Q: What time should I take the Propecia? Does it work better if I take it at night as opposed to the morning and should I take it with meals?
A: It doesn’t matter what time of day you take Propecia and the time can very each day.
The absorption of Propecia (finasteride) is not affected by food, so it can be taken without regard to meals.
Q: I wanted to determine if I would be a candidate for FUE (to camouflage a scar). After reading through your vastly informative website, I had become aware that the Fox test is necessary to determine patient viability for FUE. When I mentioned the test, I believe I heard you say it was unnecessary. Please confirm if a Fox test is, in fact, necessary.
A: I generally perform FOX tests on patients when I am considering a FUE hair transplant. I do not routinely perform FOX tests before repairs (or on eyebrow transplants) where the number of grafts is relatively small.
The purpose of FUE is to identify those patients in whom FUE is particularly inefficient — i.e. where there is a greater than average risk of damage during the harvest. If this is the case, I would not perform the hair transplant, since even slight inefficiencies create a significant problem when thousands of grafts are transplanted.
Remember, compared to Follicular Unit Transplant (FUT), FUE is a relatively inefficient procedure to begin with. Even when a small FUE hair transplant is performed (i.e., in a Norwood Class 3) we have to anticipate that eventually the person will need a large amount of grafts, so a FOX test is still important.
However, when the total number of grafts is small, such as in scar revisions or eyebrow restoration, small inefficiencies are not as important.
In addition, with repairs, the donor area is altered so that extraction in different areas may be very be different, rendering a FOX test in scar revisions far less useful.
Finally, if a FUE hair transplant is started, but then aborted due to extraction difficulties, the patient must either be reverted to a strip (which was not the preferred means of harvesting or a FUT would have been planned to begin with) or the patient will be left with a partial procedure – both less than ideal situations. However, if a FUE repair has to be aborted due to the inability to efficiently harvest hair, no harm was done; we just won’t be able to achieve our goal.
Dr. Robert M. Bernstein — of Bernstein Medical – Center for Hair Restoration — performs a follicular unit hair transplant on television as part of a Fox News NY special segment on hair loss and hair transplantation. Dr. Bernstein uses the FUT procedure to correct hair loss and camouflage scarring that resulted from the surgical removal of a large skin cancer on the patient’s scalp.
Watch a 1-minute video clip of the program:
Q: I have been told a number of different ways to massage my scalp. What do you suggest?
A: We have found that the most successful technique is to perform the exercises: once a day, for at least 15 minutes, and using three different hand positions.
For more information on this topic, please see the “scalp laxity exercises” section about half-way down the Donor Area in Follicular Unit Hair Transplantation page of the Bernstein Medical – Center for Hair Restoration website.
Q: How far into the scalp are the grafts placed and is the follicle far enough into the scalp that it will not be damaged? I have heard that the critical time to not touch your scalp is the first 2-3 weeks after the procedure.
A: The growth part of the follicle is 3-4mm into the scalp. Grafts can be dislodged the first 10 days, so you need to be careful not to scrub your scalp during this period. After that, the grafts are permanent. At 2-3 weeks they can’t be dislodged, even by vigorous scrubbing.
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Disclaimer: The purpose of the Hair Transplant Blog is to provide the public with general information on hair restoration. Information provided on this site should not be used for medical diagnosis and/or treatment.
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