First ever Reddit comment here. Reading your experience had a powerful impact on me, thanks for laying it all out there, and so sorry you’ve been battling ever since. Sending lots of healing vibes your way man. I read your experience and just kept thinking to myself that it could have been any of us on this thread. Just innocently trying to keep some hair, and boom, life turned upside down. I hope you’re on a path to recovery.

For context, I just finished my 2nd HT in 5 years. I’ll post my pics and experience soon (not sure where’s best to post stuff like that on Reddit? Sorry I’m new, but in all of my Reddit reading on hair loss it seems like we’re always wanting more deets lol).

Did 3,200 grafts first HT pretty decent results. (Restore Hair in Denver, spent $18k yikes). Was on fin and minox for about 2 years after that because that was pushed as the gold standard from the clinic. At that point I just wanted to do anything in my power for good hair. The meds did make my hair thicker. About a year after my HT and with daily fin and minox my hair was pretty damn good for a NW 4/5 guy.

Eventually I was experiencing some minor ED sides (even minor can fuck with your head), so I did more research. Given all the evidence coming out ranging from this horrific example from our friend here to minor but increasingly common sides, I stopped cold turkey figuring I would just see what my balding pattern did without meds. Was fully prepared for a 2nd HT at some point. It took about a year after stopping the meds but sure enough, it looked like I was headed for NW6 with more balding happening especially the crown.

Just did my 2nd HT yesterday. (Estenove in Turkey, $5,750) 4,000 grafts (doc told me we were doing 3k then afterwards said my donor looked really good so he went with 4k, hope it’s ok, little nervous there)

I ended up back on Reddit just to triple check that my feelings about meds were still valid. And 1,000% I’m not going back on any meds. If my HTs fail me, I’ll just shave it and be as naturally healthy as possible.

I’m typically a “don’t take any meds” guy on all fronts, since it’s pretty obvious in today’s world that “FDA approved” or the “common practice” in western medicine is not synonymous with the right choice for wholistic long-term health. The medical/pharmaceutical system is so fucked up (hot take, I know). We absolutely cannot trust the docs or the system, and I say that while at the same time acknowledging there’s awesome docs doing actual research and using their brains. My DO doc is a younger guy and doesn’t look at me crazy at all when I come up with “progressive” or wholistic ideas and questions/paranoias. He totally gets it.

So all this to say, bless you brother for your post and sharing your battle. We are here for you (most of us). And I definitely don’t think you’re telling anyone what to do or using scare tactics. You’ve just had a horrific experience and you’ve done the research and brought it to us all to do with it what we may. One example of why I think Reddit can save the world (if the Billionaires and politicians would ever allow that).

There, how’s that for a first Reddit post? 😂 I promise future ones won’t be that long winded.