I've been fortunate in that i don't have personal experience with hair transplants or the need to even consider them. But a life long friend does. He was thinning even back in high school. Was put on finasteride in his later teens and used rogain for about 20 years. He still had hair. But you could see his scalp through it, especially when he put product in his hair and the leading edge wasn't where it had once been. He ended up getting the transplant surgery done. The one where they take little bits from all over instead of a single line in the back.

His hair looks great now. Really thick and full. Even when he puts his hair product in it you can't see through to his scalp at all anymore. It looks like that's just how it's always been. He's completely happy with how it all turned out. For the first couple months it looks like absolute ass. But once it all grows back in your good to go. The only down sides was the cost and recovery time. It was over 10k.

There is some worry about needing to go back to get other areas transplanted later if you're still losing your hair. He waited upwards of 10 years to get it done because the drs all told him if he did it then he would almost certainly have to get some touch ups done as other areas continued to shed. I'm not sure whether or not this is still a potential issue for him.

I dont have a solution as I have just recently noticed my hair thinning this past winter. Years and years of using steroids and always had a nice full head of thick hair. Im now in my mid 40's and have always given myself haircuts so its something I would notice. The only new thing i have taken is accutane the past year so I was wondering if that had something to do with it, seems hair loss is a documented side effect with it. I wont be taking anymore accutane from now on and I also bought and use ketoconazol shampoo, I read the shampoo can help with hair growth. I havent noticed anything yet.

Two people I worked with had hair transplants done in Turkey. One of them looked flawless after his scalp settled, it doesn’t look great when you first get it done but after a few months his hair looked better that before he lost it. Other bloke got it done too early, as in he hadn’t waited for enough to fall out so ended up with another bald patch sometime after the transplant.

imo, best solution