Time to do something

The flavonoids in dark chocolate actually increase blood flow so it might actually help you!

Hey Jason, That would be great. I look forward to his response. Also I'd still like to see a pic of your hair. I will be doing the same thing as you with the crown hair piece and I'd like to see how yours blends and what styling options I might have. Thanks!

That's great. Very few people receive it for that price though. Like I said I'd recommend going for it if there are no side effects or if you don't mind losing erections and libido if there are side effects. For me that was unacceptable. A new study shows this drug may have some prostate protective benefits but also showed me who took it had an increased incidence of heart diseases compared to the control group. It is a personal decision based on risks and benefits.

If you have no side effects from finasteride I'd say go for it. I had to stop using it because it apparently lowered my DHT (which is responsible for sexual well being) to the point where I was beginning to have sexual dysfunction. After stopping the medication I returned to normal. I guess it effects everyone differently. It took three months to affect me. I suppose that is how long it took to lower my DHT levels enough to be a problem. My Endocrinologist says DHT tests are very unreliable and inaccurate when I asked if I could get it checked. This is also an expensive medication for life.

I know the answer but I think that question is better answered by Pat or Bill.

To my knowledge Dr. Epstein is not a coalition doctor on this site.

I'm at work and cannot reply with details why I was not happy with Dr. Epstein's work but if you search my posts you will find plenty of information why it was not a good experience for me.

Please go to Dr. Shapiro! This is an extremely important decision you will have to live with for the rest of your life and a short plane ride should not be a deterrent.

I was just thinking that with 188 people viewing this post that one of them might have been a doctor. Now that the holiday weekend is over I'll give it a couple of days, I'm sure then a doctor will provide his or her professional input. If not I will contact some and post their reply to educate members who may be in the dark on this subject like I am. Thanks for providing the experience you had. What you described matches what my understanding is from all I've read.

I find it odd that no doctor has offered an expert opinion on this subject. No offense all points are taken and considered but I'd really like a professional opinion. Bill could you also please share with us your experience concerning what we are discussing with your second and third procedures.

I'm not panicking or suggesting I'm having a problem with hair growth on my third procedure it is far too early to judge that yet. I'm basing that on most of what I've read on here over the years concerning the growth timeline. What I'm reading now disputes that so I'm a bit confused. I'm simply curious about what I've heard concerning that second and third procedures take longer to surface than the first. I was primarily wondering if that is true and if so why? I've never read anywhere except on The Emperor's post that the majority of hair has surfaced by month four and five. I find it odd that no doctor has responded to this post to confirm or deny the statements being made in this post. At no time was I ever told in consultations that second and third procedures produce less due to scar tissue and less blood supply. If that is the case then a fourth procedure would be useless because even fewer grafts would surface. Bill-I believe you've had three procedures. What did you observe with yours as far as the percentage of grafts surfacing with procedure one, two and three and the timeline?

Wow, this is a revelation. I did not know this bit of information and if this is true it is disturbing that it is never mentioned in consultations. Can a doctor chime in on this? What would cause the blood flow to diminish after a second or third procedure? Do the results become worse and worse with the more procedures one has? Would the third produce even less results than the second? Sprouting by month two seems to be a little earlier than what I've heard. I've also never heard that the majority is sprouted by month four or five.

If subsequent procedures limit blood supply would that mean fewer grafts survive on second and third procedures becuase of less blood supply? My understanding was in order for a graft to survive and be healthy it needed a good blood supply.

I've seen posts here with charts and various articles on the normal amount of time it takes for a hair transplant to surface and mature. However, my understanding is after a second and third procedure the normal surfacing and maturity times are lengthened because subsequent procedures are delayed. Can anyone elaborate on this? How much delayed is a second and third procedure and why? My understanding is on the first procedure hair should begin to surface at month four and mature by month 12 and be completely what one will achieve in 18 months.

Will you share with us who did your surgery?

I had two procedures with Dr. Epstein in Miami. The first produced almost nothing so he did a second one free. That too produced almost nothing. I went to several other coalition doctors to make sure my expectations weren't too high and that I didn't have some kind of scalp condition that would prevent me from obtaining satisfactory results. I was told I had no scalp condition and should have more hair for the amount transplanted. I made Dr. Epstein aware that I was not happy with the results and requested a partial refund to give him the benefit of the doubt since some of the hair surfaced. He said he did not know what I was basing the request for a refund on and denied it. I have since gone to Dr. Shapiro who preformed a procedure free of charge due to the mess I was left in. I am at month four after Dr. Shapiro's procedure and I am beginning to see results but of course it will be another eight months before I can say what the final outcome is.

I did extensive research and looked at over a dozen top coalition doctors. In the end I narrowed it down to Dr. Hasson and Dr. Shapiro. I was leaning towards Dr. Shapiro because I liked the appearance of his hairlines a bit better. Then I took two friends to both doctor's websites and had them look at their results. I did not tell then which direction I was leaning and both selected Dr. Shapiro. Either doctor will give you the best results possible but my personal preference was Dr. Shapiro's hairlines. He is an amazing guy as well (not that Dr. Hasson is not but I've never met him). Good luck with whatever you decide.

http://www.prohealth.com/libra...m?id=8494&t=CFIDS_FM

I've been told that donor hair from the 'safe zone' is susceptible to MPB like the hair on the top of the head eventually. This subject has probably been addressed at some point on the forum before but if anyone could revisit this I'd appreciate it. If that is the case it is worrisome that we go through all of this only to lose the hair again later in life. I'm also being told that even if one takes finasteride to protect the hair from further loss that it loses its effect after about ten years. If these statements are true then hair transplantation seems to be a temporary fix that just postpones the inevitable. Please someone prove this is all wrong.

Thanks for your replies. I wanted to clear a couple of things up that were misunderstood. I've been on finasteride since November not for two weeks. You are right it could be stress related because I do have a stressful job however, no more stressful than normal and I haven't had these symptoms before. I have also read on the internet countless guys who say the drug made them very tired. Apparently this drug effects everyone differently. I will be 49 in three months so to think I've gone through all of this to have hair for maybe 15 years is an education. I have heard that finasteride only works for about 10 years and if the donor hair is susceptible to the effects of DHT then all of the transplanted hair is at risk at that point. I hope I'm wrong but it is beginning to sound like the art of hair transplantation is a temporary fix. If you understand the mechanism behind the way the drug works then sexual dysfunction seems like an obvious side effect. It suppresses the enzyme 5 alpha reductase which converts testosterone into DHT, which is an androgen three times more potent than testosterone. Its responsibility lies in all of the male secondary sexual characteristics such as deepening of the vocal chords, male hair patterns on the body, hair on the face, oily skin, and last but definitely not least, male sexual drive and function. I could not imagine trading sex for hair but beyond that if this drug is what is making my skin drier (that has been documented about this drug as well) and making me lethargic it is a no brainer. I take everything I read on the internet with a grain of salt. However, if the material I'm reading is from a peer reviewed source and countless guys are complaining of the very same symptoms??¦ I take notice. Below is something I copied and pasted which is a study from a medical journal. If DHT is necessary for sexual function then why would anyone think we could function sexually normally without it? ' This study shows that dihydrotestosterone is the dominant hormonal determinant of the frequency of orgasms in young healthy adults ' The frequency of orgasms depends not only on psychosocial factors but on variation of dihydrotestosterone concentrations within the normal range

I'm feeling a little anxious tonight and hoped someone out there could calm my nerves. I've been through hell and back with my hair transplant saga. I had two with very little growth and I've had a third one which I'm very optimistic about. I was prescribed finasteride and in the last couple of weeks I've begun to experience side effects in the way of periodic ED and lethargy. I've read some very scary things about this drug on the internet. I just had blood work done Friday to measure my testosterone, DHT and estradiol levels. I posed the question as to why I even need to be on this drug since 90% of the hair on the top of my head is transplanted from the 'safe zone' and not susceptible to the effects of DHT. I was told donor hair is susceptible to finesteride, just not as much and it's not talked about that much, but as time goes on and we get older the donor hair gets finer and it's not known how much a role DHT plays. I'm probably overreacting but that kind of worries me that I had a hair transplant thinking that the hair from the back of my head was genetically programmed to be resistant to DHT but I may have been wrong. I suppose it is my own fault for not being completely educated on the subject. I feel like I just can't take the side effects of finasteride. I've been on it since November but I just began to notice these issues maybe three weeks ago. I gave it a couple of weeks to make sure it wasn't in my head or that it could be from something else but finasteride is the only thing I'm doing differently that I wasn't doing before.

Has anyone heard of this and know if any coalition doctors are using it? If so what are the reviews on it? http://www.neograft.com/

Bill, Thanks for your answer and for leaving the post there for a couple of days. I know this ultimately has to be a personal decision but I wanted opinions from others including maybe a doctor. I felt it could be helpful to hear other's perspectives on this and see what other guys have gone through since I'm new to this. Maybe someone would bring something to my attention that I'm not aware of or maybe a doctor could point out something I've said that isn't accurate. Part of me wants to stay on it but part of me is scared from the side effects I've started to feel and information I've read on the internet about the drug. I know that supposedly the side effects eventually go away but I've also read that they never do even after stopping the drug. Are you on it and if so what has been your experience? On an unrelated note, I wasn't trying to get around having my last post moved to the 'Hair Loss Drugs' category by posting this similar question in the 'Hair Restoration Questions and Answers' category. I thought maybe my original question was too technical with too much information with the question not the predominate part of the post, so I extracted just the question and put it in the question and answer section. I also went into the 'Creating New Threads in the Right Forum' section but I didn't see any specific guidelines concerning what could and could not be put into certain categories. I'm not trying to be difficult just trying to figure the process out so I don't make the same mistake again. I guess I should ask what type of question is acceptable for the question and answer category and what is not because this is a question which I'm trying to obtain answers for. Thanks

I would like to know if there is any reason I should stay on finasteride and minoxidil since I'm beginning to feel negative sexual side effects from them. Hopefully a doctor could chime in on this. I was a NW 5 with a strip of native hair across the top of my head and the rest was bald before my hair transplant. I will be 49 in three months so my balding pattern is well established. The hair transplanted is genetically immune to the effects of DHT and will not fall out so is there any purpose for me using these drugs with the side effects they have if the transplanted hair isn't going to fall out without these drugs anyway? My understanding is we need DHT for erections, libido and other things. To reduce DHT to a low level upsets the balance causing sexual dysfunction in some of us. If you'd like to know more and find out some interesting information many probably aren't aware of concerning finasteride and minoxidil please see my post under the 'Hair Loss Drugs' category titled 'Read This if You Use or Might Use Finasteride or Minoxidil'

Are there any doctors out there who can address any of my questions and concerns?