Rossybop

On 2/14/2023 at 4:20 PM, HappyMan2021 said:

I had zero sides fom Fin for the 2 years I was on it, then upgraded to Dut. I haven't had any sides from Dut in the 4 years I've been on it. 

I don't get the drama....

Have you noticed any difference between fin and dut with regards to hair loss?

I'm thinking of adding dut to my regime because I think fin has stopped working for me.

On 12/11/2022 at 11:33 PM, drawdownfx said:

Hello guys I am having my surgery tomorrow with Dr Freitas and it is only right to give back to this forum by Sharing my journey for anyone else in a similar situation. I was initially scheduled to go to a turkey hair mill clinic and I had my flights booked for April no joke!! Upon watching some videos on YouTube and coming across this forum I immediately cancelled my hair transplant and instead turned it into a holiday as I couldn’t get a refund for my tickets (lovely place and highly recommend visiting turkey). This is all to say if I didn’t find this forum I may not have been lucky with my scalp. I also want to emphasise not to blindly pick a doctor on the recommended forum list, you need to do your research and pick the one that has worked on patients similar to you.

About me

I am 27 years old and a NW3 with a little loss at vertex too. I started finasteride 2 years ago at 0.5mg everyday which I later turned to full 1mg after a year and a half for about a couple months before switching over to Dutasteride 5x a week. I also use topical minoxidil once a day, I know Dr Freitas prescribed oral minoxidil so I am open to this if the same is prescribed to me. 
 

Brief History

I started losing my juvenile hairline (loss at temples) at 13 and still remember the sad look on my face at the barbers lol. Since then I’ve lost more ground on my temples till now at a slow pace. I also started thinning at my crown a couple years ago. This is the whole reason I started finasteride couple years ago. I actually started finasteride for about a week at 19 but stopped due to the horror stories (I wish I had not because I didn’t get any side effects at 25 when I did start).

 

Reasons I went with Dr Freitas

1. Great portfolio

2. Great preservation of donor area

3. Love the hairline work

4. Homogeneous extraction

Consultation process

I initially messaged in May (I think) but heard nothing back for 3 months. I messaged again and finally got a response with an apology and a quote for 2800 grafts. After my research here and also Spanish forums I decided to go ahead with Dr Freitas but arranged a face to face which they gave me for September. He went through the process with me thoroughly in person though I do wish he was a little bit more thorough with my hair by using microscope etc. I expressed my desire to do temple work to which he agreed after looking at my hair and changed his quote to 3000 grafts and also said it will probably end up being a bit more but if it does I won’t be charged extra for it. 
 

The Dates

I was initially scheduled to have the surgery in feb 2023 which was pushed to Dec 2022 after cancellation. I was pushing for cancellations as my sisters wedding is in June 2023 and I wanted to have some growth by then! 
 

P.S. I understand hair transplant is not an exact science and even the best doctors can have mediocre cases. I have done my due diligence in my research process and hopefully have done everything from my side to achieve a good result. 🤞 

Final Thoughts (I AM NERVOUS ARGHH)
I am currently in my hotel room a day before and although I am excited I am also nervous as hell! I was a bit bummed out that Dr Freitas didn’t speak English so I am hoping that I am able to translate my thoughts across well tomorrow 🤞

I may have missed some details so if you have any questions feel free to ask. Please also let me know what are some good questions to ask before the surgery

I am attaching some photos and videos below of my current situation.

Did you notice any difference between finasteride and dutasteride?

1 hour ago, Melvin- Moderator said:

According to Dr. Vaño the most effective treatment is 0.5mg of dutasteride daily. 

I see...I think I've seen people suggesting 0.5mg once weekly on top of 1.25mg daily...

I Will get checked for minitaurization but I'm fairly sure I'm thinning. I've been shedding a lot for a prolonged period now and my hair looks+feels thinner than it did before.

What should I expect by adding dut to my regime?

I use 1.25mg fin daily and 1x Regaine foam daily.

Been on it 3 years but I've been shedding a lot, again, and I think fin has lost its power.

Should I add dutasteride?

How much dutasteride?

What can I expect with dutasteride?

7 hours ago, Big Rome said:

you get any sides of the Fin? what dosage you use and do you take it daily? 

1.25mg daily.

When I first started I shed a bit for a few weeks and my skin went a bit oily but then after a few weeks I noticed the shedding stopped and I began losing very little hair. I think it might have even thickened a few hairs on the crown for a while.

However after using it for 2 years or so I noticed a bit more shedding again, and in the last 6 months or so I've been shedding quite a lot, yet I still use it daily. I believe its lost a lot of its power on me. I know that it works with most people for 5 - 8 years before losing power, but it seems its lost a lot of power on me after about 2 - 3 years.

Side effects:

Libido a bit lower

Semen more runny and watery

Erections seem fine but need more stimulation to achieve and sustain a perfect erection.

It caught my attention because I got a transplant 2.5 years ago, aged 30, and I use finasteride, yet my transplant has definitely thinned out. It's thinned out a lot actually.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8061642/

There's an interesting link suggesting about 50% of hair transplants thin out after a few years. Some even experience severe thinning.

Styled down and under certain lights it can look ok, but I would feel a lot more comfortable if I could make it more full.

3 minutes ago, hairthere said:

I've heard there's been an uptick in hair thinning due to Covid-19. Have you had it recently?

Not that I know of...does it thicken up again after Covid goes away?

For these pictures I have styled it to look harsh, but generally, it does look and feel somewhat weak.

Its not the same head of hair I had 18 months ago.

I would like to get it topped up, if a top up will serve it well.

As for dut - should I stop taking fin altogether and just get straight on dut? 0.5mg daily? Or should I start adding dut in daily while staying on fin?

I reached out to Ferreira, Pinto and Saifi last night...so I will go with one of them for my top-up.

Ok cool...so you've cut out fin altogether?...perhaps I should see a dermatologist about this first then?...

Should I go for a second op?

Should I add dutasteride to my daily use of finasteride and minoxidil?

Or should I shave it off and give up on solutions?

I had a 2,040 FUE 2 years and 5 months ago. Looked great after a year. Its defo been thinning out a lot lately though. I've been losing lots of hair every day.

What should I do?

The right side is now going back to square 1 as well. Yet the temporal peaks seem to be staying in.

Hi guys,

I am thinking of starting dutasteride - if it will help my hair loss.

Can anyone tell me how much I should use, how often I should use it, what should I expect from it including results and side effects?

I've been using finasteride 1.25mg most days for 2 years and 10 months now, and I've been using Regaine once most days for 2 years and 4 months.

I found fin to be effective when I started it. I noticed I shed a bit more for a few weeks when I started fin, my skin and scalp also got a bit more oily than usual (not sure if that was a coincidence or a side from starting fin) and then my hair loss slowed down a lot, and I think some of my hair thickened up and went a bit darker.

I got my first transplant - FUE 2,040 grafts 2 years and 5 months ago. I was very pleased with the results of my transplant combined with my fin.

However, last year, I started to feel like my transplant had weakened a bit. In the past 5 months or so, I've also noticed a huge amount of hair shedding - like, I can brush off 50 hairs into the sink most nights.

The hair in my mid scalp and crown still seems super dense, but around the hairline - particularly left side where I had a transplant - its thin.

I am going to get a 2nd transplant to top my hair up within the next year or so if I can.

I am 32 years old, 33 this October.

I can get dutasteride 0.5mg tablets via UK pharmacies.

Hi guys, I'm on fin (and Regaine) 2 years and 9 months now. I think in the last few months it has lost a bit of efficacy as I've been shedding a lot.

I don't yet see worrying thinning - except for in my transplanted temples which I plan on topping up soon - but I am worried that I am at the starting point of dramatic hair loss.

I take 1.25mg fin daily.

Should I increase my dose?

Or should I start taking dutasteride?

Hi guys,

Last year I started feeling as if my hair transplant was falling apart, or that perhaps my hair just wasn't looking as good as it did 1 year after surgery.

Then I think I might have went into denial about the quality of my hair - I even posted here suggesting things are not so bad.

Now however I have accepted that I am deeply unsatisfied with my hair.

I had a 2,040 FUE transplant with Saifi 2.5 years ago. Looked good when it first developed. Doesn't look great any more.

I have been losing a lot of hair. Loads of hair coming out almost every day. I'm not sure exactly where the hairs are coming from. This is despite using 1.25mg fin daily + Regaine.

I'm convinced that my hair transplant area has thinned, and that a lot of the transplanted hairs have fallen out.

Dr Saifi of course says that my native hair has fallen out, I personally believe a lot of my transplanted hair has fallen apart.

The right side is not too bad, but it would benefit from a top up.

The left side is terrible. Its just really thin and weak. I've become very self conscious of it. It doesn't look right. It doesn't seem to be growing right, and I'm now limited in how I can style it.

I need a transplant ASAP. Anyone any idea how many grafts I would need?

Also should I increase my dose of finasteride? Has finasteride and Regaine lost efficacy? Should I start taking dutasteride? 

Any Dr reccomendations?

I am pretty much ready to book a transplant immediately.

Thanks.

The answer to both questions is YES I did post a thread a while ago saying I was worried about the transplant thinning.

I had been relentlessly pulling it to one side and scrutinising it under harsh lights. I went through a period of immense worry, the way the sun was hitting it through my bedroom window in the summer time made it look sparser. 

I went to HRBR in Dublin for a check up and under their detailed camera I was able to see that the transplant was still strong, so I stopped worrying about it.

Don't get me wrong, my transplant is not perfect, no transplant is, but for the time being I am going to leave it as it is.

Have worn fades with 0's and 1's no sign of surgery at the sides and back 👍

Hi guys,

Just a random update. Had 2,040 grafts transplanted to the hairline and mid-scalp with Dr Saifi (FUE) in December 2020.

I'm now aged 32. Been on fin for 2.5 years now (1.25mg 5 - 7 days a week). Regaine just over 2 years, once daily or thereabouts.

Hair seems to be holding up well although every now and again I'll notice a good few hairs coming out when I'm massaging Regaine in at night.

The left side of the transplant has always been a bit thinner than the right, but generally it looks natural almost any way I style it. If I pull it this way or that way, or scrutinise it under harsh lights, I can see the discrepancy in the transplanted hairs, but I believe that's natural. I change my styles every now and again, have worn it short and long, up and down. I don't feel the need to add more density as I'm generally happy enough with it as it is.

I'm hoping I get a good few years out of it and that I'll be able to avoid more transplants for at least a few good years.

36 minutes ago, HappyMan2021 said:

Any update @Rossybop?

Yeah, I'm thinking maybe its not as bad as I had first thought. When its combed and styled appropriately it still looks fairly full so I think ill leave it as it is for the time being.

46 minutes ago, ITA said:

Ask if they can also do a scalp biopsy, which is not limited to just checking it with the dermatoscope, even if the latest generation 3D.

I will do that, thanks for the advice.

I researched DUPA thinning there. I don't appear to have thinning on the sides and back of my scalp.

In fact sides and back seem rock solid, even after the 2,040 FUE extractions you wouldn't notice there was any hairs extracted, even if the hair is buzzed to a #0.5 or a #1 at the sides and back.

I've been going to HRBR in Dublin to monitor my hair loss for 12 years now, and they told me on my last visit 2 and a half years ago that I'd be a good candidate for surgery because of my dense donor supply.

Coincidentally I'm actually going there for an appointment tomorrow. They wrote to me a few weeks ago inviting me to pop in for free to check my hair loss progress, they don't even know I've had a transplant.

Also I had temporal peaks transplanted with Saifi, those peaks at the sides are not thinning out, its just the hair on top, seemingly around my hairline and near the transplanted zones, they're the only bits that seem to be going downhill.

53 minutes ago, ITA said:

If you want some advice, first make sure that your scalp is fine, many pathologies are not evident to the naked eye nor the surgeon can notice them before, during or after the procedure, in addition there are autoimmune diseases that do not make the follicles live.  That you have lost your transplanted hair, after only 6/8 months, is not a normal thing at all.  If it had been the fault of the wrong procedure by the surgeon, I don't think you would have had a great result after 8 months, I think there would have been little regrowth right away.  This is what I think, because I have tried it on my skin.

I get sebhorric dermatitis psoriasis on my face and scalp from time to time. It can come and go. Sometimes it's very mild, often its not there at all, every once in a while it flares up.

I think Dr Saifi knew about this when we did the transplant.

On the day of surgery my scalp was fairly clean.

8-12 months after surgery it seemed to be fully developed and very satisfying.

Now 19 months out from surgery it is not so satisfying.

57 minutes ago, THE TRUTH said:

Gotcha. 

Well yeah it may be DUPA-caused thinning or some unusual telogen effluvium, or delayed shockloss. Really hard to say what it could be exactly... 

Are on Finasteride/Dutasteride ? 

What is DUPA caused thinning bro? I've been on fin for 2 years now, and Regaine for 18 months.

Yeah Killian is a sales rep for him, marketing and sales is a big part of the HT industry as you know yourself.

Yeah, he seemed good to me, and to be fair when I had my transplant it seemed like he did a careful meticulous job along with his technicians. The whole procedure took about 10 hours.

I had 2,040 FUE grafts transplanted to the hairline, temporal points, temporal peaks and mid-scalp. I'm on fin and Regaine.

The transplant actually looked amazing after 6-12 months.

However in the last 2-3 months it looks and feels as if it has thinned and also as if a lot of hairs have fallen out.

Maybe I have lost some native hair, but I personally feel like I've lost a lot of transplanted hair tbh.

I documented my HT journey here, you'll find it if you look.

As it stands I've not lost all my transplanted hair (yet). When my hair is styled a certain way it still looks like I have a fairly full head of hair. But I'm now extremely limited with styles and if you whip my hair this way or that way you can see very obvious signs of balding and a weak transplant. Saifi said I have just lost some native hair, but I feel like the transplant has fallen apart. He said he could bring it up to good density with 800 grafts, but I'm worried that if the first transplant has lost strength, then the next one will also fall apart.