My original Reddit reply, reproduced in full:
I would stop listening that doctor after hearing those answers. Those answers suggest that your doctor knows little about long term management of hair transplant results. I doubt he has more than 10 years of experience in hair transplantation.
A hair transplant surgeon, who follows patients’ progress over long term, particularly for 5 years or more, and stays in contact with them can see how important medical treatment is for maintaining hair transplant results.
In short term, such as first 2-3 years after surgery, you may achieve a good result and remain satisfied even without consistent medical treatment, such as Finasteride/Dutasteride and Minoxidil.
However, once you begin losing the pre-existing hair surrounding the transplanted grafts, the overall result may deteriorate.
Over the long term, even %10-20 of transplant grafts may also be lost without suppressing DHT production in body with Finasteride or Dutasteride. In theory, nearly all donor grafts are DHT resistant and should remain in the recipient area of scalp. However, in practice, %10-20 may be lost within 5-10 years.
Advice such as “You don’t need medication; you’ll be fine without it” often comes from practitioners with little or no experience or from people who present themselves as doctors despite not being qualified physicians.
Even during the pre-surgery consultation and planning phase, the clinic and surgeon should discuss medical treatment with the patient. Before proceeding with surgery, the patient should understand that long term medical treatment will be necessary afterward. Failing to explain medical treatment before or after surgery is a typical sign of a hair mill clinic.
Frankly, when a prospective patient says that he wants a hair transplant but is unwilling to take the required medications, I’m inclined not to accept him as a surgery candidate.
In short, if you want a hair transplant, you must be prepared to commit to long term medical treatment. Hair transplants are effective when supported by ongoing treatment, without it the results are unlikely to last. This approach has been tried countless times without long term success, but you’re free to decide for yourself.
Also, the risk of side effects is often greatly exaggerated. Only a very small percentage of patients experience any side effects, and in almost all cases, side effects disappear after stopping medication or lowering dosage and frequency. The main issue is that the overwhelming majority of patients who’ve undergone hair transplants and use these medications for years without any problems are silent and not motivated to share their positive experiences online of forums and reddit.
In contrast, the patients who experienced side effects from medications are, in fact they’re very small part of all patients, very vocal, they often turn to forums and reddit to voice their negative experiences. This imbalance creates a distorted perception. After reading a few side effect comments, people become self-convinced that they will experience side effects if they start medication.
People tend to be more vocal about negative points and remain quiet when everything goes well. It’s almost valid for every aspect of human life.
Original Reddit comment:
Video:
Dr. Mehmet Demircioglu
Diamond Hair Clinic, Istanbul, Turkey
Hair Transplant Consultation
WhatsApp: 0546 840 41 75
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