You really can’t predict your hair loss, especially if you treat it with a drug like Finasteride, which can, in some men, stop the process. A NW Class 2 should not be transplanted, and I would recommend that you don’t rush to do a hair transplant unless you see real balding. Build a good Master Plan with a great doctor, and then follow it.
Can you guys rate my 20-year plan on saving my hair? from tressless
Hair loss in women is not uncommon after any hair or facial surgery. When hair loss occurs after a hairline advancement surgery, the scar which usually abuts the hairline is separated from the hairline so that it stands out. A hair transplant is a way to fix this.
I would like to report my findings after discontinuing 5% Minoxidil. I assumed Finastride gave me brain fog after months of combining it with Minoxidil. After discontinuing Minoxidil, my “brain fog” went away within weeks. I have not taken Minoxidil in 6 months, and I feel more mentally sharp. I also noticed a lot of hair shedding these past few months. It seems to happen year after year in the fall and spring. I originally blamed it on a shed from Minoxidil, but since I stopped taking it 6 months ago, it is probably natural hair loss. I still experience dizziness from time to time, but this is highly dependent on my sleep schedule. I hope this could possibly help someone if you choose to post it. I blamed medication for my problems sometimes, but this isn’t always true. I plan to continue taking Finastride for a year or so. Then, I will re-introduce 5% Minoxidil every evening / once daily (due to dizziness). After 1-2 years of stable hair growth, I will opt for a hair transplant in the frontal area to have a better hairline.
Dizziness is a known complication of Minoxidil absorption, as it probably comes about because of a slight drop in blood pressure. You might check your blood pressure with and without Minoxidil. I can’t address your brain fog other than through your blood pressure issues that may be present with the drug. Ask your doctor the question about the brain fog.
Good for you. It is worth trying almost anything to keep your hair treatment going forward. I hope, now that you managed the worst of the side effects, that your hair responds as you hope with the drug Finasteride.
If you presently have gynecomastia, taking Finasteride will not raise your risk of making it worse more than others your age who do not have gynecomastia. You should see your doctor to find out what you can do about your problem.
I lowered my Finasteride dosage from every other day to Monday, Wednesday, and Friday because I have impotence. I started this schedule only a few weeks ago, and my libido is still very low. I don’t know if Finasteride is the cause, but I know that the only way to find out for sure is to stop taking it, which I’m not prepared to do. Last year, I reduced my Finasteride dose from 1.25 mg daily to only Monday and Thursday due to low libido. It took 6-7 months for my negative sexual side effects to go away. My side effects returned after I increased my dose to every other day. Is my expectation correct — Will it take several months for my libido to return to normal (as long as Finasteride is the cause)?
Reducing the dose to as low as two pills a week is a reasonable approach, and as that seemed to address your libido, you should consider that to be the dose that is best for you. It will still be valuable in the treatment of your hair loss, maybe just 50% as effective.
If the hair received immediate benefits, it still takes time to grow out at 1/2 inch per month. It just takes time to see the impact on the growth of the hair follicle. We see that its greatest benefit appears in a year, with more in the second year on Finasteride. That is an observation that doctors have made over many years of experience.
Anyone know why Finasteride would take months to halt hairloss if it lowers DHT at its maximum in a week? from tressless
There are a significant number of men who report an increased sexual drive on Finasteride, possibly as many as who report the opposite. Dutasteride causes more sexual side effects, but it is not well documented because it has not undergone the scrutiny of rigorous FDA studies. I don’t recommend Dustasteride for my patients for these very reasons.
Your donor area was over-harvested, something that unfortunately we are seeing more of. This happens because the doctor wants to get more and more of your money, so they push the FUE beyond what the donor area can support. Your doctor should have measured the donor density PRIOR to performing your FUE procedure. The single best treatment for this is Scalp Micropigmentation (https://scalpmicropigmentation.com/scar-covering/). Also see here: https://newhair.com/donor-area/
Minoxidil, when absorbed through the skin of the scalp, will produce body hair. Facial hair is a known side effect. Either reduce the dose or stop the medication to reverse the facial hair growth. With good results on your scalp, I understand how difficult this will be for you. You must make sure that the liquid does not get on your forehead or face when using it.
A young man, about 30, went to 5 different doctors, and each performed a hair transplant. He changed doctors because the surgery failed each time, so he thought he would find a better doctor. He has well over 7,000 grafts after six surgeries. The last and final surgery brought him to a doctor who performed 10,000 body hair grafts, and that too failed, bringing his total graft count to well over 17,000.
I became aware of this man’s plight. I can’t even imagine how much money he spent, and how much debt he must have built up to pay for these transplants. My first thought was that maybe this man has a disease in his scalp that causes the hair grafts to reject. There are many such diseases that fall into the field of autoimmunity, and a biopsy should be done to determine if he, indeed, has one of these diseases. His donor site is fully depleted, so more transplants are not an option. His scalp is scarred, so he now he needs to wear a hat – not a good option for his profession.
He was referred to me for Scalp Micropigmentation, which is an excellent option if he is willing to take on the shaved look. We have managed many such patients with a depleted donor area and scars on the scalp, and they end up looking normal. See here: https://scalpmicropigmentation.com/scar-covering/
I am not surprised about these numbers. Most men deny their balding, and I believe that almost all men care about it and would prefer to have hair. You can see the embarrassment of Donald Trump about the facts that he takes Finasteride, and this is not an unusual issue for being embarrassed. Men, unlike women, don’t like to recognize that they are vain. Accepting that they are going to treat their hair loss makes men uncomfortable. Assuming that these statistics are real (they seem too low to me, but may be correct), the number of men who seek hair transplants is probably 2% of the 5% who actually get proactive. There were ~160,000 hair transplants in the US in 2016. Considering that hair loss is present in 50% of men over 45, and probably 30-40% of men over 25, and considering that the number of men between 25-44 years of age are 49 million, 44-54 years of age are 30 million, and 54+ are about 32 million as of the 2010 census, there are a total of roughly 133 million men in these brackets in the US, half of which have male pattern balding at some level. Considering that there were only about 165,000 hair transplants in the US, that means that only about 0.00124 % of men has had a hair transplant in 2016.
Only 5% of balding men see a doctor about it and a minority of them (28% of the 5%) try to treat it. from tressless
The answer is a clear no. Finasteride works well when you are young, but less well as you get older. Sooner or later, your genetic hair loss will prevail over the drug Finasteride.
Hair follicles have been grown in Petri dishes in the past, and then transplanted into mice. All of the animals died from infection.