SD1984

I have stopped taking the medication for now. I did not like the way I felt on it at all. Very unfortunate.

Seems to me like the overwhelming response is rather negative over the years. A 1-1.25mm punch?? NO thank you. I know Bernstein, one of the top HT docs in the entire world uses it pretty frequently if not regularly, which is surprising considering the machines reputation.

Update?

Doesn't seem like this state of the art machine is mentioned much in these forums. I'm curious if we could get some doctors to chime in. Recently I spoke to a local clinic who swears by the machine as they do not even do manual FUE. The representative also told me that the transection rate is very low and the results are amazing. Meanwhile I've read about how the robot actually has a HIGHER graft transection rate than the regular manual FUE. What's the truth?

That's NW6 not NW7. Bigger problem is your donor. Looks extremely weak plus a touch of retrograde alopecia. I feel for you man. Your best case scenario would be trying to pull off what Jon Cryer or Lebron did. Get as many grafts as you can to rebuild a small hairline transplant with a little bit behind that as well and work fibers and dermatch into it for an illusion of density. There's no way you could ever get any kind of solid looking result otherwise imo

What are the top 3 clinics in Turkey in your opinion? For me it's Pekiner, HLC and Demirsoy

FUE

I mostly agree, though I don't think a $4-6 surgeon means certain doom. Some clinics just haven't established a huge reputation just yet but if you do enough research and see enough results you can put yourself in a good position. Look at Bruno Ferreira for example. Relatively unknown surgeon that Rolandas basically did good research on. Turns out the guy really is an amazing HT surgeon but just isn't quite "there" yet as far as having the endless good reviews, huge social media presence, etc. But I definitely would be willing to travel in the right scenario. I have done consults with docs overseas. But in a perfect world I'd love nothing more than to stay in my own country.

Looking to find out if any solid, reputable clinics on the east coast exist in the United States. I'm talking $4-$6 per graft range here and not the wild $8 range that we see in so many of the better clinics out there. Prefereably looking for somewhere in the Northeast but would be willing to travel as far down as Florida. I am currently in New York and though I have met with some top surgeons in NYC for consults, their prices are just outrageous. There is a clinic in New Jersey that I know a couple of people online have posted photos from. "Eternal Hair" is the name. They charge around $4 a graft for FUE and seem to have solid results and a nice little social media presence and good reviews online, but I just can't get behind the fact that they are one of those places that do all sorts of other cosmetic work too. (i.e. Botox, other fillers, etc). I'd prefer a place that specializes in ONLY hair restoration. But I guess I can't be too picky when it comes to wanting to find something less expensive. Does anyone know how much Jerry Cooley in North Carolina charges these days? Love his work. Thanks in advance.

I would suggest speaking to a therapist about your worries and anxiety in general. Then doing research on the drug and understanding that the chances of you getting "permanent ED" is probably somewhere along the lines of 1 in 10,000. If you want to keep your hair, Finasteride is sadly the only thing on the market that will do it. That's reality.

How old are you if you don't mind me asking?

They are real. Doesn't mean you will get them. That said, I don't suggest you take it.

Thanks Matt. Yeah i've thought about the whole "before bedtime" dose, but I'm more worried about the big picture. Clearly this drug did not do well in my body. The way I felt on both occasions was no joke. Run down, dizzy, lightheaded, and overall just "off". Definitely not cool. When I went to bed last night I laid down and felt like an absolute stone. Not sure what I'm going to do just yet but I don't think I'm ever going to take 1MG again. Also, while i'm not going to be that guy who jumps to the sexual side of things, let me just also say that sex was obviously one of the last things on my mind when I felt like this. Part of me wants to try the .5mg now, and the other part of me is saying look at what this medication did to your body. Stay away from it. Clearly your body does not agree with Finasteride. We all know this is a controversial medication to begin with, and that there is absolutely some truth to how it can really negatively affect certain men, and maybe I'm just one of them. Very sensitive. At the same time I'd be devastated knowing that this is the end of the line for me and if this doesn't work it's basically hair system or bust. I'm wondering what everyone thinks about Brand (Propecia) vs Generic which is what I got. Everyone says its basically the "same thing", yet when you look at $120 vs $20 a month, I find that a little hard to believe. I just really wonder what the odds are of this happening if I popped Propecia instead of generic.

You are in a very tough spot similar to mine. A good amount of hair loss but still enough hair on your head to where a transplant wouldn't be a good idea at all, or even not really possible. Going in between all those hairs would probably cause a decent amount of shock loss to the point where it's just not worth it. Curious what side effects did you have on Finasteride? Were you on brand or generic? Did you try lowering your dose? For now I'd really just sugguest using fibers until you've lost enough that you can really comfortably go in for a HT down the road.

@Hairtroubles Dude, I'm not a big fan of Fin, but based on your mindset and blatantly obvious over the top paranoia, I wouldn't suggest even looking at Finasteride let alone taking it. It's clear you are unstable, don't understand the science behind the medication, the actual overall statistics of things, what the internet and media can do to a narrative (even if said narrative is somewhat true to begin with), and general transplant/MPB drug info in general.

Finally decided to give things a go with Finasteride (generic) after years of putting it off. All I ever read about was how sides are rare, don't worry about it, most people are fine, etc. Well, it was after the VERY first 1MG pill that I began feeling somewhat lightheaded and dizzy. I'm 36 btw, no weird health issues and not on any other medications, though I will admit I have always been a bit "fragile" when it comes to certain things. (i.e. Side effects from meds, get easily tired after an activity, etc) I'm also underweight at 6'2 143 lbs. I should note that we are talking lightheadedness to the point where I even felt slightly off balance a bit when standing and my head seemed to be droopy when on the computer. This is 1000% from the medication, and it is just so sad that this is happening considering I finally mustered up the courage to go forward with it. I pushed through that first dose though and didn't take another pill for 2 days. BOTH times I experienced the same side effect. This all began within a mere 30 minutes of taking the pill, which is absolutely possible considering the drug metabolizes instantly after taking it. I guess I'm curious if anyone else experienced this. Did it gradually go away? Should I start trying to cut the dose in half already? Just I just flat out stay away? Etc. If I can't handle 1MG every 2 days then I would assume even .5MG every other day might be suspect as well. Very disappointed in this as I want to keep my hair, but I did NOT like the way I felt on the days I have taken Fin thus far. Thanks in advance. @Dr. Neil Verma

Konior I think is the most expensive HT doc in the world. I'd look elsewhere as far as the surgery route goes. As far as your hair is concerned, I have definitely seen cases where people have success on 1MG 3x a week with Fin. You can START with that, see how it goes, and then after a few months try and up your dose depending on what is happening with your hair/lack of side effects, etc. As far as your temples go they will never come back as they are completely gone. I'd suggest getting on Fin and seeing how it goes, hopefully it stabilizes and thickens things up a bit, and then 6 months or so later go in for one decent sized surgery of around 2500-3000 grafts (depending on your hair microns) to restore your frontal region.

Herjavec is still the biggest mystery to me. Many years ago on Dragons Den and yes in the first couple of seasons of Shark Tank he barely has a forelock. Now on the show and in most public appearances his hair is thick as can be. But then in a lot of candid shots on his social media his hair is still thin as hell up front. And there's NO way it can just be all fibers bc the difference between the thin candid shots and the shark tank episodes are insane. I think maybe he had a small transplant done up front to help apply fibers easily.

@Office of Dr. Wesley Very nice result. Is the patient on Finasteride?

In my opinion that is a hairpeice behind a few whispy hairs of his own up front. A lot of actors do this whether its their own hairs left or a transplant, including Jon Hamm. It disguises any potential hairline issues with the system. His original FUT probably held him over until he lost more, and then by season 2 or 3 I think it was, they switched him to the system. His hair became drastically different and it was the system. He didn't wear it in public much throughout his career during King of Queens. Usually opted for that backwards hat.

Thank you Dr. De Freitas. I am curious, would you have performed this surgery on this patient had he not been on Finasteride?

Very impressive, wow. Meanwhile I have a forelock even thinner than this guy and I was told by a top HT doc that he would never go in between the hairs. How was shock loss avoided here?

Just curious for those of you with knowledge of the drug and/or for those of you who take it - is going through a shed on Finasteride really a good sign? It seems like a lot of the success stories I've read are guys who's hair just simply thickened up after 4-6 months or so who never experienced a shed, or at least not a significant one. Thanks.

Nice. Any side effects? Scabs are normal. Make sure you do the wash properly though. They should all be fallen off within a week. Good luck in your recovery.