yesplease

To be fair, where you do your pre-med studies holds far less weight than where you attend medical school. Ultimately, what you trained in for residency and at which institution are the most relevant factors of all in regards to medical education. John Diep did his training in Family Practice (not a competitive specialty + he did not train in surgery) at a marginal program It therefore stands to reason that his surgical wound closures are likely not of the same caliber as a board-certified plastic surgeon (if that is indeed what Dr Lindsey is). I am a physician, just offering my insider perspective.

He specifically addresses his experience and concerns with fin in his update.

Hairline and forelock look great. Appearance of mid-scalp density in post-op photos benefitting from some combover styling.

“Video unavailable”

Starting with FUT for your first procedure is still the superior choice for long term donor supply/graft optimization. If you’re going to need multiple procedures over your lifetime, you’ll get more total grafts by starting with the strip method and switching to FUE for subsequent transplants.

Looks great man. How are the non-transplanted areas holding up? Still taking 0.25 finasteride EOD?

What dose have you used?

To the OP, a few thoughts: IMO, the incidence of side effects from finasteride is likely higher than what is reported by the existing studies that are used to endorse the drug. A similar poll was put up here in the recent past with similar results to your current poll (ie much higher incidence of reported sides than literature suggests) and a similar discussion ensued. Also, IMO, it is inaccurate to assume that this forum will bias the results substantially towards over-reporting the occurrence of side effects. Of course there will be some individuals who suffered side effects who will be more assertive in sharing their experiences, but there are just as many if not more people here who have tolerated fin and are on this forum to gather info regarding hair transplants and other hair loss information. This is not an anti-fin forum, it's a hair loss and HT forum. Also, even though you state that the reddit poll you posted is "less pessimistic", in the screen shot you provided it still appeared that 40+% of posters stated they had sides to varying degrees. This should also tell us something. In regards to my experience, I thoroughly reviewed the available data on fin and did my due diligence. I am medically savvy. I was reassured by the literature and the very low reported incidence of SEs that it supported. I started taking fin fully expecting to not suffer any adverse effects and feel as though I had no worries about ED, etc at that time. Unfortunately, the side effects did occur and recovering from them has been an ongoing process. Additionally, the sides were certainly not just "in my head" as, similar to another poster on this thread, I suffered from genital pain in addition to sexual side effects. Fortunately, the pain has greatly subsided at this point, but it was definitely real. Ultimately, while many people suffer no discernible adverse effects from fin, a significant portion of people will experience varying degrees of side effects. My suspicion is that while it is likely a minority of individuals, but it is certainly higher than the nominal percentages quoted in the existing studies. Overall, people should realize that there is real risk involved in taking fin, and it's something you should give some thought to in terms of balancing the risks and rewards for your particular circumstance.

Hi there. It looks as though one more procedure of 1500 or so grafts would have a nice impact. Are you on medical therapy? Also, your previous procedures were both FUE? Did you consider FUT initially?

I first noticed my temples receding at around 22, but it stopped at a NW 2-3 and was otherwise very thick for many years. So much so that nobody would have considered me to be “balding” and by the time I reached my mid-thirties I thought I’d dodged a bullet and that I’d be one of those guys who has some temporal recession/mature hairline but otherwise has a full head of hair (a look I actually preferred, tbh). Unfortunately, as I approached 40 I started to recede further and thin out, and it’s looking like it could progress to a high NW. I’d say I’ve moved from a NW2-3 to a NW3-4 over the span of about 3-4 years after a good 12 or so years of no progression. My father is a NW 5, but he has brothers who are NW3 and the males on my mother’s side all have perfect, Brad Pitt hair (including my grandfather who died at 80 with a ridiculous amount of hair). My older brother seems to have held at a NW2-3 (what I hoped I’d stabilized at). In short, as frustrating as it is, there’s really no surefire way to predict male pattern baldness. That applies to when it commences and to how rapidly it progresses.

I hear you. I feel the same way.

I wish I had something helpful to offer here. I had some similar symptoms, and they’ve lessened over the last 1.5 - 2 years since stopping fin, but haven’t completely subsided. Has your pain diminished at all? Hopefully it will resolve with more time. On a separate note, how has your hair loss been since then? Considering a transplant?

Agreed, there should be pictures of both environments, as people’s lives are spent in both settings. I just wanted to point out that it is reasonable to hope for an HT that looks decent both indoors and outside. They are both “normal” conditions and you shouldn’t be expected to be satisfied with results that only look acceptable in the most optimal of conditions.

Although I understand what you’re getting at here, I would say that the pics he provided are in “normal lighting”, as people are routinely outside during daylight hours in their normal lives. Obviously outdoors/sunny lighting isn’t typically going to be as flattering a setting for an HT as indoor, non-overhead lighting. That doesn’t mean it isn’t “normal lighting”. And, wanting your HT to look natural when outside during the day is a reasonable expectation.

What an amazing journey that you’ve been on! Congrats. I’m in my 40s and thinking about taking the plunge for my first transplant. Have you ever put together a post chronicling all of the procedures that you’ve had? It would be really interesting to see how your transplants have changed and held up over time. Cheers!