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Taken4Granted

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Everything posted by Taken4Granted

  1. Hey @Melvin-Moderator, it’s a long story. The first one was an excision to get rid of the fibrous tissue. The second one targeted the fat. I went back for a third because it came back after a few more years on fin. I did the final one because the third one wasn’t quite right. It’s not like I took it and things went haywire right away. For me, it was a gradual slide into more severe side effects and accumulation of estrogen+ tissue due to a slight but persistent imbalance. It was a daily struggle of weighing hair against libido and weird issues with physique. Each side of it was bad enough to cause anguish without being significantly worse than the trade off. I also had false assumptions. I thought I’d never have to deal with gyno again after getting it removed. I thought I could cut the fin down enough to protect my hair without causing intolerable sides. I was wrong. Eventually the hair loss caught up and the benefit was no longer worth the sides. It took a while to feel semi-normal again, but dropping the fin made all the difference. Instead of seeing the tissue slowly pile up again within a year of surgery, the results from my last round actually keep getting better and tighter. It’s been a very instructive experience. My lessons: - hair loss always wins - don’t toy with your hormones - don’t get cheap on cosmetic surgery - if you can live with it, leave it alone
  2. Very similar situation here, similar age and pattern also. I’ve had 4 gyno surgeries directly related to fin and will never go back to it. In my experience, any history of excess tissue there makes you prone to future problems even after surgery and on a lower dose. Still, I’m srsly considering HT, knowing it commits me to a long-term strategy to maximize donor harvest over maybe 3 surgeries. I had great results on fin but I doubt it makes any difference to the long-term outcome. At least I wouldn’t count on it. It just delays. What would have been a problem at 40 becomes a problem at, say, 50-60, depending on the person. I’m sure there’s a lot of gray area there, but I think it’s more the timing and strategy of your HT that depends on fin, not so much surgery in general. I have no credibility on this, curious what others will say to that. However, I think the shape of your head makes it a less urgent problem for you. With a dome like that, bald isn’t necessarily cosmetic/social death. Maybe experiment with that look for a while. If you get botched, your current situation will seem pretty nice.
  3. Oh yeah, many well-known surgeons: Rahal, Mohebi, Rassman, Meshkin, Carman, Alexander, Ross, Reed and so on. But in my estimation the top 5 are out of state. I’d look at Konior, Cooley and Gabel first. In CA, I would go with Carman first. He doesn’t knock your socks off, but I haven’t see him botch one. But don’t take it from me. I haven’t even had surgery, and I just learned about Gabel from @Melvin-Moderator a few days ago, though I’ve since seen quite a lot of his work. Anyway, I’ve tried to convince myself that there’s a rock solid option out here, but I’m not getting good enough vibes. I’ll leave it at that. Not trying to sh*t-talk people.
  4. I’m in the same area, decided to go out of state.
  5. @LaserCap Thanks for weighing in. Yes, it seems the meds keep piling up. I would gladly suffer my little ailments off these medications for the sake of good results, though. I do plan to bring them up explicitly with my doc, but I’m also curious how much of the variability in outcomes might be explained by medication or underlying conditions. @1978matt Thanks, man. As a three-time Konior patient, your experience carries a lot of weight. I wonder if you got antihistamines to prevent you from sneezing while K was placing those grafts. Edit - Wow, Matt. I wasn’t acquainted with your case until today. I’m murderously jealous. Good for you.
  6. Hey Everyone, I’m a long-time member, newly active now that I’m reconsidering a transplant. Thanks for humoring some tired questions. I couldn’t find quite what I need by searching. Clearly post-op care is a big factor in the outcome of your HT. There are some obvious rules to follow, def glad to follow instructions. However, I can’t get clarity about certain medications that worry me, namely stimulants, alpha blockers and anti-histamines. Have you guys gotten any specific instructions about these drugs? I’ll go over my concerns for each. Stimulants work in different ways, but usually they weaken your immune system and deplete your body’s resources. If you’ve ever taken Sudafed for an extended period of time, you might have noticed that cuts, scrapes, blemishes and other minor insults to your bodily tissues do not heal as quickly. It can also exacerbate acne and infections. I don’t understand the mechanism(s) behind it, but these drugs clearly weaken your immune system and slow down the healing process. If nothing else, they can disrupt your metabolism and endocrine system enough to stunt hair growth or, in cases of abuse, induce TE. I have a similar concern about anti-histamines. Depending on the drug class, some of them arguably weaken your immune system by definition. In any case, they’re all designed to interfere with your natural histological processes, usually thought of as “inflammation” (which has a misleading normative connotation), but this too relates to immunology and healing. And since we know the importance of circulation in the scalp, it’s reasonable to wonder whether drugs with cardiovascular side effects might also affect your recipient site, for better or worse. Alpha blockers are famous for lowering blood pressure, sometimes dangerously, and causing other side effects related to vasodilation - extreme sinus pressure, in my case. If this pill has such profound effects in other tissues above the neck, I wonder how it might affect my scalp and grafts after surgery. Thanks in advance for sharing your thoughts, experiences and recommendations, esp. those in health care.
  7. It is a huge improvement. If I were you, I’d be happy my FUT wasn’t a disaster. That’s the big thing we all dread. I am interested in this Toppik question. It would be really nice to use concealers in the early months, but it’s not allowed. After the wounds heal, I don’t see why it matters. I don’t question the post-op instructions, just curious about the rationale behind that. Hoping someone can enlighten me on that.
  8. Still got an enviable head of hair. You’re just starting your adult life, better not blow it on some rando charging rock-bottom. Sounds like the thinning and recession has just begun, so I’d recommend you hold off until you know what you’re dealing with long-term, especially if you might toy with your hormones again in the future. Also, if you’re on gear and taking anti-estrogens, be aware that low estrogen is also very bad for your hair. You look young and healthy. I strongly recommend that you abstain from chemicals and cosmetic surgery and focus on your future. Coming here was a good choice. Good luck, sir.
  9. I haven’t had my HT yet, but I’ve known which doctor I want for 10 years. I’m going for a consultation soon myself, but it’s less about the doctor and more about the prospect of surgery. I don’t think a consultation can replace or overrule good research, so it’s a challenging question.
  10. If you have a bad HT, losing your deposit will seem like a petty concern in retrospect. I’m aware that Rahal has done outstanding work, but I ruled him out for my first HT (strip) bc some of his patients do have unacceptable results. It’s less risk with FUE, but you should never go under the knife with a surgeon you don’t trust. Can you share some of these bad results you mentioned? If ALL the results you can find are unacceptable, it could be an issue with your expectations.
  11. @giegnosiganoe I think 5% is low, and the claim to reversibility is also questionable, but I agree it’s worth trying. It’s just good to understand the risk any time you toy with your hormones. I don’t want start a huge debate about it, just saying I wouldn’t take it quite so lightly.
  12. @jsmyth Agree. I wouldn’t risk it with Rahal. He’s done great, truly superb work, but I’ve seen unacceptable outcomes with some of his patients.
  13. I have no experience with either, but I would incline toward SMP. I’m sure hair systems are clever these days, but they’re the most humiliating when they fail and, to my knowledge, they make it a lot harder to transition. With less drastic concealers (Toppik, SMP etc.), you have room to decide how much you want to enhance your appearance. You can slowly experiment, adapt and transition your look. That way you minimize the “omg, Tim is bald!?” reaction when you give up the pretense. Plus a hairsystem will be a huge barrier to close relationships with women. You won’t know when or how to disclose that. But I’m really the wrong guy to speak on this. Hopefully there are dudes around here who can speak from experience.
  14. Losing your hair in your early twenties is a b*tch. Sorry, bro. Most likely, you won’t be able to afford decent work for a while. Whatever happens, don’t make it worse by doing something desperate. For now, this is your life. Just try to go through it with dignity and focus on things that really matter. I cruised with Toppik for a while and ended up buzzing it really short. It looks worse in the beginning because your scalp is a different skin tone at first. After getting some UV exposure, it blends a lot better.
  15. @Guanyu76 I used Tresemme, for no particular reason. I think it’s more about the process. I’d put in a coat, drop some spray, run my hands through my hair a bit, let it dry, break it up, add a little water, comb it a bit, drop in a little more toppik, a little more spray... Working with it and gradually adding moisture/spray and toppik gave me a thick, durable result. It still looked good in the morning and left nothing on the pillow. I got caught in the rain a few times and had no problems. You just need to experiment. I only had trouble when I used it more to coat my scalp than to thicken my hair. That’s a dangerous game.
  16. @jsmyth No kidding. I’m just looking into this again after deciding to hold off 10 years ago. It’s more expensive than I remember. I mean, I was planning for a high price tag and I’m still surprised. All the same, I would pay it. I would pay anything to fix a disastrous HT, so it seems better to choose the right doc and pay away some of the risk. My situation is worse, though. It’s gonna take FUT and several rounds.
  17. @BeHappy I appreciate that POV, but I’ve been using Toppik every day for 10 years. If you use it sparingly and lock it in with a little moisture or hairspray (this takes skill), it’s virtually undetectable. I went several years before I finally disclosed to my fiancée what I was doing. Even though she’s known about it for years, she was still shocked by the extent of my hair loss when I showed her the photos I sent out for a virtual consultation. The point is you can live that way if you have enough hair to work with, and I’m confident that 9 of 10 guys in their early twenties would choose that over being the one bald guy. But it doesn’t work unless you understand that less is more. You have to yield ground.
  18. @jsmyth He’s recommending that graft count because he knows you need density. We high NWs would not use 3000 grafts to cover that. If you’re seeking a serious answer to exactly how thick, I’d recommend estimating the area you need covered in square centimeters. You can divide the graft count over that and look up results posted with stats on grafts/cm^2. I think the surgeon should be the main thing on your mind. Once you talk to one or two, you’ll have a better idea of what to expect. I haven’t gotten my HT yet, but I’m ride-or-die for Konior.
  19. @Melvin-Moderator Thanks. I was worried. The price has really gone up in the past 10 years.
  20. @HTHope @HairNeeded Yeah, how much do you want for that surgery date? Def jealous. Hard to beat Konior. Does his cost/graft include all fees associated with the operation?
  21. Btw, I found some old photos from Jan 2011, about 4 years into my hair loss. Boy, I should have appreciated my hair more than I did. I’ve added one recent one (9.5 years later) for comparison. Young gentlemen take note.
  22. Hey @Melvin-Moderator, I’m looking at a couple different surgeons right now, trying to figure out what the total cost will be with travel and everything included. Do you know what’s typically included when a surgeon quotes the cost/graft? If it’s just the surgeon’s fee and not facilities, labor (tech team), supplies etc., that could be a big problem for me.
  23. I think if topical is any use, it’ll be somewhat transdermal and get into the bloodstream. I don’t really know, but my prejudice is that it’s equivalent to a low-dose pill. It’s the same with minox, which sometimes causes non-local sides. By the way, I didn’t have serious side effects in the first couple years on finasteride. The issues gradually intensified as I got into my late twenties. I think there may be a cumulative aspect to it.
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