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This is definitely a conversation to have with your doctor based on just how high your estrogen levels naturally are, combined with how they could possibly increase by taking finasteride. My first question to your post is "Just exactly how high are your estrogen levels? Are they 5% higher than normal or 25% higher than normal, for example?" The answer makes a huge difference in any answer anyone could give you. Not to mention, the tricky part about side effects is that there's no way to know with certainty ahead of time whether or not you will experience them - so in a way, you just have to take the calculated risk and try it out. Studies show that taking finasteride can slightly increase estrogen levels - but whether or not they increase enough to cause side effects varies from person to person. I'd have this conversation with your doctor and should you decide to take the medication, perhaps he'll work with you on monitoring your estrogen levels and keeping an eye out for any troubling side effects.

I don't know what you could use around the face for this, as I've never experienced it. My nostrils have a tendency to get super dry due to sinuses and whatnot, and keeping them lubricated with vaseline helps when they act up... Not sure if you'd want something that thick on your face though. Lol.

Absolutely incredible! The results (and your documentation) are outstanding. So happy for you.

I've had seborrheic dermatitis on and off throughout my life, and have finally gotten it under control over the past few years. Nizoral helped tremendously, particularly when I had an outbreak, but I must say that the best thing I've found in terms of longterm effectiveness is focusing on preventing outbreaks altogether. I started paying close attention to what was contributing to my scalp acting up, and it was primarily 1) different styling products I would use, and 2) the frequency at which I washed my hair. Little by little, I was able to eliminate various products that I was allergic to, such as Aveda. And then by eliminating them (among others), it really helped minimize the frequency of my outbreaks. I also noticed that I have to thoroughly wash my hair pretty much daily, otherwise my scalp gets super irritated. Hopefully the Nizoral really helps when you have outbreaks, but best case scenario, you can figure out what your particular triggers are and hopefully find a way to keep them at bay.

I would focus on the 45degree position, and then just let your spine take care of the chin/head placement. I have a feeling you'll instinctively know what proper placement feels like on your neck, bc the last thing you want is getting a crick in your neck due to trying to force it into an unnatural angle. I created a nice little incline for myself using multiple pillows and then added some on the side to provide extra support and keep me from rolling over. Google "How to sleep in a 45 degree angle post surgery" and a lot of images/instructions will pop up to give you a proper visual. Good luck!

I'm impressed with your receptiveness to the responses here. I hope this leads to others not only being better informed about finasteride and its actual risks, but that it also increases healthy, open communication between you and your girlfriend. It's amazing how easy it is for all of us at various points to make things out to be bigger issues in our heads than they are in reality. I look back at how much shame and embarrassment I carried around about my own hair loss and subsequent hair transplant, and looking back, so much of the inner turmoil I experienced around it was self-induced. Once I started speaking openly and honestly about it, I was shocked and relieved to know that literally nobody cared the way I thought they would, and I was way more supported than I ever thought I would be.

I experienced this too, and it definitely subsided with time. I imagine it had to do with increased dryness of the scalp post-surgery, but it eventually resolved itself. If you ever have future outbreaks, Nizoral really comes in handy btw. Hopefully you won't have to deal with it anymore though.

Hey Luca! Get the official photos from the clinic and post them here if you want more detailed feedback... And in the meantime, it seems like the general consensus here is that ideally, you would be seeing more growth at this stage of the game, buuuuut that doesn't necessarily mean this won't turn out ok. Unfortunately, the only thing you can do is keep waiting and hope for the best. 😕

Personally, I think this is looking great - and as mentioned above, it may be worth shifting your expectations a bit about what hairstyles are possible for you moving forward (or at least until some more time passes to see how it ultimately heals). The reality is that you had 700 punctures to the skin, and so the risk of developing tiny little scars is a reality of getting a hair transplant, and it's important for everyone to know beforehand that shaving their hair down to the skin like this may not be a viable option, even with FUE. All of that said, I had 2,000 grafts over 7 years ago, and my donor looked similar to yours at 3 months. However, with time and with proper care (mainly keeping the donor out of the sun for 6 months to better help it heal), I can now buzz the back/sides of my donor with no guard and not have any signs at all of a hair transplant. I got my haircut 2 weeks ago by a new barber and he was in complete disbelief that I even had any work done, so it's possible... It's just not something that should be expected. Hopefully yours continues to improve more to your satisfaction, but I do want to reiterate that I don't think it looks nearly as bad as you think it does - and in all honesty, you could probably get away with it as is and nobody would ever think anything of it.

I was very pleased to reach the last page of this post and see that the outcome is shaping up to not be nearly as bad as you had anticipated. And even if things don't turn out exactly as you would like, I hope you're finding comfort in the fact that it's already better than I think you thought it would and that you're in a better place mentally and emotionally with all of it. So try not to beat yourself up over the hasty decision - it won't change anything, and it definitely won't make you feel any better. So focus on the parts that are turning out okay, and know that if there are still parts of your hair that you're not happy with, you have the resources available to you now to research different surgeons and choose one that will hopefully be able to tweak/repair this one in a way that meets your expectations.

It looks like you're being pointed in the right direction and given lots to consider. I would like to point out that while this procedure is by no means ideal, it's also not a complete botch job. In addition to waiting a full 12 months before diving into another procedure, I would also start coming to terms with the fact that even if it does improve over the next few months, it most likely won't meet the expectations you had going into it. The work itself simply doesn't appear to be up to par with what the elite surgeons are doing. Keep your head up and know that this is most likely a fairly easy fix - given that you do way more research this time around and consult various surgeons. The list of recommended surgeons here is the best place I know of to start, so it's great you've found this forum just in time for you to start researching a repair procedure.

As was mentioned before, this highlights an important misconception many guys have about finasteride, in that it doesn't "stop hair loss altogether", rather it "slows it down" - albeit often quite considerably. It's one of the reasons I stopped taking it after a few years. I was experiencing mild side effects, my hair loss has been fairly stable for the past decade, and I decided that the best decision for me was to let my hair do what it wants to do and I'll address it accordingly with another hair transplant should it ever come to that. At this point, I think you need to evaluate your situation and decide which approach you want to take. You can explore adding other medications/treatments, but keep in mind that ultimately, the best any of them can do at this point is slow down your hair loss. It could slow it down enough that you'll keep everything manageable for years and years, but there's always the risk of the medication reaching its limit of what it's able to do. I don't think this necessarily means that a hair transplant isn't a viable option for you. It still very well could be. You would just need to make sure that you're going to a surgeon who's going to take everything into consideration and come up with a conservative game plan that takes into account your rate of hair loss, age, genetics, family history, etc. And if you want to take medication in conjunction with a hair transplant, there are definitely reasons to do so - and the argument could also be made that you may be better off letting your hair do what it wants so that at the very least, you're going into a hair transplant knowing what you're working with. I would recommend getting a few consultations with some reputable hair transplant surgeons under way and getting their professional opinion on the matter after evaluating your situation. Dermatologists are great, and it's great she's being forthcoming about the miniaturization, but a dermatologist simply won't be as well-versed in hair restoration as a hair transplant surgeon is, and so the advice they give may be limited.

Congrats on these results! It definitely made you look significantly younger without doing anything drastic. I'm very impressed and very happy for you.

While this isn't something I see happen frequently, I still don't think it's indicative of a lost graft this late in the game. Have you reached out to your surgeon to get his input? In the meantime, I would reevaluate how you've been washing/caring for your scalp over the past few months. It seems like you may be being extremely cautious and careful when washing your hair, and therefore, perhaps creating an environment for lots of scalp buildup and residue, which could lead to this sort of crusty matter. You're right in that "only time will tell", but I do find the chances of this being a dislodged graft at 5 months to be the most unlikely of all scenarios. And I think a followup with your doctor would be the best way to go regardless so that he's kept in the loop.

Lol. I understand the feeling, but TRUST! It's all part of the process - and not seeing any results at 1.5 months is exactly what should be happening.

Yep! You're totally fine to style your hair however you wish - and even if the hairs from the grafts that didn't shed do fall out, they'll grow back - meaning that the grafts themselves have long been anchored/secure, so you're not putting your results at risk by doing so. The main thing I would be mindful of is making sure your scalp doesn't get irritated, as it may still be a little tender and easily agitated from the procedure.

Echoing the others to help your peace of mind by saying that there's no way you dislodged the grafts 11-12 days into the process. The first 72 hours are when you're at the most risk of accidentally losing any grafts, but after that, the chances diminish considerably. It's actually more difficult to lose grafts than most people realize. Keep following your hair washing protocol, particularly in regards to the scabs, and at this point, just lean into the fact that things will look worse before they look better... And then resist the urge to monitor your scalp too closely for results over the next few months because you won't start seeing any progress until months 3-4 at the earliest. Congrats on the procedure!

As the others have said, I suggest you keep doing more research, and the list of recommended surgeons here is a good place to start. And while location shouldn't be a sole deciding factor when making a decision, if you do want to stay local in LA, feel free to reach out to me about Dr. Mohebi. Regarding Artas, it's really not everything that some doctors make it out to be, and I don't believe it's ever fully lived up to its promise. In fact, many inexperienced surgeons often rely on Artas to do the work they don't have the skill for themselves. And even if a surgeon does use Artas as part of the procedure, the fact that he says the extraction will be done completely by the machine is a red flag. The machine itself is limited, and even in the best case scenario, the surgeon needs to know when the machine isn't performing like it should and be skilled enough to change course mid-procedure to manual extraction. I'm glad you found this forum before jumping into a decision, because I definitely think you have better options for you out there.

Echoing what many other have mentioned here in that it is way too early to get any sort of indication of what the final outcome will look like. And based on everything you've shared, nothing seems to indicate that you won't end up with a fantastic result! So keep your chin up and try your best not to worry about this. This serves as a great reminder for all of us here and for anyone browsing that it's imperative that you go into a hair transplant procedure not expecting to see any sort of meaningful improvement for the first 6 months. A lot of guys start seeing results around month 4, but that's the earliest you'll start to see progress... And having your growth be on the slower end is in no way an indicator of a poor result. So be patient and try to think about anything other than your hair.

Did the surgeon take any official photos at the office? If so, post those at some point, as they'll have the proper lighting/angles that give the best representation of the work. But I don't see anything to be alarmed about at the moment. Congrats on getting this done!

Out of curiosity, is this something you're asking because it's a situation you've found yourself in? Or is it simply a hypothetical scenario that you're curious and concerned about? The reason I ask is that if it's the second, it's important to note that having a completely failed transplant like you mentioned is extremely unlikely, particularly if you do thorough research and go to a well respected surgeon with a great track record - and therefore, not something I think you should spend too much time thinking about (unless you just like knowing for educational purposes). Best case scenario, you/ll never find yourself in a situation where that would even be something to address.

Woooooow! Absolutely incredible. I know how good that feeling is, and very happy for you. Thanks for the updates.

I'm glad to see that you're getting pointed in the right direction, and also that your concerns are being validated. I agree with your assessment that the work doesn't seem to be up to par with what we've come to expect from high quality surgeons, and I think you're well within reason to be unsatisfied. I'm glad you seem to have a positive outlook on all of this, as that's going to make navigating a repair way easier on yourself. It's not ideal, but the work isn't so bad that it couldn't be properly addressed by a different surgeon. High hopes! It also may be worth reaching out to the original clinic and discussing this with them. I'm not familiar with the surgeon, but even the best surgeons in the world can miss the mark - and there could be any number of factors at play, particularly when it comes to how the patient's body heals. Perhaps they'll acknowledge that the work isn't up to par and can provide some sort of explanation or compensation. It wouldn't hurt to ask.

Yeah, he had a really rough procedure last time and was very vocal and transparent about it in the media. He was put under general anesthesia for the procedure and ended up with a paralyzed vocal cord and lost his voice for nearly a year. So this time was a much better experience, to say the least.

I don't think you're ever going to find a definitive consensus on who the "Best Surgeon" is. The list you were given above on the recommended surgeons on this site is a fantastic place to start. All the surgeons there are vetted by the forum, and I imagine most of them would be solid choices. There's no "one size fits all" surgeon out there that everyone should go to. I think the best option is to use that list as a starting point, start looking at their work, how they approach hair transplants, overall demeanor, etc. You'll naturally find yourself drawn to different surgeons, and once you do, you can start narrowing it down to your top 3 or so and schedule consultations with them. Once you've done that, you can compare the different recommendations they gave you, see which approach resonates the most with you, and then really just ask yourself who you feel most comfortable with taking on this procedure. Researching a surgeon is a process, and in the beginning it can be quite daunting. So my suggestion would be to let go of the notion that there's a "Best Surgeon" out there, and instead focus on finding the "Best Surgeon for You" - which is different for all of us. Best of luck! And utilize this forum as much as you want to help you navigate all of this.