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biscuit explained it very well and I'm rather srprised that there are several of you who appear to not understand the benefit of "slowing down" the progressionary effects of MPB. Some of the younger guys value the meds "only if" they can attain re-growth and what they sometimes "hope" to reverse MPB, which is impossible since MPB is progressive in its nature and non-curable at this point in time.
So, it "has never" been my goal or objective to "regrow" any hair I had already lost to MPB by the age of 41 when I started finasteride. In other words, and I stated this earlier, I have real potential to reach class 6 without the meds. Progressing from a class 5 to class 6 WILL DEMAND MORE DONOR which as we all know is LIMITED. Instead I chose to continue taking finasteride and using my limited donor to add density, rather than continuing to chase more hair loss. Let me explain.
If I were to progress from class 5 to 6, that would require more grafts to cover an additional 3cm width by 30cm length to cover the circumference around the skull in the parietal zone. And that's a conservative estimate! To adequately produce the illusion of coverage, let's also be conservative and say I'll go 40 FU per cm2. Now let's do the math. 3cm X 30cm = 90cm recipient area to fill in. 90cm X 40 FU = 3,600 additional grafts. And that's 3,600 precious grafts, and grafts I want to save and/or use elsewhere, not chase hairloss as I said earlier. Oh, and don't forget, that's also 3,600 grafts in cost that I can save in money because I don't necessarily have to add to my density front to back. That's something I chose to do BECAUSE I DID NOT PROGRESS FARTHER, because I did make the critical decision to get on finasteride TEN YEARS AGO. Had I not got on the meds ten years ago, I would not have that option today to add more density now would I?
More math. 3600 grafts X $8.00 FUE = $28,800 OR 3,600 grafts X $4.00 strip = $14,400! I pay a mear ten dollars copay for 30 tablets of proscar and cut four ways. That lasts me four months. Ten dollars times four equals forty dollars per year times 10 years equals $400. So really, you don't need to judge nor critique my analytical abilities nor my fundamental understanding and knowledge of MPB. And BTW, I speak for many, many guys 40 and older taking finasteride for the very obvious same reasons. You'll see when you get there because don't forget, you're aging day-by-day just like the rest of us.
Now, that being said, let me now explain to you how you can monitor whether or not you are visibly progressing in your MPB or if the meds are in fact really slowing it down. Simply demand that your hairloss doctor monitor and chart your demarcation zone or pattern of loss AND invading miniturization on an on-going basis. This is easily accomplished with the use of a video telescope whereby a hair count of the demarcation zone is performed and then the still images are downloaded for future comparison purposes. Then, with the use of a densometer, the areas of impeding miniturization can be charted and evaluated year-to-year, again charting any and all changes in hair count, hair mass, diameter shaft analyses, etc.
One last thing. Just because you think it's Einstein to only use the hairloss meds IF they meet your criteria DOES NOT imply that someone taking them for purposes unique to yours equates to anything less intelligent. In fact if you really understand the fore-mentioned math, you'll really see who the fool is.
The other thing you need to be really careful about is assuming everyone else holds your values and viewpoint. Have you read your signature disclaimer recently? Maybe practice what you preach? Patients have different needs and varying goals, try to keep that in mind, that is if your goal is to help others here.  Gillenator
I am not a doctor; all opinions shared are not medical advice but my own views. Contributing Physicians: Dr. Glenn Charles, Dr. Jim DeYarman, Dr. Paul Rose, Dr. Ron Shapiro, Dr. Christian Bisanga, Drs. Bob True & Bob Dorin
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