This is an excerpt from the FDA website from 2010 on finasteride (https://www.accessdata.fda.gov/drugsatfda_docs/label/2011/020788s018lbl.pdf). Dr. Ed Epstein, from the Bosley Medical Group is a urologist by training and has kept up on the latest information on the impact or lack of impact of the drug finasteride on risks for an unborn fetus.   “I am not aware of new studies on amounts of finasteride in semen or vaginal absorption data” that reflect increased risks for fetal abnormalities induced by finasteride other than what is written in the FDA white paper referenced above.

Some doctors are concerned that patients who go on finasteride should get semen analysis to keep track of semen levels in case these level dropped while a patient was on the drug finasteride.  Dr. Epstein said: “Concerning getting semen analysis on child bearing age men starting finasteride, I totally disagree.  Typically a male infertility workup is suggested after one year of unprotected intercourse. The subgroup of men who have low sperm counts on finasteride are those with preexisting conditions and appear to respond to discontinuation of finasteride.”

In other words, he feels that a young man should not worry about either low semen counts caused by finasteride, but that they could always stop the drug and if there was a causal relationship, it would reverse. He also suggested than men with low sperm counts while on finasteride, probably had it before they started the drug and should get any low sperm count evaluated by an expert.
The FDA while paper referenced above showed that studies on semen in sperm were either not present or when present were so low as it not cause a risk to a pregnant woman or a woman who is expecting to become pregnant. “Semen levels have been measured in 35 men taking finasteride 1 mg/day for 6 weeks. In 60% (21 of 35) of the samples, finasteride levels were undetectable (<0.2 ng/mL). The mean finasteride level was 0.26 ng/mL and the highest level measured was 1.52 ng/mL. Using the highest semen level measured and assuming 100% absorption from a 5-mL ejaculate per day, human exposure through vaginal absorption would be up to 7.6 ng per day, which is 750 times lower than the exposure from the no-effect dose for developmental abnormalities in Rhesus monkeys and 650-fold less than the dose of finasteride (5 ?g) that had no effect on circulating DHT levels in men”

It is common to have a patient visit me after seeing other doctors in the LA area. I like it when patients shop around because then they can judge the way the doctor practices his art. Many times the patients were told to get more grafts than they needed. For example, I might recommend 1500 grafts, other doctors might recommend 2500 grafts or 3000 grafts. Clearly the doctor makes more money the more grafts he places.

The real problem here is not only a financial one, it is a damage issue if the doctor transplants hair into a healthy recipient area just to unload the extra-grafts he took out.  Now add to that every graft that is wasted, is lost from the donor supply for the rest of the life of the patient so such dishonest doctors are not just crooks, but they actually damage both your recipient area and your donor area, and at the same time take more money from you then he should.

Don’t get me wrong, Many times I will recommend 2000 or 3000 grafts in a bald person when THEY NEED IT. So, shop around and come see us if you are in Los Angeles or take advantage of our telephone consultation process where you can get a second opinion free of charge.

We were explaining our hair transplant and Scalp Micropigmentation procedures to a group of patients today and we were shocked to find our pictures lifted off of our various websites and now appearing on the web sites of other doctors. This, of course, is a copyright infringement so letters are now being sent out by our lawyer informing these doctors that if they do not remove these photographs, then we will take legal action against them. They appeared on doctors websites and various other clinics from all over the world, not just the United States.

There was a case many years ago when I brought one of my patient to an international ISHRS medical meeting. This patient who was completely bald (Norwood 7) had phenomenal results in one session due to his unusual high donor hair density. Doctors were photographing him at the meeting. Later I found these photos on the doctor’s websites claiming that he was their patient! I guess that being a thief is really a matter of what is best for your pocketbook when it comes to unethical practices.

There seems to be a problem for many doctors wanting to get into Scalp MicroPigmentation but they do not have good before and after photos or reviews to show prospective patients. They take a short cut and plagiarize pictures they need off of the Internet. There seems to be no moral scruples among these thieves. Even a doctor can be a thief. We even found some of our photos with our own NHI WATERMARKS on them, telling those who see them that these photos originate from the New Hair Institute. We even found one of our celebrity patients on the site of another doctor.

What does this mean? It means that as a buyer, you must be careful for what the doctors are showing you, as what you are seeing may not be what you are getting.