Hi All,

This is my first post here, hope you are all doing Ok.
I'm looking at getting a HT in about 5-8 months time. I was planning on going ahead and doing it sooner but after I contacted three surgeons from the Coalition I decided from the feedback I got that I should probably try and thicken what I have by using a Finasteride.
I am probably a Norwood #7 and was told by one surgeon who I saw in person that I have a full strip of 2K-2.3K grafts and maybe 1.5k grafts around 8 months from the first graft removal. To help try and improve on that I decided to start taking Fincar which is a generic of Proscar.
I have since learnt from two of the surgeons that splitting a 5mg tag might not be beneficial. For instance I'm thinking that if I split it four ways I should get 1.25mg which will give me my needed daily 1mg but I have been told that for example it's possible that one quarter of the tab could contain 3mg, a other quarter 2mg and the other two quarters 0mg because the majority of the actual tab is made up of filler!
For Finasteride to work one must take at least 1mg of the stuff per day, so my question is to anyone who is splitting their Finasteride is it working for you? Or can anyone else shed any light on this. Should I just drop the Fincar and start taking Propecia or a generic of Propecia this way I am guaranteed my 1mg a day.

Thanks.

Welcome to the forum,
Yes!!! Splitting Proscar four ways absolutely works just fine, that's what all of us (well, almost) do here. Which Docs did you go see?

You'll be fine splitting the finesteride. The ingredients are all very well mixed so that it is essentially equally dispersed.

Actually I think the doctor is correct. You can get different amounts by splitting proscar. However, the key is that it works just as well because you take it consistently and regularly.

Hello underhat and welcome to the forums,

My fellow comrades above are correct. Splitting a Proscar tablet into quarters has proven to be just as effective as taking Propecia, however, your physician is right that the finasteride may not be evently distributed. That being said, it has proven to be just as effective as Propecia from what I've read and heart from various respected doctors.

Regarding getting an HT...I'll be honest...2K to 2.3K is not going to make much difference on a NW7. You'd either get a full head of ultra thin hair (not worth it in my opinion), or a decent frontal third with nothing behind it...still not very natural looking. I'd consider getting a second opinion. If I were you, I'd talk to Hasson and Wong, particularly Dr. Hasson. He has been known for his mega mega sessions that yield tremendous results. Those with higher Norwood levels should definitely at the very least consult with him.

Falc

to add to this, I read on another board how some say that for fighting baldness, you will be fine with .5mg daily. So technically, youll be fine either way.
Falceros is thinking exactly what I thought as soon as I read NW7. But hang in there bud and talk to others. I know that some guy here got good results from a Body hair transplant. Look into that.
Good luck and keep us posted!

Agree with advice you've been given..............splitting proscar will work fine and many do it with success (I'm one). Yes, there may be the potential to end up with say 1.50mg versus 1.25mg due to med distribution in the pill, but I doubt you'll be talking about a 3mg dosage in 1/4 of the pill.

Falc has some good advice for you about the HT. If you're truly at NW7, you'll need as many grafts as you can get and, at that stage, you really don't have to be concerned with future loss so if a surgeon can get it all in one pass you'll be better off. Additionally, I was told by my consultant for HT #2 each time you have a HT, you'll can be sacrificing as many as 500 grafts, why throw these away if you don't have to?

Best of luck!

Thanks for all the replies. My pocket is relieved to here that splitting the tablet should give me the desired amount.

I went to go see Dr.Williams (NV) in person and sent pics and details to Dr.Alexander and Dr.Keene (AZ). I believe I was given sound advice by all three, much the same as my replies here. This is one of the reasons I delayed my HT because I thought I might try and thicken the graft area up with Finasteride.

I think from what I have learnt by reading this site and what I have been told that it would take two HT's to cover the bald area. The first would deal with the hairline and front which I have been told that I could get decent coverage with the graft area I have (2 - 2.3K), the second would deal with the crown and back area and because of the elasticity of the/my skin I could get a further (1 - 1.5k) for that. It's this that concerns me, I'm not too bothered about thickness of the hair but I would want a natural looking coverage.

I will keep taking the pills and hope it can improve what I have. I will post pics soon and would appreciate any feedback, Thanks again for the replies.

There was a guy on here about a year ago that looked to be between a NW 6 and 7. He got a procedure similar to what you are contemplating. It turned out quite nice with a small number of grafts.

Does anyone remember what his handle was? He was the guy who posted the picture of what he looked like in his early 20's (full head of hair) and how he lost it all by his mid 30's.

underhat,

You can get a natural looking hairplant with minimal grafts, but the real question is, would you be satisfied with a natural diffused thinning look? It seems like, at max, you have been recommended 3800 grafts in totality, which in my opinion, won't do much for a NW7. If you are looking for "coverage", you will have a very fine, thin looking transplant...it could indeed look natural, but IMO, I might think "why bother?". I don't mean to be presumptious with that statement...it really comes down to you and your desires. I would agree that you would need 2 sessions, however, I would suggest also consulting with Dr. Hasson to see what he says. You don't have to go with him, but at least consult with him, since he is the mega megasession king.

Falc

You can split Proscar if you wish. The difficulty is that the pill is sorta Tear Drop shaped and it tough to get it divided into equal quarters.

But you have .25 to play with for each divided serving. Getting too much in a serving will not give additional benifit for hair growth... getting too little over time... will hurt it.

The new generic Proscar I get from Costco is perfectly cylindrical. It's much easier to split evenly.