Fat Clay Hair Loss Journey and Treatment Process

I decided to write this post as I don't find many people that have hair loss problem like myself share their experience and how they treat their hair loss problem. I believe one of the reason why I don't find such post its because most people especially men will leave it untreated. I hope my post can help to create more awareness to those who wants to treat their hair loss problem like me. Below is a photo of my before and after hair loss treatment photo before I start my very long post, which I will try to be as detailed as possible.

Before and After Hair loss Treatment

This was me when I was about 13 to 14 years old before my hair loss started. You can see that my hair used to be very full and thick.

Before Hair Loss at age 13 to 14 years old

 But the sad thing for me is that my full and thick hair does not last long. In 1 to 2 years time when I'm only 15 to 16 years old. I started to notice myself having receding hairline when my hairline becoming more backwards and my forehead become higher. At that time I choose to ignore it as I feel that I was still young to face hair loss problem. The only treatment I did was to use anti hair loss shampoos.

Noticeable Hair Loss with receding hairline

For the next 5 to 10 years I used almost all kind of hair loss shampoos I see from the pharmacy, remedies eg. wash your hair with apple cider vinegar, eat vitamins or supplements which help in hair etc but my hair still get worst after 5 to 10 years. I think some of those product did help but mine was just more than just using physical remedy like shampoo and a nutrition healthy diet can help.

COAL TAR SHAMPOO

This is one of the many shampoos I used which I find it useful. You can get it from pharmacy or hospital at about $6-$7. I feel after using it my hair seems more volume but you will need to use it consistently to maintain the effect. From my understanding, what this shampoo does is that, it helps to remove oil or blockage on your hair which causes hair loss. So if your hair loss is due to blockage etc it should works for you.

During this period even after the above treatment or remedy, my hairline got more backwards,  forehead higher and also crown area having less hair volume. The very sad thing during this period is whenever you walk pass beauty saloons or road shows, people will approached you for hair loss treatment.

Hair loss getting worst when people started to approach me for hair loss treatment

So this time I know that physical and nutrition healthy diet treatment or remedy does not work on me anymore and so I decided to see a doctor for help. At that time I was only in my early 20s.

I went to a government polyclinic which cost me about $10 and they got me a referral letter to Changi General Hospital(CGH) in 3 months time to see a dermatologist specialist as they do not provide any medication or treatment for hair loss.

During the 1st visit, the dermatologist specialist try to understand from us what methods you tried and your current condition. At that time my condition was at III Vertex as you can see from the hair loss stage image below.

Hair Loss Stage

To me it was actually quite bad, as people around you would have notice that you are having hair loss problem. During the 1st visit, I was prescribe with Minoxidil 5% or Rogaine for 3months to see the effect. This is actually a spray which you will spray at the affected area of your hair loss to promote hair growth in both males and females. It cost me about $30+ per bottle which is for 1 month supply and I gotten 3 months supply to try out. Luckily for me, I got a referral letter from polyclinic and only need to pay a subsidies rate about $20+ to see a dermatologist specialist instead of $70+ without subsidies. So my first visit including consultation and prescription for 3 months cost me about $100+ about $1+ per day for this treatment.

Minoxidil 5% or Rogaine

Minoxidil 5% or Rogaine

After 6months of treatments with Minoxidil 5% or Rogaine. The dermatologist specialist released it didn't help with my hair loss condition. So this time he actually recommended me to go on Finasteride or Propecia which can only be taken by males as it is not approved for use in women, especially due to risks of birth defects in a fetus. Although it can be taken by males but there is also a risk of side effect. With this prescription there are risk it may cause sexual dysfunction. But it only affect less than 1% people who took it which are mostly in their 40s or 50s which can be reverse after stopping the treatment.

There are also controversy online that you may become permanent infertile from it but I'm not sure how true it is or was it due to the person other condition which have caused it?

So after talking to the dermatologist specialist and gained confident from him. That many people are actually on Finasteride or Propecia and they have not seen any cases which was mention above by the controversy so I decided to proceed with the treatment.

How this drug work is that it prevents conversion of testosterone to dihydrotestosterone (DHT) which is one of the most common or main cause of hair loss in men.

Finasteride or Propecia

Finasteride or Propecia

The price for Finasteride or Propecia treatment is slight more expensive compare to
Minoxidil 5% or Rogaine. I paid about $50 per box for 1month supply so its about $2 per day if you get 3 months prescription with consultation.

In a few months I actually see my hair getting thicker and volumise. Wow! first treatment that really works on me and so I continue for years before stopping it a year ago as a lot of times I forgotten to take and then I fully stopped it. By right once you are on Finasteride or Propecia, you should continue to take it as the effect may not last due to continuous hair loss issues when you age but luckily for me it did not. Somehow it stopped from the result I got from the treatment.

After Hair Loss treatment my hair is back! My hair as of few months back.

After Hair Loss treatment my hair is back! My hair as of yesterday.

Although after my treatment with Finasteride or Propecia. I'm still not totally satisfied with the result as Finasteride or Propecia is only helpful to grow back hair loss at the crowning area as well as volumise your hair so I managed to recover from III Vertex to III as per the hair loss stage image below. As for my frontal hair loss, it is still there but just that my hair is now volumise enough to cover it. One thing I did regret is I did not seek professional treatment earlier. I would have recover to stage I or II of the image below instead of stage III and my frontal hair loss will not be so high like the below.

Hair Loss Stage

Receding hairline

Receding hairline

So I understand from the dermatologist specialist that the only way to treat this is by doing a hair transplant. So after knowing about it, I tried to find online and all over but realised I couldn't find much information on the cost on hair transplant in Singapore. But luckily during one of my revisit to dermatologist specialist at CGH, the dermatologist specialist was able to arrange an appointment for me with Dr Lynn Teo who is from The Dermatology Practice, a visiting consultant for CGH to advise me on hair transplant.

So earlier this week I actually visited her and discussed on my condition. During this session, Dr Lynn was very friendly, sharing and explaining to me with many information on hair loss, hair transplant procedures and what are the standard cost etc.

As for my case, I'm eligible to go for hair transplant as I have went through years of treatment for hair loss and the receding hairline I had now are only curable by hair transplant. For Dr Lynn, she used to do hair transplant in CGH many years ago but for now she no longer do it in CGH but at a private clinic instead. I also understand from her that for my condition her clinic will charge a fixed cost about 14k-18k for hair transplant instead of hair transplant based on how many strip of hair you transplant which will be costlier. As she believe its about making her patient looks good instead of how much strip of hair you pay for the transplant which usually cost more and what most clinic does. She was also nice enough to quote me a lower rate which is the price she did at government hospital about 5years ago as she was trying to help government hospital patients like me for this procedure. Although she quoted me a lower rate but doing a hair transplant its still costly. I'm hoping in a few years to come, I will be able to save enough to do this procedure. If I really did save enough for that treatment, I will write another post on the detailed of my hair transplant procedure.

If you will like to make a appointment with Dr Lynn to know more about hair transplant treatment you can email appt@thedermatologypractice.com or visit www.thedermatologypractice.com for more information.

Before I end this post. Do get hair loss problem treated before it get worst or costlier to treat!


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