Is There Any Hope For A Hair Transplant For Me?

[Breaking Bald]

You're right though. Start with smaller steps first.

The only thing is, he probably should take Dutasteride, at his stage. He's between a Norwood
four and five. It's really agressive at his young age.

@BreakingBald - You should start with Dutasteride, .5 milligrams.

Yeaaa I can't see me doing that, it's just too much. I actually have a very high sex drive so maybe that would mean side effects would be less likely, but who knows? These drugs are unpredictable and to me messing with hormones seems like risky business. I guess I will shave my head and see if I can live with it at first, one thing is fur sure I can't go on with this ridiculously thin hair, it just looks bad.

 

[JeanLucBB]

Yeaaa I can't see me doing that, it's just too much. I actually have a very high sex drive so maybe that would mean side effects would be less likely, but who knows? These drugs are unpredictable and to me messing with hormones seems like risky business. I guess I will shave my head and see if I can live with it at first, one thing is fur sure I can't go on with this ridiculously thin hair, it just looks bad.

I mean I'm only 22 but I had 3 years of knowing I needed finasteride and stressing over my hairloss. I thought for the whole time that as a health conscious person I couldn't take the drug, but after all that time I realised that it was taking over my life and I went on to actually read a bunch of propecia studies and realised there is only a 2-5% chance at best that you'll get sides, and only 0.1% are long lasting. I talked to three doctors and they all said it was their most prescribed drug and they were handing prescriptions out 3 or 4 times a week, with maybe 5% of patients coming back with side effects.

I think finasteride is the key for you really. If you stick with finasteride and get a megasession of 4500-5000 grafts you'd have a damn good result that would last long term. Without finasteride you're always going to be worrying about your hair. It's better to just take the plunge and see how you go.

I'm so much calmer ever since I got on finasteride. It was a fantastic decision ultimately and allowed me to get the transplant too.

 

[rclark]

Yeaaa I can't see me doing that, it's just too much. I actually have a very high sex drive so maybe that would mean side effects would be less likely, but who knows? These drugs are unpredictable and to me messing with hormones seems like risky business. I guess I will shave my head and see if I can live with it at first, one thing is fur sure I can't go on with this ridiculously thin hair, it just looks bad.

Acceptance is good, it really is.

Too much info about your sex drive though.

 

[Breaking Bald]

Acceptance is good, it really is.

Too much info about your sex drive though.

haha

 

[Breaking Bald]

I mean I'm only 22 but I had 3 years of knowing I needed finasteride and stressing over my hairloss. I thought for the whole time that as a health conscious person I couldn't take the drug, but after all that time I realised that it was taking over my life and I went on to actually read a bunch of propecia studies and realised there is only a 2-5% chance at best that you'll get sides, and only 0.1% are long lasting. I talked to three doctors and they all said it was their most prescribed drug and they were handing prescriptions out 3 or 4 times a week, with maybe 5% of patients coming back with side effects.

I think finasteride is the key for you really. If you stick with finasteride and get a megasession of 4500-5000 grafts you'd have a damn good result that would last long term. Without finasteride you're always going to be worrying about your hair. It's better to just take the plunge and see how you go.

I'm so much calmer ever since I got on finasteride. It was a fantastic decision ultimately and allowed me to get the transplant too.

I'm gonna give it some thought and also wait for ASHMED's reply to see what they recommend. In the meantime I might cut my hair down to a 1 or more likely 0.5mm and see if I can get used to the look. I really appreciate everybody's reply on here so thank you! It's such a difficult thing us men have to go through especially the younger ones. It really caused me a lot of grief and depression in my early twenties, I am just so tired of letting it consume my everyday life, it's always on the back of my mind and I'm tired of it. I want to move on and focus on other things.

 

[bluemoon1212]

You don't even know what progesterone is, yet think you're educated enough to make an informed decision about taking a dht inhibitor? You guys f*****g kill me.

 

[Breaking Bald]

You don't even know what progesterone is, yet think you're educated enough to make an informed decision about taking a dht inhibitor? You guys f*****g kill me.

Are you referring to me? I haven't made any decision to take anything yet..

 

[Breaking Bald]

And there you have it, ASHMED got back to me today. They advised going on Finasteride for 6 months first, they didn't go into much detail as to why but the answer is fairly obvious. So now my choices are shave or go on propecia.

 

[JeanLucBB]

And there you have it, ASHMED got back to me today. They advised going on Finasteride for 6 months first, they didn't go into much detail as to why but the answer is fairly obvious. So now my choices are shave or go on propecia.

Just my thought from my own experience, acceptance doesn't occur until you've exhausted your options. There was another guy on the forums in the last day saying he felt suicidal over a norwood 2, and he was 38 years old. I only had 3 years or so of dealing with hairloss and even as a norwood 3 I could get attractive women regularly, but every single day I was worrying about hairloss before I got on propecia and it was only getting worse. When I finally got on the 0.25mg of finasteride it was more symbolic of acceptance of a serious problem and not letting hairloss rule my life than anything else, feel absolutely no side effects after taking it for 6 monthsish aside from a mild ball tingle in the first week.

If you get on finasteride, there's about a 5% chance you won't handle it and at least you'll know you tried. If you stick with it no problems you're guaranteed a major recovery if you go to a place like ASMED. If you take the finasteride route I guarantee you'll have a positive attitude about the situation because you'll know you at least you aimed for the best result and it didn't work out.

Half of finasteride success is a positive attitude too I think. Working out regularly to increase T levels should help too.

 

[Breaking Bald]

Just my thought from my own experience, acceptance doesn't occur until you've exhausted your options. There was another guy on the forums in the last day saying he felt suicidal over a norwood 2, and he was 38 years old. I only had 3 years or so of dealing with hairloss and even as a norwood 3 I could get attractive women regularly, but every single day I was worrying about hairloss before I got on propecia and it was only getting worse. When I finally got on the 0.25mg of finasteride it was more symbolic of acceptance of a serious problem and not letting hairloss rule my life than anything else, feel absolutely no side effects after taking it for 6 monthsish aside from a mild ball tingle in the first week.

If you get on finasteride, there's about a 5% chance you won't handle it and at least you'll know you tried. If you stick with it no problems you're guaranteed a major recovery if you go to a place like ASMED. If you take the finasteride route I guarantee you'll have a positive attitude about the situation because you'll know you at least you aimed for the best result and it didn't work out.

Half of finasteride success is a positive attitude too I think. Working out regularly to increase T levels should help too.

But is 0.25mg even enough to do anything? It's a very small dose.

Secondly do statements like this not scare you?

'A 2015 meta analysis found that none of the clinical trials testing finasteride in hair loss had adequate safety reporting and did not provide sufficient information to establish the safety profile for finasteride as a treatment for hair loss. The study concluded the existing clinical trials of finasteride for hair loss provide very limited information on toxicity, are of poor quality, and seem to be systematically biased toward under-detection of adverse events. Moreover, the trials submitted to the FDA for approval for hair loss excluded most men who would normally be prescribed finasteride for androgenic alopecia

Although considered a cosmetic issue rather than necessarily an adverse effect, gynecomastia may also occur following finasteride usage and can be a source of psychological distress.'

 

[JeanLucBB]

But is 0.25mg even enough to do anything? It's a very small dose.

Secondly do statements like this not scare you?

'A 2015 meta analysis found that none of the clinical trials testing finasteride in hair loss had adequate safety reporting and did not provide sufficient information to establish the safety profile for finasteride as a treatment for hair loss. The study concluded the existing clinical trials of finasteride for hair loss provide very limited information on toxicity, are of poor quality, and seem to be systematically biased toward under-detection of adverse events. Moreover, the trials submitted to the FDA for approval for hair loss excluded most men who would normally be prescribed finasteride for androgenic alopecia

Although considered a cosmetic issue rather than necessarily an adverse effect, gynecomastia may also occur following finasteride usage and can be a source of psychological distress.'

The response curve of finasteride is such that 0.25mg should block about 80% as much DHT as 1mg and 5mg blocks about 3% more than 1mg in the average person. I agree it's good to be sceptical of various FDA trials, however finasteride isn't exactly an understudied or underused drug. As I mentioned from my experience, I went three doctors and each said it was one of if not their most prescribed drug and only about 5% got side effects, which is consistent with the data in studies. I haven't seen a single study that put the rate of sides above 8%. Also should be noted that the rate of those in the placebo group got 60% as many side effects as those taking the pill itself.

Another thing the doctor that gave me the prescription said and I found it helped was to stop reading about the drug. Just take it, keep a positive outlook and keep healthy through exercise and heavy lifting which will help increase T levels. It's easy to feel cautious about it when you're constantly reading hundreds of complaints from that very vocal 5% who had issues (whether mental or real) from it.

 

[Pequod]

You can start off on .25 for a month to see how your body reacts, if everything is fine them bump it up to .5 for a month or two. If still Ok then go for 1 mg or 1.25 depending on the generic version you have. Without it you have no option but to lose a lot more hair.

 

[rclark]

@BreakingBald

Really think you're going to be taken advantage of by an unethical hair transplant doctor, I really do.

That said, going from a full head of hair to a Norwood five in seven years, you really should start
taking medications with a proven track record.

Finasteride tablets are scored. You can cut the dose if you want, but maybe you should consider taking
a full dosage now, to spare yourself the headache that might happen down the road.

 

[Ravinder]

Ok...do not drink, smoke and exert too much. You should practice Yoga and Meditation daily to met your goals of complete hair restoration. This can be cured only with your will power. No one can improve it because its your problem and you have to work on it.

 

[PappinAce]

You could get away with an hair transplant to frame your face, it seems you already reached you final Norwood pattern even if the crown at this point is diffuse. The surgeon could tell where to safely harvest the grafts.

exactly, you might have stabilized at this point and won't reach NW7. hair loss =/= total eventual baldness. in this case a transplant could be worth it. see if it gets worse in the next year.

i remember you from Bald Truth Talk, Breaking Bald. how are things going otherwise? did it work out with that lady you were dating?

 

[Breaking Bald]

Thanks for the replies guy but I've decided to not take finasteride, everything I go down that rabbit hole I just get more and more lost. The division on any article, forum and video is almost always 50%, half saying it's fine they've been using it for years etc etc. the other half swearing it's poison and that many haven't recovered etc etc.

 

[Breaking Bald]

This can be cured only with your will power. No one can improve it because its your problem and you have to work on it.

Say what now...? With will power alone? lol Please elaborate.

 

[Breaking Bald]

exactly, you might have stabilized at this point and won't reach NW7. hair loss =/= total eventual baldness. in this case a transplant could be worth it. see if it gets worse in the next year.

i remember you from Bald Truth Talk, Breaking Bald. how are things going otherwise? did it work out with that lady you were dating?

Hey man, what was your name on BTT? Things are ok, I am back at University finishing my degree, I am hoping to start as a freelance once I finish, thing's have been much more positive in general over the last year and I feel more confident within myself. Wow yea that comment made me think back. She was a lovely woman but I wasn't ready at that time to settle down and we drifted apart unfortunately. She was four years older than me and when I was 22/23 that felt like a big deal back then. How's things with you?

 

[PappinAce]

glad to hear you're feeling more confident! when you can find things independently of hair that make you happy, like school and work, then you have reached a better form of existence.

i had the same name on BTT but i didn't post much, remembered your topic though...it was quite the long discussion! sometimes your life intersects with a woman for a moment in time, but you're just not in the same place and it doesn't survive. that's ok.

i'm doing better now. also finished university and started my career...on the other side of the country! it's nice to get a fresh start and be away from the toxic place of my old life.

 

[spring15]

I tried finasteride and got sides & haven't fully recovered but I'm about 80%

But I'm glad I tried it, otherwise I'd of spent the years wondering if it could have worked for me.

No more what if's.