Does Finasteride really help transplanted hair?

[YodaHead]

No doubt finasteride protects existing hair; however, is there any definite study on whether it helps the transplanted hair (assuming the transplated hair are taken from a “safe” donor area and/or beard and/or chest)? 
If someone is full-on NW 7 and gets a transplant using safe donor areas—will he really benefit from finasteride—considering hair from safe donor zone are anyways dht resistant. 
 

thoughts?

[Melvin- Admin]

It can have a marginal affect on transplanted hair. If I’m being honest, it’s not that important if you’re a NW7 and all your hair is transplanted.

[A_4_Archan]

@YodaHead As melvin said it has marginal effect...the grafts taken from the safe donor is not 100% Dht resistant but they are less prone to dht so medication would ofcourse help bt the role gets marginal 

[YodaHead]

That makes sense. Thanks guys!

[Rahal Hair Transplant]

@YodaHead,

Here’s another way to look at it. Instead of looking at it as transplanted hair Vs natural hair - look at it as hair on the top of your head versus hair on the sides and back of your head.  Allow me to explain.

Hair transplant surgery operates on a principal known as donor dominance. That means the transplanted hair will retain its properties from where it originally came from. In other words, transplanted hair taken from the sides and back of the scalp will retain its properties and at just like it did, and it’s original location even after it’s moved her that’s why these hairs are not susceptible to DHT.

So long story short, transplanting hair most likely won’t be susceptible to DHT so finasteride won’t really have much of an affect one way or another. 

i hope this helps

Rahal Hair Transplant

Edited July 13, 2023 by Rahal Hair Transplant

[Raphael84]

This is a great example of where having personal data measured and understanding stability of your donor area can present different realities for different individuals.

Whilst the side and rear donor are generally seen as "DHT resistant", the idea and definition of a "safe" donor area has evolved somewhat from perhaps a decade ago where very few were talking about levels of miniaturisation within the donor area and it was common to read that the donor was detailed as not being susceptible to decline.

From our experience, miniaturisation within the donor is a factor that should be seen as the highest priority in terms of a data point during consultation to assess candidacy and potential approach, because obviously the quality and longevity of transplanted hairs are directly relative to the quality and longevity of the donor area that they have been extracted from. 

Any patient with extensive loss may want to really utilise all tools at their disposable in trying to achieve the best case scenario. 

Extensive loss at a younger age can still see progression of lateral humps and lower crown loss which will not only expose more scalp and therefore increase graft demand, but in doing so would also be further restricting surface area of the "safe" donor and therefore reducing graft availability. 

[HairEnthusiast101]

15 hours ago, Melvin- Moderator said:

It can have a marginal affect on transplanted hair. If I’m being honest, it’s not that important if you’re a NW7 and all your hair is transplanted.

What could make that donor hair go? Eczema, Chemo drugs, dandruff? Since dht doesn’t have much of an effect anymore

[YodaHead]

The responses so far definitely helps clarify a few doubts i have had.
As someone who is relatively new to researching hairloss, it was very easy to simply think that everyone has to take finasteride if they are going to have a HT. In fact, most of the videos and articles i came across just stop at this high-level instruction, without getting into the details/specific scenarios of when/to whom it is less helpful vs. very helpful vs. may not even be helpful.

Ofcourse, there is not going to be a clear/definitive answer, but for people that are going to commit taking such medication forever need to understand this detail (of where they fall on the spectrum) to better evaluate the risks vs rewards.

[Bucky O Hair]

4 hours ago, YodaHead said:

The responses so far definitely helps clarify a few doubts i have had.
As someone who is relatively new to researching hairloss, it was very easy to simply think that everyone has to take finasteride if they are going to have a HT. In fact, most of the videos and articles i came across just stop at this high-level instruction, without getting into the details/specific scenarios of when/to whom it is less helpful vs. very helpful vs. may not even be helpful.

Ofcourse, there is not going to be a clear/definitive answer, but for people that are going to commit taking such medication forever need to understand this detail (of where they fall on the spectrum) to better evaluate the risks vs rewards.

Well, I just got a HT and I've never take Finasteride or any other medication (so we'll see what happens to me in a few years as the guinea pig experiment on this site, haha).

But there are actually quite a few people on this forum that are drug-free as well. 

But like everyone already said, if your safe zone has healthy hair and you're harvesting from there, then you have a good chance that those transplanted hairs will last a very long time.

To be honest, if your one of those guys whose donor is thinning drastically as well, Finasteride probably won't do anything for you either.  It tends to not work so well in those severe hairloss cases. 

Finasteride is more about slowing down the rate of loss in your native hairs (rather than your transplanted hairs), specifically in the crown.

 

Edited July 13, 2023 by Bucky O Hair