About
Onset: I started noticing large amounts of shed hair in my towel after showering at age 14. Yes, 14. My locks barely survived through my Bar Mitzvah.
Progression: The hair loss became noticeable to me at age 16, and to others around age 18. The end of high school was the most painful period with respect to hair loss because of its low incidence at that age.
The loss pattern was pretty much front-to-back recession. Fortunately, the hair loss was gradual, so even at age 31 I sport a wispy covering in the vertex area ("shiny bald" up-front).
Motivation for surgery: "Women, power and money."
More seriously, while baldness has not bothered all that much since high school, the combination of my return to bachelorhood (blew it with a great girl), and increases in financial means made it seem worthwhile.
My Surgical Treatments to Date
First session: January 4, 2011 by Robert Bernstein
Grafts: 2671 (2.07 hairs per graft) 1's=338, 2's=1,799, 3's=532, 4's=2. Total hairs = 5,540
Cost: $6 / graft x 2671 grafts = $16,026
Second session: November 15, 2012 by Robert Bernstein
Grafts: 1369 (2.00 hairs per graft) 1's=233, 2's=909, 3's=227, 4's=0. Total hairs = 2,750
Cost: Complimentary by Dr. Bernstein
My Non Surgical TreatmentsPropecia (more recently generic finasteride): Intermittent use since age 19, consistently the past two years
Rogaine: Consistent use for last five years.
Bald Class
Norwood stage 5A
In stage 5A, the hairline continues to progress toward the back of the head.
Partial loss of self-confidence in social settings (especially given my egg-shaped head really needs some hair to frame my face)
The combination of Propecia, Rogaine and Revita seems to have largely arrested my hair loss in the past two years. This cocktail (sans Revita) did not work so well when I was losing hair toward the front of my scalp when I was in my late teens and early 20s