We need to talk about good medical practices. Many surgeons believe that FUE works well provided that in a person with an medium hair thickness and an average donor density, has no more than 3500 FUE grafts removed to avoide a see-through donor area. 3500 grafts for such a person will cover Class 3, 3a, 4a, 5a patterns of balding relatively easily. Once you get into class 4, 5, 6 and 7 patterns, then an FUT may be a better answer either as a sole harvesting technique or combined with FUE. As the hair thickness gets finer (less and less hair bulk/mass), the maximum number of FUE grafts drops because by maintaining the same harvesting number in a person with fine hair, the see-through donor area may become a problem. With coarser hair (more hair bulk/mass) and an average donor density, more FUE grafts can be safely harvested. As the original donor density drops, the see-through donor area risk rises so FUT might be a better choice as a see-through donor area is a real risk for low density donor areas in many men. High original donor densities with medium-coarse or coarser hair are good candidates for FUE in the more advanced Norwood Patterns. If you combined higher than normal donor density with a coarser hair, this person can easily have most of his head transplanted with FUE alone. I have never seen an FUE result in a Class 7 patient with fine hair or one with significantly reduced original donor density and not have a depleted donor area (see-through donor area). I believe that there is a role today for surgeons to be skilled in both FUE and FUT and based upon the above factors and the surgeons preferences, the right harvesting method for the right reasons will be selected.
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/32977363/
“Anti-androgens commonly used in the treatment of AGA such as finasteride, dutasteride, spironolactone, and bicalutamide could improve outcomes among men infected by SARS?CoV?2.”
We have known that men do worse than women when contracting Covid, with higher death rates. So this may help us understand the role of androgens in Covid
I’ve read many times before that libido improves in people who quit finasteride and use dutasteride. I think there was a study on this. I have also observed this myself. Has anyone noticed this before? Could Dutasteride be more tolerable? (I use it every 2-3 days)
Dutasteride is more potent then finasteride by about 15%. Logically, there should be more side effects. There are less publications on dutasteride side effects in men of hair loss age than finasteride by a long shot
Excellent response from just minoxidil and microneeding for 3 months. Some, but not all of what you see, could be from longer hair.
I would see a dermatologist. I suspect that you have developed Alopecia Areata but there are other things it could be. A Biopsy is needed, then followed up with appropriate treatment
This man wanted to avoid finasteride so he used microneedling and minoxidil for 5 months and succeeded to bring back his hairline without finasteride.
9 month finasteride and minoxidil, added 2 months microneddling and I was amazed how quickly the crown filled in.
I wish the crown photos would be lighter so it could be compared well with the before pictures. I will take your word for it that it is better
Great response from microneedling plus finasteride with some other things like Nizoral shampoo
This is a nice result from the use of 5 months minoxidil, finasteride and microneedling for 5 months
I’m 23 and it’s happening. I’ve always had a poor hairline but now it’s thinning. And quickly (6 months and it’s gotten worse). Money is no object. Are these crappy hairpieces or are they indiscernible from the real deal? Do you shave the rest of your head for them? How do they work? How do you clean them? I want to do it early enough with my current hairstyle so no one can tell. I’m not keen on the medication or rolling.
Be aware that hair systems need to be attached, so most use glues to hold them to your shaved scalp. This causes traction alopecia and more hair loss so most men who make the switch to hair system end up on them for life as their hair loss always gets worse, often from the hair systems themselves.
I have no idea if compounding finasteride myself is the way to go and if it does anything. The only objectively sure thing is that I have experienced no side effects so far. But I also have no results in the 3 weeks since I started this self made drug and it is a real hassle making it myself.
Maybe with no results, what you did to make your own topical finasteride is not working. There is a reason that compounding pharmacies do this, they have expertise that you don’t have
This might be too early for an update since I’ve only been taking them for a week. But I just wanted to add my experience if it can be helpful, since side effects for these make themselves known within a week of starting treatments.
I started taking 0.5mg of oral Finasteride tablets and 2.5mg oral Minoxidil tablets every morning since last week.
Currently have no side effects to speak of except for a mild sore right arm around lunch time that went away after a couple hours. I think that was from the “swelling” that Minoxidil might sometimes cause. My wife says it might not be even connected.
This may be a very effective treatment for men with balding. I rarely prescribe both oral drugs on the same patient but I have recently been doing so.
The age of 19, is a good time to start finasteride if you are really balding early. Make sure that this is the case by getting the diagnosis from an expert doctor, so you don’t get hooked for life on a drug you wouldn’t need if you do not have Male Pattern Badling
The point is there’s no need to reinforce this belief that everybody needs to have hair. That mentality obviously benefits the hair loss industry. Some guys can’t get over the fact that they’re losing their hair and will go to far lengths to preserve whatever they can. But there’s no shame in being bald and if your hair is a main source of self esteem, I recommend taking steps to fix that because nice hair won’t get you that far in life.
Hair loss has been important throughout the ages. From a historical perspective, hair loss was very common in the cities when TB ran wild. That was why a woman looked for a hairy man to qualify a man as a prospective husband. If a man lost his hair, the presumption was that they had TB and would probably die from it, not living long enough to provide family support for the long term. This created a lot of myths that have stayed with us in one way or another today. It is also imporant to know that the hair restoration business will hit $30 Billion for 2025, now at something like $6+ Billion and the hair cosmetics industry is today over $20 Billion and growing fast to make you WANT to not be bald. This is the power of money today because if you retain the bald look, no one can make money from you, its free!