Dr Lam's Hair Restoration Forum

[male47]

Hi Dr. Lam,
I enjoyed your detailed post on the complexity of crown restoration and have a couple of questions on your post if you don't mind.

You described crown loss patterns which is something I have never seen mentioned anywhere before. I am 47 and my crown started thinning 10 years ago. For the most part I could control it with Minox though I think it's starting to advance again. I noticed that in the last year or so it has enlarged and also taken to the kidney loss pattern you describe in your post. Can you tell me any significance of having this type of pattern? Does it give you any idea of how far it will advance?

Thank you!

[dr. lam]

thanks for the question. the pattern does not matter as far as prediction of how it will advance. wetting your hair and looking at the ring of miniaturized hairs can help you see how fast it could progress. obviously, using your past progression of the loss is a good indicator for future loss. medical management (finasteride/minoxidil) can be very very helpful to slow down and somewhat reverse the loss.
best,
s.

[male47]

Hi Dr Lam
Thanks for the information.

I took a shower to test your wet hair idea. When wet my crown spot defiantly looks much bigger. I took a picture and was surprised that I can see about an inch or so area outside my present crown spot that has still has hair but has clearly thinned-like a layer of hair is missing.
I used finasteride earlier and while it worked much better than minox ,I started getting side effects after about 2 years so I had to stop.

So it's minox for as long as I can get away with it then a transplant or just acceptance down the road.

My relatives (mom's side) that I seem to take after bald very slowly over many years till it's gone. Wouldn't I need multiple transplants if I don't want to wait it out?

Thanks again!

[dr. lam]

The best way to determine your candidacy and the # of procedures you will need down the road is for someone who is experienced in hair restoration evaluate you for your candidacy. if you have poor hair density, poor hair caliber, significant crown baldness, your age, how your hair is lost on your crown, among about 50 other factors, then your # of sessions and likelihood of even success can be calibrated and determined better. i always look at the supply to demand ratio to make that determination.

[male47]

Will keep an eye back there and decide later what to do-depending on what my crown does. Thank you again for the helpful information!

[dr. lam]

my pleasure.