What does "stabilized" mean?

[PappinAce]

I've been on finasteride and minoxidil since August but I still have this noticeable bald spot on my crown. I'm 27 now and plan to stick with the treatments because they have definitely STOPPED my hair loss, but haven't done much in terms of regrowth. I'm not okay with the state of my hair right now. 27 is too young for a bald spot. So, if after two years of big 3 treatment there is no significant improvement, I'm thinking of getting a small hair transplant to get back some density in the crown.

However, everyone says I'm a horrible hair transplant candidate because I'm going to lose more hair. Well, the idea of staying on finasteride is to avoid that, right? They say you can't have a hair transplant until your hair stabilizes, but how would you ever know that? How can you say whether hair loss has stabilized or not without looking into the future? You'd just have to stop taking finasteride and see what happens; if, after two years of no finasteride you haven't lost more hair, it's stabilized! Well....stopping the meds isn't a viable option for me, so I'll never know where my hair loss would end up without them. If I maintain what I have now for the next 2-3 years, do you think a small hair transplant would be a feasible option?

^That's my wet hair under light

 

[Pequod]

It is hard to see how large of an area is thin but you could have a small FUE procedure to fill that in. There is risk in doing that like shock loss and you will have to have an area shaved of coarse.

BTW stabilized means that bald area is not getting larger, it's size has stabilized. That way if you do go with a hair transplant it will maintain its appearance.

 

[PappinAce]

It is hard to see how large of an area is thin but you could have a small FUE procedure to fill that in. There is risk in doing that like shock loss and you will have to have an area shaved of coarse.

Ok, good to know. Ugh, shaved head :/ is shock loss generally permanent, or do the surrounding follicles tend to grow back?

BTW stabilized means that bald area is not getting larger, it's size has stabilized.

With or without meds? If I take finasteride for 3 years and it hasn't gotten larger, would that be considered stabilized?

 

[Pequod]

Yes 3 years is enough time, if you don't want to shave you could have an FUT procedure and they could work in the new grafts around the existing hair. I just had that done myself. Shock loss may be very small but you never know, it usually grows back at the same pace as the new grafts.

 

[GoldenMane]

The whole idea of hair loss being stabilized is ridiculous. Lots of people report finasteride stops working or hairloss resumes at the 5-10th year mark. You could be stable for 4 years, get a hair transplant then start balding again in the 5th year. It's a crap shoot. I suppose it's still better than if you have continuous, progressive hair loss at the time of surgery, then you're just fighting the tide.

 

[PappinAce]

Yes 3 years is enough time, if you don't want to shave you could have an FUT procedure and they could work in the new grafts around the existing hair. I just had that done myself. Shock loss may be very small but you never know, it usually grows back at the same pace as the new grafts.

Yeah I've heard of a lot of cases of shock loss. In some cases the shocked hair never grows back which is pretty scary. How did your FUT go? Are you happy with the results?

Based on your answers, I think I'll wait until 2019 rolls around, and if I haven't lost more by then but I'm still not happy with it, then I'll start thinking about a procedure.

The whole idea of hair loss being stabilized is ridiculous. Lots of people report finasteride stops working or hairloss resumes at the 5-10th year mark. You could be stable for 4 years, get a hair transplant then start balding again in the 5th year. It's a crap shoot. I suppose it's still better than if you have continuous, progressive hair loss at the time of surgery, then you're just fighting the tide.

Yeah that's pretty much what I thought. It's impossible to look into the future. You could NOT take meds for a while, and if your hair loss stops after your crown is bald or something, then yeah, you can probably consider it stabilized. But going off meds just to find that out is insane

 

[GoldenMane]

Even if you are on meds for 3-5 years and DON'T QUIT, and your hair loss looks totally stable, you can still suddenly start losing again at any time. nobody knows how long finasteride will stabilize their hair loss for.

 

[Pequod]

Yeah I've heard of a lot of cases of shock loss. In some cases the shocked hair never grows back which is pretty scary. How did your FUT go? Are you happy with the results?

I am happy so far but I have to wait almost a year to know how well it really came out. Some see results much sooner though. My latest FUT had a lot of 2's and 3's

1's 512
2's 1153
3's 1206

 

[arfy]

Even if you are on meds for 3-5 years and DON'T QUIT, and your hair loss looks totally stable, you can still suddenly start losing again at any time. nobody knows how long finasteride will stabilize their hair loss for.

That is true. The point is that guys shouldn't be in a hair loss "free fall" at the time of surgery, because of potential shock loss. But it's true, there is no evidence that meds last forever. There is always an element of risk that hair loss resumes. Hopefully, if it does resume it's very very slow.

Original poster looks like a decent candidate (small isolated area of loss, hair loss is stabilized). However, when the crown is the initial problem area it's not considered ideal (you could use up an entire donor supply just on the crown). On the positive side, he still seems to have a lot of hair (hard to tell) and it seems pretty thick (also hard to tell). Can you still get by for a while, just by styling your hair differently? Hair transplant should be a last resort, with a definite payoff which outweighs the risk. Seems like you could easily get a transplant, and not have anybody notice that anything has changed (which is not a definite payoff). Do people really notice your bald spot? If not really, then I would try to deal with non-surgically it for now.