Do I really have to use medications after HT surgery

[Whitey]

Hello, in few months i am going to do my first ht. surgery. I have never used any type of medications for hair loss neither I wish to use. Its because of my health condition (nothing too serious) that i am advised not to use medications for stimulating hair growth or to make your hair stronger, medication to treat depression, sleeping pills, tranquilizers and sedatives, Now my questions are... Do i have to use some type of medications after ht. surgery and how important are they for transplanted hair? I am not talking about 10 days post medication like pain killers or something to reduce swelling etc. I am talking about long term medications that i would have to use for like 6 month or so, Will not taking suggested medications affect the final outcome of transplanted hair? Can Biotin be counted in the same group of medications that i mentioned before or is it more like a vitamin and would not affect me like them?

Any advice would be much appreciated!

[watch4norwoods]

If you're balding, getting an HT and not planning on taking fin you're making a stupid mistake that will do more harm then good

 

 

If you aren't willing to take medication then you're not a viable candidate for surgery, and should get a hair piece.

[1978matt]

If you're balding, getting an HT and not planning on taking fin you're making a stupid mistake that will do more harm then good

 

 

If you aren't willing to take medication then you're not a viable candidate for surgery, and should get a hair piece.

 

It's not quite as clear cut as your last statement. Yes there are some docs who are really reluctant to operate on anyone not on Fin but it comes down to other factors. For instance, if a guy is 64 years old and has a NW6 pattern wishing to have his hair restored to a norwood 3 then it is fair to say this is a lot safer than a 21 year old, NW3 looking to get back to a NW1. Most 21 year olds are not going to have the finances either to play catch up either (multiple procedures), not to mention a clearly establish balding pattern.

 

Ultimately the use of Fin is just another tool in the armoury against hairloss and should seriously be considered especially amongst those who have hair to save.

[LondonHT]

I hope that answer was tongue in cheek w4nws. I have never took any medication.

[GoForIt]

You don't have to take medications after surgery. The goal is hair restoration - not necessarily through any one means. There are surgical and medical, and the combination. A good hair restoration surgeon will likely advise you to take finasteride if you can but will not necessarily plan the surgery around you taking it.

 

Finasteride can stabilize hair loss, if not regrow some hair in the majority (>80% - 90%) of people taking it. Combined with a hair transplant, you would have the best chance of the 'fullest' head of hair.

 

If your balding stops at a Norwood 3 - then it wouldn't matter. If you are a norwood 7, it wouldn't matter. But hair loss is usually progressive without medicine. With medication it may progress, but much slower.

 

So - if you can't take finasteride, you can still have a hair transplant. The final result may not be as good (if your goal is a full head of hair) as if you took finasteride and you may need to go back for more surgeries as your hair loss progresses (with finasteride this may be the case too, but likely it would take longer to need another surgery).

 

Just let the surgeon know that you're not taking it and can't take it so that you can plan what will give you the best cosmetic result.

[tacolinowest]

Wat about micro dosing

[Rootz]

I think degree to which you need to take medication is correlated with how aggressive your hair loss is. Obviously, it would be ideal to be on it no matter what. But, if your hair loss is progressing slowly then substituting Minoxidil and Nizoral could very well be enough to get you by for a long time. Either way, I think anyone who gets a HT should expect to need work done in the future. It may be 30 years, or 1 year, but with near certainty the hairloss will progress to a point where you're going to have issues again. I guess the only exception is if you're a NW8 and can't really lose much more... but in that case you can't expect much from a HT to begin with.