Suffered gyno side effects, but should I go back to Fin if I want a HT?

[derekthepirate]

Hi all, first-time poster here.

I've been losing my hair for about 7-8 years now. I'm 29, probably a Type 3 NW. It isn't super noticeable because I'm a ninja with Toppik, but next year I want to finally get a HT. I use 5% minox every evening.

Having used finasteride (proscar, sometimes fincar) for years I finally quit last summer. I had some erectile issues from time to time but the big problem was gynecomastia, which got so noticeable during a span of 12 months that I needed to get surgery, which was reasonably successful. I quit finasteride and haven't used it since. I can't absolutely point to finasteride as being the cause of the gyno, but I've always been slim, so I can't see how it might have occurred naturally.

However, I keep hearing that I need to stabilize my hair loss before a HT but I'm reluctant to risk the gyno returning. Plus, I now live in the Middle East and finasteride is impossible to get, but next summer I will leave and probably go to Europe or US, where I would be able to get finasteride and (conceivably) stabilize my hair loss before a HT.

Any advice? I want to give myself the best chance for an optimal HT down the line but I really don't want to have another gyno operation too.

[fred970]

I had the same dilemma last year. I got drug-induced gynecomastia (not from finasteride though) and I had to undergo surgery to remove it, here's the topic about my gyno surgery: https://www.gynecomastia.org/smf/13/...fter-pictures/

A year and a half after the surgery, I wanted to have a FUE, but I was NW5 at 24. I hesitated a lot as finasteride was out of the question for me, but went for it anyway, the topic about my FUE is here: https://www.baldtruthtalk.com/thread...d-NW5-from-DPA

A few things played in my favour: I was already bald and my relatives are all NW5 so I'm not likely to get worse even though it could happen, there is little contrast between the colour of my hair and the colour of my scalp (I'm blond) and in the end, I had a very good donor, and the surgeon was quite surprised because it didn't look like it beforehand.

Of course, I've known the horror of gyno, so I'd never advise you to get back on it. Good luck with whatever you decide!

[derekthepirate]

Hi Fred,

Thanks for the response - our situations seem very similar! Your HT looks great, and the price seems a lot more reasonable than much of what I've been seeing online; is that because you are Belgian and the surgery was done in Belgium? I'll start researching Dr De Reys.

[fred970]

It's in Belgium that the first democratic FUE have appeared in 2004 at the prohairclinic in Antwerp, where De Reys was lead surgeon.

He's now working on his own. You can come here and have the hair transplant for the same price. It's 5000€ for 2000 grafts.