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Almost every day I get emails (because of my internet presence) from patients who had surgery and find their doctors don’t seem to answer their concerns and questions. Many of these men see an abrupt change in the doctor when compared to before their surgery. I guess it is like being sold a used car and the salesman is all over you, attentive to your every need, until…. that is, you purchase the car and have problems. As they already got your money they don’t to have to be responsive anymore.

Being a good doctor means taking care of the patient and all of his/her needs before, during and AFTER the hair transplant. I find, however, that I am stepping up to help those whose doctors just don’t seem to care about them after their surgery. This may be more of a problem as Medical Tourism is becoming very common (I get both types of post-surgery emails). If for example, you go to Turkey and have a surgical procedure, then go back to your home country, local doctors will have no interest in you and the doctors in Turkey (assuming that they were doctors – which is often not the case) certainly have no structure put together to help you in your home country.

My advice for anyone reading this post is to meet and speak with patients who had surgery with that ‘doctor’ you are considering before you make the decision to go with that doctor or that clinic. Their patients will always share with you what their experience was, so this way you hear it first hand and will avoid the problems if you listen to what you are told.

I read some comments around here on posts from people who are 17, 18 years old. Many say that there is not much that can be done in those cases, and that one should simply accept that all is lost. I’m 18 and I think my baldness is aggressive. My hairline has always been high, but at 16 I saw it was receding a bit. Two years later, I have a nw2.5-ish hairline, and it turns out that my alopecia is retrograde. However, my hair is very thick on top. On the sides and back, not much, due to the fact that it is retrograde.

One year ago, I realized that things were getting a lot worse. From May to December, I can say that I went from quite-good-hair to obviously balding. I started topical minoxidil in November, and I’ve been using it to this day. Finasteride only started being part of my regimen three months ago (almost four), at the end of January. I’m losing about 100 hairs a day in the shower, but I can say that my hair is still the same as it was at the beginning of the year. Considering how aggressive the progression was, I don’t know what my hair would look like now if I hadn’t done anything to combat the baldness.

I’ve heard reports of guys saying that they started going bald around the time I did, that they had started treatment, but at 24-27 years old ended up losing all their hair. Therefore, I would like to know if it is true that attempting to combat aggressive baldness at a young age is in vain.

I have seen men 17-18 whose fathers had a Class 7 pattern by the age of 22 and they are now looking just like their dads. I am not sure that today’s medications can stop this balding process, but it is worth a try. Most men can get a hair transplant and prevent the balding appearance; however, most reputable hair surgeons will not tackle a 17-year-old even with parental consent because of maturity and financial issues. Too many young men can’t handle the decisions on hair transplants at 18.

https://www.hgspecialist.com/resources/product-files/files/Finasteride-10-year-follow-up.pdf

of the 113 patients followed for 10 years, only 14% worsened, whereas the remaining (86%) had benefits (21%)
from the treatment duration or (65%) persisted in their improvements. Patients not improved at all
after one year (i.e., with a significant decreasing in their hair growth) could be considered not respondent to a long-term therapy.

Side effects were observed on 5.9% (7) patients, but these effects were not age related (12–14). Some
of the patients who experienced side effects did not drop out of the treatment because of perceived
good results.

I am 39 years old. I have not taken any medication for my hair loss.

I have written about this before on Reddit. Medical treatment is important, but at 39, it is unlikely that you will get a good response to it. It is worth trying anyway. I am concerned about the pattern of balding you are showing. I want to ascertain that this is genetic, not a form of autoimmune disease, as your pattern is not classic for genetic balding. Good doctors routinely perform trichoscopy to rule out diseases of the recipient and donor areas. I would look at the nature of the hair and the skin in and around the balding area. If I am concerned, then I would biopsy the areas of concern because autoimmune diseases of the scalp kill hair transplants. Assuming you have no autoimmune scalp disease, I would establish your lifetime donor supply of grafts, including (1) donor density and (2) hair shaft thickness of the donor’s hairs. This will tell the surgeon what you will look like after the hair transplant, which should be shared with you. Not all grafts are equal; for example, coarse hair has 10 times the value of very fine hair (cosmetic-wise). Hair transplant science is well-established today.

[If you have any questions, you can reach me at williamrassman33@gmail.com]

Finasteride should not be the cause of your hair loss. See your doctor and find out what is happening as weight loss of this magnitude is significant to your overall health.

This may not be thinning. If a person with an average hair thickness was to bundle all of the hair (like a pony tail) on the head, it would make a circle about 1/2 inch thick. Now spread that out all over the scalp, and that is the coverage one gets. Short hair, a bright flash and straight hair can make a normal person look like this. To find out if you are balding, a HAIRCHECK test will tell you that (see here: https://baldingblog.com/haircheck-test-how-it-is-done-video/)