ciaus

You know there are bed restraints on amazon too. But I'd prefer to have an attractive masseuse there to watch over me and prevent such a tragedy, a variation on what @transplantedphil suggested. They do have alot of massage tables that are in a price range acceptable enough to justify the throw-away cost, if they would actually be comfortable enough for you to sleep on throughout the night. And it would need to be sturdy/stable enough to use something like those bed risers to elevate one end to keep the head above the heart. I have my doubts about finding one that would fulfill both of those qualifiers though, especially among the cheaper ones.

Not ready to give in to the sitting up compromise, getting good sleep is an important part of the healing process too. I've ordered the second face down wedge pillow in my first post, and this combination below, to see if either or both can give me a decent night's sleep. Found these bed risors to elevate the head-end of the bed frame first, to keep my head above my heart, and found an adjustable massage face rest that slides in between your mattress and the bed frame. Pics and amazon links are below for those interested, including my little paint constructed concept model https://www.amazon.com/Home-Adjustable-Risers-Furniture-Heights/dp/B00MH74S16/ref=sr_1_2?dchild=1&keywords=bed+post+riser&qid=1600376019&sr=8-2 https://www.amazon.com/Master-Massage-Mattress-Adjustable-Equipment/dp/B06X6H75FT/ref=sr_1_12?dchild=1&keywords=massage+table+headrest&qid=1600373785&refinements=p_85%3A2470955011&rnid=2470954011&rps=1&sr=8-12

By PCP -assuming you mean primary care physician -unless you have had some kind of medical testing done or a condition that the doctor discovered making them concerned, I'm surprised to hear of a doctor in the US not prescribing it. The drug has been around for decades taken safely by millions, and alot of them at the higher dosage for prostate issues. I've gotten prescriptions through my PCP and even the HT doctor I went to for my procedures, no big deal. Maybe the doctor disagrees that you are starting to lose any hair yet? Personally I'd be concerned about getting medications like that from overseas areas like China, India. If I were you I'd call around to some doctor offices (primary care or dermatologist) in your area and tell the receptionist your situation, that you are experiencing hair loss and have had a transplant to help improve your appearance, and that you want the finasteride to help limit further loss, and if the doctor has any professional or patient history experience that makes them reluctant to prescribe finasteride.

I'm a side sleeper myself, during my pillow search i found some with an underarm cut out to prevent your arm from going numb. I've ordered this one and going to give it a try. https://www.amazon.com/HOMCA-Memory-Foam-Neck-Pillow/dp/B086QPKJCC/ref=sr_1_7?dchild=1&keywords=side+sleeper+pillow+under+arm&qid=1600358587&sr=8-7#customerReviews

As I've mentioned on some other topics, I've been shaving my head down during covid and want to go with a shorter hair style going forward even after lockdown. I have a pretty thin FUT scar in the back that I'm thinking about putting some hairs into via FUE to help camouflage it. Thinking about sleeping during post-op, having the recipient area grafts pressed against a surface, even a soft pillow, concerns me. I've done a little searching around, found some face-down medical pillows for people recovering from stuff like retinal detachment surgery. Would be interested to hear some input on this, whether you've had a procedure done like this before or not. And for those that have had a donor repair like this, did you do anything that you regret or thought was helpful? any tricks or commercial/homemade rigging you came up with?

Looks like this is his thread started about two weeks ago, your immediate post op and even pics from last week are great. When did you actually have the procedure? Looks like you are starting the ugly duckling shedding phase and you have some strong little groupings still hanging in there.

Yea good call, HTs are even more risky, not to mention more $ w/smaller procedures, when you are already in a pretty good position. And while probabilities for success go up with great doctors, there's still no such thing as a sure thing. Looking at your sides, the way your hair clumps together in places, mine does that too occasionally and I run my brush from the bottom upwards, instead of down, so the hairs separate, then guide the hair back down with my hand with pats so it more evenly covers the area they naturally lay over, then spray to hold. Something you may want to try every day or on the day. Now where exactly will you be parking all the extra beer?

I agree, the view from the helicopter looking straight down ... I don't see the clearing where we can land?! So just the temples and the hairline a little -those are the most visible areas and hard to conceal. Would you mind posting some pics from the sides?

With thinning like you have - either a shorter buzz, down to a 2 or 1 guard so you have some hair-maybe that would lessen the intimidating vibe? Or maybe look into using some concealers, hair fibers like Toppik; or Dermmatch is another one that can give you the illusion of thicker hair -linking below to how to apply dermmatch by our forum moderator. You can get them on amazon, etc, you'd have to re-apply them after you wash your hair, but at least you know its just for a few more years until your 25. On the mental side, hair loss has got to be even harder for guys that are more outgoing, fortunately I'm more introspective myself. Try to use this time to develop other sides of yourself, don't over-isolate, but focus more on what goes into living the good life, philosophy/ideas, hobbies/interests you can lose yourself in regardless of how you look on the outside. Because in the long run we're all going to end up ugly with little to no sex drive, whether we have hair at the end or not! Anyway, 25 may seem old to you now, but its still very young with alot of great years ahead before you even start to feel old. You don't want to mess up those years too by trying to fix avoidable mistakes you make now.

Look for shampoo with ketoconazole, 1% over the counter brand Nizoral you can get in the store or online. helps with itching too if thats an issue.

This is an interesting topic, trying to raise testosterone and use finasteride or even dutasteride to help inhibit the additional DHT conversion that would result. But I think the key unknown variable is the genetic DHT sensitivity that your hair follicles have been programmed with. Other than genetically testing each individual follicle I wonder if there is some other way to genetically gauge regions of your head, etc? If there was I would imagine someone would be selling the tests by now. So the best you can probably do is trial and error adjustments with your doctor and judge the results by visually inspecting your hair.

I've been taking Biotin Forte since about 2012, dermatologist up at the Cleveland Clinic I was seeing for a few years after being diagnosed with a scarring alopecia (LPP) and seborrheic dermatitis started me on it. Told her I prefer getting my nutrition from foods instead of pills, and that I already eat better than most, minimal processed and plenty of fruits/vegetables. But she still wanted me to take them to make sure there were no nutritional gaps. Makes my hair and nails grow faster, but never noticed any thickening or regrowth.

About mixing it with minoxidil, won't that make it more difficult to judge how well it works? Assuming the final hair loss formulation is not going to contain minoxidil among its ingredients.

yes indeed, we brothers are our own worst enemies in the art of detection. Thankfully the rest of humanity are uninitiated zombies Probably fue. Having all that money, career time in front of the camera, and downtime this year. good for him. I want to see some side pics of the new widow's creep and how much he's had done on his temple points, because they definitely need some work.

Why did you stop finasteride for the HT? Stopping minoxidil makes sense because it expands your blood vessels and can cause excessive bleeding during the surgery. I never stopped finasteride for a procedure and the doc knew I was taking it.

Which potency? 7.5% also is reported to thicken the hair. Will be curious to see how harsh these formulation are in terms of skin irritation and of course how expensive$$$. Best of luck and thank you for your pioneering efforts!

Yea that's much better, glad to know he didn't give up.

Got me thinking about that recent trump/biden better hair poll topic, the thinking there was that the side temple gap towards the top was from a juri flap procedure.

Interesting, haven't heard that area referred to with a particular name, but yea its kinda like the crown-halo effect, but on the sides of the head. Poor guy, some frontline battles won but the war lost! This is every man's worse endgame nightmare starting down the HT path. Wonder if he was taking any meds too or if he just did HTs.

yes unfortunately even donor hair can thin. and I've read some topics around the forum lately regarding topical finasteride and the general consensus is that its not as effective as the pill form, but I haven't looked much into it. And the topical is supposed to be more expensive. But I did just do a quick search just now and this article references some studies that seem to indicate the oral and topical are about equally effective, though among its conclusions are that the topical formulation hasn't been studied extensively yet. https://hairverse.com/topical-finasteride/

Like the other poster said, november is key because of politics, unfortunately the pandemic and lockdowns have been politically weaponized from the jump. Once the scumbag politicians have some breathing space until the next election things will open back up alot quicker.

Keep your eyes on this too, its a topical DHT blocker that works up on your hair follicles at the receptor level, instead of lowering your DHT levels. The FDA just approved a weaker version for treating acne and there is work towards getting a stronger dosage for hair loss approved within the next few years.

About the 1mg finasteride brand Propecia, if money is no object you can go ahead with that. But there are generics too, the same 1mg finasteride, that will save you alot of $$ comparatively and do the same. There was a recent thread about some international users having issues with some generic brand they were using, but I'm in the USA and have been using generic 1mg finasteride for years since Propecia went off patent. You can get it through your pharmacy or subscription sites like keeps.com

Along with your age are you taking finasteride and/or minoxidil? Your crown looks pretty good and thats the general area where the meds are known to work best. You want to protect as much of that as you can because its difficult to fix with hair transplants and takes alot of grafts. And maybe you'll be one of the lucky ones to not only maintain your current hair but also gets some to grow back. Otherwise donor looks good. And you have a lighter hair color, less hair to skin color contrast makes it easier to achieve the illusion of density with fewer grafts, than if you had real dark brown or black hair color.

I love to see temple points addressed, they are difficult so alot of docs will try to avoid them, but they are important for really pulling off a natural look and framing your face properly. Can't weigh in on the doc vs doc question, but the fact that a great doc has looked you over and wants to tread into that area without you pestering him about it would be the clincher for me.