Surgery that moves hair follicles from the back of the scalp to thinning areas
- What precautions should be taken after a hair transplant? Clinics commonly advise avoiding strenuous activity, smoking, alcohol, direct sun and touching the grafts while the scalp heals. Any change to a prescribed medicine, including blood thinners, should be agreed with the doctor who prescribed it.
Popular 5-alpha reductase inhibitor that lowers DHT, taken as a pill or used topically
- Are there really risks with topical finasteride? Reports on topical finasteride describe scalp irritation and dermatitis as the effects specific to it, and blood levels lower than the oral drug; whether the oral drug's systemic side effects (sexual, mood, suicidal-thought, cognitive and breast/semen effects, some reported to persist after stopping) are genuinely rarer on the topical form has not been measured in a trial powered to answer it. Both forms are prescription-only and contraindicated around pregnancy.
- Is finasteride safe? In one-year trials most men tolerated finasteride 1 mg, but its risks are not only sexual: US, UK and EU regulators warn of sexual dysfunction, depression and suicidal thoughts, and of sexual and mood symptoms that have continued after stopping, and men also report cognitive, anxiety and physical symptoms. How often lasting problems happen, and how much of that the drug causes, is not known; finasteride is prescription-only and must not be taken, or handled as crushed or broken tablets, by women who are or may be pregnant.
5-alpha reductase inhibitor that blocks both enzyme types, a stronger DHT blocker than finasteride
- Is it dangerous to buy dutasteride without a prescription? Dutasteride is a prescription medicine, and its US label warns about a PSA drop, a higher rate of high-grade prostate cancer in one trial, sexual and breast side effects (the sexual ones may persist after stopping, with dutasteride's role unknown), depressed mood and a new UK class warning about depression and suicidal thoughts, risks in pregnancy and a 6-month blood-donation deferral. Buying from unregulated online sellers adds the risk of counterfeit or contaminated products.
Injections of drug or vitamin mixtures into the scalp