Hair Transplant without Propecia?

[Follicle Death Row]

It's a pretty major decision to decide to take any medication from say the age of 25 indefinitely, especially one that affects my hormones. Seems a bit dangerous to me though I am quite risk adverse. I suppose for some people the risk reward may be worth it.

If finasteride doesn't lose it's effectiveness then why do I see threads about people wanting to switch to dutasteride? Results typically peak after 2 years on finasteride when the terminal hair count is at it's highest above baseline. That's what the 5 year graph shows anyway. The terminal hair count begins to fall back towards baseline. I really don't think it can be counted on to work indefinitely and to transplant hair based on the notion that finasteride will maintain forever is dangerous. I would love to see a 10 year graph. Of course some people up their dosage past the recommended dosage but that's not ideal. If finasteride really worked that well then a 25 year old could decide to use it and perhaps require only require a small FUE session but I haven't seen that working out to be the case often.

I do believe there will be a cell based solution within the next decade. If people feel content to take to propecia and/or go with state of the art surgical hair restoration now then good for them. However some young guys may want to try propecia and wait a number of years anyway. There's no guarantee that things will work out the way I'm about to outline but it could happen.

A 25 year old could decide to do nothing and let nature take it's course.

They could get on propecia and after a year undergo FUT or FUE.

They could get on propecia and wait until 30 to undergo FUT or FUE or perhaps a cell based solution which may be out in 2016.

I don't think the third option is bad at all. My one gripe would be letting a 25 year old take finasteride and undergo HT at 26 even when they have norwood 6 norwood 7 genes in the family. It's a stretch to imagine finasteride is going to work forever. Of course a cell based solution may come along and then they wouldn't have to use propecia but if that's the case I think it would be a shame to have gotten the ol' smiley and not have waited. It's also possible that the guy that goes down the first route gets his hair back too.

At this point in time if a young man has been on finasteride a year I would not advise a HT right this moment. What would they lose waiting another year to see the phase 2 results from Aderans and Histogen? This time next year we'll have a better idea of the direction they're going in. I think it would be a shame to undergo a FUT now if indeed the phase 2 results turn out to be very promising.

[doke]

Good to see spencer on the forum hi by the way from uk,i am in my 50s and was and still am fighting the dreaded mpb,i have tried many snake oils and the newest was two years on dutasteride or avodart as it is known.
The strange thing is that i got more hair loss from taking 0.5mgs a day over two years and have returned to proscar half every other day.