Hi Dr Rassman I don’t know what to do I keep my Finasteride bottle in a cool place always at temperature around 72 to 74F but now that I have moved to my new temporary home it’s set to 72F but the humidity is is what I’m really worried about it keeps going from 49% to last time I checked was 54% Relitive humidity I keep a desiccant in the bottle but I’m just nervous I don’t want to destroy Finasteride effectness. I looked up humidity level for Finasteride but the FDA only mentioned the temperature no mention of humidity. Should I be concerned?

Use an airtight bottle. The pharmacist near you will supply you with one. and if he doesn’t just give one to you, ask to purchase one from him/her

This young man went to Turkey 3 months ago for a hair transplant because the fee was much lower than quotes near his home. He had a medium level balding crown and very small frontal corner recession. When he went to the clinic, the building was beautiful. He came in on the first day for the surgery evaluation and they suggested 4200 grafts. The next day he had the surgery and found the entire surgical crew unprofessional, ignoring him, laughing and chatting and not focusing on his surgery.  He found out that many of them were hired recently, “just off the street” and they were being trained on his head.  That day, he counted more than 20 patients having surgery at that facility.  He knows that this was a terrible mistake and I am going to work with him after he gets to the 8 month postoperative date when he sees where he is.  I am concerned about his donor site, which he believes has been damaged. 

If you decide to shave your head after a FUE hair transplant, will it look stupid/horrible (owing to all the scars in donor and recipient regions) and, if so, can this be countered with SMP?

You might see the white scars from the FUE punch. That would call attention to your hair transplant.

I’m 24 and I want to get a hair transplant, so how many grafts will I need?

You need a Personalized Master Plan: https://baldingblog.com/go-why-do-we-need-a-master-plan/. You need to lay out what your worst case balding is and balance that against your available donor supply capacity before starting the hair transplant process. You will find many doctors willing to quote you 1500, 2000, 3000, 4000 grafts for your problem. Is your hair fine, medium or coarse in thickness? Could you respond to medications or other treatments such as microneedling and avoid a hair transplant and still get your hair back?  How do you tell which is right and when you should tackle it?

I started out 1.5mm, but now I’m concerned about scar tissue. I’ve heard 0.6mm might be better, but the redness goes away pretty fast. I started out doing once-a-week needling, but then I’ve seen people who did it twice a week at a lower depth followed by minoxidil that had great results

Microneedling depth should be able to reach the stem cells at the top of the hair follicles which lie about 1mm below the skin so 1 of 1.5 mm microneedles are about right. These stem cells have some cells that specialize in hair cycling so that when stimulated, the command goes out to the other stem cells to kick in the anagen cycle (theory at present).

I have written to you before.  Will minoxidil give me enough hair to avoid a hair transplant?

Traction alopecia from the use of a turban is usually permanent. You will know this because if the hair doesn’t regrow without the tight turban in 6 -9 months, it is gone.  This is caused by traction.  Unfortunately, only a hair transplant will solve the problem. Minoxidil might bring on some weak hair fuzz, but not real hair, worth a try though if you want to delay tackling a hair transplant