New to Forum and Need Advice

[Texasred1]

First of all, great to be onboard with you all!

 

I'm a 45 year-old male who's thinking about surgery because I want to avoid the side effects of propecia, et al. I've been thinning-out for the past 10-15 years on the top and crown. Which would be the best option for me? How much would a transplant cost? Any thoughts/opinions would be of great help. Yeah, I know I need a haircut.

 

See attached pics.

 

Thanks

[Texasred1]

Clarification.... I would be open to a non-surgical option, but drugs like rogaine and proscar didn't really seem to help. To be honest, I didn't use those products for more than a few months.

[Thehairupthere]

Judging from what I see here, you seem to be a good candidate for the medication as you have a lot of miniaturized hairs, which can regrow and become healthier, as well as reducing the likelihood of you losing more native hair. How long did you use the medication in the past? You really need to use the medication at the very least for 6 months to see any change, and one year to see any growth. This also will limit the amount of treatments you will need in the future as you may continue to lose more hair. The amount of grafts that you need seem to be around 3000-3500 grafts if your donor supply allows that much. This would redo the entire hairline, forelock, corners, temples, top, bridge and a portion of the crown. Again I would suggest using the medication as well, as it really does work well, and the side effects are not very common.

[Texasred1]

If one doesn't have sexual side effects with the Proscar (cut into quarters) after a few months, does this mean it is unlikely to occur?

[Texasred1]

I did rogaine for a couple months. proscar for about 3+ months.

[rich91403]

Texasred1,

 

The finasteride side effect occurs in less than 1% of the subjects involved in the clinical studies. It is possible that potential users of this medication have a great fear of the sexual side effect and may experience a placebo effect regarding loss of libido.

As Thehairupthere accurately responded that you must give this medication at least six months to start to be effective, it is conceiveable that the side effect will also probably happen when the effectiveness starts to happen, if you have any negative effect at all.

I've been using finasteride for over fifteen years without any negative side effect. Many of the people whom I consult with have not had the negative side effect or loss of libido.

 

Remember that if you use the medication and you perceive a negative effect, you can easily discontinue taking the medication and everything will return to it's pre- medication state (unfortunately hair stabilization will also revert back to it's prior premedicated state).

To offer an opinion on your main question, based upon clinical studies of side effects occurring on a less than 1% basis, I think you are good to go with a high probability of avoiding "the side effect".

Good luck with your comprehensive hair restoration program!

[biscuit]

It's not quite as cut and dry as rch91403 makes it sound. The manufacturer claims 1%, but that doesn't mean it's really that low. And the negative side effects aren't always as easy to get rid of as simply discontinuing usage.

 

Take some time to read the Meds section of this forum. It might also be worthwhile to take a few minutes to read the forum at www.propeciahelp.com for a slightly different perspective than what you will hear from a clinic.

 

Your hair loss looks similar to mine. Meds won't bring back your hairline. Check my blog for more info.