GaryStruthers

3 minutes ago, GoliGoliGoli said:

How long were you on topical prior to starting oral? Would you say you've seen noticeable improvements on oral compared to topical? 

1 year on topical Min, 1 year on 1mg Fin. After 1 year I grew a lot of hair back, and will forgo a transplant at this point. I chose Bisanga or Frietes  for a future surgery and thought it best to adhere to ‘their’ post med stack to be sure I didn’t suffer from side affects (knowing that meds are for life). Topical Min is great! But seen this is for life I figured I’d try oral for ease of use. 

I was prescribed 2.5mg only, and instructed to cut in half for a week. Continued administering topical during the half pill onboarding week. 

Hi! A dermatologist is your best bet. I got my prescription here in the States (free). I have genetically high blood pressure and cholesterol so I wanted to chat about that before switching from topical to oral. All good so far with me. Hair viscosity and texture is already better only after two months. Starting dose was 1.12mg daily for a week, then settling at 2.5mg. Watching closely for hypertrichosis and ankle swelling. My healthy diet and no drinking/smoking may help with that, but I’m no Doc. My GP didn’t want to prescribe it, my dermatologist did. 

8 hours ago, Westview said:

Physicians are getting slammed for what?? 

Or do you mean they are getting swamped for patients requesting MX prescriptions??

Yes, apologies. They're getting swamped!

Hi! Just got mine today. Had a great consultation with my Dermatologist (US GP’s aren’t too favorable in prescribing it) so it was nice to discuss possible sides and a course of action for the next 12 months. I’ll be starting on 1.25mg for a week then settling at 2.5mg. He also mentions applying the topical for the first few days of oral dosing for a seamless transition. He also cited The NY Times article and said all physicians are getting swamped across the States😂 I’ll be watching for sides (as I have higher blood pressure than normal) and will report back. 

Nice! I’d feel pretty confident if I were you. Happy growing!

1 hour ago, GoliGoliGoli said:

Nader is the best option for you probably. Pitella (In Brazil I think) is the only other I would consider in Latam. I believe their is actually a good place in Colombia too but I'm forgetting the name. Either way I would recommend Nader

That would be Bogota Hairlines with Dr. Camacho I believe?

2 hours ago, NARMAK said:

Regarding the Finasteride, you will experience what you have as a common side affect. They're not an indication imo that is a guarantee you will be affected by more serious side affects and in fact, because you may not have used Finasteride previously, the drop in DHT requires your body to re-calibrate.

Bumping this ^ from @NARMAK

I had these mild Fin sides around the 3-6 month mark. Could always “perform”, but morning wood and less interest was apparent. I’m now 14 months in with no sides, and have restored my hair through (Fin & Min, & micro needling ) to actually cancel my surgery. I’m not saying surgery isn’t in my future, but Fin was definitely the key component for me in making that decision. 
Wishing you all the best post surgery, and hope the “sides” dissipate in the same way. 

Looking really  great @MazAB! You must be heading back over there soon. All the best!

On 7/7/2022 at 8:06 PM, GHTJourneya said:

This photo was taken a day shy of 5.5 months, and I think that as time goes by, the amount of good hair days happen increases. (To be honest, though, I think that this angle helps a bit)

I decided to delay my second prp treatment to month 7.5, but I am still researching if PRPs are effective
My current routine includes dutasteride 2x/week, finasteride 5x/week, oral minoxidil daily and laser cap 3x/week (alongside with Ketoconazole shampoo 3x/week)

It looks like the length of my hair around the temples is 3 months shorter than the rest of my native hair, which now makes sense. That's another reason for waiting a complete year to see the results, which means a maximum hair length of 9 months, and that is if you don't have a proper haircut until then

Fantastic result! Curious about your med stack. I believe Freitas recommends oral Min post surgery. Were you using the oral version pre op, and when did you recommence minoxidil post surgery? Happy growing!

1 hour ago, Berba11 said:

Thanks mate! Yes I agree - fully body shots really helps contextualise things.

So... thought I'd see if I could find a suitable before/after side by side of a full length body shot and as luck would have it, I have a wedding photo in the same suit from four years ago... Can't do better than that now!

2018 vs 2022:

 

Ha!! Wow…..there it is. Cheers Berba. 

Seeing full body shots like this really drive home a successful transplant IMO. Looks great!

Would love to see a side by side before and after in this particular profile. Massive transformation!

Hello “different person” 😁

What a fantastic result! I actually like your temple points. They look naturally lighter. I always find the more pronounced temples jump out in an unnatural way. 
Congratulations on a successful transplant!

Hi Sean

Your temple points look great! I’m with a few others here. If you do feel the need for a second pass, then you could try and bring up the density in the hairline. 
 

Also, even though temple points can do wonders, and frame the face well, it really depends on the color of your hair, skin and other cosmetic factors. I’ve seen a few examples of blonde and red headed guys getting pronounced work (too dark, too uniform) therefore unnatural. In your case, you have a really natural density flow from Vellus to full in the temples. There a few top surgeons that could get close, but wouldn’t better what you have IMO. 

19 minutes ago, GoliGoliGoli said:

What would be the point of shaving it? Just to see if I liked how it looked? When I was in my teens I buzzed it so definitely not shaven, and didn't like how it looked so I'm hesitant to go that route. 

I really think going the non-medication route is fine as long as you're honest about needing multiple HT's. That's a large benefit of going to Nader. You're getting US quality results at far below market rate prices. 

Got ya! And yes absolutely, if you are prepared for multiple surgeries then meds don’t need to be discussed. 2 or 3 (if done with Nader) should be reasonable I imagine?

Thanks! Have you ever shaved your head to see how it looks? You’re thinking of surgery with Dr. Nader right? I wonder if you should shave it now. Would be great if you liked it! Especially seen your transplant wouldn’t be supported by medication. 

The last 3 results I’ve seen have been from Bisanga + Kostis…….and they’ve blown me away. 

Would you mind showing us the hairline? There may be signs that can help better determine a course of action 

6 minutes ago, GoliGoliGoli said:

Wow I absolutely love your GP and would recommend staying with him as long as you can. Here's why:

It's absolutely true that numerous medicines and chemicals are introduced to the market without fully understanding the range of effects they have on our bodies. Yes we like to delude ourselves with the idea that the FDA catches everything in their "rigorous" testing protocols etc etc. But frankly that's a lot of hot garbage. Even stuff like talcum powder tha twas used for years on BABIES has been found to be fairly carcinogenic due to the chemical structure mimicking asbestos. So when you talk about taking a medication every day that will lower your blood pressure for basically the rest of your life you're kind of messing with stuff that ought not be messed with. I mean stop and think about it. By taking this drug you are literally lowering the pressure of the liquid life force that courses throughout your body, supplying every cell in you with what it needs. You're GP  has your best interests in mind. 

Also, check out this link https://www.nbcnews.com/health/health-news/new-drugs-found-cause-side-effects-years-after-approval-n757526

This isn't to say that taking oral minoxidil is super harmful either. Maybe it's not.  But the problem is their is absolutely no way for you to know. Peer review (Which is often held on interweb discussion boards as some be-all-end-all) is frankly kind of a joke but we don't really have a better alternative. Google "replication crisis peer review" to see what I mean.

Sometimes its best to not trust peer review or media articles or internut forums and approach things from first principles thinking. AKA "Is it possible that by lowering the life force that cruises throughout my body every day for the rest of my life I will produce some negative effects that are far worse than losing my hair?". Answer carefully, not just with minoxidil but with everything. Is it worht the risk to you? If so then you can almost certainly find a different Doc to prescribe it to you. 

Primum non nocere. First do no harm. You can't expect your GP to know the full ramifications and interactions of every medicine in the world. But you can expect him (If he's good at what he does) not to prescribe something to you like oral min. 

If you don't mind me asking, what country are you in?

I’m in the States. I do respect his opinion on oral Minoxidil, and I’ll probably just stay on topical. It’s the Finasteride comment that got me!

12 minutes ago, Vann said:

Wow that is very interesting. I would personally get a second opinion. Its really strange to hear that but perhaps renal issues are a common thing on your families side? Try getting some tests done as well to see if it would be an issue?

Yeah it's strange. He is aware that there is no family history of.........basically anything. I'm just wondering if this is just "US doctor rhetoric" and "FDA approval" etc. Not bashing him - Just trying to understand the US system. 

First off - I'm quite shocked after that 35min video call.

I just asked my GP for a prescription for 2.5mg of oral minoxidil and won't prescribe it. He went on to say that American doctors don't prescribe it due to the lack of conclusive studies pertaining to "hair loss." He is aware that I've been on 1mg Fin and topical Min successfully without sides for a year, and understands that I order those meds from an outside source. Of course I can grab oral Min whenever, from where ever, but I'm just surprised that the use of oral Min (Loniten) was so far off his radar!

We then discussed my up coming surgery and my medication stack that will continue post op he commented "Well you won't be on Finasteride for too much longer, aren't you 48?")

He is advising me to get off Finasteride before I'm 50 due to the masked prostate detection that the drug offers. Although I'm aware of this, along with many on this forum, I wasn't expecting such a hard line from a respected GP.

1) Are we all flying by the seat of our pants just to keep our hair?

2) Does my GP have a heavy dose of fear mongering?

3) Are there members here that have weighed these factors and are just hoping for the best?

Look forward to your thoughts on this. 

10 minutes ago, Vann said:

There is no one size fits all. You can shed about 80% of your gained vellus hairs that will regrow thicker. You could shed absolutely nothing and have them grow stronger. It really depends on how your body reacts to the medication in its given hair cycle. However, most people based off the numbers shed between 3-6 months. But its hard to tell if its comparable only to one drug because most often some people are taking other medications together (fin/dut/LLT/etc.). There are studies that solely have people taking minox alone and it really varies.

Most of the drugs however, take about 12 months to yield major effects and sometimes you can be a hyper responder who yields them relatively quickly. Hopefully, if you do take any medications I hope it responds very well for you.

Hey Vann. Not to derail the thread, but should I anticipate a shed when moving from topical Kirkland Min to oral?

I checked out a few places at this link SMP There are definitely more top clinics that aren’t on this link, and a few members here will be able to speak to those. 

6 minutes ago, GoliGoliGoli said:

Eh, I'm fairly confident I would be alright with no meds and 2 HT's. My loss has been pretty darn slow so I don't think I would need a 3rd. And because I'm going with Dr Nader in Mexico my cost will be fairly low. And if I don't want a 3rd or even 2nd HT I can always just go totally clean shaven, and it doesn't sound like it would look to funky. 

Got ya! Well it sounds like you’d like to go ahead with it, best of luck. Just to be clear, when you say “I can always just go totally clean shaven“, you mean with a razor to the skin, and not a buzz cut right?