Balding Blog

The official half life in the blood is about 6 hours and in the body tissues is 4-7 days. But as you take the calculation forward, some will remain for a few weeks after that. I tell my patients that 4-6 weeks is a reasonable expected target.

I’m trying to figure out what the half-life of fin is, in the event I end up taking 60mg one day and 140mg the next day. How much would this impact the effectiveness of fin working for me?

Finasteride has a 6-hour half-life, however, it lasts in your tissues (hair follicles) at least 7 days or more. For that reason, you don’t have to be exact on taking it, provided that you take a total of 7 mg per week. I believe that you got your numbers wrong as 60 mgs would be 60 times the dose of a standard finasteride (Propecia or 12 times the dose or a Proscare 5mg pill).

I’ve heard stories about people who quit fin after 10 or so years and feel so much more better, or people who suddenly start experiencing side effects after a long time of taking fin. Is fin safe to take over a long term period?

I have been on it for years and many of my patients as well. If you don’t get the sexual side effects (which are real in 2-4% of men), then most of the changes over decades on the drug are most likely related to normal changes seen in men who develop Erectile Dysfunction.

A Maturing hairline is a natural process and does not reflect any male pattern balding while a receding hairline reflects terminology of a presentation of genetic balding in men. The mature hairline is located in the midline, one finger breadth above the highest crease of the furrowed brow.

What Is The Difference Between the ARTAS robot and the Neograft?

ARTAS is a robot that harvest the graft using computerized sighting and automation. No surgical skill is needed for this. Any doctor with a degree can buy the ARTAS and start harvesting grafts. Transplanting them and having results is another story.

Neograft is an instrument a human (doctor) uses to take out the graft using human skills. Surgical skill and hand eye coordination is needed for this.

These are just tools available to doctors and not the complete solution in hair transplant surgery.

A good doctor can do the FUE without the ARTAS or Neograft. It is just that these tools are well advertised on the Internet and it attracts patients with their technology. Many great doctors perform FUE without the use of ARTAS or Neograft, but they may have them at their disposal as one of their many instruments.

There are so many different options for hair transplants nowadays. What are the difference in Artas and Neograft? Why are they so popular?

Think of the ARTAS as using an electric wrench held by a robot to tighten a loose nut. The Neograft is like using an electric wrench held by a human to tighten a loose nut. A human (doctor) can just as easily tighten the loose nut with a hand held socket wrench. The results are same. It is just more expensive to own a robot.

Despite what you may think, hair transplant surgery is basically taking hair out and relocating to another area.
The skill and expertise required to carry out this task is what sets doctors apart.

There are two general methods in taking out (harvesting) the grafts: (1) FUE and (2) FUT – strip.
The ARTAS and Neograft are just tools that harvest the grafts using the FUE method.

The “options” you mention are pertaining to the TOOLS that doctors use to carry out surgery. The ARTAS system is just a tool that a doctor may use to harvest the hair grafts. The results from ARTAS should be the same as any other type of surgery in the same capable hands.

People who have hair transplants shed the transplanted hair and the grafts within the first few months. People with shock loss loose their native hair that remains not the transplanted hair. The native hair is often the hair that is miniaturizing and will eventually be lost

Hairline lowering procedures come in two types (1) a hairline advancement surgery (a good surgery for women but generally not men) and (2) a hairline lowering hair transplant surgery. When women have corner recession as many men do, then a hairline advancement surgery is not as good as a hair transplant lowering surgery. As this surgery could leave a scar in the front of the hairline, men who recede shouldn’t have it because their hairline could go back and leave the scar exposed requiring a hair transplant to cover it. Be careful, as some surgeon promote what they know not what may be good for you. Here are some examples of a hair transplant hairline lowering surgery:

A mature hairline is located 1 finger breadth above the highest crease of the furrowed brow in the mid-line and a gentle V-Shape to the hairline. IF the V-[shape is too sharp], the corner recession could be present, the beginning of a Class 3 pattern of balding.

What is the cost of buying and maintaining one? And also how does it work, does anyone here have any kind of experience with it?

Good hair systems over a 5 year period will cost you more than a hair transplant. You have to have more than one and they wear out every year or two. You have to wash them often, wash your hair and remove the glues, change them as you have hair cuts, etc. I wrote this back in 2011: https://baldingblog.com/repost-my-hair-system-cost-me-over-16000-in-5-years/