I have now been able to remove all the scabs.

I hope you didn’t pick them off. Picking at scabs too early can cause a loss of the graft. Picking also causes folliculitis. Proper washing of the recipient area is the solution to obtain a clean look after a hair transplant.

I’m planning on making the switch from topical to oral fin (been doing min/fin solution for about a year). Anything I should be mindful of when making the switch? Google results are mostly on Min when I search it up. Does it take time for the oral version to take effect? I’m guessing having a overlap period would be a good idea.

From my experience you can quit the topical and go directly to the oral with no consequence.

If my girlfriend touched my scalp after I put topical finasteride on it and whe gets pregnanty, will that cause a problem with the baby? Or is it like alcohol, where it is too soon to have any impact on the child at the time of conception vs pregnancy? So I am asking if she comes in contact with topical fin during conception and has no contact going forward, are we okay? To be more clear, are the risks of a woman coming in contact with topical finasteride while conceiving as dangerous as when pregnant.

I wish I could give you a clear answer.  There is no real answer to your question; however, you need to know that topical finasteride gets absorbed systemically, so it’s like taking the oral form. Topical liposomal finasteride, on the other hand, cuts the systemic absorption down to what I understand is under 20%, and there is less systemic finasteride to get into the semen. Also, in the original Merck studies on Propecia, the company didn’t recognize a risk to conception; however, as more litigation emerged, Merck changed their position to put this as a potential risk. I am certain of one thing; however, of the millions of men on the oral finasteride over the years, I have not seen any correlations to fetal abnormalities that particularly stand out in a medical study (comparing thousands of conceptions in women whose men were on finasteride vs. not on finasteride). The amount of finasteride in the semen is almost unmeasurable, according to Merck.  Handling the drug for a pregnant woman is listed as a NO NO in the original Merck material.

Of the men who have had abnormal babies, it is hard to distinguish, statistically, if these abnormalities were caused by finasteride or the normal variation that occurs in the non-finasteride population. My heart always goes out to these men because they blame themselves for the abnormalities. They also blamed their doctors, the manufacturer, the FDA, and one man blamed me because I didn’t take a firm stand on the connection between Finasteride and fetal abnormalities. 

i’ve been taking iron supplements for some time now (i think i’m in week 2) and i’m wondering if it would bring back my temple hair, my hair looks like norwood 2 in the norwood scale – i have a few strands on my temple side if that even matters. idk if my hair problems is caused by my iron deficiency or it would even help it, so let me know

Let’s assume that you are balding. If that is the case and you have an Iron deficiency, it may contribute to the hair loss.  It is always best to fix a problem with your Iron levels, regardless of the hair loss. Perhaps it will slow down the hair loss. Reversing the effects of Iron Deficiencies take time. Two weeks won’t cut it. 

I’m not trying to suggest that swimming causes MPB or anything like that. I’m just wondering if the chlorine or other chemicals in the pool could be detrimental for those of us already struggling?

The chlorine in the swimming pool may damage your hair, but the growth mechanism is below the scalp, not reached by the pool water. There is a difference between damage to hair that has already grown and new hair that just emerges into your world. If you look at a long hair carefully, the part of the hair closes to the scalp is new and in its best shape, unless your have miniaturization associated with genetic hair loss

The swirl area is always difficult because the hairs do not layer but rather draw one’s eye to the center of the vortex. The impacts of 4000 grafts depend upon the thickness of your hair shafts (fine, medium or coarse). The thicker the hair shafts, the better the coverage. I suspect that, looking at your result, your hair has a medium or medium-fine hair thickness. Please let me know if I am correct. The transplant was largely done in front of the swirl, but half of the upper swirl was included in the transplant. Note how difficult it is to get a tight swirl unless you put in more hair or have coarser hair.  This is a nice result. Rarely does new hair appear from a hair transplant beyond 9 months.  Congrats!

As an aside, look at my crown hair transplant, which was fine when it was done; however, when my hair thinned out with age, a see-through appearance showed my scalp.  I had SMP done and the change was dramatic, see here; https://baldingblog.com/i-just-finished-my-smp-on-my-crown-area-today-see-before-and-after-photos/

I stumbled upon a video a month ago with over a million views where a doctor talks about how to regrow hair, and the main conclusion seems to be that eating steak will fix your hair, delivered with just enough half-truths to seem convincing. I’m not even a vegetarian, but this carnivore cult stuff is getting on my nerves. Is there anything to this claim?

Steak doesn’t reverse the genetics and the chemistry of hair loss. The internet is full of misinformation, that is clear.