It depends on so many thinks, everyone is different.

I went through he same things that everyone seems to mention including in this thread.

I had a nice thick head of hair then one day boom oh no what's going on here then..lol.

My solution was to grow my hair and this covered my losses...but I had a crappy haircut and got frustrated. Went through Toppik like crazy.

Ended up having a small hairline piece, as my hair is quite thick and wavy it was easy to blend in, never really exposed my hairline too much. I don't know if its because the rest of my hair is thick or that my head is quite narrow but I only need a very small piece to make me look like I have a thick full head of hair....about 3 inches length by about 1/2 inch depth. I also have medium density and cut the pieces out which loses hair so in the end it has only a little bit of hair on the piece but it makes a difference.

I could not wear and achieve a similar look but hate my high hairline and it takes much longer after I've washed it...so wearing just makes things easier.

I take meds too, fin and minox and I wish I had tried them sooner, I waited around 7 years of losing hair before I started but I still managed to regrow some, if I hadn't I'm sure I would be wearing a larger piece now.

I still think of HT's now and then but this is so easy and I've done it for 10 years now so I'm happy with it.

good luck in whatever you decide.