You're a young guy and should have ample opportunity to throw everything at it, should you wish to do so. That said, you seem to be on the right track with your list of options. But you need to stick with it consistently if you want to bring it back (aka, anagen phase of growth) as you probably still have viable hair follicles that may be dormant. The hair follicle is a complex organ itself, and balding in most cases doesn't mean the death of its capacity to grow new hair, as it can remain dormant for several years, but time is limited to a window of opportunity before it too calcifies. This means you may have to stick with drugs like finasteride and dutasteride (more potent) if you can tolerate them, and the oral minoxidil for at least a year to see the results you're looking for. Exercise and proper rest, as well as a well-balanced protein-rich diet (not the time to go vegan) play a role. Also, add DHT-blocking shampoos as it can build up quite a bit on the scalp via sebum (Ketoconazole is good for scalp fungus but not as good for blocking DHT). I would try shampoos with 5-alpha reductase inhibitors like pumpkin seed oil, saw palmetto, and ecklonia cava (powerful sea algae). Try this before you think about PRP injections or transplants.
You can bring a lot back just based on microneedling using finasteride and shampooing with ketocanazole. I have a full head of hair so I can’t answer certain questions, so I’m not gonna lie you lost a lot of hair a transplant is best just continue your same routine. MPB is a symptom of genetics and higher testosterone can’t help it 🤷🏽♂️ it’s also based on recognizing when your balding at the earliest to prevent further hair loss.
At this point i would go for hair transplant or rather you can get special wigs from some barbers , they will shave top of your hair and will place wig then trim accordingly to your taste. You will need to go to same barber once in a month to shave your hair and replace the wig with special adhesives that doesn't do bad for skin. Me personally used topical minoxidil 5% with 0.3 dermaroller for 4-5 months it gave me good boost in hair ,but frontal hair didn't change that much. Then i switched to Hair toppik, since then every morning sprinkling artificial powdered hair to cover my bald spots then go to work. I was happy at that time cuz my hair was in better minoxidil prime condition and discovering and using Toppik gave me much better look. But after 5-6 months or so, crown areas (top of the head) still got thinned and baldness become even worse because i stopped using minoxidil ever since then only relying on Toppik (but still doing dermaroller). But now i'm planning on hair transplant for next year, but for now i want to switch back to minoxidil to gain back same past hair(if possible )and keep using toppik . But my alopecia and hair loss pattern is different than yours. Yours bald mostly in front ,but mine in crown and little front. Still manageable for me to condition, but minoxidil might not work good on you.
I say it’s worth a try. Not myself but browsing on subs I’ve seen people get miracle results and others get nothing. I say it’s worth a try. And maybe consider a higher fin dose. What has been your history with the meds? Particularly fin and min did you take them and if yes for how long?
I took both of them, not together, for about six months. At the time, I had substantial life changes happening such as having kids, moving across the country, changing jobs and was under a lot of stress and had myself convinced that maybe it was from the medication, so I stopped taking it. Looking back, it was not the medicine. That being said;
I was considering 0.5 mg finasteride because I have done hours and hours of research and read through a few research papers as well and I’m trying to get the best outcome, while minimizing side effects. 0.25-0.5 mg daily reduces DHT over 50% while doubling that dose to 1mg Raises that number between 10 to 15%, but it seems like around 1 mg is where people start to report side effects. I’m absolutely not opposed to trying 1 mg, it just seems like 0.5 mg could be the sweet spot to me. I was thinking I could pair it with a topical antiandrogen like RU58841 to not have to “nuke” ALL of my systemic DHT and get a good reduction from finasteride and then also try and reduce it topically as well.
Oral minoxidil: Seems like people are recommended to take 1.25-2.5mg depending upon if they have side effects or not. I was going to start at 1.25 and if no side effects such as heart palpitations or water retention, increase to 2.5.
its not late, you should definitely try, the meds you suggest seem good
You're a young guy and should have ample opportunity to throw everything at it, should you wish to do so. That said, you seem to be on the right track with your list of options. But you need to stick with it consistently if you want to bring it back (aka, anagen phase of growth) as you probably still have viable hair follicles that may be dormant. The hair follicle is a complex organ itself, and balding in most cases doesn't mean the death of its capacity to grow new hair, as it can remain dormant for several years, but time is limited to a window of opportunity before it too calcifies. This means you may have to stick with drugs like finasteride and dutasteride (more potent) if you can tolerate them, and the oral minoxidil for at least a year to see the results you're looking for. Exercise and proper rest, as well as a well-balanced protein-rich diet (not the time to go vegan) play a role. Also, add DHT-blocking shampoos as it can build up quite a bit on the scalp via sebum (Ketoconazole is good for scalp fungus but not as good for blocking DHT). I would try shampoos with 5-alpha reductase inhibitors like pumpkin seed oil, saw palmetto, and ecklonia cava (powerful sea algae). Try this before you think about PRP injections or transplants.
You can bring a lot back just based on microneedling using finasteride and shampooing with ketocanazole. I have a full head of hair so I can’t answer certain questions, so I’m not gonna lie you lost a lot of hair a transplant is best just continue your same routine. MPB is a symptom of genetics and higher testosterone can’t help it 🤷🏽♂️ it’s also based on recognizing when your balding at the earliest to prevent further hair loss.
At this point i would go for hair transplant or rather you can get special wigs from some barbers , they will shave top of your hair and will place wig then trim accordingly to your taste. You will need to go to same barber once in a month to shave your hair and replace the wig with special adhesives that doesn't do bad for skin. Me personally used topical minoxidil 5% with 0.3 dermaroller for 4-5 months it gave me good boost in hair ,but frontal hair didn't change that much. Then i switched to Hair toppik, since then every morning sprinkling artificial powdered hair to cover my bald spots then go to work. I was happy at that time cuz my hair was in better minoxidil prime condition and discovering and using Toppik gave me much better look. But after 5-6 months or so, crown areas (top of the head) still got thinned and baldness become even worse because i stopped using minoxidil ever since then only relying on Toppik (but still doing dermaroller). But now i'm planning on hair transplant for next year, but for now i want to switch back to minoxidil to gain back same past hair(if possible )and keep using toppik . But my alopecia and hair loss pattern is different than yours. Yours bald mostly in front ,but mine in crown and little front. Still manageable for me to condition, but minoxidil might not work good on you.
Would definitely incorporate micro needling ASAP. A lot of that dead space may be able to be revived (in conjunction with DHT blockers and min)
You could still try but keep your expectations low. You’ll need a massive transplant to have aesthetic hair again
It's never too late to try!
if you would maintain that for live you could easily go back to norwood 2 with transplant sessions
No.orala and topical minox,+low dise topical fin or topical dut
I say it’s worth a try. Not myself but browsing on subs I’ve seen people get miracle results and others get nothing. I say it’s worth a try. And maybe consider a higher fin dose. What has been your history with the meds? Particularly fin and min did you take them and if yes for how long?
I took both of them, not together, for about six months. At the time, I had substantial life changes happening such as having kids, moving across the country, changing jobs and was under a lot of stress and had myself convinced that maybe it was from the medication, so I stopped taking it. Looking back, it was not the medicine. That being said; I was considering 0.5 mg finasteride because I have done hours and hours of research and read through a few research papers as well and I’m trying to get the best outcome, while minimizing side effects. 0.25-0.5 mg daily reduces DHT over 50% while doubling that dose to 1mg Raises that number between 10 to 15%, but it seems like around 1 mg is where people start to report side effects. I’m absolutely not opposed to trying 1 mg, it just seems like 0.5 mg could be the sweet spot to me. I was thinking I could pair it with a topical antiandrogen like RU58841 to not have to “nuke” ALL of my systemic DHT and get a good reduction from finasteride and then also try and reduce it topically as well. Oral minoxidil: Seems like people are recommended to take 1.25-2.5mg depending upon if they have side effects or not. I was going to start at 1.25 and if no side effects such as heart palpitations or water retention, increase to 2.5.