Ok so I am so sick and tired of the array of answers about this question everywhere. I want to know once and for all, especially since I am due to pay a pretty penny out of pocket for my orchiectomy on January 11th.

After an orchiectomy, will hair loss continue?

I know that most likely if you have it before any kind of hair loss starts you will be able to prevent it from happening in the future.

So in the same token, if you have mild male pattern hair loss as in just temple loss, will it be stopped permanently? Granted I will also be taking Avodart daily for the rest of my life and estrogen.

So if after orchiectomy while taking Finisteride of Avodart will Androgenic Alopecia totally be STOPPED and even slightly reversed? When i say reversed i mean will hair that is in the process of thinning but not totally gone yet begin to grow back normal dense hair again?

Does anyone have any experiences to share?

I am just finding either no answer or a multitude of many.

Some say just orchiectomy alone would decrease levels of DHT and T to such a small amount that it would just cease.

Some say you need to continue DHT blockers afterwards and as long as you are on them androgenic alopecia is stopped cold since any small amount of DHT that remained being produced in the body is being totally 100% blocked by the medication since it blocks about 70-90% of DHT and there will be a little less than 60% after orchiectomy, which will result in a 100% block.

Some say that T also causes hair loss so a T blocker as well as DHT blocker will both have to be taken for the rest of your life since even a small amount of T can cause hair loss.

I have heard multiple stories of people halting their hair loss and actually reversing miniaturized hairs just on Spiro and E and Fin/Dut!

So can we put this question to rest once and for all?  I just want to be able to have a peace of mind knowing that after this surgery that Androgenic Alopecia will not be something else that will be taking up most of my worrying thoughts throughout the day.

I know I will never have the perfect body I want.

I know I will never have the always passable and never questioned female face.

I know that clothes I wear will never look how I want them to look.

I know I will never be able to wear most of the things I want because of the shape of my body.

I know it will always be harder for me to get a job because I am transgender and I am different.

I know that my family will probably never get used to me being a transgender woman and I will most likely loose most of them when i officially come out.

I know my voice will never be perfectly pitched,

I know that my anxiety and depression will most likely never go away totally even after transition is complete.

I know that having sex will never be what I truly want it to be, and I am willing to sacrifice my orgasms and sexual function for my transition.

I know that if my boyfriend and I dont stay together I may have a hard time finding someone and I may even end up being all alone.

I know I have lost friends for being transgender and will continue to for the rest of my life.

This still does not even cover half of my life.

ALL I AM ASKING IS JUST TO KEEP MY HAIR, IS THIS REALLY THAT MUCH TO ASK FOR?

ninja admin edit: no dosages plz

Short answer is: it depends on your genetics, on how your androgenic receptors developed and where, and
on how many androgens your adrenal glands will produce after. You might need some AA forever after
orchi, as well as you might not. You'll have to try and see (always talking with your endocrinologist).

My experience in short (but remeber, we ALL differ quite, both as genetics and as metabolism).
Before SRS when I was 16 I started having fat scalp and recessing hairline. I was put on Spiro initially,
but it didn't make miracles for me. When I started Cyproterone acetate some years later, yes it MADE
miracles: face and scalp fat almost gone, hairloss stopped and the hairline started to lower (slowly) again.
After SRS at 29 I had been taking synthetic estrogens and progestins for about 8 years, and everything
was going quite fine. When I recently changed my endo and she changed my HRT to bioidentical
estradiol only (no more progestins) I started feeling VERY bad (yeah, contrarily to both common anectodal
and clinical evidence...) and also I started losing hair again (she called that: DEFLUVIUM) even if my
T levels were still lower than the minimum female range. So she decided to put me on Avodart too, but
strangely enough, after one year I still saw no results (like taking sugar). I suspect I would need some
natural progesterone, but I have everybody against that (it's the school of thought...). So she finally
told me to add a fraction of Androcur to Avodart every other day (I can't tell the dosage) and my hair
has pretty stopped falling again...(remember, Androcur IS a progestin). From blood tests, I actually have
some DEAS, they're my adrenal glands producing it, and it definitely harms me. But I'm very stressed too,
and stress also is not good for hair health... as for progestins, always remember:  those with 19 or 20
carbon atoms are the 'bad' ones, which can actually have androgenic effects! The 'good" ones, with AA
effects, have 21 carbon atoms, like the bioidentical micronized progesterone. However I repeat, we all DO
differ quite enough...

But, allow me, I can't accept your "I know" list ! It's too bad for you! I now don't know you intentions
and to what extent you plan to transition but:

-you can do very much with your aspect. HRT (then castration or full SRS) already helps to some extent,
but you could also plan FFS...
-your voice can be trained a lot, and in the worst case they can lift the pitch today with voice surgery
-your anxiety and depression may well improve or even disappear with transitioning
-you definitely won't sacrifice your orgasmic ability, neither with just orchiectomy nor with SRS, it will
simply improve and become more female !!!
-I can't comment on your social concerns, all will depend on what you plan to do to your body and how...

ok so I need to discuss this with my endo. I am very upset as I truly cannot believe how ridiculous this whole entire hair loss thing is. It is honestly destroying me to the point that i will literally have to be on disability because since I noticed the thinning 2 weeks ago I have not been able to stop crying or get out of bed.

So I am taking Avodart daily, I am on a 3 month Lupron injection, and I take elestrin.

What bioidentical micronized progesterone do you know of? Like the kind you said had 21 carbon atoms that would be ANTI androgenic NOT androgenic?

I am in the US so Androcur is not available.

I am also only 21.

Please help i'm really hurting about this hair loss

You can't get a straight answer because it is an individual thing. There obviously isn't a sure fire one size fits all method for dealing with hair loss, other wise everyone would use it. Some techniques work for some and not for others. I'm no expert but I would expect that an orchi would certainly reduce T in your body and help stop hair loss. But there may be other factors in play.

Genetics and testosterone/DHT aren't the only reason for hair loss. Stress, poor diet, illness may all be a factor for men and women. I don't know your situation but you certainly sound very stressed so that might be something else to look at.

I see cis women with thinning hair all the time.

Sadly, it happens when your genetics run that way.

Quote from: l0nghairdontcare on December 29, 2013, 03:00:09 PM
ok so I need to discuss this with my endo. I am very upset as I truly cannot believe how ridiculous this whole entire hair loss thing is. It is honestly destroying me to the point that i will literally have to be on disability because since I noticed the thinning 2 weeks ago I have not been able to stop crying or get out of bed.

So I am taking Avodart daily, I am on a 3 month Lupron injection, and I take elestrin.

What bioidentical micronized progesterone do you know of? Like the kind you said had 21 carbon atoms that would be ANTI androgenic NOT androgenic?

I am in the US so Androcur is not available.

I am also only 21.

Please help i'm really hurting about this hair loss

My dear, first of all, avoid making up a mess and don't stress yourself too much, just WAIT for your
bad Testis to be removed and THEN judge basing upon what will happen to you !
Maybe your hairloss will just stop this way. Just... wait
Don't worry if that sounds ridiculous to you, there's nothing abnormal, it's simply DISPHORIA, we all
experienced such things more or less
Now please understand that the statement above about progestins with 19,20,21 carbon atoms is
NOT an invention of mine, I actually found it on the Internet and I copied it on my notes, I don't
remember the source, whether it was Wikipedia (under antiandrogens and related entries) or still
another medical site, sorry...
Progeffik, Prometrium are some micronized progesterone drugs, but I don't know what is available
in the US... (I live in Italy)
Ciproterone Acetate is also contained in pills like Diane (is it available there ?) together with ethinylestradiol
which unfortunately is quite a harmful synthetic estrogen (however if your colestherol levels are low, if
you aren't a smoker and you have not V-Leyden factor mutation your risk of blood clotting should be low)
Yasmin is a deadful mix of A-A synthetic progestin (drospirenone) and ethinylestradiol.
But please wait some time after your surgery before taking any decision. Maybe your concerns are just
unfounded

The pituitary gland also will produce some amounts of testosterone, which can therefore be converted to DHT. Since the amount produced per individual via the pituitary varies, the answer will vary.

Short answer - get tested for T levels without using a T-blocker probably a month or so after the orchiectomy. If the t-levels are basically nil or close, then you won't need a DHT blocker. If they are still non-zero then you may.

P.S. Adult females can experience hair thinning as they age. This is normal.

My orchi stopped my hair loss completely and the hairline hat had been receding for a year completely reversed. Of course I was 20 when I had my orchi.

Thank you everyone for your responses.

@JustKate your answer has made me feel so much better! It literally has helped me come out of this sinking depression I've been in for the past weeks crying to my boyfriend and looking up wigs all day and night.

Can you tell me more about your hair? Like how long the hairloss was happening for and what and where it was and how bad it was at the time of orchie? Like when you say the hair grew back was it thinning or was it bald? And the hair that was thinning did it just re thicken as well? And what meds were you taking? I read some of your blog also and you went off hormones when you were younger. What's happened to your hair since?

Quote from: l0nghairdontcare on December 31, 2013, 10:11:02 PM
Thank you everyone for your responses.

@JustKate your answer has made me feel so much better! It literally has helped me come out of this sinking depression I've been in for the past weeks crying to my boyfriend and looking up wigs all day and night.

Can you tell me more about your hair? Like how long the hairloss was happening for and what and where it was and how bad it was at the time of orchie? Like when you say the hair grew back was it thinning or was it bald? And the hair that was thinning did it just re thicken as well? And what meds were you taking? I read some of your blog also and you went off hormones when you were younger. What's happened to your hair since?

I'm really glad I could help.

Let me try to answers your questions.  I have thin hair naturally and very fine.  I have a small forehead which helps.  When I was losing my hair it was thinning out on the front of my head and my hairline receded on both sides about an inch or so.  I was taking spiro and premarin for 6 months before my orchi but they were not able to stop my hair loss alone.  After the orchi it just regrew back to my original hairline.  I had been losing my hair for over a year when I had my orchi.  Most of the men in my family (both sides) were bald before 25 - my dad before 21 (which seemed to be the way I was going).  When I had to stop hormones my hairline stayed the same.  The orchi was enough to stop all hair loss.

Kate

That is amazing! I am seriously hoping this will be the case for me as well. So the areas that were thinning actually became thick like they were before again?

Quote from: l0nghairdontcare on January 03, 2014, 09:23:45 PM
That is amazing! I am seriously hoping this will be the case for me as well. So the areas that were thinning actually became thick like they were before again?

As best as I can tell, yes.

Quote from: l0nghairdontcare
I know I will never...
I know it will always...
/quote]

Of all the certainties and words i once used to deny being trans "Never and Always" are the ones I have had to eat most often.  Open now to greater possibilities I would respectfully urge you to consider improving your potential future digestion.   It seems there are some things we may not know until we are there?

I am on the fence about an orchi for various reasons and appreciate the advice of those who have been there.  Please keep us up to date about your results and may you heal fast.