mustang

12 hours ago, jim1973 said:

Are you stating that topical or oral Dutasteride doesn't work well for frontal hair loss?  (A little confused on your statement related to what you've seen over and over related to DHT and "Test")

The more DHT you blocks the higher the Free T will be. 5AR inhibitors are far more effective on the crown and vertex than on the hairline.

I’ve seen it happen dozens of times now on people switching from Finasteride to Dutasteride making their frontal hair loss progress rapidly.

I believe (and this is just a theory and anecdotal) that the hairline and temples are more prone to free testosterone than to DHT or maybe just as prone. 

This is obvious on people taking testosterone having almost 0 DHT with Dutasteride and losing ground rapidly. 

2 hours ago, hairywannabe said:

Well, there are first procedure cases which didn't go well too:
https://www.hairrestorationnetwork.com/topic/65602-dr-mwambas-fue-2200-grafts-work-7-months-review/
https://www.hairrestorationnetwork.com/topic/66589-1935-graft-fue-hair-transplant-nw2-dr-mwamba-brussels/page/8/

and there are simple touch ups which didn't go well:
https://www.hairrestorationnetwork.com/topic/67566-repair-procedure-7-months-can-i-expect-much-more/

and there are repair cases from @Ajamilo@HappyMan2021@RTC  who have their complains about their density and growth percentage.

In comparison, there is simillar (or smaller) amonut of success stories from independent reviewers. This ratio of successes and failures is just worse than in other recommended clinics and that's a fact. Maybe Dr Mwamba indeed have too much work, in addition working in the night must make him and technicans tired (and then people make mistakes easier) and long time with grafts outside of a body doesn't help too. Of course we can argue that this style of working doesn't make a difference - but again, the ratio of successes and failures speaks volumes.

 

I don't question that and I am not here to defend Mwamba just because I had a good result. I agree with what you say but you also have to think that he does almost four hundred cases a year and the good ones will rarely post a review. People just move on. 

Hopefully we will see more positive cases soon for the sake of the clinic on this forum. It's a shame that three people are not satisfied, hopefully a solution will be offered to them.

9 minutes ago, HappyMan2021 said:

@mustang Dr. Mwamba and Clara are solely responsible for the rebates. No one else.

It sounds like you are trying to shift blame to Justine the customer service rep, who has no control over the rebate.

Accountability starts at the top....

Dr. Mwamba and Clara should take ownership and responsibility of this issue they alone created. 

Throwing their innocent employee under the bus would likely make this issue messier than it already is. 

The solution is simple - the clinic needs to honor the rebates they promised patients. Anything else is filibustering and avoiding the issue. 

It sounds like nothing. I am no one to blame x or y. It's obvious that the owners are always the responsible ones for financial matters. What I am saying is communication is horrible and emails should be replied too which has not been the case and this is also the responsibility of the patient coordinator or whoever is in charge of responding to patients.

1 hour ago, ssimpson7511 said:

where were your grafts put in, if its the top which you show how would you know you are getting any results from SP and Trix?

Cause I haven't had surgery in a while. 

9 minutes ago, ALittelTeal said:

I've been applying 2x/week and I'm getting pretty close to considering stopping xyon topical dut. No sexual sides, but still getting lingering ball pain that has not subsided and def messes with my peace of mind. My hair is certainly worse around the hairline since having started. Crown may be doing a little better, but that could very well be the oral minoxidil.  

This confirms to me that hairlines are much more prone to Test than DHT, seen it happen over and over again with people who take Dutasteride

36 minutes ago, ScottishGuy21 said:

Rightly or wrongly reputations built up over decades can be severely impacted by just a handful of cases . Mwamba urgently needs to review his comms team.

No surgery can be a guaranteed success….but follow up actions when things don’t go to plan go a long way to dictating perception of a clinic.
 

I actually wonder how aware Dr Mwamba is? I’m pretty certain an ethical Dr like him with many years of experience behind him wouldn't willing allow radio silence to happen?

I honestly think it doesn’t know until things blow out of proportion and it’s too late to offer a solution to patients. 
 

They need to set a new protocol in place for follow ups. I will be reaching out to Dr Mwamba about this. He is a an open minded guy and I am sure measures will be taken to stop this from happening again. 

On 8/3/2023 at 11:40 PM, hairywannabe said:

Well, I really hoped that Mwamba could be the best doctor for my repair surgery but after so many testimonials of negative experiences from patients who trusted Mwamba (and praised him at the beggining) it just seems like playing Russian roulette. Considering mixed results, problems with achieving a proper density, lack of free touch ups offers when a growth percentage is subpar and a poor communication, it's too much in my opinion.

I feel like an opinion about Mwamba being one of the best doctors appeard way too quickly on the Internet considering that not many cases were documented by his patients. Then this opinion was repeated again and again, until it was checked in real life by more patients and now it seems not really acurrate.

I completely disagree with this.

Mwamba’s practice has been around for almost 20 years now and nobody, and I really mean nobody would take my case to repair my donor but Mwamba.

Thanks to his skills as a surgeon I know have a normal looking donor after being botched twice with over harvesting.

My advice to Mwamba at this point would be to stop taking repair cases and just stick to healthy heads were his work can shine like on capitancalico. Repair patients are way too difficult to predict growth and it then comes back to bite him if it doesn’t grow well when it most likely has nothing to do with his protocols.

My second advice would be to hire a competent patient coordinator for his customer service they proactively reaches out to patients. 

The rebates things are always honored but just like their customer service it’s a pain to get someone to respond, they eventually do. They really need to address this urgently.

As a Mwamba patient it really saddens me to read all of this.

While Dr Mwamba is a highly ethical doctor (and a great person) the clinic obviously needs to hire someone and restructure their customer service. I had great results with him but also struggle to receive a response.

Anyone can have a bad result but a poor result + no communication is a recipe for disaster.

Having been there multiple times I know how late Dr Mwamba finishes surgery and how early he starts next day , non stop. He does not have time to eat sometimes much less to check his emails. They need to get a competent customer service rep and assistant to look after patients to say the least as most clinics do. 
 

It basically stimulates aromatase in your scalp so it converts your free test to a weak form of estrogen and also acts as a local 5AR inhibitor.

People who lose ground on dutasteride and have miniaturization despite having almost zero DHT have this issue. It's almost always resolved by addressing free testosterone 

There is a reason it's called androgenic alopecia and not DHT alopecia.

SMP Update: I might have hit the jackpot with Carmen in Brussels

It has not faded and it has not turned blue. It's been almost two months and I have spent quite some time in the sun without sunscreen, I stupidly forget most days.

The SMP is still there and blends perfectly with the rest of the hair.

I'll be doing another session sometime next year.

Saw Palmetto with Trichoxidil. Two ml daily

Once a week with microneedling at one mm

Two months. Zero shedding.

Hair looking better.

On 8/17/2023 at 5:26 PM, Etownone said:

Pretty similar to mine.   Expect no top prog. 

I dropped the test down to 120 last week,   I hope that makes a difference.    I'm pretty sure my continued hair loss is related to the high test.   

 So why did you stop?  So many benifits being on trt.   

use seventeen alfa estradiol with topical fin or dut. That will prevent further hair loss from Test, not DHT.

140 mg a week (40 EOD) , 100iu HCG daily and 10mg topical progesterone

If I hope back on TRT again I'll be using alfa estradiol with fin topically and either CB or mesotherapy.

12 hours ago, GoliGoliGoli said:

I've always been suspicious of the idea that transplanted hair is "as permanent as it would be had you left it in the donor". 

If you take 100 people from town A where it is very clean and move them to down B where it is polluted with toxic waste, don't be surprised if they get sick.

If you take 100 hair follicles from the donor where maybe there isn't as much DHT activity, and move it to the scalp where there is a lot of DHT, I guess you can't be surprised if those hairs minitarize. But this is just speculation, maybe the hair follicles in the donor are just not as susceptible to DHT due to some physiological/genetic reason compared to the rest of the scalp, and it isn't about DHT concentrations varying at all. 

This is not how it works. There is DHT present in your entire body, including your door area. They are not genetically predisposed to androgenic miniaturization, just like there is DHT in your face and your beard is not affected. 

10 hours ago, Grouse said:

I'm actually looking into finding a DUT mesotherapy provider here in the USA to try that instead. If I can't, I'll try overnight applications with a 0.05% solution.

 

I'm still shell shocked from when I used 1% liposomal topical FIN from Farmacia Paratti, which was waaaay too strong and had awful, awful side effects. 😫

FIN use 0.01% , not 1%, you get a 10% DHT reduction for ever ml roughly 

DUT mesotherapy  0.05% not made in the US

1 hour will pretty much ot do anything. Much less with Trichosol, try overnight 

Another "interesting" finding.

They day after microneedling Saw Palmetto I have no morning wood and feel a little tired. Libido is slightly lower.

This goes away the following day and it only happens if I microneedle it. 

This tells me a few things about the short half life and the systemic effect these natural compounds have. I am at 25% now with Saw Palmetto so 500mg per application (2ml)

Morning wood is a wonderful non bias way to measure potential side effects on 5AR inhibitors or blockers.

Hair still the same, feels a little thicker, no more shedding.

Liposomal has greater absorption than Trichosol (water based solutions)

Whether that's good or bad for your case I don't know.

You can get away with lower concentrations with Liposomal carriers and therefore it will be safer, for example, 0.01% of Finasteride which will only reduce 10% systemic DHT on average while 50% on your scalp. 

Then again with Dutasteride you might want as little as it possible to be absorbed. Trichosol is also alcohol free while Liposomes are not. 

I guess you need to try both alternatives. A good option would be daily Liposomal Finasteride with one a week Microneedling Dutasteride Mesotherapy (non liposomal).

Damn, this is brutal!!

After that beautiful thick hair to have to go through this sucks man but at least you know it will look even better than before in a few months

Patience!!

10 minutes ago, arthurSam said:

Hi mustang,

Thanks for the experiment!

But why do you not take topical duta as it seems you had already very good results with it previously?

My pleasure

It's all explained on the first post.

22 hours ago, EricLaurent said:

Thank you for these experiences! Unfortunately I very much doubt the action that Saw Palmetto can have but Trichoxidil will certainly have an effect!

I can't wait to see the results!

I thought so too but the fact that some BHT hairs fell out (never shed one in my life) and the same happened when applied on the beard tells me DHT is being reduced.

I think Saw Palmetto does reduce DHT, specially if applied directly transdermal and in a very high dose but it's no Finasteride for sure.

10 hours ago, mmokin said:

would the topical dutasteride or topical CB have fewer libido effects than topical saw palmetto?

I don't know

I do remember not having sides with Topical Dutasteride so maybe

Things are looking better

I'll upload pics in a few weeks

Sadly I do feel my libido has gone down a bit. At least we know it works to some extent.