I appreciate all the good work surgeons are doing in the field of hair restoration, but I would consider a hair transplant only after pharmacological means have left me unsatisfied. Then I seem have no other solution than to try dutasteride and see if that would eliminate the need for a transplant, if finasteride doesn’t really help the front corners, seeing that I have no family history of andgrogenic alopecia other than corner recession (of mature hairlines) and having NW3-ish thinning myself.
I am aware that dutestaride is not FDA-approved and I accept the risks of side-effects, so I will certainly have an issue with any doctor who’d be willing to perform surgery, but refuse a dutestaride prescription, if those are my options. Who’s going to tell me that I should instead just go straight ahead for a transplant?
You must understand and accept that maybe your surgeon, who went to years of medical school with post-surgical training and experience, has some value in his/her professional recommendation.
Avodart (dutasteride) or Propecia (finasteride) both are unlikely to work for front hairline regrowth, especially for Norwood class 3 patients. It may help to slow down the loss a bit, but these drugs are mainly for the top crown areas.
There are still unknowns with using dutasteride to treat hair loss and some doctors aren’t comfortable with prescribing it for off-label use. I am sure if you look hard enough you will eventually find a doctor who will give you that prescription for dutasteride, but I probably would not be one of them.
Tags: dutasteride, avodart, surgery, doctor, hair transplant, hairloss, hair loss
