I figured I would offer my opinion here since the reader asked for a reply from somebody who had a similar experience and the response doesn’t really answer the question. I used Propecia about a decade ago and developed general sexual dysfunction (not just ED) that continues to this day.

Unfortunately nobody can provide you with the reassurance that you say you desperately need. You won’t know for sure if the side effects will be permanent unless you stop taking the drug. The doctor highlights that you risk “catch up hair loss” which provides an incomplete picture to the decision you need to make. On the other hand, if you continue taking the drug you risk “catch up side effects” because the side effects can get worse than they are today. You need to think about what is most important to you and how much you value your general health versus your hair in order to make a smart decision. There is uncertainty in making a decision like this which is stressful but the right decision is different for everybody.

In my practice, when a new patient goes on finasteride and has sexual side effects, I tell him to stop the medication. I have them report back to me about their sexual side effect which usually goes away within a month or so.  I have not seen any patient tell me that after stopping the drug, the side effects continued.

The crusts that you had clearly must have pulled out your grafts during their critical period when they were being secured in their recipient sites.  If the crusting remains, the grafts are not secure for up to 12 days after the surgery and any attempts to pick off the crusts have the risk of pulling out the grafts, including the growth centers. See our article on this, which explains this risk here: https://baldingblog.com/wp-content/uploads/pdf/mp-2006-graft-anchoring.pdf.

I like the density count in the article which does show an increase in hair density following PRP.  More data and more patients are required but the study is good.

file:///Users/nhi/Downloads/sjy029%20(1).pdf

There is nothing to be embarrassed about. Even Donald Trump takes finasteride.

I have thousands of patients on finasteride and it is clearly holding on to their hair. When and if they stop it, the lose huge amounts of hair and then we have quite a conversation. Most want to get back on finasteride but some don’t fully go back to their hair status from before they stopped it. I have seen this effect in young men in there 20 and 30s and in men in their 60s and 70s as well.

Can fin work by itself ? from tressless

Very impressive results. It also might be the finasteride causing most of the benefit. But it is anyone’s guess.

Always tough to do. But Day 1, Month 3, and Month 6 updates. 1mg fin and dermarolling. Look at those baby hairs! from tressless

Many times the transplant does not provide enough hair to cover an extensive balding pattern because the donor supply density is too low for the high demand of the balding pattern. When that happens, the surgeon who is skillful with both hair transplants and SMP will know how to use the transplants to form a good foundation so that the SMP will make the hair look much fuller.

Here is an example: The picture on the right has the exact same amount of hair as the picture on the left except that SMP was added to fill in the thinning hair.