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There really is no hard and fast answer; it is subjective in a way; the previous posters gave you some good advice; ultimately it is up to you and how you feel about the 1st doc and your results

IMO, almost anyone with MPB can receive some benefit from propecia compared to not taking it at all. There are many physiological factors involved that vary from person to person: aggressiveness of hair loss; stage of hair loss, age, genetics, etc.. For example, for somebody with very aggressive hair loss, it may appear that Propecia doesn't work for them; but they are probably at least slowing down the hair loss process, compared to if they were not taking it at all. So it is still working for them, but it doesn't appear to be.

just4hair, I looked on this site, and there are no docs in India that are on the Coalition or Recommended List. I did a "find" on Dr Venkataram and I found a thread that is almost 2 years old and the topic starter was a memeber named Jagdish who had a HT in India, but no with Dr. Venkatarum; his HT was not of the highest quality--larger grafts placed in stadium row seating style; In the thread it appeared nobody was very familiar with Dr. Venkatarum. This being your first post I assume you are new to this site and the HT process; First, are you on meds to stabalize your hairloss? I would do more research right now, and look into the docs that are recommended on this site. I would not move forward with a HT with Dr. V at this time; maybe other members, and Pat or Bill may have more info. on this doc, but I would not risk it right now.

I would recommend Propecia first; it is FDA approved for hairloss and is less expensive by taking Proscar cut in 1/4's; Avodart in not FDA approved yet; it does block more DHT and type I and II, but it could cause more side effects and if more expensive. I would go with Propecia for now; you could always give avodart a try down the road if you find that propecia isn't effective for you.

I just did a "find" an found that Dr. Mejia is a recommended physician on this site; I apologize for that; however, you should create a weblog to show your results;

Nu-Hart does not have a good reputation from what I understand; I've never heard of transmed; I think you need to do more research before you move forward with this; are you on meds to stabalize your hair loss? That is the first step; I would spend at least 6 months educating yourself and researching; check out the coalition docs; this is a big decision not to be taken lightly.

Mark, Can you start a weblog so we can see your results; what do you mean by 4-8 hair grafts? we typically do not recommend MHR on here because their results are not consistent; you may have got good results, but we would need a weblog with high quality pictures, pre-op, immediate post-op, and 1 year post-op and at differant angles to validate what you are saying;

solicitation is not allowed on this site; if you want to make a weblog to show your HT journey with Dr. Mejia fine. But this looks like solicitation to me; no pictures, good review about a Dr. I've never heard of and a link to your book; the moderator Bill will probably lock this thread and remove the link

Indian, I don't think you are going to offend anybody on this; it is asked quite frequently. IMO, propecia isn't going to make the situation any worse; in the studies they did, I think the placebo group had higher sexual sides then the finasteride group; IMO people some people psychologically think it is going to cause sides, so they worry, stress out etc. and so they will have sides;

cat, Listen to Mrjb, he is wise.

you need to get on Propecia (finasteride); use proscar and cut into 1/4's to save money; IMO I do not feel the natural techniques are nearly as effective as finasteride; also I think you will spend way more on the natural techniques than you will with proscar. Taking finasteride will lower DHT which is the root cause of Male Patern Baldness. Finasteride will stabalize your hairloss and you may get some regrowth in the vertex/crown area. They say minoxidil and finasteride taken together has a synergetic effect. Finasteride is the most effective drug FDA approved to combat hairloss. Minoxidil alone isn't very effective because it does not stop or slow done the hair loss process like finasteride does. Do not worry about the side effects of finasteride; they are very low % depite what you hear; I've been on it for 6 years with no sides;

giants, from what I understand, you are supposed to rub it in

Maybe you mean right after a shower; I heard your scalp is more permeable then so the minoxidel is better absorbed; you need to make sure your scalp isn't wet or it will dillute the minoxidil; I don't use minoxidil so I do not know first hand but I remember reading threads about it.

How many days post-op are you? IMO after the grafts are seated and secured at around 10 days post-op or so you should be safe; if you could wear your hat in a way wear the cap isn't touching the grafts and/or is loose fitting that would be ideal.

bp1, IMO, I would say that after 17 months, the chances that the meds will "fill-in" the areas with full terminal hairs are slim; however they are providing the benefit of maintaining; Dr. True is an ethical, skilled doc and will be honest with you; I say stay on the meds and see what Dr. True has to say.

bp1, Your regimin of proscar and rogaine foam is your best bet at maintaining the hair you have. However, I do not think it will make a significant comsmetic improvement as far as regrowth in the frontal hairline area. It is effective in the frontal area but not as effective as it is in the vertex/crown area. For me it has maintained my hair in the front for the most part but no regrowth. I think most members have similar results. Anyway, stay on the meds to maintain. Do you have any pics we can evaluate? At 24, you would be considered young for a HT, but if taken a conservative approach by an ethical doctor and you are a good candidate, your needs may be able to be satisfied.

Matt, The members above have given you good information; finasteride has a relatively short half-life so it should not cause sexual side effiects months after you quit taking it; are you sure nothing else caused the sexual sides? Also, the sexual side effects % is very low; I would recommend giving finasteride another try; it is the only drug on the market that is proven to have long term results as far as stabalizing/slowing down hair loss; minoxidil alone will not maintain your hair over the long term because it doesn't stop the root cause-DHT

Proscar has the same active ingrediant as propecia which is finasteride; however it comes in 5 mg pills to treat the prostate in older men; so buy splitting the proscar pill in 4 pieces you have approx 1.25 mg which is close enough to the 1 mg of finasteride in propecia. The dosage does not need to be exact; the cutting isn't precise but it is not going to matter in the long run; Yes rogaine is minoxidil; you can by generic at walmart for around 25$ for 3 months; Nizoral can be bought over the counter as far as I know.

Don't waste your money with the EHT--hair club just wants your money; they only FDA approved medications for hair loss are propecia (finasteride) and rogaine (minoxidil). The EHT is a marketing scam. Stick with propecia--use proscar and 1/4 it to save you money and if you want to add anything give minoxidil a try; the routine of applying it can be inconveniant; but do not waste your money with hair club.

Even if you lost the deposit, consider yourself lucky that you found this site and researched before having a surgery there. In the scope of things the deposit is miniscuil compared to not being happy with your results

Bill, Can you keep us posted on the investigation? Thanks

I found this on Google, but I have never heard of them before: Robert Thomas Medical Associates 8660 Spring Mountain Rd Ste 102 Las Vegas, NV 89117-4101 (702) 240-8244

I apologize for the incorrect info in my above post; I said that Dr. Lehr was a coalition doc, but he is a recommended doc; my bad. The post op picture reminds me of Jagdish's pictures post op--grafts far apart and large incisions

I agree, with PGP, the grafts appear to be spaced farther apart than usual, so you are not going to have the density you probably are hoping for. From what I found on this site, I don't think DR. Lehr does very large sessions. You will end up wanting another surgery to add density. Providing you had the proper donor characteristics, you could of done a megasession of 4000 grafts and be done in one shot. Dr Lehr is a coalition doc. so I think you will have a natural result, just not high density.

software, Are you currently taking Propecia to stabalize your hair loss? You will need to have very realistic goals; Also, I would go to a doc that could do a large session, providing you have the donor, laxity etc.; I would focus on the frontal third to frame your face with a very conservative hairline. If you could get 4000 grafts in the frontal third that would frame your face, then you could focus on the crown later depending on your donor; it appears from the pictures that you have a lot of area to cover so you will not have enough donor to cover the entire area; you may need to leave the crown alone or go with less density; definitely go to a coalition doc; they will be ethical with you and let you know if you are a good candidate and if your goals can be achived; do not go to a hair mill that does a small session of less than 2000 grafts because that will not make much of a cosmetic differance for you.