HortonC

26 minutes ago, Melvin- Moderator said:

Start microdosing. Try 1mg Monday, Wednesday, Friday. 

That's the dose that I have been on and that has been giving me these side effects in the last couple of months.

Hello,

so I started taking oral Finasteride about 14 months ago - 1mg 3x per week. I noticed side effects relatively soon after about one month. It was managable at first - mainly just lower libido and my ejaculate was a bit more watery, nothing too serious. However, after about month 10 it started getting worse to a point where it is negatively affecting my sexual life.

So I guess I should just lower the dose now to 0.5mg and see if it gets better and so now I am wondering if I should first take a break completely - maybe 2-4 weeks or until side effects mostly subside - and then start 0.5mg doses or should I start with the lower dose right away, no break?

Also what are my other options? I know I could try topical Fin, but it's not easy to get where I am. I will be consulting with a dermatologist one month from now, but I'd like to get advice beforehand from this forum.

I think definitely some progress between month 4 and 5. The next 2 months should be exciting

Just wondering how much do you still communicate with Dr. Bicer? I personally haven't talked to them in 2 months mostly because I don't really have any questions. I send them a monthly picture update but that's about it.

Would also like to know this. I'm 3.5 months post and haven't dared to go snorkeling and diving yet as I've read in here that you need to be careful for up to 6 months.

4 hours ago, receedinglegend said:

Thanks @j1000, I am always confused when people get hair cuts in the first 3 months of the transplant because it tends to make it more obvious than just having longer (allbeit shaggy) hair. how is the redness coming along? would love to see some photos

I had my hair cut on the side and back only. The transplanted area at the top I left untouched so it's not really more obvious that I had a transplant. Just looks much cleaner in my opinion.

Wow what a massive difference from month 2 to month 4!

Yep definitely shedding and entering the ugly duckling phase 😄

Looking good! You're making great progress!

Has Dr Bicer said how many grafts your crown will need for the 2nd procedure?

I'm in Bangkok right now and I noticed that Thai men have great hair. I rarely see somebody that is balding. Do you know if hair transplants are common for Thais? Also, do you know if it is easy to get Finasteride here?

I think everybody is a bit different. I personally hunkered down in my hotel room for 4 days and just went down for breakfast and ordered room service. You can definitely go out for walks or to restaurants after 1-2 days already. I've read from some people in here who went sight seeing the day after the procedure.

I'm confused as to why you prefer a plastic surgeon to perform a HT on you over a HT specialist who has been doing only HT surgeries for years with proven results countless happy patients.

Does look like a little bit of shock loss. I've had 3400 grafts taken and also have shock loss in my donor area. I asked Dr Bicer about it and she said it will get better after 6 months.

Hang in there. Sleep will get better day after day from the the second week on.

Many people fly the day after so I highly, highly doubt there is any issue. If there was a reputable surgeon wouldn't allow it or advise against it. The biggest risk is that you bump your head somewhere. For example getting in/out of the taxi or someone dropping his/her bag on your head when opening the overhead compartment etc.

I'm also at 4 weeks post HT and my donor looks rough too. I've been told by my surgeon that it is shock loss and it can take 6 months for the donor area to recover.

Yeah your donor looks amazing. I am now at 4 weeks and my donor doesn't look nearly as good.

Which week did you get your first haircut?

Congrats! It's looking really great! Crown will likely fill up over the next months.

19 minutes ago, pkipling said:

I think this can still turn around - and it's not uncommon for the donor to look like this early on. Mine continued to improve over the course of the year, I imagine due to shock loss, as well as the growth cycles of my hair taking a while to get into a rhythm again. So definitely don't worry or panic just yet, bc this doesn't look that alarming to me. 

Thank you. How many months did it take for your donor to more or less fully recover from the shock loss?

11 hours ago, Ryan Daniel said:

Thanks for sharing. WOW.  That's a lot of extractions but it seems symmetrical rather than all taken from a same spot.  Looks like somewhere between 3000 and 4000? kindly confirm

Now im hoping that it's just shock loss, which is guaranteed with so many extractions.  Please update again next month by replying to this comment so i can remember you

Good luck 

Ok thank you. It's 3410 to be exact. I wasn't aware that the donor area can experience shockloss and in such an early state. I always thought it's just the rescipient area.

9 hours ago, baldbandito said:

3 weeks is too early to tell. Be patient and stay calm   

Thank you!

28 minutes ago, Gatsby said:

Do you a picture post op? Who was the surgeon? 

2 minutes ago, Ryan Daniel said:

As our friend Adrian has said, post op pictures would say a lot

However, from my own experience it is normal. I had serious shock loss in the donor area in the first month of procedure. It is usually expected when having 2500+ extractions

On the other hand, it would be a problem if your donor looked like this at 6 months to a year

Otherwise... hang in there

Yes. This is the day after the HT.

Hello,

so I had my HT done 3 weeks ago. I'm a bit worried about my donor because it looks really patchy. Could it be that it's overharvested or is 3 weeks is too early to tell and it will grow out more?

3 hours ago, Spring15 said:

Thanks for the detailed post, I'll be going to Dr Bicer in December. I'm worried I'm somehow going to miss one of my transit flights somehow though. I'm travelling from New Zealand so 3 flights. Frist to USA , then to Germany and finally to Turkey. I only have 2 hour transit period between my last flight. hopefully it works out

I'll be arriving a couple of days before my surgery so want to look around Istanbul a bit, is it possible only speaking English? 

As long as your flight doesn't get delayed 2 hours for transit is plenty of time in my experience. Are you also staying a few days after your surgery? Personally I wouldn't be too thrilled to go on a 3 flight journey right after the surgery.

Istanbul gets a lot of tourists so within the tourist areas speaking only English will be fine. FYI - there are a lot of tourist traps and scams in those areas so you'll need to be mindful.

What I do is I shower in the morning and rinse my hair only with water. Then in the evening after the gym I use shampoo and conditioner. I've experimented with using no shampoo at all - just water - but that made my hair greasy after a only a few hours. Everyone is different so you gotta try for yourself and see how your hair and scalp responds.

If your HT was on wednesday I think we ran into each other in Dr Bicer's office when you were filling out the paperwork. I had mine done a few days before and came in for the hair wash.

Glad that your procedure went well and I'm looking forward to see your progress!

7 minutes ago, SeanToman said:

You could try topical finasteride if this is the case, apparently it has no side affects compared to oral. 

In regards to the affect on your HT recovery, it's better safe than sorry & just take the finasteride.  It's a wound on your head essentially, you want as little conflict going on up there as possible.  Your grafts need to find themselves.

Thanks! Yeah I guess you're right. I was just a bit surprised because the mantra usually is "Start taking Fin. If you experience sides, you can always stop and it will all go back to normal.". Seems like after a HT that's not the case anymore.

5 minutes ago, general-etwan said:

Agree with above…Good that you’re already at 3x/week. And remember that lower overall libido isn’t a severe side effect and shouldn’t be a deal breaker if you truly care about your hair. Everyone is different though. For me it took my extremely high libido down just a little a more reasonable level and I’m actually way happier overall. And yes topical fin is always an option if oral turns bad, but have confidence…take 2-3x/ week and *most likely* you’ll be good. 

Thanks! As I said, right now, side effects are at an expected and manageable level. Good to hear that your side effects turned out to be positive haha