Hi guys, I'm currently on proscar 1.25/day, been reading and researching a lot on these forums and building up a good base of knowledge about HT's. U guys all seem so supportive and it's great. Was wondering if some of you experienced guys (Falc, Hairbank, Beefy, Robert, Gorpy, etc, etc), and EVERYONE that has an opinion, could try to assess what they think of my situation (attached photo)! Obviously I know none of you are doctors but I do value your feedback greatly. Although if there was a Doc with a opinion that would be just as good, hehe

Want to get a HT soon, choosing from, Feller, Armani, Hasson & Wong, True, Bernstein or Dorin? Big list I know but anyone hav any strong opinions about these?

Not sure how to post more than one picture? So could anyone tell me how to, its welcomed?

But anyway thanks so much for your help (i hope)

Rick

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Ricky,

Welcome to the forums. We need to know your age. Is there much of a history of hair loss in your family? Also, do you have a profile shot? This is important for getting an accurate view of your situation.

first of all

to upload more pictures you can either

reply to your own post and upload a pic in each post.

or sign up for a profile with the site and u can upload future pics and show how your ht process has gone. its good so we can see before and after pics

about the doctors, it may be a big list, but its a good list and any doctor that you choose from should be wonderful
just get an online consultation with 3 doctors and youll get a feel of who you want to be your doctor.

as jotronic mentioned, we need to have your age
you look very young.

from my prospective i had a bad ht at the age of 20 but have gained experience and insight from it.

while many people think young people should not get ht's, it does not mean you should not go along with it

if you are young and want to get a HT, you MUST, MUST, MUST , MUST be informative of what the whole process is, and what its about.

you MUST PLAN, and be CONSERVATIVE at first because your donor is so limited.

well the general rule is that you usually do your norwood scale and multiple it by 1000, and thats the number of grafts you need.

from the one pic that you gave i would estimate 2250-2750 grafts

what is good news is that your hair characteristics is curly which should give more coverage

peacee

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Ricky-

It appears you have loss in the temple/widows peaks, maybe hairline rescission and some diffused thinning on top. The crown doesn't look too bad...............how long have you been taking Finasteride?

You really need to consult to get graft estimates.............just by seeing your pics, I'd say you'll need between 3000-3500 in frontal 1/3 will a little mixed in the mid-scalp area.........purely my best guess.

As Jotronic mentioned, how old are you? If you're in your early 20's, I'd hold off on the HT and see how you respond to the meds before jumping in the chair.

Thanx 4 ur replies. As u can see i've posted some more photos, hope their ok?

Tisab how do i sign up for a profile?

Yes ur right I am young, 20, however I want to explain why this is the right choice for me IMO. Ive been loosing since I was 17 and the amount lost has got really bad now. I wear a hat all day at Uni and only take it off to go out at nights (when its dark). When i do take the hat off I brush all the hair down forward to try to cover the receeding line although if its windy it gets blown back and i look like such an idiot and just go home! For the same 'windy' reason I cannot do any sports and i certainly cant go swimming, so as a very keen sportsman and swimmer this is devastating 4 me.

I am probably a Norward 2 to 3. My Dad is a norwood 6 and has been since i can remember, i.e. before he was 40. He said he was quite heavily receeding by 26 but obviously it started earlier. Both my Grandads were also 5's or 6's. My brother is two years older than me but hasnt lost much at all, altho he keeps his hair long so its difficult to tell. Wish my hair would grow! But i do notice slight receeding in him as well, maybe just below a Norwood 2.

I have been told I hav a good donor site and i would be looking to go for Strip rather than FUE, largely to do with the cost. I am not really worried about the scar at the back of my head as i think i could quite easily cover it (i know thats a major worry for a lot of people on here). However, my main worry would be the shock loss to the recipient area. I'd like to continue wearing a hat and be able to still pull my hair forward over any signs of a HT but would be worried that the receeding would go deeper from shock loss so i would not have enough to pull forward. Did anyone else have similar characteristics?

Thanks

Ricky,

I will address the shock loss issue only, as I agree with the others concerning your age and the use of meds.

If you look at my pics in the photo section, you will see that I had extensive recipient area shock loss. I believe that all pre-existing hair will come back, except for any native hair that would have been lost over the next year. Also,just because it happened in my case does not make it a certainty for you or others, but it is a possibility.

This is likely not welcome news, but I do want to give the straight goods.

Bayer

Hi

20 is very young for a HT and I would be against it for now.. I didn't get mine until I was 36 or so..A couple questions

How long have you been taking the meds?
Has your hairloss stabilized or not?

The reason for these points are if your hairloss isn't stabilized then you cannot plan an accurate gameplan as you will be losing more hair..

Let us know so we can see what your deal is

Hey Ricky,

While all of this is sound advice and advice that is made by people who are just trying to look out for you, if you really feel strongly about it, at least consult a good doctor. Here is a link to a page on Dr. Epstein's site with pictures of hair transplants that he has done on 20-21 year olds.

http://www.foundhair.com/pages/GalleryYoung.asp

This is a quote taken directly from Dr. Epstein's site: "Excellent results can also be achieved for young people, under the age of 21". You can see these patients by clicking on the above mentioned link.

I don't know why such a revered doctor would argue this unless it was true in certain scenarios. I had my procedure last November when I was 24, and most people consider this entirely too young. But the more I've actually been looking at what doctors have to say, the more you realize that there are more options for young people out there than many think, mostly due to medications, the current state of hair restoration, and the prospect for advancements. There generally ARE more profound statements made by some top docs warning against young hts which stand out more, but if you research carefully, you will find that this is not always the philosophy adopted by all coalition docs.

I also recently had an online consultation with Dr. True about minor refinement of my hairline, concerning the potential for a bit more density, closing off the right temple angle and a touch of feathering in the front, as I only had a mature hairline restored. After reading my story, history, goals, and viewing my pics, he responded and told me that in principle, there is nothing wrong with doing what I was requesting and that I should schedule an in-office consultation. If I had brought this up on the forum instead, I would have gotten a very different response. Some people would have even said that any doctor who would agree to it would be unethical. So I don't really know what's going on here, just that every case and patient is different and that you should definitely consider the advice given above by others but ultimately do not rule anything out until you've met with a reputable doctor. I'll hopefully be posting my 6 month pics from the first procedure soon when I get a chance, and I guarantee that if I put in a comment about possibly getting some refinement done, people are going to argue that it would be entirely unnessesary and flat out wrong to do ... maybe I should just keep it to myself from now on. You'll find that there have been other patients as young as 20 who have had procedures with Coalition doctors if you search the forum. My honest feeling is that this happens a little more than people think, but that most of us (well not me I guess) remain a silent minority. But it does happen. I bet if some of the posters on this forum (no one here) actually found out about the number of young patients Coaliton docs worked on, they would flip their lids and try to get them kicked out of the Coalition. RELATIVELY it is probably as small percentage but enough to make some people real mad, even though it does not concern them. I will say this: 9 out of 10 times when you hear horror stories from guys after an early ht resulted in a disaster, it was because:
A. It was done in like 1990.
B. There was no finasteride in back then.
C. Hair transplants looked like crap back then.
D. It was done by a crappy doctor and/or
The doc and patient had no plan developed

The reason you don't hear about this very much after modern procedures in young patients is simply because not enough time has passed to see what the long term results will be, and finasteride is relatively new (10 years). So you are taking a risk; but then again, the assumption that this is a bad decision is often based on uncertainty and stories from the dark ages of hts, not neccasarily on accounts from young patients today who have used Coalition docs (again, only time will tell). Positive and negative predictions are both based on speculation. The other ironic thing is that people who never think twice about the risk of being on finasteride will admonish you about "not caring about your future", when in reality there is a chance that they will grow tits or some other possible long term side effect from the medication, as these long term effects are unknown (even though I personally am not worried about that either).

The other thing I've noticed, and this does not refer to anyone who posted on this thread or anyone I have personally communicated with on the forum, is this: a lot of guys think, "Nope. You can't do it. I had to wait till I was 40 before Propecia was around, and by that time I had lost most of my hair so there was no way to restore it through medications, and I had to get a super thin procedure with a super high hailine, so should you!" Not very fair, seeing as how it's not your fault you were born into an age in which hair restoration actually works.
Apparently, some top docs do decide, "I'm going to help this guy and we are going to work it out together because I appreciate his feelings about hair loss", instead of, "I'm not risking my reputation on some kid who isn't bald- I only do bald 45 year olds, and simply make them look like they are "going" bald and charge them $100000000 for it".

The argument against my type of case is basically, "What if you go bald on top or in the back? You will look like a freak."
Not really. First of all, there is not significant hairloss in my family, which I know is only part of it. Secondly, I don't know why I am even bothering with Propecia then. Thirdly, there is something entirely normal called a bald "spot" which people seem to forget about. I see these "spots" all day on men who have great hairlines but have hair missing in the back. In fact, when you think of critical people commenting on hair loss, you are more likely to hear people say, "Look at that guy's bald spot" rather than, "That guy does not display the typical male pattern baldness discussed on hair loss message boards: the guy's got hair in the front and it's missing in the back. What's up with that?". It's one thing if you get 4000 grafts into an inchwide strip in the hairline, but approaching it reasonably if you have a good donor supply to taper down the back if the need should arise is reasonable.

But think hard about this, because it very well may not be the right thing for you to do now. I'm just trying to present the other side of the argument. Good luck!

Ricky-

The question of what age is "old enough" to get a HT is one that I'm convinced will never be answered. You'll only get opinions for and against and you have to make the choice that's best for you.

IMO........20 years old is too young for a HT. I appreciate what youngsuccess is saying about the possibility of someone older maybe being a little envious that this quality of HT work wasn't available for them at that age. Even though I'm 40 years old and waited until age 38 for my first HT, if it benefitted a person to get a HT at 20 years old with little risks I'd say go for it !

However, (again, IMO) a person who gets a HT at that age better realize that they may be setting themselves up for multiple HT's and excessive costs, all to find out that in as little as 5-10 years their going to hit NW 7'sville and have a wierd looking block of head on top with receded sides and back but no donor hair left to correct!

Looking at Rickys pics, I'd advise him to get a little shorter hairstyle which would take notice away from temple and/or hairline rescission. Even though he's lost some, there are many, many here who would be happy to have that head of hair............it's all relative.

Hair loss at age 20 is devistating, but it doesn't get any better if you lose hair at age 25, 30, 35, 40. I believe it's better to see how the meds do then develop a plan as he ages and can more easily determine what loss pattern he develops.

Ricky- how long have you been on Finasteride?

Ricky,

You have read many posts from many experienced and some newer posters...

I'll add my two cents into this conversation.

It is obvious from your pictures that you are losing some hair in your temples, and your hairline is receeding. Your crown is in pretty good shape but I do see the beginning of what looks like miniaturization.

BUT, given that you have a good amount of hair left, your young age, AND your family history of hairloss, I encourage you to get/stay on finasteride for at LEAST 1 year (preferably 2 or 3 at your young age) to see if it helps, at the very least to maintain your existing native hair.

Re-evaluate your situation in a year to see where you are and in the meantime, educate yourself about hair transplantation and all the risks.

I encourage you to read my post on "Am I too young to have a transplant" here: http://hair-restoration-info.com/eve/forums/a/tpc/f/3466060861/m/7701076213

Some thoughts on shockloss:

------

Shockloss can occur both in the donor and recipient area a few weeks to a few months after having hair transplantation surgery. There are two forms of shockloss, temporary and permanent. Permanent shockloss can occur in one of two ways:

1. The physician transects existing hair follicles (this is not a worry in the hands of a skilled physician; however, it is risky if you are in the hands of a clinic using older technology like plugs, mini-grafts, or micro-grafts).

2. It can occur to hairs that have entered the miniaturization process...but these hairs would have fallen out eventually anyway. This is why getting on medication namely Finasteride is very important, to hopefully strengthen existing hairs and turn miniaturized hairs back into healthy hairs.

Temporary shockloss is more common and seemingly unpredictable - varying from person to person. In other words, there is no pattern or understood reason why some patients experience it drastically and others do not. Temporary shockloss occurs due to trauma to the scalp from surgery. But within several months, the hair grows back.

There are ways, however that temporary OR permanent shockloss can be minimized.

1. Using ultra refined follicular unit transplantation, the incisions are much smaller and refined, using custom cut blades as small as .6 mm which causes less trauma to the scalp. This in itself can mimimize shockloss to the recipient area.

2. Conservative placement around existing hairs without super dense packing can also minimize shockloss to an existing area.

3. Finasteride, also, is known to help minimize the risk of shockloss.

I might add that if any of the three listed items above are missing, the risk for shockloss increases.

----

I hope this helps.

Falc

youngsuccess,

quote:

"Excellent results can also be achieved for young people, under the age of 21".

I realize this is Dr. Epstein's quote...BUT...this statement is VERY dangerous. In certain scenerios, young patients MAY be good candidates (see my link above regarding "Am I too young for a hair transplant"), but either way, there is a lot of risk.

Remember...

Excellent results CAN be achieved no matter what age somebody is...BUT...what happens if there is future hair loss? One MUST remember that we are working with limitations and unknown factors.

The limitation is donor hair

The unknown is unpredictable hairloss.

Though excellent results CAN be achieved, I think tisab above said it best when he said:

"you MUST PLAN, and be CONSERVATIVE at first because your donor is so limited. "

(By the way...tisab...great advice...you have learned a lot since you came here )

I am not opposed to younger people having transplants IF certain conditions have been met...but I think based on the unknown factors, younger people who have hair transplants should be prepared to make a commitment for future surgery.

I do NOT believe Ricky at his age with his limited hair loss is a good HT candidate at this point (especially given his family history of hair loss - father a NW6, etc).

Falc

Bayer, Thanks a lot for your post, sorry to hear about ur shock loss and glad it looks like its improving now. Do u know of anyone else with pictures or with a similar reaction of shockloss on this or any other forum?

Been on proscar for a few months so probably not enough time to tell wats happening! The problem for me is as i hav explained im at University. Therefore it makes this summer break (4 months) a perfect time to get something done that I can cover up whilst at its worst healing! This is my main fear u see.

Youngsuccess, thanx so much for all the information u gave and i very much enjoyed hearing the other side of the argument here, just to help me weigh up my own situation. Good news that some doctors are starting to think its ok to go younger. Plus, loved the comment about growing tits, Hope not,

Would actually be quite useful to hear some other opinions of more young patients as well as all the others as well cus I am here to learn, learn and learn more!

The thing is I believe i could deal with hair loss better when i'm older. I would be hoping that I have already settled down with someone that i'm attracted to by then, like 30 latest hopefully, whereas this issue of hairloss is really affecting me at this young age, so i want to treat it now. As well as lowering my confidence a lot, it also restricts me from playin sport. It is ruining my life NOW (big words i know but i really feel this strongly).

Hmm sum interesting stuff on the shockloss there Falc. I will read that link u left...

Thanks guys!

Ricky,

quote:

Would actually be quite useful to hear some other opinions of more young patients as well as all the others as well cus I am here to learn, learn and learn more!

Be careful with this...don't just look for advice you WANT to hear...that will lead you into trouble. It's important you listen to the wisdom of the wise as well as the young people of this community.

quote:

Been on proscar for a few months so probably not enough time to tell wats happening!

You are right...way too soon. Read my posts above...but you should really be on this for at LEAST 1 year...given your age, 2 or 3 before making a decision about hair transplantation.

quote:

The problem for me is as i hav explained im at University. Therefore it makes this summer break (4 months) a perfect time to get something done that I can cover up whilst at its worst healing!

PLEASE do not use this as your reasoning to get a hair transplant this summer. Why not wait until the next summer...or two summers, or three summers? There is no REAL rush to get surgery done except for the fact that you WANT it. Do NOT make emotional decisions...make logical and educated ones. I say this trying to help, not to tell you what to do.

quote:

The thing is I believe i could deal with hair loss better when i'm older.

You know how many times I've heard this from young people? Let me tell you...it DOESN'T change when you get older. You know why I know this? Because I've never heard one older person say "It doesn't matter to me now that I'm older and I don't have any hair". Many young people assume older people don't care...but it's wrong. Want empirical data? Look for older people on this forum and ask. I am 30...still want a full thick high school head of hair. There are many older people than I on this forum...they want it too.

quote:

It is ruining my life NOW (big words i know but i really feel this strongly).

I know how you feel...it feels terrible. It feels like your youth is ending sooner than you want it to. You probably feel that girls won't find you attractive...and even worse, you FEEL unattractive and less confident.

But making emotional decisions will lead you to trouble. Plan smart, or you'll end up with thick patches of hair in the bald areas now, but later in life with bald patches where you have hair that will look very unnatural and scary.

I suppose there IS a part of me that is trying to scare you...I must be honest...but that's only because I've seen many young people jump the gun AND THEN regret it later.

Falc