Recent content by Elithair

Two years on you probably already have your answer, but this question comes up a lot so worth addressing for anyone finding this thread later. Graft survival outside the body depends heavily on how the grafts are stored. In a basic saline solution, the window is generally considered to be...

Aloe vera irritating the scalp is more common than people think, especially in the first couple of months. Some formulations have added ingredients that don't agree with a healing scalp even though the base product is supposed to be soothing. Bepanthen is generally very well tolerated and is...

Yes, but not in the way most people picture when they hear the word scar. FUE doesn't leave a linear scar like FUT does. Instead it leaves small circular punch marks scattered across the donor area where each graft was extracted. At normal hair length these are completely invisible. The...

Since your transplant was back in 2023 your grafts are fully settled by now so you have a lot more flexibility than someone in the early post-op phase. For male pattern baldness maintenance ketoconazole shampoos like Nizoral are worth using two to three times a week. There's reasonable evidence behind...

The concern is understandable and it's a question that comes up a lot. The honest answer is that taking it three times a week will still suppress DHT meaningfully. Finasteride has a half life of around six hours, but the DHT suppression effect lasts significantly longer, up to several days...

The long term safety data on dutasteride is actually reasonably reassuring. It has been approved for benign prostatic hyperplasia since 2001 and has been used continuously in that population for over two decades. The cardiovascular signal that appeared in one early trial has not been...

14 months of progressive shedding that hasn't stabilised is not a normal shed pattern. Most finasteride sheds peak around months 2 to 4 and resolve. What you're describing, ongoing diffuse thinning across the sides, hairline and nape with no sign of stopping, is worth taking seriously rather than...

There is no strong clinical evidence linking finasteride to skin thinning or a chronic tight feeling. The drug works by blocking 5-alpha reductase which reduces DHT, and DHT does play a role in sebum production. Lower DHT can mean less oil which could contribute to a drier feeling on the skin...

Six years on dutasteride with zero sides and full retention at 30 with a strong family history. That's about as good an outcome as this medication can produce. Posts like this don't get enough attention compared to the side effect stories. Thanks for coming back to share it.

That actually sounds pretty typical for RA. If it hasn’t gotten worse, that’s already a good sign. From what people report, it’s often more about stabilizing than getting real regrowth. The area around the ears being the thinnest also seems common. And if it grows back quickly after a...

That does sound frustrating, especially after going through a transplant and staying on treatment. A couple of things come to mind. Shedding can still happen even when you’re on finasteride and oral min, and sometimes it shows up in phases rather than a steady pattern. It doesn’t always mean things are...

Yeah, that kind of realization can hit a bit. It’s interesting how lighting changes everything too. Under normal conditions it can look fine, then harsh light just exposes what’s already there. Makes it feel worse than it probably is day to day. Genetics aren’t always that clean either. It’s...

You’ll probably get a lot of different “perfect stack” answers, but from what I’ve seen, consistency matters more than the exact percentages. Topical finasteride + min can definitely give some regrowth, especially in the crown. That area tends to respond better than the hairline. But the results are...

Yeah, retrograde alopecia is a tricky one. I’ve seen a few people mention some improvement with finasteride/dutasteride, but it’s definitely less consistent than typical pattern loss. It doesn’t seem to respond as predictably, which is probably why it feels like a different process sometimes. Your point about...

I wouldn’t rush back onto finasteride yet, but I also wouldn’t write it off completely. Your situation doesn’t sound like a clean trial of it. You were young, dealing with a lot at the time, dosing wasn’t consistent, and there were a lot of different things going on at once. That makes it...