Ceasar08

PGP -- Do you think it's fair to make a comment like the one you made above? With all due respect to you, don't you think that your opinion holds a bit less weight than someone who is in the medical field and been dealing with hair loss for close to two decades? Are you able to explain the exact science or mechanisms by which the treatment might benefit people? Have you ever performed it, or seen it performed? Do you personally know anyone who has had it performed? Have you read any medical journals about how PRP can be beneficial to tissue/cells? Can you offer a detailed explanation about what it even is, in anything other than a layman's terms? I suppose technically everyone is entitled to have an opinion, but wouldn't it be better to base an opinion on actual facts and information, rather than some vague conclusion you've arrived upon? By throwing that statement out on a public forum, you're basically implying that a doctor is peddling a snake oil type treatment. Isn't that a strong charge? Regardless of your personal feelings about Dr. Feller, you are certainly aware by now that he is the number one skeptic when it comes to any miracle cures for hair loss. In regards to PRP growing hair, Dr. Feller himself has written specific posts that caution people against "overhyping" it (his words) and he has emphasized that it is indeed experimental. Dr. Feller has stated that there are very sound scientific reasons why it should, and quite possibly will work. He is also not the only doctor on this forum who has interest and hope in regards to PRP being effective. However, you offer your opinion that it is "worthless" as an alternative viewpoint. Would you be able to have a more detailed and scientifically based debate with Dr. Feller, Dr. Law, or Dr. Cooley as to why their medical reasoning is somehow misguided? You seem very confident with the way you've phrased your words. Another poster on this thread said he was "skeptical" and Dr. Feller said something like: "I'm right behind you." He's not looking for "cheerleading" from people, as much as comments that are constructive. I would also think that you would appreciate the fact that Dr. Feller is not taking money from people who he feels are poor candidates. Most medical treatments work best when thinning has just started. Would it be better if he did take people's money who he believes cannot be helped? If he did that, you would then be accusing him of taking advantage of people, correct? If your real point is that people should give this treatment (6 months or more) time to prove its effectiveness, then I think most people would absolutely agree with you. I personally would give you lots of credit, if you are simply reserving judgment. We certainly need a lot more data before we can actually draw definitive conclusions about any treatment. But Dr. Feller has never said otherwise. Throwing out a comment about it being "worthless" is harsh and unfounded. It doesn't feel like a statement that is meant to be helpful to people, and it is certainly not reserving judgment, or giving a respected doctor the benefit of the doubt by taking a "wait and see" approach. You made a comment above about Dr. Feller's patients. I am one of those patients. I actually know him and have been treated by him. And yes, I have certainly corresponded over the years with other patients of his who are on these forums. Those of us who have been under his care have an overwhelmingly positive opinion of him as a person who has tremendous integrity. At least everyone I've encountered. Perhaps what you're responding to is his zero tolerance for people throwing strong words out there and knowing they have the anonymity of the internet protecting them, and therefore, zero accountability. He doesn't have that luxury. If PRP turns out to be a let down, he has truly put himself out there -- transparent as can be. He has said that if it fails, he will speak the loudest out of anyone. He has everything to lose if PRP doesn't work. If it does prove successful, all you will have to do, as you've stated is above, is "admit that you're wrong." It doesn't really appear like you have much to lose either way.

I have heard similar types of descriptions before, nothing unheard of is happening to you. I would not panic, but I would also not brush it off either. It's certainly possible that you are sensitive to taking the drug. It's true that a lot of people get sides immediately and then their body adjusts over a period of weeks. Obviously, no way of knowing in your case, as everyone is completely different. I wish I had more helpful advice to give you. Someone recently posted a youtube link on another forum where Dr. John Crisler was discussing the drug in front of a room full of colleagues. My understanding is that Dr. Crisler is a very renowned endocrinologist. He was very outspoken about the drug not being prescribed to men for hairloss, and I think he's even opposed to it for the prostate as well. I don't want to tell you to quit the drug, and I also can't tell you to keep taking it. It's a personal choice. If you continue to use it, I hope your body adjusts... the odds are in your favor that it will.

I think it's very important you talk to your doctor, or at the very least get a doctor's opinion on here. My understanding (I'm not a doctor) is that you actually want to get those scabs off as soon as possible. I think that the grafts are actually safer after those scabs go away. My doctor instructed me to get rid of them, and said it was important to do so.

Yes... all good advice. The great thing about Dr. Feller is that he won't promise anything he can't deliver, and he won't take your money unless you are a good candidate. To my knowledge, FUE does not grow any faster than hair from strip surgery. Also, FUE does leave scarring, just a different type.

Omar -- There's a way you can change the name of this thread to "sebum?" It might bring in more people who can actually be of help.

Hi Spex -- I'm planning on writing a long post soon about my growth experience. Hopefully it'll help others to read it. I did visit with Dr. Feller recently and he seemed pleased. Fusion -- I looked at your blog, and it looks like you're doing very well for the time frame. Much further along than I was in the same amount of time. Continue to grow well...

I think this thread deserves more attention... Very solid job.

I agree... this is a great result.

Everybody is different. All that I can tell you is that I'm past the one year mark now and my hair is definitely continuing to thicken. I also have a dramatic improvement over what I had at 6 1/2 months. I don't know a way of assigning a percentage, but things really first started to take off for me after 7 1/2 months.

Excellent post. I've wondered about this for a long time. There seem to be at least some reputable people who believe that PPG is very important in minoxidil. I suppose for those who have a reaction, it's better to at least be able to use the minoxidil in a different formulation, rather than not be able to use it at all.

Hey Dr. Feller -- I'm blown away by the photos, especially in light of the short time frame. I'm also a bit envious of the guys who have enough hair to be eligible for this treatment. So, here's my question... The original goal was to thicken and strengthen the miniaturized hairs, but the treatment seems to be thickening all of the hairs. Does this mean, that to some small extent, all the hairs on our head are being affected to some degree by hormones and other processes as we age? If so, would that include even our donor hair to whatever small extent? I guess what I'm wondering is, if someone could actually thicken transplanted graphs using PRP to gain an even greater cosmetic effect from their transplant. In my case, for example, I would wonder if the donor hair I had transplanted was even thicker and stronger back when I was eighteen... I realize this might be a stretch, or a bit of wishful thinking on my part. I'm just hoping that this new procedure may eventually benefit those like myself who are further down the road with their hairloss. Isn't it funny how, in one month, you have managed to provide more impressive photographic proof than the entire laser industry has in a period of decades? Very exciting stuff.

If you apply minoxidil to a dry scalp, you will most likely minimize systemic absorption. Applying it to a wet scalp can make a big difference in this regard.

Also, Dr. Schwinning worked with another doctor named Dr. Hitzig for many years in NY. Google them for ny newspaper articles and see what you find...

If you are in the Ny area, PLEASE consult with at least one of these doctors before you make any decisions: 1. Dr. Alan Feller 2. Dr. True 3. Dr. Robert Bernstein If you would like any info on Dr. Feller feel free to send me a private message (I'm one of his patients). You have to be incredibly careful in this industry, so I breathe a sigh of relief for you that you found this site. Very few women are good transplant candidates, and the doctors above can explain to you why in person. They will not try to sell you surgery, but they will be honest with you about what they can and or cannot do. Have you first explored every medical option to treat your hairloss? There is a place called the "hormone center" in Manhattan where there is a doctor who is a foremost expert on women's hairloss.

The truth is, I've heard that there are men who get the sides after years. But if you are doing well on the drug, I would not think about it or worry. There are plenty of men who never have sides. Don't ask for trouble.

Mrjobi -- One of the first things doctors ask when you see them for libido/erectile issues is if you are getting morning erections or not. This is the way they determine psychogenic impotence from physically based. People who have issues in their mind will still get erections in their sleep, it's a physiological response of a healthy functioning male. People who suffer these side effects from Propecia notice that they go from getting regular morning/nocturnal erections to none whatsoever. I will say over and over again... there are tons of people who do NOT get any sides on the drug, but there are many people who really do -- and it is most definitely not in their minds.

Are you actually experiencing sides now? Or, are you just starting to get worried about the possibility? There are some people on that propeciahelp board who claim the sides started later on. I could only speak for myself, and for me they were immediate. If you're not having any trouble on the drug, my best guess is to make sure you don't alter anything you're doing. In other words, if you have no sides, try to continue to take the same amount on the same schedule. I think some people started getting sides when they messed around with those variables.

Thanks for the kind words Acro. Brent -- I know exactly what you are going through with the whole "rollercoaster." It's hard to explain to people who haven't been through it, and there are days when you feel like you're going a little nuts from all of it. I also remember how frustrating it was when it felt like things were normalizing for a few days or weeks, only to watch them regress again. Keep us updated. If things aren't going quickly enough, I can tell you a few supplements I tried that may have helped a little. Difficult to say. Definitely wait it out... the odds are way in your favor that you'll recover.

Don't worry. I was way behind the curve at six months, and I'm now approaching a year, and I'm in much better shape. Slow growers are very underrepresented on the blogs, but we do exist. My transplant took off at around 7/2 - 8 months. I know how nerve racking it is, but hang in there.

I agree with that advice one hundred percent. I also think Dr. Alexander might work without shaving down... not sure.

Hey brent -- My best guess (I'm obviously not a doctor) is that .25 a week might be too little to have an affect. I'm pretty sure with the half life of the drug, your DHT wouldn't be suppressed for long enough. I know that in studies the smallest therapeutic dose was .20 a day. That means, in theory, that you would want to average that in your bloodstream. Obviously, it's probably much more complicated than just averaging it out. I know that once they went below .20mg that hair counts no longer increased or even maintained. I once had a brief exchange on a thread on this forum with Dr. Cooley. He seems to know a lot about the drug, and he was very helpful in discussing information about it. I believe he tells patients that they can take 1mg 2-3 times a week if they wish. There are some people who had terrible sides on Propecia who actually had zero sides on Avodart. I know it makes absolutely no sense in theory. It's possible that it has something to do with the pharmacology of Avodart or that such a severe decrease in DHT has led those people to have a more profound rise in testosterone and compensate for it. I personally have never gone near Avodart, and I am quite afraid to do so. It's a very powerful drug and there are many reasons why I fear if it's safe to take in the long term. In my humble opinion, the mistake that a lot of people on Propeciahelp.com made was running to a doctor too quickly. Once they started taking other things that affected their hormones, I would wonder if that complicated the situation and confused their bodies even more in trying to return to normal. I have a good friend who is a psychiatrist. He once told me that he had many patients on the old classes of anti-depressants who experienced sexual sides, and who took close to a year to return to return to their old selves after quitting. The drug had been long out of their systems, but it took a lot of waiting until the body finally balanced itself out and got back to where it was previously. Hope all of this helps. Let me know if I can offer any more info. Good luck.

xxy -- I've asked that question to so many people over the years... I've asked it to doctors and people who have experimented with different dosages and dosing schedules. I'm firmly convinced that there is just no easy answer. Some people cut the dose and seem to do better, and some people take it intermittently and avoid the side effects. I have read probably an equal number of people who had sides no matter what they did. It's complicated in that the drug has what is called a "flat dose response" curve. This means that 5mg of Finasteride only inhibits DHT a little bit more than .25mg. The people at Merck who came up with a 1mg dose for everyone seem to have done so rather arbitrarily. Interestingly enough, I believe that Propecia is available in Japan in a 1mg and a .20mg dose, which acknowledges that even a small amount should have an effect. Anyway, to answer your question, it seems like it's fifty fifty, where some people have been able to eliminate the sides and some people have not. I've always wondered whether a low dose would be more tolerable if one started with it. In other words, when I started playing around with the dosing, I'd already been on 1mg for awhile, so my DHT had been low for a prolonged amount of time already.

I've been through all of this. Here's what I believe... There is no set time period for getting back to normal. I think a person's body tries to adjust when you take the drug, and it also tries to adjust when you go off the drug. It can go back and forth before your body finds equilibrium. I do believe, for a small number of people, the body does not readjust after quitting. It is way way too early to worry. I have heard many people who took months to get back to normal after quitting, and it took me the better part of a year. And yes... it was scary as hell, but I got back to normal. Please do not read Propeciahelp.com. While I believe everyone on there is perfectly legit, they are a small minority and by reading the board you will only scare yourself to death. I tried taking the drug EOD and cutting the dose before finally quitting. Nothing worked. Things went in waves while I was on the drug and once I went off. Some days I had zero libido, some days I had an unnaturally high libido. It was a rollercoaster ride, and I never felt quite right. Even after going through hell with the drug, I still thought about trying again years later. I was that desperate to keep my hair. The fact that I never went back on Propecia is a testament to just how powerfully the drug affected me when I took it. Having to decide whether or not to quit the drug was one oft he toughest choices I ever had to make. It was horrible knowing that I'd lose my hair by going off Finasteride, but I just had no choice. I totally feel for everyone who is in this situation.

The grafts are underneath the skin. Therefore, nothing should really affect them short of something radical. I am obviously not a doctor though.

In my case, things didn't get interesting until 7 1/2 months. Hang in there.