view with the sides cut at a zero guard after 5,300 grafts via FUE


This is something most won't show you, the hair parted down the middle, you see it's still no where near my original density, so managing expectations is critical.


Once the hair is combed over and styled the weaknesses disappear, but they are there most definitely.


And yes my crown is still thin, I'm 6 months post op from my crown procedure and this is what it looks like so far, having a thin crown is something that I accepted long ago


I hope me sharing my story and experience can help you, and remember doing nothing is never a bad decision. But if its truly something you want to consider meet with some ethical surgeons.

[Breaking Bald]

Hey HT Soon, thanks for you reply again man. What is your final norwood btw? There aren't any clear pics of the back of your head. I think your result is great man, do you have any grafts left?

[Breaking Bald]

I do however take Lipogaine and Lipogaine big 3 shampoo. It has some mild 5 alpha reductase inhibitors.

How has that worked for you? Do you think they have improved your hair? Would you recommend using it? I remember reading about that stuff years ago, don't know I didn't include it into my regime.

[HTsoon]

Hey HT Soon, thanks for you reply again man. What is your final norwood btw? There aren't any clear pics of the back of your head. I think your result is great man, do you have any grafts left?

Based on my examination with Dr. Gabel and Dr. Mohebi they both inspected my lateral humps and saw zero miniaturization, therefore both believed I will be a Norwood 6 perhaps advanced Norwood 6, my dads uncle is the only bald person in my family and he was a Norwood 6 in his 60's, I do not have any Norwood 7's in my family that I know of, here is a pic of the back at a zero guard after 5,300 grafts, the scars are there but not very noticeable even at a zero guard, with a two guard they aren't visible at all. As for grafts I'm not sure I believe I have about another 1,000-1,500 via FUE. But I won't be getting any surgeries for at least another 10 years when I'm in my 40s. Maybe just some temple point work, I'm satisfied with everything else.

How has that worked for you? Do you think they have improved your hair? Would you recommend using it? I remember reading about that stuff years ago, don't know I didn't include it into my regime.

I've noticed a big difference from switching to Lipogaine, rogaine foam I used prior and I honestly felt it did nothing. I think the Lipogaine absorbs better and also has a mild DHT blocking effect.