bismarck

Amazing result. May I ask what made you choose the flatter look as opposed to more angulated temple points?

I'd love to see updates as well. I'm curious bman when you come back, did you and Rahal discuss the possibility of a widow's peak?

Would love to seen an update sir!

If you're not able to give up drugs and alcohol for your hair transplant, you shouldn't be getting the procedure in the first place.

On 3/17/2018 at 4:23 AM, Payam said:

Day 3 post op

I am seeing some really bad gaps in my hairline today, coordinator at the clinic is saying it is completely normal but when i google answers from other surgeons and MD's they are saying it is NOT normal and that i should contact the surgeon immediately, which is impossible at this clinic, so i have to trust my coordinator for now..

I really hate how the Turkish clinics do this -- very unethical and below the standard of care for any Western medical practice.

On 5/31/2019 at 1:01 AM, elduterino said:

The doc gave me a small bottle of shampoo which seems to be the same as famous j&j baby shampoo 

Mix some on you hand and gently pat on the hair then use a shower head while placing your hand bedore the head to cut the jet of water 

No issue 

Also, I sleept elevated and tied my two wrists to the bed so to not scratch my head in my sleep as it gets itchy this is crucial as you can loose grafts in the first 5 days 

Jesus that is S&M level dedication. Respect.

On 5/31/2019 at 1:15 AM, elduterino said:

I did prepare a nice soft thick rope bought in advance for the occasion but I guess any rope or string will work if you ask your hotel maybe they have some 

For my first Fue I used tee shirts attached together to form a rope 

Why didn't you just put mittens on your hands?

43 minutes ago, jj51702 said:

Any references that show that fue takes longer to grow in?

I would check out the Beehner study but it's more of a colloquial observation based on cases here. FUE seems to have stringier and more delayed results on average than FUT in many cases from what I've seen. Very few formal studies comparing them head to head though.

Definitely give it till a year to see how things fill in and become a bit more robust. I'm sure not what you were hoping for at 10 months, but FUE can sometimes take longer to come in.

Cocaine is a vasoconstrictor and will wreak havoc on your transplant.

Very nice. It does seem growth was a little lagging in areas where the scabbing/crusting were heaviest initially, but things seem to have evened out. Please keep us updated, you are really coming along well.

We need better pics and before/after to comment. Also your age and medication regimen.

Asmed has always been hit or miss. Not as bad as Doganay but certainly have seen some really disheartening work from them over the years. My guess is that it's because of the higher volume and tech turnover -- ie surgeon might be the same but the techs vary over time.

It would be nice if people posting their experiences in Europe/Asia noted who the techs were, as they are so instrumental.

On 2/13/2019 at 9:21 PM, FUEblonde1985 said:

IOther than taking ibuprofen after the surgery, everything seems to be normal. Once I woke up, i was no longer in pain and haven't really felt anything yet. The doctor told me the ibuprofen won't have any effect on the graft survival, it can just cause excessive bleeding from the donor area (doesn't seem to be a huge issue at the moment). I also apparently misinterpreted the pre-op instructions regarding smoking - the warning made specific reference to the dangers of nicotine - so I assumed that smoking marijuana was still OK (I used marijuana semi-regularly 1-2 times/week), and had smoked it 4 days prior to the surgery. Dr. Diep didn't like that but said it should be fine, but advised me to refrain from any marijuana use for an "entire year" ?!?!. From what I've been reading, it seems that the general MO is to refrain from smoking anything for a month or so, but after that I can resume. Cannabis has been show to inhibit growth of hair generally from what secondary sources I've read, but it doesn't appear from anything I could find that would cause the failing of hair grafts once the grafts are fully healed. If anyone has better information they could chime in?

 

It's an interesting point about the weed. Certainly marijuana increases estrogen levels, both short and long term, which is a great DHT inhibitor, so that would probably go against what Diep said. I suspect his main concern is the free radicals you might generate from the smoking itself. Also, I read a study from about 15 years ago that marijuana has anti-VEGF activity (which is a growth factor that promotes blood vessel growth), though I don't remember the methodology. CBD itself would probably have anti-oxidant activity.

Hormesis vs anti-oxidant activity is a very complicated subject. I don't think there's a clear answer regarding the effects of weed on hair loss, though my hunch is that it probably would impair your healing if smoked, though the rebound jump in testosterone after discontinuing might impact your native hairs.

Are you in a place where you can switch to oil/edibles? If you went to Diep, I'm guessing California?

Regarding comments on technique, Diep's work is for the most part decent, though he certainly seems to have become more aggressive with the donor area (akin to the Spanish docs), presumably to preserve more of the dermal papillae and enhance graft survival. This is why I generally favor the strip first, FUE later approach that Bloxham and many others have advocated on these forums. You burn your ships, but you win the war. Did Diep tell you what caliber punches he took? 1 mm?

And certainly keep us updated.  Would love to see how you evolve. Best of luck.

Keser certainly has a softer touch it seems, and gets strong early growth compared to most.

Strong work. Should this belong in "Results Posted by Leading Hair Restoration Clinics" instead though? Mods may want to move it.

Very strong work. It is a very horizontal design though, though this may be more natural depending on your ethnicity.

Did you intentionally ask them to blunt your temple points?

On 6/16/2019 at 11:11 AM, RecessionProof said:

Going to post another update at the 3 month mark. Lots of new sprouts coming in, so I’m excited for the hairline to start forming 

Sorry, I didn't note the date carefully on your last post. Please be patient and keep us updated. Good luck growing.

On 5/20/2019 at 8:39 PM, Spanker said:

Are you on meds?  

On 5/21/2019 at 8:55 AM, Curlinginthesquatrack said:

Are you on finasteride or dutasteride, keto, minox?

It does look stringy when combed down. Retrospectively, you could have probably used more dense packing if it stays at this level but give it some time (up to 12 mo) to see if more grafts are hiding.

I'm not sure why the UK seems to be so far behind in surgical technique than, literally, everyone else.

Perhaps socialized medicine doesn't encourage aggressive development of cosmetic surgery training programs on the isles as it does elsewhere, perhaps it's a reflection of their economic sluggishness since withdrawing from the EU, who knows.

Either way, I would avoid the poms for the most part until they start stepping up their game. Were you reimbursed for the procedure? Would  you be willing to share pictures?

Also, I would not go back to them for a "correction" this is almost always the wrong move.

On 6/17/2019 at 2:00 AM, harry_potter1 said:

This isn't how it works. 

For example, new generation of antibiotics is possibly top 3 if not the top priority as we are getting closer to a human catastrophe on so many levels without it .

But still not solved,why? because companies doesn't profit enough from it in comparison to chronic diseases so they invest in the later.

And pharmaceutical company that can achieve a cure for hair loss (especially if it is used over years) will make zillions. 

Money dedicates research. Not need unfortunately.

Only exception is when it is serious condition governments will subsidize it 

Hair loss is not, nor will ever be, as profitable as any of the diseases I listed for pharmaceutical companies. That is why research and development stopped with RU -- they went bankrupt, were bought out, and no one was willing to carry the product through the finish line. This is happening even with more serious illnesses -- Pfizer and Enbrel was literally mass murder on a corporate scale.

The reimbursements by insurance companies in the US are extrapolated from Medicare, which in turn are determined by the Policy & Steering Committee in Congress. Insurance companies are willing to pay more for life saving therapies than they are for cosmetic procedures. Wesley's research, for example, probably stopped because he ran out of funding, not because he wasn't getting results. Unfortunately, despite what anyone under 50 thinks, hair loss is small potatoes in the big scheme of things and at most an inconvenience compared to legitimately losing your health.

On 6/17/2019 at 6:40 PM, harry_potter1 said:

It will benefit whoever is selling it.

It will basically take the whole market for itself

You're exactly right. I'm tired of this "there's more money in chronic treatment than in a cure". This is a nonsense argument. Pharmaceutical companies don't think in terms of making money for the entire industry, they are selfish. They think of making money for themselves.

The single company that "cures" AIDS or cancer or heart disease will make hundreds of billions (along with a few Nobel prizes) and happily bury the chronic disease treatments that their competitors have come up with. A cure for hairloss is a logarithmic scale smaller, and will result in tens of billions in profit, but anyone that finds it will certainly take the prize.

 The reason chronic illnesses are not cured is because they are f*cking complicated, and very rarely do diseases get cured by a single magic bullet. Rather it takes several bullets, then dosing it with gasoline and lighting it on fire, then nuking the remains. Hair loss is incredibly complex, these binary arguments are oversimplistic and cater to the conspiracy theory crowd that always questions but never comes up with alternatives.

Medical cure priorities:

1) Cancer

2) Heart disease

3) Stroke

4) Obesity and diabetes

5) Alzheimer's, Parkinson's, Dementia

6) Autoimmune disease, lupus, multiple sclerosis

7) Emphysema

8 )  Mental health, depression, schizoprenia, bipolar, etc

9) Osteoporosis, fractures

----

100) Hair loss

So, no. There are far more serious and financially massive issues with health. It's just that most people on this forum are too young to have experienced them yet.

On 9/11/2018 at 2:54 AM, Speegs said:

Your agenda had no place on this thread and backfired terribly.

No agenda, no backfiring, just a discussion followed by your clueless naval gazing. Get your head out of your bum.

On 9/10/2018 at 8:43 AM, Melvin-Moderator said:

Your analogies are misplaced and you’re failing to understand that both surgical techniques are Follicular Unit Transplantation. 

Some surgeons place grafts with implantation pens/instruments and others place grafts with forceps. According to you this is a “jack of all trades”. The procedure itself is the same the only difference is how the grafts are being implanted. Well its the same way for harvesting, this will be my last reply on the matter if you don’t understand then you’re simply choosing not too. 

I think the analogies hold up fine in this context, particularly the fighting analogy. All because there is an overlap doesn't mean they are the same procedure.

No one in America is doing with FUE what the Europeans are, no one in Europe is doing with FUT what the North Americans are. Both are getting close, but there is a consistent significant difference of about 10-20% yield from patient submitted cases on these forums -- even the elite of the elite. Part of it is surgical skill, part of it is regulatory oversight with regards to techs. Because the US is far more litigious, things are more cautious here. But sometimes with HRT, especially FUE, you need help.

It has been a few months, any updates sir?

God bless you son. Just trying to explain why the European docs have so much better results than the Americans when it comes to FUE on average. 

I don't think either of you have come up with remotely compelling counterpoints, so we'll just have to leave it there.