Petroholic

Yes Gatsby, it is under my HT doctor's supervision. Thank you for your review. Its highly encouraging. I am titrating it up every month slowly as I am afraid of the side-effects and shedding. I was on 1.25mg for a month. Will stay on 1.875mg this month. If all goes well, will increase to 2.5 mg next month. The plan is to go till 5mg but slowly, then remain at 5 mg for 6-8 months to get the full results snd then take 2.5mg as maintenance dose for a long time. Surprisingly, I can say with surity that even with 1.25mg dose my hair shedding has reduced. I noticed this at around 25 days into the treatment.

After contemplating and researching for a long time, I finally started Oral minoxidil 1.25mg daily on 21/3/2024. I am at close to a month now. I was thinking about continuing my old hair transplant thread but made a new one as I thought it will get more views. The plan is to increase it by 0.625mg every month till I reach 5 mg and watch out for all side-effects. Its already been close to a month and I have upped the dose to 1.25mg / 2.5mg on alternate days i.e have increased the dose by 0.625mg from the previous month. Sideffects: Keeping a close eye but none reported so far Results: Too soon. But there was a surprise, I can say with surity (Not a Placebo, for sure )that around the 20 day mark, my hair shed had reduced. I wasn't shedding much previously. It was just that when I used to comb my hair, bath etc, there were 5-10 hair on the brush etc. these are close to 1-5 now. I will keep the thread updated. Will also add pictures.

Hard to tell since dht blockers just halt hair loss . They do not regrow hair

Nothing much to report . Had no sides with fin+ dut regimen . Had started this because i felt i was losing ground on fin daily . I consulted my HT surgeon . He asked me to add dutasteride once weekly. Not sure my hair benefited or not but there is a gradual decline in hair condition over the years which is normal . You can see my threads to see my hair condition .

I follow this exact regimen since last 3 years. Have been on fin 1 mg since almost 11 years

Well, it is greasy and sticky so it makes already thinning hair appear even thinner. It also clumps hair together making them difficult to style. Overall, I don't find topicals effective because they wet the hair making them look thinner. They bring out the true picture and give away the illusion of a full head of hair. The above photos I have posted make my hair look good because they are bone dry. It's a completely different story with even slightly wet hair.

Yeah, I saw your YouTube updates. One thing that wasn't clear was did you and @Gatsby have any shedding when starting oral minoxidil. If yes, for how many months.

I have had a great experience with my HT but the hair loss progression is still there. It is difficult to replicate it in pics when the hair is dry. There has been definite loss in the past 1.5 years as I have immigrated to the new country which comes with a lot of challenges and associated stress. There is a gap forming between transplanted hair along hairline and my original hair along mid scalp. The regimen has to be tweaked a little every year after talking to my HT doctor. Currently, I am planning to add oral minoxidil to my regimen. Best of luck. An HT has been a life changing experience for me. I wish the same happens with you. I intend to update this thread long term to give ppl an idea of how HT's hold over decades. My hair have been holding up OK. There has definitely been a loss and lately I have noticed a gap forming between transplanted hair along hairline and my original hair along mid scalp. I intend to add oral minoxidil to my regimen to combat this. Guys, if you could recommend me whether I should add oral minoxidil, it would be helpful. Tagging @Melvin- Admin @Gatsby and other senior members. Your advise will be really valuable.

@alopie My HT doc suggests a 2 week break every 3 months to prevent sideffects and mentain effectiveness. you can watch on this his video here. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cPWmhkYEiUw I have been taking fin 1 mg for 11 years now. Following his advice, I stopped it for a week. Faced massive shed in just a week. Plan to take a week's break every 6 months from now on.

Yeah @Gatsby I am thinking of adding oral minoxidil as I have explained in my post above. Feedback from you guys is very important @Gatsby for various reasons. Firstly, a HT patient's mind is always troubled with various thoughts.......we are always assessing our hair situation, hair greed is another issue. Secondly, Once a year or so, I am also thinking of tweaking my hair regimen. Furthermore, we can hardly discuss these issues with anyone. This community and our HT doctor is the only place where we can discuss this. It is important to discuss our situation over here, I know the senior members over here can guide me in the right direction. It keeps me from falling prey to my own emotions. If you know what I mean.

Some Updates on my Hair regimen | Some Questions too : I recently consulted Dr. Bhatti over a video call. ( I still do it every year or so ) I discussed a loss in hair density and about updating my Hair regimen. It is difficult to assess loss in hair density etc. over a video call and Its not possible to visit him since I have moved from India to Canada. Still he advised me on the following : Break from Finasteride : He advised to take a 2 week break every 6 months so that the med doesn't lose its effectiveness. He has also discussed this in the following video. I gave the first break after a decade. Just 5 days later, there was a severe shedding which I haven't had for years now. I restarted the medicine after a break of 1 week. It still took 3 more weeks for shed to come back to normal. By the way, I had continued taking the Dutasteride 0.5 mg weekly when stopping fin. So for anyone, who thinks Finasteride isn't working or has lost effectiveness while taking it, I would advice to just stop it for a few days and see🤣. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cPWmhkYEiUw&t=472s Adding Oral minoxidil: Well, as we all know this Hair loss med has gained a lot of traction recently. So how could I be left behind🤣. I just cannot tolerate topical minoxidil. The negative cosmetic effect negates any gains for me. Had used it for 2 years from 2013-2015 and hated it. I still can't believe how such a simple modification was right under our eyes. Anyways, Dr. Bhatti asked me that I can start oral minoxidil 2.5mg daily for 4 months and then report back. I have arranged a 6 month supply from India because I don't know how to get it in Canada. I am yet to start it though for 2 reasons. Firstly, I am terrified of the shedding phase. Secondly, I plan to add just one treatment at one time since I know I will have to continue the treatment forever. For now, I am still on the break from finasteride phase. Increasing Dutasteride: I am taking 0.5 mg once weekly and would like to try out twice weekly or more. Maybe even switch to dutasteride completely in the future. My thinking is, I started fin in 2013 and kept on losing hair. Eventually had to go for a HT after 6 years in 2019. Maybe, a more potent DHT blocker is needed in my case. I am yet to discuss this in detail this with Dr. Bhatti but I think he only uses once weekly dutasteride with daily fin in his practice. I heard this In his YouTube videos somewhere. He asked me whether I was taking daily Fin and weekly once Dut, in this consultation to which I replied in the affirmative. Hence, he didn't ask me to increase it. Maybe, this is the max he is comfortable with. Microneedling: I asked Dr. Bhatti whether adding micro needling will be beneficial and he said No. So, this is out of the equation. How to assess the hair situation regimen ? I have another Question, how do you guys assess your hair situation long term. I take pictures in similar poses every 3 months or so. I learnt this from JT's videos on how to take hair transplantation photos while having my Hair Transplant. But these photos, always show a very different hair situation. I have photos since the last 5 years but I am sure each set will present a completely different hair situation. How do you guys do it ? How do you measure any new treatment efficacy ? I have heard that some people visit a doc to take microscopic assessment of hair count etc. Is anyone doing it and Is it worth it ? I know I am overthinking but as only you guys can understand how a HT patient's brain works. Fighting hair loss is for life. What do the experienced members in this guys suggest about modifying my hair regimen ? And monitoring hair situation long term ?

Thank you @Gatsby for your response. I think there has been some degradation but it is difficult to capture it in pictures. It is much more noticeable when the hair is wet. Hence, thought of upgrading my hair regimen. But, then we are HT patients and we are always thinking about hair and highly sensitive to it. Other's feedback means a lot in this case.

My Hair Transplant thread I am reporting back after almost 4 years today guys. I have meaning to update the community for years now but you know....... . I still keep in touch especially by hearing @Melvin- Admin podcasts. So for a refresh, you can refer my hair transplant thread . I got my HT in Feb 2019. So here are my long term results: 2020: Fully grown at 18 months 2023: Approximately 4 years 2024: Exactly 5 years Here is my Medicines Regimen: Finasteride- 1mg daily- 11 years on it now. Taking this since 2013. It works for me, I am sure on that. ( I took a break and experienced severe shedding so I know ). But then I have been taking this since 2013 and still had to get an HT in 2019 so it definitely doesn't work 100%. Dutasteride 0.5 mg - weekly once instead of Fin- Added this in Sept 2020- 3 years on it now Nizoral 2% shampoo- once a week- I shampoo alternate days and on other days I use a normal shampoo To add, I have been in touch with Dr. Bhatti and consult him before adding any new treatment. He has been very supportive. I am thinking of adding some new medicines to my regimen which I will continue in the next post. Your suggestions will be really valuable.

@Melvin- ModeratorI recently started using Nizoral 2% every alternate day. However, after using it for 10 days, I noticed dry scalp and shedding. Any suggestions to combat this.

Thanks @WhereIsMyMind Yeah I know. I take Finasteride 1mg daily and Dutasteride 0.5 mg weekly once for as part of my hair maintenance regimen post my hair transplant. I have been taking finasteride daily for almost 7 years now. Stopped using Minoxidil 6 months post HT since cosmetically it made my hair sticky I also shampoo using Nizoral 2% weekly once. It is just that like many of us, I am very particular about what shampoo, conditioner, styling product I use on my hair. Till now I was using a sulphate/ paraben free shampoo which was fine for me since last 2 years. However, I have recently moved to Canada and the same combo isnt available over here. I replaced it with Nioxin 2 almost a week back but I am a little skeptical. Thinking of ordering the Regenpure shampoo/conditioner line.