Mycroft

I do think this looks pretty good on the whole in comparison to your starting image. I don't see it as often, but I have seen some doctors say that certain patient's have results that don't quite mature until the 18 month mark. No way to tell if that's the case with you though. Has the clinic given you an opinion on growth so far? For what it's worth, I think the result looks great.

Depending on the extent of your loss, a hair transplant isn't prohibitively expensive, especially if you're like most millennials and you know you're unlikely to ever make enough money to retire anyway. *Shrug*

I'd be interested to see your technique. Historically I've basically used it like a lawnmower going across the top of the scalp vertically, horizontally, and diagonally for multiple reps in each direction. Then I'll do some small, slow circles in the weak areas to wrap it up. With the A7 vs the Derminator I can't use much pressure at all with 2mm in the area just in front of the hairline because I find the needles tend to snag unless I'm just "hovering" in place with the stamp, so I'm working on developing a feel for that. As a side note: I was reading more comparisons between the A6 and A7 and I think the actual pins on the A7 pads may be a touch finer than on the A6 as well. Depth is obviously whatever you set it to but I thought that was interesting. No idea if that ultimately makes a big impact but I'm still early in my exlerimentation phase with the new device. I *may* try out one of the heads with more pins just because they're cheap and I'm curious.

I recall Dr. Vories saying that he can typically extract anywhere from 7,000-9,000 grafts depending on the donor. This is the first FUE only case I've seen that comes close to the 9k mark, so that's pretty cool.

Except you entire premise is based on the idea that lifting weights results in a rise of testosterone levels significant enough to cause any excess production of sebum where it was otherwise not occuring. This is not the case. The increase in testosterone levels from lifting weights is not significant enough to throw you into hormonal imbalance if you didn't already have issues. You're searching for facts to support conclusions instead of drawing conclusions based on facts. This is textbook confirmation bias.

Crown is definitely looking a lot stronger, which is pretty impressive considering where his level of loss was before. Nice to see such a strong impact from medical regimens even after surgical work. I think too many people dismiss this course of action. Very natural reconstruction work on this one. It doesn't look disproportionately "heavy" in any areas and covers a lot of ground for only 3,000 grafts. It's always interesting to see cases with a modest graft count used on a patient with a more severe level of hair loss, because at that point the artistry and arrangement of the grafts becomes absolutely critical.

I got mine off Amazon from the "Dr. Pen" vendor directly. The A7 is pretty similar to the A6 but is wired only and has a higher max RPM by a decent chunk. I haven't experimented with anything other than the lowest level yet because even the low setting seems pretty quick.

I just switched over to a Dr. Pen as well, but I picked up the A7. It's been an adjustment getting used to the different RPM and the way it feels on my scalp. Definitely need to figure out the right kind of pressure so the needles don't snag.

That frontal zone really thickened up since the last update. The hair in the temporal areas looks much darker so those are probably going to be coming in strong any day. Big change from your original photos already.

We'd essentially be in a situation where long term data would be nonexistent. Right now hair loss communities on the internet will lose their minds over possible side effects of Finasteride but turn around and recommend use of RU58841 because there are few reports of side effects. Of course, there's not much in the way of real data at all, so it's nothing more than a glorified ostrich effect. I think that regardless of the side effects of Finasteride the hair loss community's fearmongering surrounding the drug is completely out of control. The idea of independent testing is great. The issue we have is that there's never any financial backing for that sort of thing, and there's no prestige involved for the researchers working on a project like that, so nobody is actually interested in doing it. Sad, but true.

I'll have to see if I can find it. It was basically a collection of anecdotes suggesting that wounding, such as with microneedling, somehow triggered a hair growth response in the healing process. One of the earlier examples was a photo of a guy who had a huge burn on top of his scalp but somehow seemed like he had his hair grow back fuller and healthier than before he was burned. I may have it bookmarked somewhere but I'll have to look when I have a chunk of time to search.

Usually the transplanted hair, being strong and terminal, will grow back eventually as long as the follicles weren't transected during the surgery. As @gillenator said all you can do is wait and see. If you don't see anything by the six month mark that's a sign of trouble.

Let me expand on two points here. 1. If you have a hair transplant at all do NOT have it with this guy. Telling you FUE is scarless is a straight lie and the doctor either doesn't know what he's talking about or is a con artist. Neither is good. 2. If you have DUPA and not DPA do not have a transplant at all, because the transplanted hair is no more likely to survive than the hair on top of your head and you'll just be wasting money.

Very solid results for one month. I'm not sure if microneedling revives truly dead follicles but I think sometimes we assume follicles are dead when in reality they are miniaturized to the point of near invisibility. I suspect this is often the case with diffused thinners or folks with small bald patches in the middle of hair such as in your case. Howerver, I've actually seen some interesting outliers there as well including with a burn victim.

Terrific hairline result in only one pass. At first I thought it might be because his recession was mostly in the corners, but the reconstruction there has a very "solid" appearance as well.

I agree with the doctor completely. This is a perfectly normal "mature" hairline. As others have stated, it's pretty early to tell whether you're going to suffer some natural loss or not, and you do NOT want to find that out after you've already wasted a bunch of grafts chasing a hairline you never had to begin with. Additionally, since you don't have much hair loss to speak of, there are decent odds that your final result will look weird and you'll be far worse off than when you started.

The FDA is not exactly a paragon of integrity as is. The level of corruption in that organization boggles the mind and I don't trust them much more than the pharmaceutical industry ever since I discovered how much bullshit they knowingly allow on food labels.

From what I understand it allows SOME hair to grow through the scar which makes the contrast of the scar less stark much like when people FUE into a previous FUT scar. I think it's a great method if appropriate for your situation, but still subject to "good" and "bad" scar limitations.

Unless there is something the pictures aren't showing your level of loss is very minimal and I'd absolutely not mess with it. You can definitely come out of a transplant worse off than you are now, particularly when you are working with more native hair. Have you tried any medical treatments at all?

Yes, exercise can and does increase your testosterone levels which can, as a byproduct, result in an increase in DHT levels. However, if you are already taking medication that inhibits DHT like Finasteride, this isn't necessarily an issue. Having said that, even if you're not on the medication the difference for a healthy younger man is NOT going to suddenly cause you to to bald. You were already headed in that direction and at best natural increases like this MIGHT marginally accelerate the process at worst, not cause it. Really, you're only going to have to worry about a testosterone bump as a triggering factor for hair loss if you're receiving T therapy, taking steroids, etx. This is also a good time to reiterate what most people here already know, which is that DHT is not the sole cause of hair loss. Worth noting exercise also increases general circulation which is of course good for hair. Additional note: that full head of hair isn't doing you much good if you drop dead because your heart is in crappy condition down the line.

Yes, I've read about Fin/Dut as preventative methods and I'm a regular user for 3+ years now. I'm already doing PRP of course, but I've got enough hair that if I had a procedure it would have to be into an existing area that is maybe a little weaker, so this topic specifically is of interest. Of course, I haven't talked with Dr. Arocha about the possibility since prior to my first PRP treatment. I'm intending to wait at least a good six months after my second treatment before I consider discussing surgical options again. It's possible time and continues treatment may yield satisfactory results for me because I feel like I'm so close as is.

Wow, that dark skin and light, fine hair combo is rough. Even so, I'd say this is a great improvement for him visually. How severe was the hair loss pre-op? It's a tad harder to tell with the contrast and the fact that he has his head shaved, but it looks like he'd lost most of his native hair uptop already.

I appreciate that a picture of the scar was included. The donor area should always be considered as an important part of an end result, but for FUT in particular I think it's very relevant. FUE scars can certainly give you a thinner look in the donor, but it's something that I think the average person might dismiss as DUPA or possibly a skin condition. A bad FUT scar is practically going to scream "surgery" which is something I'm sure most of us are trying to avoid.

Interesting. I keep wondering if PRP might contribute to reducing shock loss risk in cases where grafts are implanted into areas where existing hair is present. I know Dr. Arocha specifically seems to specialize in this to an extent, but of course some factors are entirely our of the doctor's control. I don't know if anyone has tried to make a case for this with meaningful evidence, just something I was wondering about given its medicinal use for healing and its ability to boost hair growth. I know there are a few doctors who use it to improve graft survivability, so my idea is that this might apply somewhat to the trauma native hairs sustain during transplant...

A passing thought: did you notice any shock loss of native hair in the recipient area, or just around the scar?