Please Help. Advice needed :-)

[bsax]

Hey there everyone. I am entirely new to this site and am looking for some insight from anyone who has experienced a situation similar to mine or knows anyone who has. Thank you for taking the time to read this

 

I started propecia, was on it for a month, then underwent a HT of 1,900 grafts mainly in the front hairline. I continued to use propecia for 2 more months and began to experience some serious sexual side effects. I stuck it out for another 3 weeks however the side effects continued so I stopped the propecia. The sad part is that the propecia began to halt my hairloss however I could not deal with the sexual side effects. After a bit of research on the net and an appointment with my urologist I decided to take Procerin, which contains Saw Palmetto...both my urologist, hair restoration doctor and I all concluded that Procerin is most likely not powerful enough to lower DHT levels to halt hairloss, however taking it would not hurt and could have a slight positive effect in slowing hair loss down a bit.

 

Sadly my hair is shedding. After another apt with my hair restoration doctor, (Dr. Ziering) he suggested I take Avodart 0.5mg twice/week. He had mentioned that some of his patients who were having side effects from Propecia took the Avodart bi-weekly, (due to the drugs long half life) and were able to halt hairloss but did not experience the side effects which I was experiencing from my daily 1mg Propecia regiment.

 

My issue at hand:

 

I know that when people start taking Avodart they experience a shedding phase which generally kicks in after the first month or two of starting the drug and can last a few months there after. My first question - If I am only taking the drug twice a week will I also experience a shedding phase? I am confident that the shedding phase is the transition to a greater good...as the weaker hairs fall out months later they are replaced by stronger, new hairs. My problem is that I am in the entertainment industry and will be starting a one month taping of a TV series from June 30th-July 30th. I would like to have as much hair as possible by that time so would I be better off waiting to take the Avodart after the taping is complete, or should I start now and hope that the avodart will not cause a drastic shedding phase and help me stabilize the hair that I have now?

 

It will be 5 months since my HT when the taping starts so I am hoping to have some of the transplanted hairs start to be poping up by that time.

 

Also, most of the hair that I am losing is from the front hairline and temples. The crown seems to be doing ok.

 

Thanks again for your time and any insight would be greatly appreciated.

[Bill - Seemiller]

Bsax,

 

Welcome to our community.

 

I'm sorry to hear that Propecia was causing sexual side effects for you. Hopefully taking dutasteride twice a week will be enough to halt your hair loss without any side effects.

 

As for a shedding phase, I don't think it's possible to predict whether or not you'll experience one. And while I understand your concern about shedding due to your profession, remember that even a temporary shed is better than the permanent one you were experiencing due to pattern baldness without medication.

 

My suggestion would be to consider trying topical hair loss concealors such as DermMatch, Toppik or Nanogen. These topicals when applied can temporarily thicken the appearance of your hair until they're washed out in the shower with shampoo. Topical concealors are one of the best kept secrets in Hollywood and it may work wonders for you while you're waiting for your hair transplant to grow in and the medication to do its job. Learn more about topical concealors.

 

Best wishes,

 

Bill

[bsax]

Bill:

 

Thank you so very much for your time and words of wisdom and experience. I will look into the products which you mentioned. It sounds like most are able to visually increase density however I'm not sure if they will be able to lower my hairline, or at least give that allusion.

 

Currrently I'm am keeping up with the procerin daily, (mainly just for the hell of it) and took my first dut pill yesterday. I am on the fence weather I should go every four days or every three days on the dutasteride. Part of me is just tempted to go for it and take dut everyday and try to obtain RU to see if I can get some type of re-growth going before June however I am scared to play with that stuff. I guess it's more or less a gamble.