Hello, I had a complete reversal of my hair loss with minoxidil and finasteride.  According to your clinical experience, would stopping the finasteride cause a loss in my benefits?

If you have achieved your goals on both minoxidil and finasteride, you risk losing the effects by stopping both, as you can’t judge which drug was responsible for your benefits without stopping one and paying the price of hair loss to find out.

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The hair has remained.  So many people ask me how long it will last?  I have had patients come back to see me from 1993 with hair holding well.

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The clinic recommended 3200 grafts for this hairline fix.

If your hair is fine, 3200 grafts might be reasonable; however, if your hair thickness is medium or coarse, 3200 grafts are far too many for this small area. Remember, 3200 grafts likely reflect almost half of your overall supply, so you might need more than the amount of hair remaining if you develop significant balding in the future.  What does your family pattern look like with men in the family line in their 40s, 50s, and 60s?  This is an essential factor for you to consider.  I hope you are over 26 years old now and know your present balding pattern and your surgeon discussed your lifetime hair supply as well as your worst case balding pattern with you. BTW, your temple peaks are fine and should not be transplanted. 

So I started FIN when I was 19 (28 now). My system took to it well and the balding/hairline hasn’t gotten worse since. However my beard hair never became terminal since I started so young. I have pretty decent coverage of beard hair but I can’t grow them out because it looks too soft and fuzzy. I guess that’s the vellus hairs? Is there any chance I can go off FIN for a bit and get those beard hairs to turn terminal? If so how long do you think that could take? Curious if anyone has done something similar. I don’t mind loosing some hair because I have too much anyways. I have naturally very thick coarse hair, to the point where I actually struggle getting good haircuts and it’s been a lifelong struggle to the point where I just wear beanies most of the time anyways.

Concerns: Just want to make sure that I jump back on FIN and can stop any shedding in its tracks again.

Men who don’t get beard growth, blame finasteride as the cause; however, finasteride does not prevent bread growth, it may slow it down, but not prevent it.  Treat your beard loss with (1) waiting a few years for more beard development, (2) add minoxidil to your beard area, (3) consider a beard transplant, something offered by many doctors today. 

I know this is just a weird question, but I’d like to know since I plan to try out microneedling and get back into my morning jogs. I figured I ask since with microneedling you’re pretty much inflicting small incisions, and when working out your blood will be pumped much faster than usual.

If you wait at least 30 minutes after you microneedle, you can probably jog without much problem.  Then, go into a shower and wash your scalp along with everything else to be sure that the scalp is clean.  By that time, the bleeding should have stopped. 

I gained some of my hair back with the help of 5ar inhibitors and minoxidil, but it is not in perfect. So I really want to do hair transplant surgery to get more fuller hair, but the doctors I see keep turning me down.  Why is that?

If you got a hair transplant and had a lot of miniaturized hair, what you might lose could equal your hair transplant gain. You could be worse off. That is why I can only tell you a little about your situation, as I need to examine you. When doctors transplant a patient for genetic balding, they like to see PATTERNED hair loss not unpatterned hair loss like you have. Unpatterned hair loss means that the surgeon may not be able to achieve specific goals for specific areas where your problem is worse.

You are receiving a cumulative dosing of 0.25mgs/day, which, according to Merck’s study, is 50% as effective as the 1mg dose. If I were you, I would increase it to daily use if that works for you. That gets you 100% effectiveness for this drug.