win200

25 minutes ago, consequence said:

Wow @win200 the amount of patience and persistence you showed throughout this process is incredible.

Stellar results.

Hey, thanks! It was a six-year process in total, but absolutely worth it. Eleven years out from the first transplant now and the result completely holds. 

13 hours ago, JP28 said:

For reference @Melvin- Moderatordid a podcast with @win200 and he was on test 1gram a week while taking fina and duta, the blood work for dht came back at like 15.

So I doubt that 5gr of creating would do anything.

Yeah, I really doubt that that much creatine will have any impact.

20 hours ago, Follicle1984 said:

Hi again Win.

Just thought of two more questions for when you are next on here...

Firstly, I believe you mentioned in other posts you tried/used oral dutasteride for quite a while? Did that give you any sides? Why do you choose topical over oral dut?

Also...does the topical dut still protect you from hair loss on cycle? Think I read you've used up to 700mg test? Apologies if I've miss read that. Can't remember where I read it now to check i got that correct.

Cheers mate.

Shoot, typed out whole response and browser ate it. Short version is I had sexual sides. Answer on second is that I've never done a cycle w/o being on oral dut, so can't answer that one and wouldn't want to try the experiment. 

3 hours ago, Follicle1984 said:

Thanks for this message. That's great that it's working for you. Really pleased. I'm sure you could be right. The successful leave the forums. It does create a negative bias for many treatments when you read on forums. Food for thought. 

May I enquire your dose and frequency? Before you vanish to enjoy life for a bit longer lol

Sure! It's one eyedropped full roughly every week, give/take. Losing virtually no hair--just normal cyclical shedding. 

3 minutes ago, Follicle1984 said:

Not too many responses on this thread these days?!

Why do I get the feeling many people may have abandoned topical dutasteride?! (Sides?? ineffective??)

I think it's a different reason--or, at least, it is for me. It's working for people. Hair ain't falling out, life is busy, less reason to come here and post. It's why people tend to vanish after successful surgeries--they're back to enjoying life and not obsessing about their hair!

So, tl;dr, topical dut is working great for me.

9 hours ago, OtherSyde said:

I did message him after seeing his final hairline revision thread, before I got my jawline done, to ask him who did the work. If I remember right from our messages, he had his chin/jawline implant done by Dr. Yaremchuk, but his cheek/ocular rim implants done by Dr. Eppley. But yeah, small world!

I definitely didn't realize this result was you! I saw it posted on Eppley's IG a few weeks back. Looks great and good to see you've healed well.

Question: did Eppley place your malar implants via lower eyelid incisions, or intraorally?

Thanks for having me! Great conversation and looking forward to doing it again.

5 hours ago, Follicle1984 said:

Cheers Win. Good to know. Yeah my take and understanding is pretty much any hair treatment that is doing something positive can potentially cause a shed.

May I ask what your dosing regime is (dose and frequency) with topical dut? 

Also...did you mean you were on topical dut and then stopped and had 8m off...or that you were on another form of 5AR at that point (oral dut or fin)? How come you stopped for those 8m?

Thanks 

Yup, I was on oral dut until August 31, 2021. I was on topical dut at that time. I dropped both on 9/1/21 and didn't use any 5ari until restarting topical dut this June. TBH I didn't seem to be losing hair during that gap but didn't want to push my luck.

I apply once a week, no dermaroller. 

Not try to derail the discussion going about DHT testing, but just giving a data point. I restarted topical dut in June after having no 5ari for eight months, and had a moderate shed for a few months. Nothing severe, but definitely noticeable. The shed has wound down now after almost exactly three months, just in case anyone is starting and wants a sense what type of shed they might encounter.

1 minute ago, sunsurfhair said:

Would love to hear your TRT protocol as well. Which topical formulation of Fin are you using now? 

No fin for me--using Dr. Mwamba's 0.1% topical dut once a week.

Last protocol was 750mg of test p per week for 12 weeks. Nothing fancy.

1 minute ago, Melvin- Moderator said:

Man I would love to have you on our podcast. You have so much knowledge that isn't readily available online. I'm sure many would love to hear about your experience using AAS and 5aris. 

I'd be happy to do it. Shoot me a message and we can trade email addresses.

37 minutes ago, Melvin- Moderator said:

@win200 You don't have to answer this if you don't want too, but are you on TRT or exogenous hormones? Many including myself have wondered how hair loss can fare with 5aris and TRT.

I've run multiple steroid cycles while on 5aris with no change to my hair loss. The caveat, though, is a couple compounds interact extremely badly with 5aris and caused increased shedding--Google "finasteride and NPP", for example. When I used NPP, I lost a ton of hair. But the 5aris effectively kept my kept my hair when I was running test and other low-androgenic compounds like anavar or turinabol.

7 minutes ago, sunsurfhair said:

That’s a good sign then. My SHBG never went high like that, I just stayed in this “low t” profile post the med. If you can find a way to get the SHBG down again, you should see some alleviation of your symptoms hopefully. How’s your Estradiol and DHT look?

Last draw on 7/25 had total t at 738, SHBG at 57.5, estradiol at 16, free test at 0.7%, DHT at 58, LH at 1.8. Total t was a little lower than normal but that's not a big swing, and tested a bit later in the day from optimal.

Results on 3/24, for contrast, had total t at 872, SHBG at 61.5, estradiol at 24, free test at 0.7%, and DHT at 46.

My take is that these are all good numbers with the exception of the free test. So the meds didn't cause my profile to tank; there's just a free t issue. Open to other perspectives, though.

Just now, sunsurfhair said:

Sorry to hear my friend. Here is a good example of someone who got hit much later despite years of usage. 

To be clear, these are all symptoms that I had on the medication due to increased SHBG being freed up by lower DHT. It's just that the free t level hasn't increased as I dropped the med. And, to be candid, I always had some of these symptoms even prior to starting the meds at 28, so it's not 100% that the meds caused the issue, although they almost certainly exacerbated it.

3 minutes ago, GoliGoliGoli said:

If you don't mind sharing, what was your free T as a % of total? Generally supposed to be between 1.6-2.9%

.7%. And I can tell. Reduced libido, erectile activity, etc.

1 minute ago, sunsurfhair said:

My last physical with test labs were done (by chance) 3 months before I started Propecia. 850 total t. After getting very ill on the med after about a year, I got off, crashed and my labs were run multiple times over a 2 year period with the same horrible profile for a young man (early 30s). The highest I ever got my T back was to 450 and that was with a ton of T positive supplements, HEAVY lifting , and eating as clean as can be plus meditation and stress exercises. Free T was still in the toilet tho. And trust me we exhausted all other causes of the low t - it was the ruined hormonal profile that never went back to baseline from the med. 

This (and the other stories) are interesting. I was on Propecia/Avodart for ten years and just dropped in September (on topical now). My total t was very high (~800) on those meds and remains that high, but free t was low on them and stays low as well. I don't have before blood work to compare given how long I was on the meds, but wonder if they've had an impact on free t. The cause of the low free t is high SHBG. 

5 minutes ago, John1991 said:

I figure it would.  I've read topical fin is less likely to produce sides by a significant margin than oral fin...  I'm considering switching in the next couple of months.

I think it's going to take over, in the same way that FUE gradually displaced (for the most part) FUT. Just doesn't make sense to change your hormonal composition like that unless you absolutely have to.

Just now, John1991 said:

I'm quoting you, but anyone should feel free to respond.  Is topical dut likely to thicken hair more/work better than topical fin as is the case with the oral versions of these two drugs?

I would think so, intuitively. I'll be honest, though, that I'm still not 100% sure how dut works topically... it alters your endocrine system's synthesis of DHT, so doesn't make sense to me how that works only at the follicular level when it's rubbed into the scalp. Would love a cogent explanation.

11 minutes ago, Melvin- Moderator said:

Have you ever considered oral minoxidil?

I tried it once--instantly got dark purple circles under my eyes and crushing headaches. Not a viable solution for me.

Just now, stephcurry30 said:

Perfect thank you I will be ordering from FUE clinic here shortly. And just to confirm this liquid from FUEE clinic doesn't include minoxidil, correct? Topical minoxidil was in effective for me and I don't want to introduce it back onto my scalp.

Nope. They've got lots of different versions and you can order without--I don't use minoxidil, either.

Just now, stephcurry30 said:

Good to know. I'm assuming you apply it to your entire scalp? And is yours a liquid or foam? and where did you get your's from?

It's a liquid. I apply to the entire top of my head but focus on hairline. I get the liquid from FUE Clinic.

7 minutes ago, stephcurry30 said:

Thank you! I will go down this route. Did you experience a shed when you implemented topical dutasitirde? 

I did. Not drastic, but noticeable. Lasted ~10 weeks.

9 minutes ago, stephcurry30 said:

As someone who is thinking to trying a topical treatment any recommendations between topical finastiride vs dutastiride? 

Topical dut as a larger molecular size, which means far less like to be absorbed systemically and cause side effects as a result. It's anecdotal, but there are lots of people who've reported difficulty with sides on topical fin due to its smaller molecular size. My PCP, who prescribes these meds through a compounding pharmacy, confirmed this to me. So I'd strongly come down on the side of topical dut.

Thanks, Melvin! I think I'm sticking with the dut for now; I've always been particularly susceptible to sides and given the differences in molecular weight, I think I'll have better luck with dut. Agreed that this is a terrific product, though, and looking forward to them branching out into dut.

Has anyone continued to have a hard time getting orders placed with FUE Clinic? Same problem that I've had before... slow responses, Josh sends emails that aren't clear, etc. I was randomly sent a payment link after I asked a question, but no place to input my shipping address (which changed since my last order) and the cost didn't seem to include shipping. I like the product but God the process is a joke.