bayareaht

Couple of other pics. Crown as it was before *any* surgery (2003) -- http://hair-restoration-info.c...%2Fcrownbe41stht.jpg Here's the original post - http://hair-restoration-info.c...=688107777#688107777

I've had 3 transplants. Crown got 400, 550 and 1000 grafts in each. Considering I can go for another, how many grafts do you think I need to decently cover the crown? Recent crown coverage under strong light is attached.

I got the 2nd and the 3rd done at his San Jose office. San Jose office moved a couple of blocks along 1st st since my 2nd surgery.

He left NHI sometime in 2004. I got my first HT with him when he was still with NHI in 2003. Then I found him to be with Hairclub - doing his own practice alongside. However, this time he said he may relocate to Phoenix pretty soon, visiting Bay Area occasionally.

Hi, Just yesterday I had my third, and hopefully last, HT with Dr Roy Jones. (1) In my first HT in July 2003 I received about 1640 grafts. I wrote about it here - http://hair-restoration-info.com/eve/forums?a=tpc&s=569...746054884#4746054884 (2) 2nd one was in just before Thanksgiving 2004. http://hair-restoration-info.com/eve/forums/a/tpc/f/746...=688107777#688107777 This time I wanted to fill up the corners in the front hair line and fill up the crown - now that the crown loss is fairly stabilized on 1mg Finasteride every other day. I got 1488 grafts - originally planned 1600 - and the Doctor placed about 1000 on the crown and rest in front temples. I was originally NW4. With 3 HTs I totally got about 5000 grafts. No one should point at my bald spots anymore in the places you least expect. I am yet to receive the pre-op photos. Will post it as soon as I receive it. Experience is pretty much like before, except it was over soon and I was fairly stable to drive back home. Last night was not too uncomfortable on Vicodine and neither was today. Applying ice-packs on the donor site right now, and showering with Graftcyte shampoo. Will start Mederma in a couple of weeks. Any suggestion on how to reduce scarring? Thanks, BH

Hi, Just yesterday I had my third, and hopefully last, HT with Dr Roy Jones. (1) In my first HT in July 2003 I received about 1640 grafts. I wrote about it here - http://hair-restoration-info.com/eve/forums?a=tpc&s=569...746054884#4746054884 (2) 2nd one was in just before Thanksgiving 2004. http://hair-restoration-info.com/eve/forums/a/tpc/f/746...=688107777#688107777 This time I wanted to fill up the corners in the front hair line and fill up the crown - now that the crown loss is fairly stabilized on 1mg Finasteride every other day. I got 1488 grafts - originally planned 1600 - and the Doctor placed about 1000 on the crown and rest in front temples. I was originally NW4. With 3 HTs I totally got about 5000 grafts. No one should point at my bald spots anymore in the places you least expect. I am yet to receive the pre-op photos. Will post it as soon as I receive it. Experience is pretty much like before, except it was over soon and I was fairly stable to drive back home. Last night was not too uncomfortable on Vicodine and neither was today. Applying ice-packs on the donor site right now, and showering with Graftcyte shampoo. Will start Mederma in a couple of weeks. Any suggestion on how to reduce scarring? Thanks, BH

BTW, I've told doctor that I stopped Propecia. She doesn't think much about Propecia being involved in any of the issues! Still I am thinking to start 0.5 mg a day - just to see if conditions improve.

Thanks for the replies. Here's the timeline that should answer the questions raised- (1) June 2003 - Propecia starts. 1mg a day. (2) July 2003 - 1st HT done. Tremendous boost in self-esteem and confidence. (3) Nov 2004 - 2nd HT done. Mentally stable. Never stressed or under anxiety. All the time under serious physical exercise (3-4 times a week weight training) and healthy high-protein diet. (4) Nov 2005 - Propecia cut down to 4 days a week. Physically and mentally healthy. Physical check-up turns out perfect except elevated ALT (Liver enzyme!) (5) May 2006 - Propecia 3-4 times a week. Develop right abdominal pain that radiates to testicles and lower back. Frightened, stops propecia. (5) May 2006 - CT-scan and other tests suggest everything is fine, except a bit of fatty liver. Still the abdominal pain is on and off. Was put into anti-biotics for 2 wks just in case it were some infection. (6) June 2006 - Still off propecia. Worrying about the pain and health continues. Off any physical activity for 6 wks. 1st panick attack ensues. Had several followed. After string of tests, heart etc was found to be fine. Dr. advises Prozac. Conditions slightly improved. But still experiencing a lot of anxiety et al. I somehow think stopping Propecia had some effect on the whole thing. Or, being a very health conscious person I just was overly-stressed and worried about my abdominal pain (which could be a muscle pull or coming from stress itself!). -and invited anxiety disorder! Anyways, aside from seeing whole bunch of specialists (urologist, PCP, ER) -- I am going to see Dr. Rassman next week. Thanks, B

Well, I stopped Propecia for last 5-6 weeks, and have experienced anxiety, mood swings and depression. I started 0.5 mg Propecia from y'day. Let's see how it goes. While on Propecia for last 3 years-- never had mood swings. I was rather upbeat, confident and much less worrying person all the while!

Just bumping this up. Any advice? Another question - Anybody taking Prozac and Propecia together?

All, I have been on Propecia (or the generic equivalent of it made by Cipla, India) since June, 2003. However, something had me worried recently. Please take a look at the following data - Date Propecia Started - 6/2003 Date of Test - 1/8/2004 ALT - 53 (Propecia Daily) Date of Test - 1/6/2006 ALT - 56 AST - 33 (4 times a week) Date of Test - 3/8/2006 ALT - 47 AST - 29 (4 times a week, none before 2 days of test) Date of Test - 5/21/2006 - CT-Scan - Fatty infiltration of Liver What I gather from my Doctor is elevated ALT / AST and fatty liver is somewhat common. Though it makes me think Propecia has something to do with it. At the same time, after making significant investment after two HT surgeries -- and obtaining wonderful results - I'll be sad to see my hair go! But if it comes between liver (or any other organ) and hair -- I know what I will choose! I do not smoke, drink very occassionally and always moderate about it (was a heavy drinker in my 20s but!), has a healthy lifestyle (workout 3-4 times a week, no significant stress etc). Can you shed some light on (long-term) impact of Propecia on Liver? I read about the "3-page report" Merck has on Propecia's effect on Liver. http://www.baldingblog.com/2005/05/03/propecia-and-liver-disease-follow-up/ It says - "A liver adverse effect has not been listed in the clinical trials of the drug for hair loss treatment. The drug itself is broken down by the liver, so decreased liver function will directly impact the rate at which the drug is metabolized by the liver and will keep serum levels higher in people known to have decreased liver function. In other words, the ability of the liver to clear this drug from the body may cause the serum levels to be higher than on someone without liver disease. There has been no study performed on the effects of hepatic insufficiency for Finasteride pharmacokinetics. Also, a search of the medical literature did show a rise in liver enzymes in one of 14 subjects studied in healthy volunteers (Shimazaki and Nose). One case of hepatitis induced by Finasteride was reported in a patient with many organ problems including a high alcohol intake. The inability to find another cause for the hepatitis on this patient led the doctors to believe that this drug may have been the cause for the liver disease on this one patient. When the drug Finasteride has been used with Flutamide, there was some impact possibly inducing liver disease." All my research indicates that there's nothing to be seriously worried about either fatty liver or elevated ALT -- but I'm worried how this will impact my health in the long term (say, 10 years from now). I'm giving it a serious thought to either reduce the dosage (2-3 times a week) or totally stop it. I recently experienced some (right-sided) abdominal pain (possibly from Epididymitis / spasm caused by heavy lifting) that also radiated to my testicles and lower back. I got tested for blood, testicles, urine etc. several times - but there was nothing else wrong. So the Doctor ordered CT-SCAN and all they found was fatty liver. As you can see, I have a high level of ALT from Jan 2004 -- and never experienced something similar; so the pain might be from weight lifting as the doctor(s) have suggested. I will be interested to hear your opinion. Any other Propecia user got AST / ALT or Liver Panel tested? How does the result look? Thanks, B

All, I have been on Propecia (or the generic equivalent of it made by Cipla, India) since June, 2003. However, something had me worried recently. Please take a look at the following data - Date Propecia Started - 6/2003 Date of Test - 1/8/2004 ALT - 53 (Propecia Daily) Date of Test - 1/6/2006 ALT - 56 AST - 33 (4 times a week) Date of Test - 3/8/2006 ALT - 47 AST - 29 (4 times a week, none before 2 days of test) Date of Test - 5/21/2006 - CT-Scan - Fatty infiltration of Liver What I gather from my Doctor is elevated ALT / AST and fatty liver is somewhat common. Though it makes me think Propecia has something to do with it. At the same time, after making significant investment after two HT surgeries -- and obtaining wonderful results - I'll be sad to see my hair go! But if it comes between liver (or any other organ) and hair -- I know what I will choose! I do not smoke, drink very occassionally and always moderate about it (was a heavy drinker in my 20s but!), has a healthy lifestyle (workout 3-4 times a week, no significant stress etc). Can you shed some light on (long-term) impact of Propecia on Liver? I read about the "3-page report" Merck has on Propecia's effect on Liver. http://www.baldingblog.com/2005/05/03/propecia-and-liver-disease-follow-up/ It says - "A liver adverse effect has not been listed in the clinical trials of the drug for hair loss treatment. The drug itself is broken down by the liver, so decreased liver function will directly impact the rate at which the drug is metabolized by the liver and will keep serum levels higher in people known to have decreased liver function. In other words, the ability of the liver to clear this drug from the body may cause the serum levels to be higher than on someone without liver disease. There has been no study performed on the effects of hepatic insufficiency for Finasteride pharmacokinetics. Also, a search of the medical literature did show a rise in liver enzymes in one of 14 subjects studied in healthy volunteers (Shimazaki and Nose). One case of hepatitis induced by Finasteride was reported in a patient with many organ problems including a high alcohol intake. The inability to find another cause for the hepatitis on this patient led the doctors to believe that this drug may have been the cause for the liver disease on this one patient. When the drug Finasteride has been used with Flutamide, there was some impact possibly inducing liver disease." All my research indicates that there's nothing to be seriously worried about either fatty liver or elevated ALT -- but I'm worried how this will impact my health in the long term (say, 10 years from now). I'm giving it a serious thought to either reduce the dosage (2-3 times a week) or totally stop it. I recently experienced some (right-sided) abdominal pain (possibly from Epididymitis / spasm caused by heavy lifting) that also radiated to my testicles and lower back. I got tested for blood, testicles, urine etc. several times - but there was nothing else wrong. So the Doctor ordered CT-SCAN and all they found was fatty liver. As you can see, I have a high level of ALT from Jan 2004 -- and never experienced something similar; so the pain might be from weight lifting as the doctor(s) have suggested. I will be interested to hear your opinion. Any other Propecia user got AST / ALT or Liver Panel tested? How does the result look? Thanks, B

Hairline a year from 2nd transplant -

Tophair --

Here's 6 month update --