menosmolas

Hello everyone, a 12months update. I have no big news, the hairline and density looks natural and solid since the 6-7th month, and I do not seen any noticeable trace in the donor area. I think I have been just very lucky and the procedure turned out very well for me. My main problem keeps being dealing with the sides of the medication (1.25 mg of finas four times per week), which now I know I cannot discontinue (when I did I have a terrible cosmetic loss in 6m). I attach some photos with the same light as always.

I 'm sorry that you have had no good results KO. I cross fingers for it going better as soon as possible. I do not want to add any noise to the conversation, but indeed the medication stopping its effect can have a devastating effect in few months, I had a terrible cosmetic loss in half a year when i was not taking it regularly (and actually this made me undergo to a HT under a unbelievable lot of stress). Also, another thing that we all should bear in mind is that, even if the doctor is good and the procedure/post-op goes well, there is no granted results, unfortunately. best of the luck again KO, I'm confident you will be in a better position in the near future.

Hi everyone, i thought i could make a small update, now that i've overpassed the 8th month landmark. Everything looks great to me, and honestly it was like this since the 5th month post-op, so I think I have been lucky. The hairline looks very solid and totally natural, and the rest of the transplanted area looks perfectly fine. There is no noticeable thing in the donor area neither at 3mm buzz (I did not cut it shorter lately). I upload some crappy photos I took with my mobile, I will try to take better ones and post it too. Overall, although there was some quite stressful moments in the way, the procedure has been a very good decision and besides the sides of the medication (this is another story) is quite liberating that the hair is not a big issue in my current life. good luck to everyone!

If for any help, the growing in my case started to be meaningful at the 4 and a half months post-op follow-up. hope you the best!

Hello everyone, another update in my 5 and a half months post-op. The growing has been happening since last month (meaning that it started to kick at 4 and a half months after the procedure). Together with the hair that did not fall in the ugly duck phase and the general longer length, the feeling of density is really good at this point. The hairline also looks very natural (I want to note that now I'm happy I chose 'the most conservative' hairline option, although I had second thoughts on whether it was the best option after the procedure ). The redness of the skull is also totally fade out since some weeks ago. In summary, and regardless of what is going to happen in the incoming months, it looks already very good to me at this follow-up time point. I attach some photos; as always, the look is really depending on the light, so I use the same one that I have been using for the remaining of my posts (which I would say is medium harsh). The upper row have two photos with the hair wet and two with the hair dry. The lower row shows the donor area with very short hair (2mm buzz). You can probably see some 'red-brown dots', which corresponds to the extraction scars; it is noticeable, but not that much, and they can pass for just some sort of pimples. In any case, with the hair a bit longer, you can not see anything. What it's a bit more obvious to me is certain depletion in some areas, but it is still in the 'totally ok' range. best to everyone--

Thanks for your comments; @fullheadofhair , to make a long story short, I had a short list of doctors based on the quality of their work (that I was able to recopilate browsing very intensively internet) and the feeling I had with the online contacts with them (and I say online because I had no physical visit before the procedure, which is not the ideal solution). Once I had such a short-list, the final decision was mainly driven by agenda issues. In general, the most important for me was to be sure that everything that is my responsability as a patient and everything that is relying in the doctor/clinic is carried on in the best way possible. Thereafter, I can embrace any result with some peace of spirit, and blame anything going south mainly to factors that can not be fully controlled. In this regard, and at this point, I'd say that two top-pros of Lupanzula is that he makes the grafts extraction and incision himself, which to the best of my knowledge is not that common, and a very good patient attention. hope it helps!

same here. Thanks for sharing!

Hello everyone, here the 4 months (and 8 days!) update. The hair that did not fall down after the procedure keep growing normally and with an optimal caliber. It has been great to keep them, so the ugly duck phase has been not that bad at all. There was no sign of any new hair till about 15 days ago, when some new ones started to appear little by little. It's hard to say how much of growing is happening, I would say that not that much at this point, but enough to improve a bit the overall density. I'm looking forward to see more of these guys kicking out soon. The most striking thing is to have recovered a hairline, it s a great feeling. All these visits to the toilet without the traditional 50 seconds combing the hair to cover the temples strategically is awesome. Regarding the density, I do not know in which zone I am as compared to the 'normal' follow-up. It's hard to say even my own feeling, since it depends so much of the mirror-light I look myself into. I attach some photos: the first row is with wet hair, the second one is with dry hair, both in my toilet mirror. I think it gives a fair appreciation of the 'real density'. However, probably it is too harsh for evaluating the 'illusion of density'. For that, I added a third row with photos taken under a less direct light that gives some kind of lion king hair diffuse effect. Probably the reality is somewhere in between. Hope that this helps to give an idea to the interested people of the follow up so far. Thanks to everyone and good luck!

Thanks everyone for the comments, specially to Gillenator and his expert answers. Today is the 3 months post op landmark, so I include some photos here, although nothing changed since the last post 2 weeks ago. The hairs that did not shed (transplanted ones and I guess some of my original ones too) keep growing happily, so the ugly duck phase has not been as bad as I was fearing. No signs of new growing yet though, as expected, so I'm looking forward very much to see what will happen in the incoming weeks. As another note, I just 2mm-boozed my sides and back at the barbershop, and although I can spot some 'red dots' from the donor scars, it's quite difficult to see them and I feel confident enough to have the hair that short without fearing anyone spotting the thing. best to everyone --

Hey KO, yes, I have also some flaking --specially in the transplanted area, meaning within the frontal-- after the HT (2.5 months post now). I have not have it before, so I assume that is likely related to the procedure. It is noticeable but not a big thing, in any case. By the way, congrats for the procedure, hope it will go very well. In case it may be somehow helpful, to mention that most of my transplanted hair was holding till the 6th week post-op, but it was growing very poorly. From the 6th to the 8th week, most of the shedding occur (difficult to say, but maybe I lost 60-70%), whereas the rest of the hair started to grow at a normal pace.

This photo is from this morning (so about 2 months and a half post-op); awful photo skills, but it reflects fair enough the current state. As a comment, the areas in which less transplanted hairs have fallen are those in which I have more original hair (in other words, the transplanted hairs have fallen more in those areas in which I was 'more bald' originally). But I do not know to which extent the guys that I have now in my scalp are my own versus new recruits. Not important, in any case, and I would say that so far so good.

Hi everyone, Just a quick 2 months update, in case that it is helpful for those seeking close follow ups. I kept about two thirds of my transplanted hair till the sixth week, although most of it was growing very slowly and in general looked 'sad'. From the sixth to the eight week I lost most of it, but I would say that I still have at least 25% of my transplanted hair in its place and growing healthy, and I guess this is a stable situation at this point. I do not have any other special issue to highlight at this time mark, my donor area looked fine when recentle boozed at 2mm (although a very ninja-close look may spot the scars), and my redness in the transplanted skin is still fading out but nothing too obvious. I do not have means to post photos now, I will do it at the three months follow up. Merry Christmas!

Thanks for the answer guys, indeed I was well-informed of the shedding, I was just wondering if I would be lucky enough to do not loss the 100% of the transplanted hairs, since I heard that not always have to happen. Today it's 5 weeks mark and the situation is quite the same, quite a lot of the transplanted hair is still there (although looking a bit sad and not growing well) and I would say that I start to have some tiny hairs just popping up now (although they could be my native ones that were still holding in the transplanted area) I guess that there will be a point where the shedding will happen massively and suddenly. I will update when something more meaningful happens. On the other hand, I did not take the decision of what to do with the topical finasterida, my side effects with the pill are borderline of being a big problem, so that is stressing me a bit, I will procastinate the decision till after Christmas. best to everyone!

Hi everyone, 1month update: I attach three photos, one with dry hair (up) and the other with wet hair (bottom left), both with artificial light, and the last one with natural light (bottom right) Probably not the most pro photos, but I hope they are good enough to give you an idea. I guess that I'm suffering the shedding, but it's quite progressive and I would not be able to say how much of the transplanted/original hair of the area is still holding. In any case, the hair there has quite a sad looking, since besides the density, what it is more obvious is that it is growing heterogeneously (i.e. different sizes) and at quite a lower pace that the rest (so the one in the rest of the scalp is larger). Since I'm still in my 30-days mark, I assume that it will keep falling, although I heard that it does not need to fall the 100% (any feedback here would be appreciated!) No big things to mention except: one, that I had a very bad itching in my donor area and I needed to go to the pharmacy; a corticoid gel helped a lot, and now it's much better (I did not check it out with the clinics since it was weekend and it was quite bad). And second, I'm using only the oral finasteride; I did not receive yet the data from the clnic (they told me they are waiting for the pharmacy) that they claim demonstrates that the use of the topic one does not expose the body to too much product but that it is equivalent to the 1mg oral Finasterida dosage. Let me know if someone needs some extra info! best

I have been provided with one topic finasteride to give it a try, in my case not because the side effects of the pill, but because the oral version seems that has decreases its efficacy after many years of using it. But I just realized that the concentration of finasteride in the gel is stated as 2.5%. This seems a lot to me, since (if i'm not wrong) 1ml of the gel translate to 25mg of the active product. Even assuming that the absortion of the scalp is far from 100%, it sounds like a lot. I also read some scientific literature, and they use lower concentrations to check out the effect of the med. Those other people that are using the finasteride gel (or hear about it), can you share the concentration? thanks!

Hello everyone, I've been under finasteride for a lot of years (about 12? not even sure), and I was losing ground little by little, which actually it's a big success (my genes are to be a norwood V at early 20's, I'm 38 now). However, last months I had a terrible (really big, believe me!) loss of hair, which made me go for a hair transplant in the front scalp. There is the possibility that this hairloss is subsequent to a certain relaxation of the fin intake, but also is likely that the drug is just worsening the efficacy on me. So the surgeon gave me a topic finasteride to give it a try, first in combination with the 1mg oral and thereafter as a single agent. However, I realized that the concentration is 2.5% and I'm supposed to apply 1ml. Am I missing some point or this means 25mg on the scalp? It sounds crazy to me, so likely I'm wrong, but someone can comment on that? The studies I saw about topic fin also uses much lower concentrations, so I'm a very much concerned. I'm going to contact with the clinic, but they are specialists in the surgery, not sure that they have to be good with the drugs too, so any feedback is very much appreciated. thanks!

Small 15days update with some photos. The ones at the left are with artificial light, the ones in the right are with natural one. It's hard to reflect the reality with the camera I'm using, but as a summary: (a) donor area is a bit red and with the 'holes'; noticeable but basically it looks that some small irritation is going on; (b) similar in the recipient area: there is some redness that is fading little by little, noticeable but that also looks as some 'normal' irritation (at least now that there is the transplanted hair in the area); © maybe i lost some transplanted hair (by the way, tomorrow I will do my first shampoo), but of course I'm expecting a much more severe shading in the near future. on the other hand, in around one week i should start the topic fin (in combination with the 1mg oral, during about 3 months). I realized that the concnetration of the topic fin the clinics provide me is 2.5%, and I'm supposed to use 1ml. If I'm not wrong, this means 25mg applied to the scalp?? Likely I'm missing some point, I would appreciate any feedback about that. In any case, I will probably begin a new thread to ask about that issue, since I have no doubts that although it's topic it will reach the bloodstream, and this seems a huge amount of product. Good luck to everyone,

@ko, thanks for the response. But there is some reason for that? I read about the cell hairs expressing more ARs when deprived from DHT, but I did not find any solid evidence. @gillenator, thanks for your response too. But note that the point is not that the hairloss starts again 'as expected' when the hair faces the DHT, but that it may happen that such hairloss is more aggressive 'than normal' (for instance, and to put an example that may be not true, because there are a larger amount of ARs in the cell created by the cell during DHT depravation, and when this hormone comes back, the effect is larger) . Or you meant that when DHT is off, then there is a shed effect, and the hair will grow again (although the thining will be back then at the 'normal DHT rate') ? (sorry if i'm missing your point!)

thanks pkipling! by the way, I have been reading random threads in hairloss forums these days (I'm off of the job and basically hidden in my house till tomorrow), which can be indeed dangerous and as a result I have a question. As I commented in my first threads, I had a huge hair loss during last 6 months, which has been the cause to decide to undergo the HT. During last year, I have been probably a bit indulgent with my Finasteride intake, due to several logisitc reasons. It's difficult to say to which extent, since I have been taking the med for so many years (12? 15?) that i do not really follow the track of the days i take it or not (which is a minority, do not misunderstand me!). I do not feel that I had significant 'lower' intake than other casual periods in the past, except maybe during 2 months (june-july of this year) that I was travelling a lot and maybe aprox. half of the times I was not taking the pill. So here is my question: it is my understanding that when you stop Fin, at some point the testos->DHT comes back and then your hair just react to that, 'normally'. But I also read that the thing can hit stronger under this circumstance, in the sense that the hair loss is not 'normal' but can be significantly heavier. I read somewhere that this can be related to the fact that the cells have created more DHT receptors to 'compensate' the lack of it, so when the DHT is there again, there is more 'reaction' (larger hair loss). I do not see much sense to that, because I do not know why the hair cells have to 'generate' more DHT receptors, if this product is not needed for the hair cells to undergo any important biological task --as far as i know--. What do you think about it? This can be an explanation for such a severe hair loss in a small amount of time ? And if so, there is some possibility that re-starting religiously the finasteride can help to recover some of that? Maybe i should post this thread in another post. If so, I will do it, and sorry for spamming here. However, both issues are quite related, since I have been adviced by my HT doctor to add finasteride gel to the finasteride pill, and at some point reduce --i guess-- the later. I've really lost ground in my top scalp and crown, also during these 6 months, and if I do not stabilize that, my HT will look a bit sad even if successful in no time. Thanks to everyone again!

Thanks for your comments., folks. Today (8th day) I put a bit more of energies in cleaning the scabs, and I thought I could upload a photo showing the results, in case someone is interested in having a close follow-up, since I removed all of them. Everything looks good to me, I lost some hairs during the washing, but there is plenty of guys there; difficult to say which ones are originals and which ones are the transplanted. I'm not sure neither if the concept of graft survival applies already to what I can see now, but I assume that this refers to what it's going to grow in the future. It's such a pity that they have to fall! As a comment, note that the scalp is more red that it seems in the photo. Is not striking but 100% noticeable, which can be a info of interest for those wondering about the possibility of the procedure being unnoticeable at this stage. The donor area also looks good, but also red and depleted in hair, so also noticeable. Have everyone a nice weekend!

Ey fellas, one quick 1week - update. Anything remarkable to share so far: itchiness of the donor area, some swelling of the forehead and couple of bruises on the eyes. Not really a big thing, what was a bit more annoying was the first four nights, I barely sleep since I was afraid of scratching my head. But again, nothing remarkable besides my anxiety when wondering how everything will look next months. I just made my first wash (betadine) + massage to the recipient area (the preceding days I was just applying the betadine solution and then wash it gently with water). With the today's wash I get to soften the stuff that formed there (I think it is some kind of dead skin cells??). I get to remove some of these things by doing a gentle brushing with the tips of my fingers. Some hairs fall too, but I guess it's normal; in any case, I stopped after a while, and I will do a second round tomorrow. What appear behind these crusts are some tiny hairs (not sure which one may be my original ones and which the transplanted guys), and quite a red scalp (more than it appears in the photo). It seems quite clear that I will need a cap or similar to hide everything when I will come back to my normal life, five days from now. Hope it helps (and comments welcome!) have a good weekend

Sure thing, I will do it. Thanks everyone for the feedback!

thanks everyone. So now it's done! jut today i did the second session. I guess that the correct is to open an independent thread to do so, which I did here: 2800 FUE with doctro Lupunzula - Forum By and for Hair Loss Patients

Hello everyone, I'm 38, loosing hairline since forever, stable with medication (Finasterida, basically) till 6-8 months ago when I have experienced a very dramatic loss in the scalp, specially the third front. I've just undergo the HT. Due to the gratitude I feel to this forum, I will share my results here if for the interest of anyone. Briefly, two days ago I had the first physical visitation with the doctor (I'd never recommend to have the first visitation just before the transplant itself, but it went like this for me; in any case, note that the doctor was totally available via skype before that day). The hair check confirmed I had a quite thin one (about 50u), and moreover, bad quality at the end of the back and sides. On the other hand, the density of the rest of the donor seems quite good (80 in the sides and 90-95 in the back), with a decent ratio of hairs per follicle. The doctor roughly estimated a low range of 6000 follicles available. The doctor proposed a conservative hairline which I actually changed to an even more conservative one. I guess that we 're always on time to lower the hairline, and my capillary future does not look bright, better save donor. Therefore, the next day, I had 1600 follicules tranplanted in the third front (taken from the back) and the second day we made the hairline with 1200 follicules more (basically from the sides). Doctor made the extraction and the incisions himself, the grafts were placed by his technicians, Overall, 2800 FUE (average of 2.2 hairs per follicle) in two sessions, accounting for about 15 hours between both. The plan is to continue with finasteride, and when healed of the transplant, try a finasteride version in gel that the doctor proposed me. And durasteride as backup. I attach the day 0 photos. I will update later as approppriate. Best of the lucks to everyone!

thanks for the answer. Yes, indeed the visit with the surgeon will be crucial to design a plan once we know the exact features of my donor area. I will have only one night to sleep on the possibilities before going for the actual procedure, though, but I hope that we will be able to design an appropriate strategy for my particular case. I will create another post with the experience and the follow-up, if for any interest for the others here. cross fingers! thanks again