Bigmac
Administrator
Staff member
I`m pretty sure Costco or some other outlet sell it cheap in the US.You are best off going to see your own doctor and asking for Proscar.
-
Welcome to Hair loss Experiences hair loss forum.
Free impartial hair loss advice, hair transplant advice, hair loss medications and hair loss news.
You can contact us directly at [email protected] if you experience any problems.
more
Valued member
my HT DR won't write a proscar Rx for some reason. i'm going to try with someone else. thanks!
Bigmac
Administrator
Staff member
Maybe try your family doctor. What reason did your HT doctor give for not writing you a prescription.
more
Valued member
because proscar is Rx for another health problem as we all know. he probably just doesn't want to be held liable
S
SemperFi
Valued member
Hi there more.
Looks nice at first look, but I do have some concerns...
1. Did you do any research on this particular doctor? I haven't seen him mentioned on any of HL forums so that could be good or bad thing, but in any case you have one less source of information. I couldn't find his website; did he provide you with any pre/post op of his ops? Did you get to meet any of his previous patients in person?
2. Did you talk to Dr. Gaffney about your current condition? Usually there's a (unwritten) rule not to perform hair transplants on young patients whose hairloss hasn't stabilized yet. Since you're losing hair for the last three years with that type of diffuse thining you are IMHO a bad candidate for HT.
3. You know that you have a NW5+ balding type from it can be told? Propecia takes 6+ months to show some visible results... if it shows. It's not 100% effective and it may also cause side effects you won't like, so you may have to quit taking it. What then... your original hair may fall out and you'll be left with transplanted hair and you'll be headed for quite some HTs in future... That's why you should first start taking Propecia for a year or so to see if it yields results and then come back for HT if everything is fine.
4. Strip for just 1200 grafts? Just judging by the number of grafts you'll be better off with FUE. Did you talk about that with your doc? Because this most likely won't be your last HT it would be good to optimize your first one bearing that fact in mind...
5. A TV doctor? Hmmm...
Sorry mate, I don't want to put you down, but from what I've read it seems you haven't done your research about the whole hairloss/hair transplant situation. I just hope your TV doctor had a good day when operating you and Propecia works out for you.
Looks nice at first look, but I do have some concerns...
1. Did you do any research on this particular doctor? I haven't seen him mentioned on any of HL forums so that could be good or bad thing, but in any case you have one less source of information. I couldn't find his website; did he provide you with any pre/post op of his ops? Did you get to meet any of his previous patients in person?
2. Did you talk to Dr. Gaffney about your current condition? Usually there's a (unwritten) rule not to perform hair transplants on young patients whose hairloss hasn't stabilized yet. Since you're losing hair for the last three years with that type of diffuse thining you are IMHO a bad candidate for HT.
3. You know that you have a NW5+ balding type from it can be told? Propecia takes 6+ months to show some visible results... if it shows. It's not 100% effective and it may also cause side effects you won't like, so you may have to quit taking it. What then... your original hair may fall out and you'll be left with transplanted hair and you'll be headed for quite some HTs in future... That's why you should first start taking Propecia for a year or so to see if it yields results and then come back for HT if everything is fine.
4. Strip for just 1200 grafts? Just judging by the number of grafts you'll be better off with FUE. Did you talk about that with your doc? Because this most likely won't be your last HT it would be good to optimize your first one bearing that fact in mind...
5. A TV doctor? Hmmm...
Sorry mate, I don't want to put you down, but from what I've read it seems you haven't done your research about the whole hairloss/hair transplant situation. I just hope your TV doctor had a good day when operating you and Propecia works out for you.
more
Valued member
thank you SemperFi for your input. what does NW5+ mean exactly? i'm still on the fence about Finasteride with all the possible sexual side effects. i also know i was quick to sign up for the procedure, probably too quick.
i'm not against doing a FUE or more HT's in the future.
i made a decision that i didn't want to be bald and i didn't want to be dependent on potentially harmful chemicals or pills so there was only one option left in my mind.
after the fact of the investment of the procedure i am now willing to give Propecia or proscar a shot and see how i respond.
Dr. Gaffney link
i'm not against doing a FUE or more HT's in the future.
i made a decision that i didn't want to be bald and i didn't want to be dependent on potentially harmful chemicals or pills so there was only one option left in my mind.
after the fact of the investment of the procedure i am now willing to give Propecia or proscar a shot and see how i respond.
Dr. Gaffney link
more
Valued member
edit
Last edited:
more
Valued member
oh and this Dr. sadly does not perform FUE. he said it yields less successful results while taking twice as long and costing twice as much.
a place that can do FUE might be something i'll look into in the future
a place that can do FUE might be something i'll look into in the future
S
SemperFi
Valued member
Norwood scale describes baldness and it's commonly used as NW#. Below you got one of the many illustrations of it:
So NW5+ means that you can go to the situation marked as V on the pic or even worse. It may never happen, but diffuse thinning all over your head indicates that.
Propecia/Finasteride is for now the most efficient treatment available and because of that it's important to see if it works for you. There cases reporting negative side effects (impotency, male boobs...) and other claiming fin doesn't work at all, which is statistically totally possible - it "works"(stops hairloss at current level or even inspirates hair growth) in about 2/3 of cases. Therefore it is important if it works for you, because if it doesn't you're bound to lose the remaining hair. That's why I somewhat doubt in your doctor's ethics because he didn't warn you about that. And it's kinda common belief that hair transplants are riskier before 30s. A good candidate under 30 years would have to be on Fin for at least couple of years to see if it works and the hairloss is stopped or at least heavily reduced.
This is also where my second concern derives from - FUE/FUT. FUE indeed costs more, takes more time and cannot yield as much grafts as strip. On the other side it is great for smaller sessions like 1000 - 3000 grafts, while strip yields great results even with megasessions like 4000+ grafts. Since you're most likely bound to have at least one more HT it would be wise to "use" that scar you'll be left with in any case for a larger number of grafts. You have a scar, so why not get as many grafts as possible for a price of a smiley face from ear to ear on the back of your head.
About being dependant on chemicals - that's one thing you have to take into an account when having a HT, especially if you're 27 yrs old with progressive thinning. Because without them, you'll turn into a regular at HT doctor's surgery...
5 years ago I almost scheduled for a HT with a presumably excellent plastic surgeon who did a lot of work on local celebrities but I somehow didn't take that step. I'm bloody thankfull to myself I didn't do it, because from what I've learned in the meantime I came to realize he was a regular quack at HTs although he apparently does great job concerning plastic surgery in general. And reading some forum testimonials of his patients just confirmed my suspicions.
Now I'm reasonably educated about hair transplants and I wouldn't let anyone but few top docs touch my scalp even though that would cost 3-4 times more than with the above mentioned docs. And since there are quite some hairloss forums the names of the docs with good to excellent results keep being mentioned - Bisanga, H&W, Umar, SMG... and on the other side butchers like Norton, Bosley etc. I believe there are also a lot of average HT doctors who don't get mentioned at all and you can also get a decent result there, just the chance of it is smaller than with top docs.
I wish you all the best, what's done is done. I don't want to put you in the bad mood, but the truth is that is a lot of quacks in HT business and that's why you are the one who has to make a research on what option to pick. And never I repeat - never spare your money on hair transplant. It's better to be bald than have some crappy job on your head... I think quite some few forum members will agree with this...
So NW5+ means that you can go to the situation marked as V on the pic or even worse. It may never happen, but diffuse thinning all over your head indicates that.
Propecia/Finasteride is for now the most efficient treatment available and because of that it's important to see if it works for you. There cases reporting negative side effects (impotency, male boobs...) and other claiming fin doesn't work at all, which is statistically totally possible - it "works"(stops hairloss at current level or even inspirates hair growth) in about 2/3 of cases. Therefore it is important if it works for you, because if it doesn't you're bound to lose the remaining hair. That's why I somewhat doubt in your doctor's ethics because he didn't warn you about that. And it's kinda common belief that hair transplants are riskier before 30s. A good candidate under 30 years would have to be on Fin for at least couple of years to see if it works and the hairloss is stopped or at least heavily reduced.
This is also where my second concern derives from - FUE/FUT. FUE indeed costs more, takes more time and cannot yield as much grafts as strip. On the other side it is great for smaller sessions like 1000 - 3000 grafts, while strip yields great results even with megasessions like 4000+ grafts. Since you're most likely bound to have at least one more HT it would be wise to "use" that scar you'll be left with in any case for a larger number of grafts. You have a scar, so why not get as many grafts as possible for a price of a smiley face from ear to ear on the back of your head.
About being dependant on chemicals - that's one thing you have to take into an account when having a HT, especially if you're 27 yrs old with progressive thinning. Because without them, you'll turn into a regular at HT doctor's surgery...
5 years ago I almost scheduled for a HT with a presumably excellent plastic surgeon who did a lot of work on local celebrities but I somehow didn't take that step. I'm bloody thankfull to myself I didn't do it, because from what I've learned in the meantime I came to realize he was a regular quack at HTs although he apparently does great job concerning plastic surgery in general. And reading some forum testimonials of his patients just confirmed my suspicions.
Now I'm reasonably educated about hair transplants and I wouldn't let anyone but few top docs touch my scalp even though that would cost 3-4 times more than with the above mentioned docs. And since there are quite some hairloss forums the names of the docs with good to excellent results keep being mentioned - Bisanga, H&W, Umar, SMG... and on the other side butchers like Norton, Bosley etc. I believe there are also a lot of average HT doctors who don't get mentioned at all and you can also get a decent result there, just the chance of it is smaller than with top docs.
I wish you all the best, what's done is done. I don't want to put you in the bad mood, but the truth is that is a lot of quacks in HT business and that's why you are the one who has to make a research on what option to pick. And never I repeat - never spare your money on hair transplant. It's better to be bald than have some crappy job on your head... I think quite some few forum members will agree with this...
more
Valued member
thanks for the info, the more i know the better for sure! i'm still learning and your right i kind of jumped into this quickly because you don't realize what you don't know until you make a mistake.
as of now i don't feel like i made a mistake but we'll see.
as of now i don't feel like i made a mistake but we'll see.
more
Valued member
oh and just so you know, i do remember seeing that chart and my possible hair future at the Dr's office.
he wasn't trying to hide that from me or anything like that.
he wasn't trying to hide that from me or anything like that.
Nervousnelly
The Coolest Member
Thanks for posting your pics. I am not familiar with the doc but I am optimistic that all will be good for you. The work does look fairly good and certainly the closure is top notch. Keep us posted on everything and heal well.
NN
NN
more
Valued member
14 days, suture removed
more
Valued member
different angle
more
Valued member
day 7
more
Valued member
2 weeks shedding?
more
Valued member
in the 7day shot you can see how swollen i was under my eyes
Sparky
Valued member
closure looks ok, why didnt he take it central from the back of your head though? I would of thought you would go into either side the same amount.
more
Valued member
not sure about that
Prohairclinic
Prohairclinic Scalp Micro Pigmentation
Hi More,
Technically the work looks good, IMHO it even looks like more then 1200 grafts.
I believe you should go on meds asap as it is very clear that you have a diffuse thinning pattern. Diffuse thinning sometimes accelerates after a HT, try to counter this with finasteride (we usually ask diffuse thinning patients to go on finasteride at least 3-6 months ahead of any treatment)
Technically the work looks good, IMHO it even looks like more then 1200 grafts.
I believe you should go on meds asap as it is very clear that you have a diffuse thinning pattern. Diffuse thinning sometimes accelerates after a HT, try to counter this with finasteride (we usually ask diffuse thinning patients to go on finasteride at least 3-6 months ahead of any treatment)
