New to the Forum. General Hair Transplant Questions?

[danch]

Hi all,

i am 21 and my hair loss is really starting to become noticeable now. My dad was Norwood-5 by the age of 22. I have been taking finasteride for about 10 months now and have not noticed any results. My hairline and temples are receding noticeably now and there is a patch at my crown that is very thin. However everywhere else on top of my head is still rather thick, but i know i will lose that all one day eventually too. I know i will be Norwood-5 one day and definitely want to get a hair transplant because already my hair loss has taken a toll on my confidence.

So my main question is, if i decide to get an hair transplant within the next year or so and i still have rather thick hair at some parts of the top of my head can i still put in enough grafts to cover the whole head for one day when i eventually will lose all my natural hair?

The reason i ask this is because i am Canadian and would really consider Hasson and Wong and because they seem to boast their fut capabilities plus the obvious incentive of a cheaper cost makes me really want to choose this method. Also it would be nice to do one megasession with them and cover the whole top of my head in one shot. I am not too concerned about the scar as i do have real thick hair all around my head but the top and i have no problem with keeping my hair longer, and even in years from now i should not have to worry as my dad still has real thick hair everywhere but on the top of the head (lucky us ).

Well any opinions/answers are welcomed since im sure many of you know what i am going through.

 

[eenrak]

First of all, you can damage healthy follicles if you transplant to areas with hair already and it is not something that is generally performed.
You basically have two options. One is to wait and see if finasteride can at least maintain or really slow your hairloss and then fill out the areas with hair loss. This generaly gives more natural looking results.
If you can't maintain your current hair, you should wait till it gets more severe, and get a transplant then. You will not have enough grafts to make it look thick and natural, but if you shave it down or use concealers, you would at least have the illusion of hair.

Other than that, you should really consider if you can live with the scar, when getting fut. One day you could be wanting to to shave your head.

If I were you, I would look into minoxidil. It is better for regrowth, and it will work synergistically with finasteride. If you still can't maintain at least, I would look into dutasteride.

Hair transplants are a last resort. Good luck.

 

[danch]

ahh okay, this is sad to hear. The last thing i want to do is be balding in my 20s, id rather not wait until it gets more severe. I guess it is possible to get one treatment done now for my hairline and crown and when the rest goes (if it ever does, fingers crossed finasteride saves whatever is left up there) get a second one? not sure if you've heard stories of this being done or not, just kind of curious.

thanks

 

[eenrak]

It is better to wait for your hair to stabilise before looking into hair transplants. If you can't significantly stop your hair loss now it will probably first stabilise around NW5 like your father. This is of course speculation since it isn't always very predictable. Could be better, could be worse, but since you are receding and thinning in the crown at 21, I would not have my hopes up, I'm afraid.

Depending on how severe your hairloss is, you could regrow some hair by adding treatments like minoxidil and shifting to dutasteride. Some people take finasteride 6 days a week and dutasteride 1 day a week, which could also benifit you. My advice is to hit the treatment road hard, before even considering hair transplants.

Many people get second, third or fourth hair transplants, especially if they are not on treatment. Getting hair transplants without stable hair is not very clever, since you will have to dedicate months of your life every 1-2 years for healing and what not. Furthermore, if you get transplants while your remaining hair is still thick (but male pattern baldness is progressing), it will look unnatural to get a thin coat of hair covering the bald spots. However, if you try to match the thicker density of your remaining hair, you will most likely run out of donor hair and need to use body hair (not optimal) or simply give up and accept the unnatural look. That is why it is better to wait for your hair to stabilise either on treatment or just simply wait until your hair is NW4 - NW5 and then get a thin coat of hair to make the illusion of hair. Even thin hair to frame the face goes a long way, when shaved.