Joocee

Any improvement mate?

Classic off-topic deflection when everything you've said is shown to be absolute drivel and incorrect. You do you buddy.

Yes, DHT is a male sex hormone? One which you've substantially reduced? It's not the effects on other levels you're looking for, its the cascade effects of DHT being reduced, just one of which is your test/estrogen coversion. Lowering of DHT is even effecting the hair foliciles on your head for god sake. No offence, but you clearly have no idea what you're on about and have no education in these areas. This is why I don't think it's good to have an isolated forum of people giving their opinion on taking finasteride, who are both uneducated and place a great importance on their hair loss. Your opinion on the balance of taking the drug is skewed.

The hormone effected/in question here is DHT, yet your defence of finasteride safety is you test for other unrelated markers and don't look at DHT. Its the equivalent to a drug inhibiting zinc absorption and you saying "well my vitamin A is ok". Just absurd, and this is why people should not be persuaded or influenced to make that decision by your experience.

I'm not downplaying the negatives of balding. I've just paid for a hair transplant due to those negatives, I fully understand them. I'm saying you need to understand that altering your hormones substantially is a significant decision to make and I think it's being made lightly in the case of finasteride. There's many posts in this thread downplaying the potential negatives and incidence of such. Ultimately it's for each person to decide. You say the side effect of not taking the drug is worse, that's how you evaluate the importance of hair loss in your life, which is your personal decision and that's fine. I just dont think others should be persuaded or influenced to make the same decision, by posts such as: "it's just 1 pill a day mate, I only have watery semen". This place is already a narrowed down section of society who place enough importance on hair to consider surgery. I think it's a bad thing to effectively have an echo chamber of people promoting use of hormone changing drugs.

It's strange to read through this thread. There seems to be an almost cultist psychology among those who are taking the drug. Whether that's to appease their own subconscious anxiety with regards to taking it and the potential effects, or to persuade others to join them to normalise and share that burden with them, as people feel more comfortable if others are in the same boat, who knows. As someone in the bio field of study, I certainly would not put your faith in pharmaceutical companies to look after your health, it's a business. I still remember a professor telling me years ago, that if we went onto PhD study, we would never trust anyone again, due to critically evaluating clinical studies/research and the things which go on which violate many ethical/moral codes. Just because trials etc have been done does not mean you will not experience substantial negative outcomes. Moreover, there are ALWAYS side effects. If you make any change to your biology, whether that be upregulation, inhibition of a pathway/enzyme/protein etc, there is always a cascade of knock on effects. The only debate is whether the balance of those effects is positive enough for you to take the drug. Does potentially keeping your hair outweigh the potential negatives. These negatives should not be downplayed since your hormones are absolutely paramount to your biology, substantially reducing DHT is not something you should consider lightly. It's quite shocking to see how flippant people are about taking finasteride. Would they feel the same about altering DHT in the other direction by injecting anabolics for example? Does the method of adminstration, a simple tablet as opposed to injection, give an impression of less significance of what you're doing? Possibly.

Ok great, thanks for your help. I didn't even think of the hair angles, as all of the hair in that area do stand up straight. Getting a little bit paranoid after having the transplant I think.

I'm 30 this year. Here is a topdown picture taken last month before the transplant. I obviously have temple recession but I didn't think my hair was thinning until I've seen it shaved this week?

Hi, I've recently had an fue hair transplant, which I shall document soon. I had the procedure as I had temple recession, but I believed the hair I did have was still thick and healthy. At the consultation prior to surgery, the surgeon examined my hair and scalp and said there were no signs of miniturisation yet in the mid scalp or crown. However, having had my head shaved for the transplant and seeing my hair as I've not seen it (shaved/short), I've noticed the hair on the top of my head looks different to the sides. Does this look like thinning/diffuse and potentially my future Norwood pattern if I don't stabilise medically? Ive attached pictures taken in the month before the op to show how my hair was thick/no thinning on top and then taken today. Thanks

Does anybody else have any experiences to add, positive or negative, with nizoral use? I've been advised to use it (after a certain time frame) after having a transplant as had some seborrheic dermatitis/buildup on my scalp.

Hi mate, I've just booked with Dr Bruno Pinto myself. Your thread contributed to that decision, all looks great so far. Can I ask what you did with regards to travel/accomodation? Did you fly back the day of the surgery or the day afterwards for example. Thanks