NC30

Granted, there could be long term effects that we are not yet aware of as pertaining to hair loss drugs, but there are so many drugs, food additives, personal hygeine products that contain ingredients which could pose long term health effects to your person. Everyone takes a risk just by waking up in the morning and walking outside to breathe, drive, live, etc. When I purchased my car, I could have chosen a safer model, but I opted for what I wanted. I try to eat healthy, but sometimes I just want to eat a pizza. This may very well be apples and oranges here, but my point is that I'm personally willing to take the risks of long-term effects that propecia may have because it has helped reduce my hair loss and therefore makes my life better. Finasteride has been around a very long time and although the almighty FDA doesnt know all, I'm satisfied that they've made it an approved drug. As far as short or long term side effects, I personally have had none, and it will vary from person to person. I think that if someone has had positive results from propecia, minoxidil, etc, then they should absolutely feel free to recommend it to others. We are here to help, guide, and maybe teach a little to others just like us. On the same token, you too are free to follow up right behind those people and state your concerns.....that's what makes this message board great for us.

Just out of curiosity, how does anyone know that these generics bought from non-pharmacies actually contain finasteride? Recently, my insurance plan stopped covering my propecia. I went from paying $10 a month to $50 a month. Needless to say, I was pretty pissed off. When people used to post about propecia buying questions in the past, I usually just skimmed them----now I have to pay close attention. My questions are, is there a generic that exists that is sold at US pharmacies? Also, if no generic exists, What is the best place to order it that you KNOW is actually the real drug? I know some of you may have said that you have had results from your generics, and I'm not doubting your sincerity, but there could always be other factors which might be factored into that growth ( hair cycles, placebo affects, reductions in stress, other hair prescriptions being used, drastic lifestyle changes, etc).

My doctor gave me some type of spray for post-op itching, but I cant remember exactly what it was. I took off two weeks post-op so I'd have time to recover. As I relaxed at home for my 2 weeks, I kept my little water spray bottle around. I didn't want to itch or even touch my grafts. What worked for me was just spraying down my head every 10-15 minutes or whenever the itching feeling started. The water initially hitting my scalp as well as when it was running down my head worked VERY well for my itching....so much so that I never once used the itching spray my doctor gave me. Keeping your scalp moist is important as well, so it works in more ways than one.

I'm just comin up on my 4 month mark at the end of this week and am not quite able to tell if or where there is any growth yet. I took pictures of about the 3 month mark (I wish I had taken some pre-op and immediately post-op but these are pretty close to where I was then seeing as I havent had any noticeable shockloss) so I could have future reference, but it's just hard to tell. One question for you, are you taking minoxidil and/or propecia? When I was taking both of them in combination, I noticed peach fuzz growing towards the front of my scalp in areas which were bare. They never progressed further than just peach fuzz, and to be honest, I never checked further back in the hair to see if there was any peach fuzz there. That might be a possibility for your peach fuzz. Other than that, I'm just really waiting on growth and would like to hear the answers to your questions from anyone else who might know.

I'm 14 weeks post-op. My scar was red for a good 2 1/2 months. I'm at a light pink right now.

JRod....I had posted on my minoxidil situation before on this and another board. On the other board I received a few obnoxious responses from guys who absolutely swore by rogaine. I had used rogaine specifically by itself at one time, in combination with propecia at one point in time, and am currently on propecia by itself. You're going to find that different guys react to each one differently both by themselves as well as in combination. In my specific situation, when I stopped using rogaine, I experienced a GREAT deal of hair loss.... to the point where people were noticing and commenting in disbelief at how much hair I'd lost. You might be maintaining your hair as a result of either medication by itself, or it could be a combination which is best suited for you. Just be prepared for a scenario similar to mine. I'm not the only one who has ever lost a lot after getting off rogaine, and I certainly won't be the last. My advice to you, and this is just my personal opinion, is that if your current combination is working well, then you should maintain whatever you're doing. I wouldnt' want to risk losing a ton of hair that I've worked so hard to keep.

Tim, I'm really glad to hear you had such a positive experience with Cooley. I'm a little over 3 months post-op from my 1500 graft HT with him. This is usually the low point where many guys are kinda down waiting on their growth and/or dealing with shockloss (of which I still havent had any), but I'm still feeling really good about it. My real growth spurts should be coming over the horizon any time now, and I'm pretty excited to get to the 1 year mark and see the final results. I too was just overly impressed with him, his work, and his staff. Keep us updated with your progress and again...congratulations!!

Jenn...I've spent countless hours reading these message boards, and am still nowhere near as informed as many of the veterans here. The question that came to my mind while reading this thread was.....Say that we have one of these people who was born with blonde hair and as they grew older, it naturally changed to brown hair. Now let's say this same person has an HT later on in life. Are the new hairs programmed as the same color since they are already existing hairs? Or would the whole cycle just start from the beginning? I know it's a totally insignificant question and doesnt need to be answered. If new hairs just started popping out of my head I wouldnt care what color they were as long as they were there to stay.

Jotoronic raised a point which I wondered as I read this entire thread. Just a question Jenn, what color was your hair as a baby? I know a lot of people who went from blonde to brunette through the years and wondered if this is at all related to HT's...particularly yours.

I'm right there with vocor....I had an incredibly high libido beforehand, and it's lessened some I believe. I dont think mine is at all psychological. I think I definitely have more confidence now knowing that less than a year from now I'll be far better off from my HT.

Ok....a couple more things from me... My doctor gave me neosporin for the donor area, but since I was keeping my HT a secret, I didn't trust anyone to help appy it. I tried once or twice to put it on myself, but it was just too goopy and got caught in the hair (side note-- I had normal sutures which the doctor removed a week after the surgery.) I didn't have any infections or problems with it. Also, sonofaplug, I re-read one of your posts and something crossed my mind. I read that you were gonna wear the "gilligan" style hat. About 8 days after my HT, I took a flight. I'm not the baseball hat type guy, but I definitely wore one that day. I got to the airport early, and sat around near the gate just reading and watching people. As it got closer and closer to the flight time, I got more and more paranoid about being one of the "random" searches they conduct during boarding. I dont know if they picked up on it or not (I actually think they did since I had been sitting awhile and acting nervous), but sure enough when I was waiting in line to board, they made me one of the "random" searches. I had to take my hat off at that point and go through the entire search. Soo...I hope I don't make you paranoid now, but just be prepared in case this happens. Maybe don't sit at your specific gate until a few minutes before boarding time, look innocent, don't wear a turban, and hopefully you'll be ok.

Sonofaplug.... Sorry if I alarmed ya in any way, but like Micro said, it's just better safe than sorry. He brought up something that I hadn't taken into consideration. His HT was in the temple area, whereas mine was more of filling in my thinning area. If I had grafts transplanted into bare areas where people could tell the difference, I definitely would have opted for wearing a hat for a few weeks after. As far as the touching/patting washing(which is fine if done properly), I'm sure you're doctor will recommend the method that he thinks his best. But like you said before, you'd heard of guys finding whole grafts in the sink 3 days later and wanted to avoid that. I'd read those types of posts as well before my HT and was determined not to take any chances.

Micro Lol...yeah..I know they have to watch them over and over again, but I was still a little paranoid. I wasnt saying my washing method was better, it's just what I did personally. I think we both had the same mindset (as many do), that we're not going to risk doing anything to harm the new grafts. I believe my doc said to wait at least 2 weeks to do any working out/strenous physical activity, but I think a month is best as well. Just based on past reading, I can't believe when I see guys post about how they want to know the exact day they can start working out again or go swimming,etc. I think in that initial post-op phase, it's best to err well on the safe side instead of risking a lifetime HT investment by touching, physical activity, sex, etc too soon.

sorry...just a few afterthoughts I had, some of these are pre-op tips instead of post-op. These are just preferences, not necessarily best practice. I went to bed later than normal the night before my HT, and got up much earlier than normal. I wanted to be sleepy during my HT so I could be more relaxed and "out of it". Also, my surgeon had a selection of movies for me to watch during my HT. Although I could have definitely watched a movie during my HT, I didnt want to risk anyone being distracted during my HT or start laughing at a movie. I'm not at all implying that the doctor/nurses wouldn't give their full attention, but human nature being what it is, I opted to not have that distraction around. I didnt let a shower stream hit my head until at least a week after when the sutures were finally taken out. I constantly sprayed my hair with my water spray bottle for the first couple days post-op. I think the 2nd day post-op was my first attempt to wash my hair. I didnt do the patting technique when washing my hair. I filled my bathtub partly with water and added some baby shampoo. I just slowly immersed my head and did kind of a slow swishing motion. I know it sounds stupid, but with the amount of money I spent, I just didnt want to risk touching any of the grafts post-op.

sonofaplug... I drove an little over an hour in the morning before my HT to my surgeon's office. I was there until around 5:30 in the evening (an all day HT). I had planned on getting a hotel room just so I wouldnt have to worry about driving back, but I felt great afterwards so I decided to drive. The trip home took well over an hour and a half (because of construction and traffic), but I was fine. You should be ok driving (it probably varies on a person-by-person basis).

sonofaplug... how long will you be staying out of work? i had a 1500 graft strip HT at the end of march. i stayed out of work, and pretty much didnt do anything for a week ( other than just reorganize stuff at home, play online, relax, etc). i let my hair grow out a little more than normal ( my HT doc didnt require me to shave it for surgery). a week post-op, he removed the sutures and cleaned me up. with sufficient length in the back, not a single person in the world knew i'd had an HT. i never wore a hat after the first week and no one's the wiser. if you can, do some tanning prior to your surgery. some guys have mentioned that having a little color to your scalp helps mask the redness if you have any. make sure you have a little spray bottle for water to keep your scalp moist. you can buy one at walmart for like $1. since i was at home, i just sprayed it down every 30 minutes or so. in fact, it helped a lot with the itching that you're going to experience. you dont want a strong shower stream of water hitting your head. i wish i could give more tips, but i really didnt have any post-op problems....virtually no swelling or redness, etc. the doctor prescribed some meds to help me sleep, but i didnt need them either.

no....it's 7:30am and i just read your post....now that i've got a time tho' i'm gonna definitely find it....thanks

ok....this thread has gone on awhile and now its got me wondering too.... fabe....u keep poppin up and sayin that the show is on, but i always catch that post hours later....what time (and time zone) does he usually appear?

I posted this question at the end of my response to skinnyvi's previous post, but I figured that it might get a better answer as a new post. I am aware that hair goes through shedding/resting cycles in which hair naturally sheds and normally returns after its resting phase. My question is, when you receive an HT, will all the grafts automatically start the shedding/resting cycle clock at the same time? In other words, after I've received growth from my HT, let's say a year and 3 months later, will it all start to go through the shedding at approximatley the same time? OR, will the hairs start their cycle once they begin to "sprout" thereby putting them on different shedding schedules?

I posted this question at the end of my response to skinnyvi's previous post, but I figured that it might get a better answer as a new post. I am aware that hair goes through shedding/resting cycles in which hair naturally sheds and normally returns after its resting phase. My question is, when you receive an HT, will all the grafts automatically start the shedding/resting cycle clock at the same time? In other words, after I've received growth from my HT, let's say a year and 3 months later, will it all start to go through the shedding at approximatley the same time? OR, will the hairs start their cycle once they begin to "sprout" thereby putting them on different shedding schedules?

I think you should probably wait at least a year minimum before even consider getting your next HT for a couple of reasons. First, you definitely need to see this HT will yield. As Arfy always points out, each HT procedure should be a stand alone procedure, and you probably wont know your final density/growth/hair thickness of this procedure until at least a year is up. You need to be able to have that final picture of what your hair is like, and only then can you properly decide what your next HT step will be. Will a doctor be able to properly insert the new grafts into an area while some of those grafts still haven't sprouted yet? Second, it seems to me like you're going through shockloss and that's got to be a hard time ( and is my current biggest fear). I think you've just got to get past this block and develop a mindset that this is only temporary and things will definitely get better. I'm definitely not an expert, but isn't there some type of concealer that you'd consider using in the meantime? Third, and this coincides with my first reason, some of the hair lost to shockloss will indeed grow back. You need to see which of that hair returns in order to get the final picture. I'm not sure what the exact time frame for the donor area to be at 100%, but it's a safe bet that the longer you wait the better off you'll be. I think I'll start a new topic with my new question, and skinnyvi, but here it is too.... When you get an HT, I assume that this hair will also go through a normal shedding/resting cycle as other hairs do. Will all the new hair grafts be on the same shedding cycle? Or, will their cycle start when they begin to "sprout". I'd hate to think that they all go into the same cycle at the same time.

Purpella.....thanks for mentioning that...I think. I had really hoped I was in the safe zone, and when I read your post, I swear I could hear my grafts scream. Tefflogen effluvium is indeed the medical term I believe. Purpella, how much loss did you have? How large was your HT? At 8 months are you basically where you started? Are you at a net hair loss currently? Does anyone know if shock loss is more common to occur at the beginning growth of the new hair---seeing as now the old hairs are competing for blood,space, etc with the new hairs?

Nomoe....today i'm exactly 9 weeks post op from my 1500 strip HT. I've posted a few questions before about shockloss as well, and it's been my only worry as of late. I've not experienced any that I can tell. No one has really been able to tell me how late it can begin, but I really hope I'm past the point where it would begin. If I notice it starting late at any point, I'll be sure to post the time frame for you.

I pay $20 a month for my 30 count of propecia. If I remember correctly, however, I think my doctor had originally prescribed the refills to be done in quantities of 90 instead. The $20 is just my deductible. When I went to get the propecia the first time, the pharmacist asked if I wanted it filled in monthly fills or the whole 90 at once. I think if I go back and have it switched to 90, then I'll only have to pay $20 every 3 months.

LL, I'm not saying anything for sure...I'd really like to hear from some of the more veteran guys from the site or perhaps another doctor as to what is right. What I wrote is what I have read/heard ( from websites/doctors) on my own. As I said before here and in the non-surgical message board section very recently was that I had used rogaine for awhile, and when I stopped I had a severe amount of hair loss. I agree that I wouldn't think that Huron's case is shock loss. It has been a year since his HT and it wouldn't seem likely.