pictures - sadly not a significant progress

[drinkrum]

If I were in your shoes, I would shave my head, tan up a bit, and grow some muscle. Definitely kill the combover. That's the _last_ thing you want to do.

Finasteride is dose-dependent but only marginally so. Doses as low as 0.2 mg are almost as effective as 1 mg. That said, I would take the dose that Merck has concluded is best: 1 mg/day. But even taking 5 mg/day is not a big risk -- millions of men take that dose everyday. I doubt, however, that it will have any substantial effect on your hair situation.

At your advanced point in hair loss, many people would consider dutasteride. I am by far not a fan of the drug, but if you're willing to risk the possible side effects (do a search on this forum for some of my and Bismarck's old discussions), then it might offer you better treatment of your alopecia. You could go see a hair transplant surgeon, but you might want to wait a few years until your hair loss has stabilized. Also note that the surgeon will prescribe you Propecia and you will have to take it for the rest of your life to avoid making your transplant look ridiculous.

D.

 

[Shinyscalp23]

my internet is f''in up so im not sure if my last post got uploaded....anyways, make sure you go to a reputable dr-whether in india-or the u.s., canada, or western europe--wherever you live--but definitely be careful in India--now Im not saying the west is best, just make sure you go to a clean hospital with a well trained staff and a dr on par with western standards to avoid the risk of infection and shoddy results--dont go to some cheap, cosmetic "sweatshop"(im not ignorant--i know there are many brahman and upper caste neighborhoods that are like mini-north americas)..and yes, i know..indian drs are often the best over here in the states...so take no offense to what im saying, as its not out of ignorance but general concern..only thing tho is when you add up the expense of going there plus the procedure will the cheaper cost of getting it done over there make up for the difference? secondly, have you ever considered scalp reduction? from what ive heard--and i stand corrected if this isnt the case...but in scalp reduction they place a balloon under your scalp...etc etc...and basically stretch the back and sides of your head that have thick hair growing...to my knowledge this hair wouldnt be susceptible to dht since its not the hair from on top--and probably in the long run most ideal for low stress maintenance--depending on your length of stay in India as well--you have to factor in recovery time and so forth--personally i dont know if this would be a matter of concern to you, as i dont know if you go for 2 weeks, or 6 months or what have you...also...have you considered costa rica? ive heard they have a decent medical system...and many drs are big on cosmetic surgery there...and one my neighbors go there to get this and that done i think every so often...and some of the drs are even north americans and europeans that relocated- the majority of which are probably more up to date with the best there is to offer--and its cheaper than getting it done in the states and closer than india--now im sure there are drs in india that know the best of the best as well, just make sure the odds of finding one of those is in your favor..and if you were going there to visit family, would you really wanna spend most of your time recovering and not enjoying your time with them? No offense, but I dont know if I could trust the Indian medical system for something like this, simply because there isnt enough uniformity throughout the whole to build up my confidence--altho since youre even considering the idea of a transplant, my guess would be that youd go to an upper caste hi-tech hospital thats probably decent..another thing..if u go for the hair transplant---will a dr in india prescribe propecia to you indefinitely..or would you just buy it online? personally, when my hair loss gets severe enough, im going for scalp reduction, as that hair is not affected by the dht and the results are more rapidly seen in real time

 

[techprof]

drinkrum, thanks for you comments. I am seriously thinking of shaving my head.

shinyscalp, thanks for your response on hair transplant in India. I searched around for few doctors in India. you can get it done for 1000$ (irrespective of number of grafts). I have decided to go to Dr. Poswal who has a website http://www.besthairtransplant.com and his rates are expensive compared to any other doctor in India, but still cheaper than US. I saw some users posting about him in the other website. He even does body hair transplantation. He has a policy of giving address of any of his patients. If you want, you can talk to any of his patients. I am not sure the even any hair transplant doctor in the US will do that.

I usually visit India for 3-4 weeks. I can get this done in one day and hopefully in few months they will grow. I live in a small university town in the US. I am scared of Bosley in Atlanta. If I had to go for a good doctor in the US, I have to travel a minium of three or four times.

I am not offended by your statements on India. I will definitely watch the hygiene. However, these days some airports/offices have better maintained restrooms than what we have in the US.

Coming to your point about brahmins/uppercaste in India. I am a Brahman. Unfortunately brahmins/uppercaste does not mean that they are rich. In fact as of today, the annual income of brahmins in India is perhaps one of the lowest. However, brahmins are likely to be well educated because of their genes and it runs in their family. Moreover, unless they study/work extremely hard, they cannot survive.

This is because of the stupid reverse discrimination and reservation based on caste happening in India.

 

[Shinyscalp23]

have you ever considered scalp reduction? like i said the results are quicker (literally the hair from your back and sides is going on top)and except for the front (which i believe requires some transplants) the hair isnt prone to dht, because its hair from the sides and not hair growing on the top, per se, you wouldnt have to worry about most of that hair ever going bye bye

 

[techprof]

shinyscalp, do you know of anyone doing scalp reduction in US?
I have read in some forums long time back (don't remember) that scalp reduction may not look real/natural and might come off in your later years.