About
Hello
I am currently a 26 year old male. Today, 6/10/2014, I am about a NW 4 scale of hairloss. I started noticing my hair loss when I was 20 years old. I actually didn't notice it until someone told and from that point forward it has been something I've been conscious about ever since. When I was 21 I started started doing research and started taking a combination of Propecia & Rogain foam. I took both for about a year and still noticed my hair continued to thin. The side effects never bothered me but since I didn't really see any improvement over a year (even though there was never going to be an improvement lol) I decided to stop taking it. By the time I was 22 my hair loss was very noticeable, it was about a Norwood 2-3. At that age I was still in college and it was a very difficult time for me. I just got into the school of my dreams but I was loosing a lot of my hair at a rapid rate. I was pretty stressed in school and seeing myself everday in the mirror made me feel miserable a lot. Wore a lot hats, wouldn't go out much because I was so embarassed. Now 6 years later I have come to terms with my hair loss and have decided to undergo a hair transplant and give it a try.
My Surgical Treatments to Date
Doctor: Dr. John Diep in Los Gatos, CA.
# of grafts: 3577.
1's: 897
2's: 2016
3's: 451
4's: 213
Method: FUT/Strip
My Non Surgical TreatmentsRogaine, Propecia, Nanogen.
Bald Class

Norwood stage 4A
In stage 4A, a person will not experience a bald spot on the back of their head, but they will instead lose the dips in their hairline and have a deeper “U” shape when viewed from above.
My hair loss has affected me in a lot of ways. I haven't felt the same when I used to have a full head of hair. It really sucks, I mean REALLY. I personally have had a lot harder time dealing with it because I do care how I look everyday. And I'm in an environment where I meet and interact with a lot of people everyday and I do want to look good in front of people. Dressing and looking good makes me feel good. The first 2-3 years of losing my hair were really the worst, I was really young and just recently turned 21 and wanting to go out. As my hair loss progressed I slowly kept avoiding going out because I was ashamed. After about 4-5 years was when I just started to accept it and dealt with it a lot better. Luckily I found Nanogen and that has helped cover up a lot. Initially I didn't want to do a hair transplant but now, 6 years after my initial hair loss, I have made the switch to try. I mainly didn't want to do it because of the money. Because I am getting older and I do see myself losing more or all of my hair at some point so why bother right? I felt that money can be better well spent on things more useful, a home, car, investment, etc. The main reason of not wanting to do it was the money, even though I am extremely lucky and could afford it! Weird, no? I just felt that spending thousands of dollars to get my hair back (not even all of it) for something that I felt I was going to loose anyway and it will not look as good as when I was full of hair, sounded like a loose-loose situation. I felt the only person that would be gaining something was the physician (who was going to make it rain$$$, with my thousands). But I thought otherwise, I have a lot to gain with a transplant. And I'm very anxious and happy about the decision to undergo a hair tranpslant. I have a scheduled FUT/STRIP method (~3000 grafts) with Dr. Diep on July 14, 2014. And I will continue to update this for people to see :)
Nanogen has worked the best for me so far. It works well when I had short hair but my hair loss continues to progress and I'm ok with it. I have come to terms with my hair loss and its important for me to move on, other wises I will have relapses.
My scheduled Surgery is with Dr. Diep on July 14th, 2014 and I have agreed to undergo FUT/Strip, ~3000 grafts. I think both strip and fue have their pro's and con's but after a lot of research I felt that I can really live with the linear scar as a result from Strip. I don't mind it since the cost was less and essentially the yield is about 10-15% better. Once the hair in the back grows enough, the scar is virtually not noticeable. I had a relative in the family who did strip by a different doctor and he looks great. The scar is invisible, I could never see it even if I tried. Plus I could get more grafts with strip than fue and it would still cost less, and look better? That sounded like a winner, minus the linear scar.
Propecia worked ok. It took a while for it to start working but it only slowed down my hair loss, it didn't make it better.
I also used Rogaine and that was a complete waste, it make my hair all greesy and weird and did not like the feeling. I felt that taking Rogaine was a complete waste.
Nanogen worked the best for me, especially since I liked to keep my hair short. With longer hair, nanogen may not work as well.
Do not rush and let your hair loss progression go. I know it sucks but I think its worth the wait. I would have liked to do a hair transplant early but I'm really glad that I waited it out to see where my hair loss was going to go and that will give you and the doctor a better understanding of what type of hair transplant and the amount of grafts would work best.