Hair transplant diary (ongoing)

No, he's referring to the tablet form of Minoxidil

So I just submitted the careoncall.ie prescription request for Proscar and it was FREE (not €25) .. again this might only be for Laya customers, but damn that's a bit of an improvement over paying €60 for Dr Nel to prescribe... live and learn

Have also included a request to get a Loniten 5mg Minoxidil prescription so I'll report back if that's successful.

EDIT: They got back to me after about 2 minutes to say the prescription was ready and waiting at the pharmacy.. although it is "Fintrid" rather than "Proscar"! Unfortunately they only prescribe Finasteride so Minox is again something that either Dr Nel, or another GP will have to prescribe.

Will see if the pharmacy can give me Proscar instead of Fintrid if I ask them (and show the previous box)

EDIT 2: Pharmacy said they only stock Proscar so that's sorted ;)

You are going to have to get an appointment with Dr Nel to prescribe Minoxidil anyway so he will prescribe Finasteride then to?

Did you get a year prescription for Finasteride on careoncall.ie?

Well, as we can see from the results of this Oral Minoxidil study done in 2021, of the three dosages (0.45mg, 1.35mg and 4.05mg per day) the optimal dosage was, by some distance, 4.05mg. So, why you were only prescribed 1.25mg per day makes no sense to me. Those on 4.05mg gained 3x the number of terminal hairs that the 1.35mg group gained.

However, those on 1.35mg did notice reasonable gains after 6 months. You say you've been on 1.25mg for 9-10 months and not seen any results at all? Based on that information, you sound like a non-responder and I would probably stop taking it at this point. Dermarolling is known to enhance Minox absorption and effectiveness, but, if you're a non-responder, there's nothing to enhance, so again, I wouldn't bother.

Went here. More time was taken and price was 50% of what Dr Nel was asking for. The technician that performs the procedure does SMP for HRBR so this is a side-line for her and you get the same quality as what you would get in HRBR (at a fraction of the cost).

Free consultation and she'll let you know if you're suitable or not.

Just be aware if you are getting the crown done you will need to avoid sleeping on the back of your head for 24 hours after each procedure (there are up to 3 separate sessions to achieve full coverage)... so this was a bit of a challenge for me as I ALWAYS end up rolling onto my back no matter what is propping me up!

If I get a touch up in a few years I'm going to invest in one of those benches that allow you to sleep on your front.

eh.. a bit sore. Just like tiny pricks on your head. Each session lasts about 3-4 hours iirc, but you get all the breaks and toilet breaks you need.

Price was €1000 for crown and top of head up to hairline (Dr Nel was quoting €2000 just for crown, not top of head as well). Yes very satisfied with it. It makes the overlapping hair look thicker. It looks best once it all settles around a month after the final session. During the sessions it can look REALLY dark, but it sort of settles into a lighter more natural colour after a month.

Will last around 7 years as long as I don't expose it to extreme sunshine for lengthy periods, but since it's under the overlapping hair I find it's protected.

I was in Spain under strong sunshine and it's still fine, though I made sure to wear a bandana whenever I remembered it 😂

Forgot to mention... the aftercare process is a bit of a pain after each session. No sweating for first week or so (no exercise) and no direct hair washing for a week or 2.

i.e. it's ideal if you can work from home during this! Covid was a blessing ironically! 😮

It's a bit of a pain since you need to go back for 2 more sessions a few weeks apart, so in reality it's like you can't exercise for almost 2 months. I felt that pretty badly since up to that point I was swimming in the pool 3 times a week and cycling every 2nd day.

yeah, so crown was main area thinning, and then top was just to increase appearance of density.

Maybe a week after consultation I started the procedure. YMMV. Depends on how busy she is I guess.

Note, SMP works best if you have hair that can cover the area (in order to darken underlying scalp and increase appearance of density), or if you are completely shaved (in order to appear that you have hair in all areas, but just shaved down).

e.g. this is from the gallery as an example of what I mean about having hair overlapping the area https://www.thescalpcare.com/gallery?pgid=jw4xvm2m-d6c0b5a4-0490-4f5c-9d06-754e56489eb6

She won't do the procedure if you aren't suitable anyway, so let her give you the advice.

I was able to get Mercer Pharmacy (Stephen Street Lower) to order it for me

Regards Finasteride. I was at the doctors and asked her about it and she said just order it of Lloydsonlinedoctor

Finasteride should be enough I wouldnt go taking loads. if you got a HT done I would use minoxidil spray foam to help my hair grow for a year after my HT and then Finasteride should maintain it

.

Finasteride doesn't maintain gains from using Minoxidil. If you stop using Minox, you lose your gains. If you want to keep those gains your on Minox for life.

Trying to reply to Wayne

yes we had the consult the day of surgery he examined my donor said I had lots of quadruples and enough for 3 transplants. Which I was delighted to hear. I’ll have the full breakdown of the surgery sometime this week.

now I need to start finasteride kinda nervous about that think I’ll try microdosing it first and see how I get on. I got 3222 grafts

0.5mm is recommended by Dr Nel. foleys chemist is where i got mine. i use regaine spray and not minoxidl tablets - loniten. Are people not afraid of side effects of using stronger version of minoxidl - loniten? think it is used for reducing blood pressure.

https://www.foleyschemist.ie/product/dermaroller-0-5mm-titanium-microneedles-1/

I did a fair bit of research or r/tressless/ when I was choosing my dermaroller and the recommendation from most was to go for 1mm titanium, but only to use it once a week.

Does make the process a little less hassle than doing it 3 times a week per Dr Nel's instruction as you need to go through a whole disinfection process too each time.

Apparently they need to be replaced every 3 months, but prob depends on how often you use it and maybe using it once a week will let you continue using it for 6 months.

Mine is still sharp after 3 months anyway.

Yeah I dunno.. I'm a bit wary of some of the things Dr Nel recommends nowadays... he initially told me that the dermaroller didn't need to be cleaned as "you can't infect yourself with your own germs" wtf

I did a quick google on using Dettol to clean a dermaroller and came up with this so ymmv

https://whitelotusbeauty.com/blogs/ukblogs/how-to-clean-your-derma-roller-clean-dermaroller

A lot of recommendations are to use isopropyl alcohol 70% so I use this stuff: https://www.amazon.de/gp/product/B00EWVOOH8/

The bottle is huge and each one would prob last a year. I just use a shotglass to do the cleaning which is the perfect size and doesn't waste too much liquid