kirkland

I have to agree with a couple of members on here. You, like many of us, are obsessed with our looks and we can spend lots of wasted time criticizing imperfections in the mirror. I can't grow a beard that doesn't resemble the backyard of a crack shack. If you've seen my recent trip to Eugenix, I didn't shave for a week before my trip plus my whole trip there because I thought they might want to use some beard hair and so I didn't bother bringing a razor. When I came back to Toronto, my wife looked at my pathetic facial hair and laughed. My point is that you're beard is still great. I would love to have a great shape and growth like yours. No woman that I know would think that your beard is anything less than robust - only you see the imperfections and are obsessing about them. Your crown looks fine. Way too early to judge how the beard grafts have integrated into the area. Give yourself some space to understand that you have imperfections, like all of us, but they are not outstanding or deformative. You can feel good about yourself and your hair will turn out fine.

I had no idea that this was the backyard of Eugenix! Because they are undergoing construction, I didn't even bother to ask to look around the property. Man, a coffee and some butter tofu masala would have been nice back there.

I have just started using it sparingly in the crown. I have seen the safety profiles and they look sound.

Bumping this thread since Dr. Sethi forwarded me this case study. It's a remarkable result. But it's also an example of what can now be accomplished that was otherwise once considered impossible.

I believe Dr. William Rassman is in the LA area. I also believe that he trained Dr. Bernstein.

Couple of those guys, like John Stamos, look better bald, imo. I find that it makes his face appear more masculine because, without the hair, his face has better symmetry.

Honestly, the crown is not important to me and I mentioned that to Dr. Bansal. I'm certain that over time, I will go back for a touch up and perhaps have work done in the crown but it won't be an urgency for me.

That's very good coverage for that number of grafts.

Really stoked for you, @Gatsby I know the long wait will be worth it for you! Someone will see your journey and know that there is light at the end of a very dark tunnel. Proud of you.

Congrats@Berba11 Hope it all goes smoothly from this point forward. And thanks @raik783for the heads up. Just a matter of time before tourist visas open up to everyone else.

Haha - it seems that every country has a different rule for a medical visa to India. My Eugenix letter only had the stamps - no signature - and they accepted my application here in Canada.

That's an interesting case study - they did the SMP before the HT.

For years, I had kept my existing hair short as my way of dealing with hairloss. I love the buzz cut look and am fortunate to have the features to pull it off. In 2015, I underwent SMP to emulate the buzz cut look all over my scalp and not just in the back and sides where I still had hair. The first couple of pics show my results and it did not come out well at all. Really unnatural. In fact, the entire purpose of having a HT after this SMP treatment was to disguise the semi-permanent erythema which had developed on the scalp. But since I have gotten so used to having my hair short, I wondered if there is still the possibility that the combo of my HT and a future SMP treatment could create a much more natural look. Of course, less than 3 weeks out from my 3500+ HT surgery with Eugenix, I decided to buzz cut my growth post-transplant to see if there is this possibility that the two treatments can provide the natural look of a buzz cut. Aside from the redness, I think that an SMP treatment (a minimum of one year from now) could really enhance the existing level of density from the HT. What are your thoughts?

Voted no - I have not had one issue with fin or dut and have been on one or the other for nearly 3 years (started with fin then moved to dut).

Good luck @Kariminho Definitely made a great decision with Eugenix.

Thanks, Karl. I really appreciate it.

Thanks boys.

Now two weeks out from my surgery. Donor and recipient areas are looking good. All discomfort in the donor area is now gone. Some minor sensation has returned to the recipient area but still, for the most part, feels numb (to be expected). The redness in the recipient area is still prominent but has diminished somewhat. Really not looking forward to the ugly duckling stage because it looks so damn good at this point!

The redness is due to personal skin characteristics. If you are fair-skinned and prone to redness from other sources (say, taking a hot shower or working out and your skin gets visibly flush) then the redness will be more pronounced post-op HT. The redness is the erythema caused from the trauma of the HT - the blood vessels in the area have widened to allow for greater blood flow as an inflammatory response to the wound. You can buy tinted moisturizers which can reduce the contrast.

I just had a 3500 graft HT at Eugenix. Came from Canada. My original schedule was 2 days of surgery (Monday and Tuesday) and then fly out Thursday morning. About 2 weeks out from surgery, British Airways cancelled my outbound flight on the Thursday and so I had to re-schedule it to leaving on Friday morning. I am grateful that I did because all both flying into India and leaving it, we were required to wear plastic face shields on top of our mandatory masks. That meant stretching the band that holds the shield round the back of the head and against the donor area. That extra day of healing in India was beneficial with that process since my donor area was in better shape to handle putting a plastic face shield on and off (FYI, when the plane took off from Delhi, the majority of people quickly took off the face shield and did not wear it again, as did I. There was no protest from the flight crew so obviously the mandate to wear the shield was one by India and not British Airways). I don't know if the face shield policy is being applied to all international travelers coming in and out of India - that was my experience. My point is that one extra day of healing in those early days of post-op was helpful. Washing the hair 7 days out is something you can do on your own - you don't need the clinic to do it for you. But I personally recommend that you stay at least 3 days post-op for additional healing and rest time if you are flying longer distances to India. Feel free to DM me if you have questions about hair wash care post-op.

I think you should tell her but be confident about your own choice first. There's nothing wrong with wanting to improve your looks. But do it in tandem with always improving the whole 'you', and not just the appearances. If she can understand your goals when framed in this regard, she should be supportive.

You are right - dosimetry parameters matter. It's not that LLLT is bad - just too much can be damaging to the tissue. My purpose for using LLLT so early in the post-HT treatment cycle is to reduce erythema. Since I had a moderate case of semi-permanent erythema (due to my SMP treatment in 2015) going into the surgery, I wanted to use LLLT for improved angiogenesis in the hopes that in the process of creating new blood vessels for the transplant, the existing abnormally dilated blood vessels would be repaired through improved fibroblast proliferation and growth factors. This study, though a small sample size (n=22 for both red light (633 nm) and infrared light 830 nm group which is generally the same wavelengths of the LED in the unit I am using), shows a statistically significant improvement in collagen and elastin formation with a daily dose of 20 minutes of both red and infrared light wavelength. It doesn't mention specifically any net benefits to neovascularization per se but suggests that LED light therapy may enhance intercellular communication. I am going to go back to my original schedule of 20 mins/day at a distance of 10 cm from light source. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/17566756/

Yes - RU58841. The research lit on LLLT suggests a plateau on benefits with increased usage. When it works on tissue healing, only so much exposure has an effect before no further impact is observed. There are many studies on LLLT with different methodologies (power of LLLT, type of LLLT, length of exposure time, etc) so there is no standardization to follow per se. Doubt that my schedule of 2 times per day is twice as effective but I'll take whatever gains I can get. Let's put it this way - I'm confident that I'm not retarding tissue healing or neovascularization with this schedule.

I'm also using LLLT twice a day, 20 minutes per session. The plan is to keep on this schedule for a full year. Plus back on dut (0.5 mg @ 3 times per week, 2.5 mg oral minox daily and have just started daily RU for crown.

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