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Two consultations, two opposing opinions?

J

JFR8

Valued member
From what I've read topical Fin can ve absorbed and go systemic after a while and sides can become present although less likely than orals. I believe topical dutasteride which is harder to get hold is likely to present sides due to the weight of the molecules.

I figure its worth a shot, given the sides subsided quickly from the Oral. Also with a Topical I can more easily play with the dosage. Still apprehensive though.

Im also in a similar position to you. Visited 4 reputable docs. 2 didnt have an issue going ahead although noting i have a limit of approx 2k grafts. The other 2 didnt think Id be a good candidate to the quality of my donor.

Sorry to hear that. I suppose the first two still showed some concerns about donor if they said 2k was the limit. Whereas I got one that said the donor was good and the other said not even worth trying :/

Fin will throw another complication for me. If it works, do I risk a HT to improve further? What if I suffer sides much later and then lose the Fin gains. Could end up with my Donor misplaced once the hair restored by the Fin shrinks again :(
 
B

Bobbins

member
I figure its worth a shot, given the sides subsided quickly from the Oral. Also with a Topical I can more easily play with the dosage. Still apprehensive though.



Sorry to hear that. I suppose the first two still showed some concerns about donor if they said 2k was the limit. Whereas I got one that said the donor was good and the other said not even worth trying :/

Fin will throw another complication for me. If it works, do I risk a HT to improve further? What if I suffer sides much later and then lose the Fin gains. Could end up with my Donor misplaced once the hair restored by the Fin shrinks again :(
Why not try fin for 6 months and then reassess? While it’s understandable you want an immediate answer, I don’t think you’ll get one with any level of confidence until you’re tried preventative medication and are confident your loss is stabilised.
 
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J

JFR8

Valued member
Why not try fin for 6 months and then reassess? While it’s understandable you want an immediate answer, I don’t think you’ll get one with any level of confidence until you’re tried preventative medication and are confident your loss is stabilised.

Sorry it might not be clear from my subsequent posts, but I am going to try Topical Fin. I was waiting for my bloods first so I have a baseline, which I've now had done. So am ordering 6 months supply from ForHims.

Subsequent posts are just me sharing my concerns/thoughts about where it might go. Obviously best case scenario (works wonders and no sides) is the hope :)
 
F

Frankie1983

Valued member
I figure its worth a shot, given the sides subsided quickly from the Oral. Also with a Topical I can more easily play with the dosage. Still apprehensive though.



Sorry to hear that. I suppose the first two still showed some concerns about donor if they said 2k was the limit. Whereas I got one that said the donor was good and the other said not even worth trying :/

Fin will throw another complication for me. If it works, do I risk a HT to improve further? What if I suffer sides much later and then lose the Fin gains. Could end up with my Donor misplaced once the hair restored by the Fin shrinks again :(
My bad I wrote my previous message incorrectly. Topical dutasteride is LESS likely to give sides than topical fin but yeah between oral or topical fin, I would deffo go down the topical route. I am going down the topical dutasteride route myself
 
F

Frankie1983

Valued member
Sorry it might not be clear from my subsequent posts, but I am going to try Topical Fin. I was waiting for my bloods first so I have a baseline, which I've now had done. So am ordering 6 months supply from ForHims.

Subsequent posts are just me sharing my concerns/thoughts about where it might go. Obviously best case scenario (works wonders and no sides) is the hope :)
Getting your bloods prior is the right move
 
J

JFR8

Valued member
My bad I wrote my previous message incorrectly. Topical dutasteride is LESS likely to give sides than topical fin but yeah between oral or topical fin, I would deffo go down the topical route. I am going down the topical dutasteride route myself

Interesting, hadn’t considered dutasteride as I’d presumed if I suffered sides from Finasteride I’d be unlikely to tolerate dutasteride.

Hadn’t considered it may be less likely to go systemic if used as a topical.

Hope it works for you. I don’t want to delay as I’m concerned my new found fitness regime is only accelerating my loss. And it’s hard enough getting a reliable source of Finasteride.
 
J

JFR8

Valued member
Getting your bloods prior is the right move

Thanks. GP has said she’ll do follow up bloods for me aswell in 6-12m. But I’m not going to look at the results unless I observe some sides.

I figure there will be some systemic effect. If I don’t suffer sides then I’m clearly able to work with it. But if I see it in black and white, it may trigger a nocebo effect :/
 
J

JFR8

Valued member
How are you getting on with the meds?

I’ve only just started recently so not much to report.

There was a screw up with my bloods so I had to get them done again. Which delayed me starting.
 
Bigmac

Bigmac

Administrator
Staff member
Ok, at least you have them now.
Good luck, hoping you respond well to them.
 
J

JFR8

Valued member
Thanks, my fingers are firmly crossed. If it does work I’ll be wondering how different life could have been if I’d had the option to try this 20 years ago, instead of just minoxidil.
 
Bigmac

Bigmac

Administrator
Staff member
Me too, if only I knew about Propecia before my first ever hair transplant.
 
J

JFR8

Valued member
Been just over a month since I started and (fingers crossed) no obvious signs of sides. So that’s one positive.

WRT results it’s early days and I can’t be 100% sure as the small hairs don’t show up too well on my pics. But they appear to be longer.

They’ve never really bothered me when I looked in the mirror. But now that frontal third looks messy. They are still very thin, but seem to be more of them and longer (a few 1.5-2cm). Conversely the middle third (where I had a batch of normal hair) is looking a bit sparser, like it’s shed a bit.

I’m going to dig out my daughters digital scope and take some images so I can compare in a month. As it’s hard to capture with a normal camera, due to the dreaded shiny scalp lol
 
Bigmac

Bigmac

Administrator
Staff member
Average is about 6 months plus to notice a visual difference. Seeing small hairs is a good positive for you at this very early stage. No sides a big plus too.
 
C

cooty

Valued member
Hi JRF8, its a shame I didn't see your original post as I've had exactly the same experience as you with consultations (and with the same 2 doctors!), and I also have a similar hair loss to you.
Having had a consultation with Dr Ball I got the same type of feedback that you received, and when I went to Dr Bisanga he told me much the same he told you......... so one telling me I had enough for what I wanted and another saying I fell very short of it!!!, and this not only left me very confused (and most upset) but I was almost decided not to go ahead with a hair transplant as I felt if it couldn't give me what I wanted then there was no point, I'd rather shave my head - which created another dilemma as I really don't like the look on me but you can't shave your head after a transplant due to scarring.

So I decided to try and get another consultation but with a top quality surgeon/clinic that I could trust........ after a lot of research I came across the Hattingen clinic, who had posted the best results I'd seen in both hair results and scar results. Dr Muresanu was the only Dr to give me an accurate consultation (closely followed by Dr Ball) and Hattingen's transplant produced what he said it would;- so for anyone looking for a consultation that you can trust and rely on I would without question recommend Dr Muresanu of the Hattingen clinic. He offers free consultations over Skype, or at his clinic in Switzerland (I did both to be sure given the differences in consultations) - and their prices are no more expensive than the other clinics you've consulted. In fairness, I had some other consultations with other UK clinics but this just added to the confusion; Harley Street Hair Clinic who were doing pressure sales techniques on me and didn't answer all my questions, and Farjo who said I had even less donor than Dr Bisanga! + they all said I should only do FUE!... whereas my FUT has gone perfectly well. I don't know if their views were financially motivated but Hattingen do FUE & FUT so they don't have a bias and can recommend whatever they feel is in your best interests.

Suggest you look at my post to see the results that you might be able to get (obviously given hair calibre, donor differences etc.) - I'm 7 months post transplant and am really pleased with the transformation so far, and I've detailed information on there that will help you compare (amount of grafts, donor density, numbers of fu's per sq cm, fu counts attained etc.).

So glad I caught you at the meds stage before you've undertaken your transplant as I really hope that my post will be of help to you in making up your mind. Btw, I'm only on Minoxidil (Regaine).
Good luck - and please keep us all informed as to how you proceed.
 
J

JFR8

Valued member
Hi JRF8, its a shame I didn't see your original post as I've had exactly the same experience as you with consultations (and with the same 2 doctors!), and I also have a similar hair loss to you.
Having had a consultation with Dr Ball I got the same type of feedback that you received, and when I went to Dr Bisanga he told me much the same he told you......... so one telling me I had enough for what I wanted and another saying I fell very short of it!!!, and this not only left me very confused (and most upset) but I was almost decided not to go ahead with a hair transplant as I felt if it couldn't give me what I wanted then there was no point, I'd rather shave my head - which created another dilemma as I really don't like the look on me but you can't shave your head after a transplant due to scarring.

So I decided to try and get another consultation but with a top quality surgeon/clinic that I could trust........ after a lot of research I came across the Hattingen clinic, who had posted the best results I'd seen in both hair results and scar results. Dr Muresanu was the only Dr to give me an accurate consultation (closely followed by Dr Ball) and Hattingen's transplant produced what he said it would;- so for anyone looking for a consultation that you can trust and rely on I would without question recommend Dr Muresanu of the Hattingen clinic. He offers free consultations over Skype, or at his clinic in Switzerland (I did both to be sure given the differences in consultations) - and their prices are no more expensive than the other clinics you've consulted. In fairness, I had some other consultations with other UK clinics but this just added to the confusion; Harley Street Hair Clinic who were doing pressure sales techniques on me and didn't answer all my questions, and Farjo who said I had even less donor than Dr Bisanga! + they all said I should only do FUE!... whereas my FUT has gone perfectly well. I don't know if their views were financially motivated but Hattingen do FUE & FUT so they don't have a bias and can recommend whatever they feel is in your best interests.

Suggest you look at my post to see the results that you might be able to get (obviously given hair calibre, donor differences etc.) - I'm 7 months post transplant and am really pleased with the transformation so far, and I've detailed information on there that will help you compare (amount of grafts, donor density, numbers of fu's per sq cm, fu counts attained etc.).

So glad I caught you at the meds stage before you've undertaken your transplant as I really hope that my post will be of help to you in making up your mind. Btw, I'm only on Minoxidil (Regaine).
Good luck - and please keep us all informed as to how you proceed.

Thank you for sharing your experience. I took a look and your HT is looking decent, congrats.

My backup plan is shaving it all, so reluctant to go FUT.

Now I’ve decided to give topical Fin a go, I think I’m going to see where that takes me first. That way I can optimally use the donor I have. Also I want to give Fin atleast a year to (fingers crossed) be sure I can tolerate it. As otherwise my concern is I do a HT based on where I am with Fin, then later have to come off it and the landscape changes drastically.
 
J

JFR8

Valued member
Average is about 6 months plus to notice a visual difference. Seeing small hairs is a good positive for you at this very early stage. No sides a big plus too.

That’s what I’d read aswell. I’d set my mind to ignoring the fact I’d started Fin for that reason. Plus, because I’d had sides on oral, I thought if I focussed on the change I’d be more likely to experience psychosomatic sides.

But I had my first hair cut since starting and noticed how messy that frontal third still looked. I’d always had little hairs there. But normally they aren’t really visible under the bathroom light. Especially after I’ve wet my hair. But now it looks like what is best described as bum fluff lol. And I can see them flat against my head when I wet my hair.

Fingers crossed they keep improving.
 
C

cooty

Valued member
Thats absolutely the right way to go JFR8 - try with meds first and you can then make decisions based on results as you'll know where you stand. It worries me so when people rush into hair transplants - so its really good that you're not, and also good to hear no sides with Fin either. Lets hope that continues and it works for you - good luck
 
J

JFR8

Valued member
So some of them have started to show up on pics now.

I’m now 6 weeks in. Interestingly my right side, where I lost hair first and have more recession, appears to be responding better.

Still ver early days and I don’t know if these will keep improving to the point they’ll yield an aesthetic benefit. Right now it actually looks more messy to my eye.

B01D9C84-64F4-4B18-8C6E-91824F37E8D9.png
 
C

cooty

Valued member
Congrats thats its working - stick with it.......... I think your plan of waiting for a year to see what results you get with the meds is the right one before deciding on any other treatment; all good clinics would say to do this
 
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