Feeling extremely depressed with my hair loss situation!

[K400]

Well guys, I`m back after several years since my last postings. Cut a long story short, I`m still losing my hair after an initial positive response. I`m having to style my hair forward with a messed up look to hide the baldness. I can clearly see the horse shoe pattern, every time I look at my head in the mirror I feel more depressed, it`s so thin in some place`s it may as well be slick bald. I did buzz my hair short once, only way to describe this is disaster. I never realised until then I had a long face, or that I have a high forehead. Basically, I looked like an egghead. I never want to look like this again, its not for me. If it were, I wouldn`t be on here again.
I`m in the running again for surgery, looking at the various pricing around I`d most likely be able to pay for 2000 fue grafts or a little more with strip. My concerns are losing more hair after surgery and eventually running out of donor. Don`t want to look worse than I do right now. I`d have to go for a conservative approach, concentrating on the frontal area. What size area would this amount of grafts sufficiently cover without it looking to thin or unnatural?

 

[gregor100]

Sorry to hear you're feeling down mate. Are you using minoxidil, propecia and some type of ketaconazole shampoo?

The best thing to do at this stage is to just go for some consultations. They're free! Don't wait any longer. Book as many as you want with as many clinics as you can.

Google 'hair transplant' and your country and e-mail every single one of them with your story, that's exactly what I did. Literally every single one I sent the same email. Then from their responses I narrowed down who I'd like to speak to in person, and from there I picked who I felt were the most professional.

Be open and honest with them that you're going to multiple clinics as well, that was you'll cut out the money grabbers from the genuine guys, and then you can plan and make a decision from there.

Clinics even offer Skype consultations these days so you don't even need to leave home if you don't want to (although it's much better to) and a lot of them offer 0% finance for a year so you don't even need wait.
Regarding further loss once you've had a transplant, you could speak with the clinics about this as there are options. Going for a very conservative but well shaped hairline is pretty much the answer here. You could make use of products like toppik.
I used to watch a guy on YouTube called 'hairlossfromsteroids' - he lost a ton of hair and didn't have a great donor area, I believe he got a strong, relatively dense hairline and then filled the rest of his head with what was left, allowing for enough hairs for the toppik fibres to grip onto.
His hair looked good and thick but In my opinion that is a bit silly as you're essentially committing yourself to a life of being a slave to toppik, keeping it conservative with a little help from some fibres is a totally realistic and attainable option.

 

[K400]

Hi Gregor, I was researching here several years ago. I had consultations back then, all provided invaluable information advising against any form of surgery until I had tried the non surgical options.
I`m grateful for their honest advice, I was an easy sell and would have taken them up on surgery if they offered one. Fortunately they never, I got on the meds instead. If I hadn`t, I could have ended up having surgery, losing more hair like I have and regretting it.
Now I need to decide if surgery is something I`m willing to undertake. 2000 grafts would make a big difference but if my hair loss continues, I could be up the creek without a paddle! Things seemed to be going so good, life was on the up, now its a downward spiral.
I may try upping the dose, maybe try Advodart. I`m willing to risk side affects to keep my hair. What are your thoughts on Advodart?

By the way, your hair transplant looks ace. You`re braver than me right now.

 

[Hairontop]

Hang in there man, don't let your hair loss get you down. The meds worked at the beginning for you, right? If you switched brands, maybe to a generic I would switch back. Some generics aren't as potent and have an adverse effect. If it's your normal brand, increase the dosage before trying Advodart.
Keep your chin up.

 

[gregor100]

Sorry I never responded sooner. I've personally never looked into Advodart/Duasteride, however I went on finasteride myself and almost immediately suffered ED, very unfortunate but it is what it is.
It's not generally recommended to have an HT if you're not on meds as long term, you're gonna loose more hair. But I am aware of all the risks and considerations and I went ahead with it. My thinking being, i'd rather have great hair while i'm young than never have great hair at all... and still just have crap hair when i'm old anyway haha.
Fortunately for myself i'm a good responder to minoxidil, and also use ketaconazole shampoo. I hadn't observed any further receeding of my hairline for at least 2 years before I got my HT done and i'm religious with applying minox, lightly derma-rolling it in and using the shampoo. If I went for a transplant while aggresively loosing hair and not taking finasteride then I would consider that to be a bit silly, but in my personal situation having stabilised my hair loss for a long period of time I believe i've made a good, informed decision.
It all comes down to individuals, as you can see from there my story is probably sliiiightly different to the most guys (namely, minus the fin, plus the derma roller) so at the end of the day you just need to set your mind to something once you're sure of yourself and go for it.
The final thing I'd suggest if you've lost so much hair, have you looked into scalp micropigmentation? This is a good road to go down for some guys who have just lost maybe a bit too much hair, or who just like that sort of buzzed look.
Hope my ramblings are at least some kind of help haha

 

[escar]

Hi K400,
In spanish there is a saying that says, if something have a solution, why to worry?If your problem is the hair then you are in the right place to find a solution.
I had the impression from your post that your case is not that bad since some doctors have suggested you to wait in the past before to get a procedure, so maybe now it's the time to get back to the research and find a proper doctor for you, don't be depressed for that.
Below you can check my case. If I could solve my problem then anyone can, and you too, let's go!

 

[K400]

Thanks Gregor, your ramblings are very helpful.
Thanks Escar, maybe I will find my way.

 

[HairHarmonyAndYou]

1st i would like to say hair loss is not big problem this day, you just need to step or simply need to google "hair transplant for hair clinic, share your story with them and definitely they will reply you with proper solution, choose any 1 or 2 clinic and step in clinic for face to face consultation which is best for both of you to analysis your hair condition, On the base of analysis report they will suggest you perfect treatment with cost.
You need to take care about quality of clinic, experience of surgeons, clinic review and his work and then choose any of clinic on the base of given point.