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baldlivesmatter

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Everything posted by baldlivesmatter

  1. These pics are also 9 months with normal lighting (close to window, mid day)
  2. Hey Guys, See ~9 month update pics below with harsh OH lighting (no concealer)
  3. Appreciate your input Melvin, and you're probably right. I dropped oral minoxidil and re-added it and the bags didn't come back so might've been something else. I did feel some chest tightness which may not have been oral minoxidil related but not worth the risk IMO so i dropped it from the regimen. Heart failure is almost as bad as being a high norwood (almost).
  4. Thanks! I'm mid-thirties Yes, exactly. The foam has a slight thickening effect. The liquid makes hair look greasy and thinner IMO. I just use the foam to style my hair on a daily basis.
  5. 6 month update. No concealers, with rogaine foam. Harsh OH lighting Soft lighting
  6. Also, not sure if anyone here has had their DHT tested--but i got mine tested recently and it was 206 pg/ml (normal range is 106-719). I take finasteride 1.25mg daily.
  7. 5 months--all pics styled with rogaine foam, no concealers Harsh lighting Car lighting Soft ligthting
  8. Around 4 months update--i think still a bit below baseline. Hard to see in the pictures, but there does seem to be quit a lot of vellous, colorless hairs in the hairline. Once they thicken up it should provide a cosmetic boost. I brush them/the area with Dermmatch before going out socially and seems fine. I've also noticed an increase in under eye bags--which i think might be related to the oral minoxidil. I'm planning to drop this from the routine for a while to see if those resolve. Has anyone else had a similar side effect?
  9. Thanks Chet! Also, you might want to add a link to your thread in your signature. I was just looking for your thread to see your progress but couldn't find it. Sounds like you're growing quickly
  10. Appreciate the encouraging words Chetman. You've got a very optimistic attitude, which i'm sure was helpful throughout the ugly duckling phase. Hopefully my growth starts coming in this next week as well (i believe our surgeries were in the same week).
  11. I'm coming up on 3 months, still looking worse that pre-op. Biggest issue is a bald spot in the front which makes the use of Dermmatch and Toppik challenging. I started oral minoxidil about 2 weeks ago, so hopefully that helps. The below pics were taken over the last week or so in varying lighting.
  12. Yeah i'm using minoxidil foam 2x/day and biotin pills 1x/day. I see little stubble in the bald spot, so hopefully within the next 2 weeks toppik is more effective.
  13. Ugly duckling phase sucks. Really wish i could be in my "pre repair" state RN...
  14. OK, one month pics are below. I shed fairly early, noticed most of the grafts were shed around the 3 week mark. I restarted using minoxidil foam at the 3 week mark post shed to hopefully accelerate growth. I also take finasteride and biotin daily. There's a pretty big "silver dollar" sized bald spot in the front which makes using Toppik a no go. Maybe i need to get some Regenix 🤪 I'm guessing it will be 2-4 weeks before using Toppik is feasible for in-person gatherings, so i'll be wearing hats over the holidays 🤷‍♂️ I work from home so it looks a bit less noticeable over zoom calls and also i care less about those interactions (what are they going to do, fire me for being bald?) Overhead Front Nadimi Donor Diep Donor
  15. Might have to remove this guy's pic (John i believe?) from the front page since he's one of Diep's more famous homeruns. Part of the annoying thing about Diep is he can produce homerun results like John's, but these are then offset by questionable practices and shoddy results. Ultimately the forum quality doesn't come down to how we celebrate home run results, but to what extent we tolerate unacceptable results.
  16. I was tagged in the original post so i'll add my two cents. First of all, attacking @Melvin- Moderatorpersonally was way out of line. I've been on this forum for many years (even before I had an official account) and I have always seen Melvin (f.k.a HTsoon) doing his best to help and support others--even before he was a mod. It's important to remember that Melvin is not some greedy, corporate fat cat shilling for Dr. Diep to make a few bucks. He's a husband, father, and most importantly a former NW6 who has been in the trenches fighting the Norwood reaper with us. We are all in a much better and more informed position because of Melvin's work on this forum. Regarding adding the word "repair" to my most recent thread, there is a long (and uninteresting) story regarding why the word "repair" wasn't added but it was ultimately my decision. Don't PM me about it, I won't respond. Second, my Diep experience was a mixed bag. On one hand, I objectively got very good growth and coverage in the recipient area using a relatively small number of grafts for the area. I have been complimented on my hair many times in real life; it can look fantastic when styled correctly. On the other hand, objectively, he did a very bad job with my donor area. Anyone that I have shown my immediate post-op donor area picture to has recoiled in horror. The right side of my head is noticeably thinner four years after that transplant compared to the left side which was operated on a mere month ago. I reached out to the clinic shortly after my surgery and was told "it shock loss it grow back one year". Well, it did not in fact "grow back one year" and when I reached back out to the clinic they responded that Dr. Diep said that a hair transplant of 500 grafts could fix the area. No apology, no discount. Additionally, the recipient area had good growth, but the angles are not right--the transplanted hair is perpendicular to my scalp, whereas the native hair lies more parallel. I can style around this when my hair is longer, but at shorter lengths it is definitely exposed. Additionally, a lot of heavier/pluggier grafts were planted in the hairline--which lead to an unnatural look. I get no cosmetic surgery will be 100% natural, but for a $15k price tag and compared to other doctors in this price range this is unacceptable. Ultimately, my recommendation would be to put Diep on some sort of probation where he's removed from the recommended list until he's demonstrated a revision in his practices. He's undeniably a very talented surgeon and with a few revisions I believe he could produce consistent home run results. Some of those revisions would include: Perform only one surgery per day: Hair transplants are extremely labor intensive. Performing one surgery per day allows for the doctor to fully focus on the patient rather than rushing two surgeries as well as their consultations and other commitments. This revision is IMO the most important and Dr. Diep's willingness to sacrifice money for better results would indicate he does in fact care about his patients' outcomes rather than just raking in more money. It's not like doing one $15k surgery per day will result in him being on food stamps. Don't put the patient completely unconscious during surgery: Other top clinics don't do this. The patient should be able to communicate with the doctor during the procedure. Don't deviate from generally accepted hair transplant practices without discussion with the patient beforehand. In my case this was extracting grafts from only one side of my donor, rather than homogenously. Stuff like this shouldn't be a surprise to the patient when they regain consciousness. Don't plant grafts in rows. It looks unnatural. Hire and retain experienced technicians. The technicians play a large role in the success or failure of a transplant. This is not an area to cut corners on.
  17. Technically, there's two schools of thought on this. Some clinics recommend extensive use of inappropriate websites in the 24-72 hour post-surgery window in order to divert blood flow and reduce scalp swelling. It's important to read and follow your clinic's instructions.
  18. Thanks! She didn't give me a specific graft count estimate, but she did mention that if i wanted more density we could do another surgery (which I interpreted as a good sign I still have adequate donor--i would estimate 1500). I'm hoping this surgery gets my frontal area all sorted and then it's good to have grafts for future use if needed, though if my crown thins/balds in like 10 years I'm not sure it'll bother me that much. Obviously it's not ideal, but thinning on your crown as a mid-40 something is a lot more benign than losing your frontal third in your early 20s.
  19. Bro, why are you reading/studying? Leave that to the balding nerds. Us born again Norwood 1s should be at the gym/da club/orgies/etc.
  20. Yeah, for sure. First pic is right after surgery with extractions circled. Second pic is as of today ~2.5 weeks post surgery.
  21. LOL! I get the sentiment, but literally half of that thread is people s******* all over my donor area (myself included). I'm glad though--i don't think it helps anyone if we're just overly optimistic about every surgeon "trying their best". This isn't a crappy picture my niece drew me that I have to pretend is good. They're expensive surgeries, they should be nitpicked to a degree. I think you're right on this. Initially i thought repairs were only for when you get "butchered" but it sounds like it's more broad than that; that is, when a previous procedures needs to be "fixed". Dr. Nadimi also referred to it as a repair in my virtual consultation (IIRC). Happy to have the title changed on here if helpful to other users (i don't think i can change it myself though).
  22. She'd mentioned in my consultation that we might need to punch out some of the heavier grafts that looked unnatural. Initially I was kind of against this since I paid so much to get them in, i didn't want to start punching out a bunch of grafts (especially since there were already density issues). Ultimately though, it was only 7 grafts that when she pointed them out to me and i agreed they were placed very strangely. She punched them out and replanted them in a less conspicuous place. The scars on these punch outs are nonexistent, which is good because they were literally at the very front of my hairline.
  23. Hey HairRun, Just took a spin through your thread i think you're going to have awesome results 🙌 You're spot on with your analysis re: Diep. I'm a bit conflicted on how to feel about that procedure. On the one hand, the grafts grew well and I looked substantially better one year post op. On the other hand, there were things that seemed to suggest a lack of attention to detail or rushing through the procedures (e.g., taking grafts from one side of head, planting in rows, knocking patients out completely for the procedure [maybe so they don't complain about things being rushed?], barely being involved in the process [due to 2 surgeries in same day as well as consults], etc). Communicating with the front desk post-procedure was also a pain in the ass. Given I paid $15k I don't think it's unreasonable to expect a high level of attention to detail. On the flip side, Dr. Nadimi (who's also obviously very busy) never seemed rushed and took the time to answer all my questions, explain her thought process on overall strategy (e.g., punching out and replanting certain grafts, taking grafts from one side to even out donor, etc). Honestly the two experiences felt like surgery from a doctor who is methodical and cares about the patient's end result vs. a doctor just trying to get the 💰
  24. Thanks Ray. I'm sure one of the other forum members more knowledgeable than me will know for certain, but I think there can be issues with blood supply if too many grafts are implanted in an area--but with only 1300 grafts implanted that's fairly unlikely. It could potentially be more of an issue if all 3K of my grafts (this surgery and prior) were implanted at one time (i.e., less blood to go to each new graft). It's possible a newly implanted graft transected an old graft here and there, or that there's shock loss, but if you go to a great clinic there shouldn't be anything to worry about since they deal with situations like this regularly. Hey Chet! Yes, i looked through your post before posting. "As someone that takes care of them self I always felt regardless of how much I work out or am successful the fact that I couldn’t hide my hair loss anymore really bothered me"--this quote really resonated with me, and I'm sure a lot of other members on here. If only we could just go to the gym and workout hair, or put in extra hours at the office to become NW 1 🤣 Your post-op pics looks great! I'm expecting us both to look like Fabio here in the next 6 months or so 🙌
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