Blackjack

It's been extremely hot and humid at my place over the last 1 month, and it's got me sweating profusely. Maybe that's the reason for it after all. Not too keen on increasing the dosage though. I'm apprehensive about 1mg/day itself. What percentage of total hair can one shed on an average? Or does this differ from person to person?

I haven't got any of 1 yr post op. Will try to take a current pic and post it here along with a pre-op one. I've actually never used 'Propecia'. Been on generic finasteride ever since I started and it worked wonderfully. Do you think changing to another brand might help? Wow, I didn't know transplanted hairs shed. I guess I have no option now but to wait for 3-4 months and find out. Anyway, just to give you an idea, as this won't be clearly visible from the pics... The density looks fairly ok and the hair looks normal when I comb it and set it properly. But when the hair setting goes haywire, the scalp starts to show and it makes me wonder if I'm going back to my pre-op days. The hair sheds immensely when I shampoo it. But on the whole, the hair fall appears to be uniform over the entire area and there are no single spots where more hair has fallen. Is this shedding?

Albion, 12 years is indeed a pretty long time. Apart from the reduction in effectiveness, have you also noticed any of the other notorious side-effects that people say come with extended use of finasteride?

I've been using finasteride plus minoxidil combination for about 2.5 years now. I underwent first HT 1.5 years ago for about 1700 grafts and was happy with the result. But over the last couple of months, I've again noticed a decrease in density in the same transplanted area. Since the transplanted hair are permanent, I assume these are some of the natural hairs falling out. So should I assume finasteride and minox are losing their effectiveness? This has come as a shock to me as I always believed I'd be safe as long as I stuck to finasteride. And I was also planning to NOT have another HT for at least another 5-6 years. But I didn't think I'd be back in despair just after 1.5 years. What do I suggest I do? Plz advise!

Hi, I started suffering from acne when I was around 15 years old. Though I still get pimples at 27, the intensity has decreased now. But the acne and pimples from all these years have left deep pitted acne scars on both my cheeks. I'm interested in knowing if there are any reliable costemic surgeons in Hyderabad that offer microdermabrasion or other suitable solutions for acne scar removal. Thanks.

Hi. My hair has become very rough and dry lately due to regular application of minoxidil. Can you suggest a good hair conditioner that's available in India which'd help fix this problem?

Hi, I've been using finasteride for a little more than 2 years without any problems. But over the last 2 months, I've been experiencing weakness and cramps in the calf muscles of the legs... and also a tingling sensation in the ankles and legs below the knees from time to time. I was just wondering if this is a long-term effect of using finasteride -- mainly the tingling sensation in the legs -- or just general weakness. I have to tell you I was involved in some highly strenous physical and mental ordeal 2 months ago and even pulled a muscle in the back while trying to lift a heavy load. But I've been fairly rested since then and the cramps and tingling still persist.

Hi, 10 weeks after my HT I was exposed to sunlight without cap for 10 minutes a day for 3 days. Is it likely to have any impact on my transplanted hairs? I went for HT to mainly increase hair density. So I did have a good head of hair covering my scalp at this time. The hair got a little warm but there was no sun burn or anything. Secondly how long does it take for the hair to grow in general? Now it's 14 weeks since HT for me and I haven't seen many new hairs come out. Thanks.

Anybody here using finastride for 1+/2+/3+ years without any problem? Am still waiting to hear from a few more people about my original question also.

So did your hair hold up after you stopped taking finastride? My doc says that the impact of DHT is often reduced after using finastride for 9-10 months, after which minoxidil alone should be enough. But after reading this forum, I'm pretty darn confident he's just saying that to keep up my spirits.

Thanks for your response, Dr. Lindsey. What is the minimum time for which a person can use finastride without experiencing any of its notorious side-effects? I know most people say this issue has been blown out of proportion, but we can't know about the side-effects and still continue using them, right? Not that I'm happy to go off finastride either. It's just something I can't avoid. So I'm really in a fix here.

Hi all, Given the side effects of continued use of finastride, my doctor has said he would take me off finastride next month and I can continue with only minoxidil after that. I've been using minoxidil and finas together for the last 10 months and have managed to recover quite a lot of hair. But since I have to go off finastride now, I was wondering if any of you have used minoxidil alone and found it effective by itself.

Does using the drugs make it stabilize sooner? Or does it take its own time anyway?

Hi, Yes, my friend is fully recovered and well now. Thanks for your concern. But the trauma seems to have jumpstarted his balding and advanced it by at least 5-6 years. For a person who had normally growing hair before the accident to suddenly lose hundreds of follicles in a span of just 5-6 months is horrific.

Can trauma introduce balding into a person that already does not have this problem hidden in his genes?

Is there any kind of proof that the onset of balding could be advanced by physical trauma? My friend suffered an accident and they performed a surgery to implant a nail in his leg. In the 4-5 months after this, he lost an amazing amount of hair and noticed the first signs of balding only then. Prior to this his hair was full and normal. What do you guys think about this?

Like I said before, I've been using finastride for the last 10 months to curb hair loss. During this period I've observed that quite a few of my beard hairs have started turning grey suddenly. Given that I'm only 26 now, and since I didn't have any greying issues prior to this, I was wondering if this might be a side-effect of using finastride. Have you guys heard of any similar instances, where the use of finastride has lead to greying of scalp hair or even beard hair?

Is there any "Use within X days after opening" thing with these concealers usually? Do we have to wash away the concealer on the same day of applying it? It'd have been great if there was a FAQs thread on concealers.

It's probably more of a flaking problem rather than a dandruff problem. I was discussing the same problem with my dermatologist a couple of days ago, and he just told me to stop bothering about it.

I was checking out the website of a company that sells Toppik in India... and it says there that a 25gm bottle of Toppik costs about $80! I understand that this depends on usage, but how long does a 25gm container of Toppik last on an average?

You have posted the exact same copy/paste response on 5 different threads. How do you expect everybody to believe you?

Then I guess I'll wait it out for a couple more years. I will also meet a HT surgeon soon and take his opinion as well. But one concern I have about waiting is that my donor area density also may decrease in the future. What you guys think about that?

Exactly the thing I wanted to ask too. So guys, can you give us a few options?

Julius, Actually it's more than a "line" of hair loss. The original damage is not entirely visible due to the length of my hair in those pics, but I have lost hair significantly in the front 1/2 portion of my head and the follicles present now are farther apart. The loss is lesser in the back 1/2 though.

Nobody's got any suggestions for me??