Mycroft

I would agree just based on my own experience. Looks like the quality of a number of your native hairs is already improving. I kept seeing residual improvements for quite a while after my treatment, so those may continue for you for a while.

This is looking very strong in the recipient area at only the 4.5 month mark. Already a very nice improvement from your starting point, in my opinion.

3 hours ago, Mark2010 said:

 

 

Other than drugs like Finasteride I don't know of any other cases were someones sex drive is turned down to Zero for no apparent reason.

In my case when I was in my 20s I lost my sex drive over night when I came off Finasteride  and "crashed".

It was like a switch had been turned off and I was never the same since.

 

Well, it's a known issue for people who suffer from severe clinical depression, for one. 

Old age and the related hormonal shifts are also a documented cause, like I said.

19 minutes ago, transplantedphil said:

The widows story was (presumably) included to give the story a human face. I don't think any of us can really diagnose it at a distance, but both you and JJ bring up valid questions.

I think the real issue is about a company knowing there were negative side effects to a drug they manufactured and not informing the public. This takes away people's informed consent. The sad thing is nobody seems shocked by this

I could be misunderstanding, but I think the issue being debated is whether or not the drug is statistically more prone to causing those side effects than the company publicized.

As far as I'm aware these sides are all included on the warning label (the sexual ones certainly are) because the FDA basically requires companies to print any alleged side effects people report regardless of whether there's any evidence to substantiate them. On the other hand, you could argue that this factor combined with lack of transparency from the manufacturer makes it difficult to tell which sides you should actually be concerned about.

Re: not being surprised: these are the companies charging exorbitant prices for medication that costs the smallest fraction of that cost to actually manufacture. Check out the USD prices for brand name drugs from Canadian pharmacies and see how much cheaper they inexplicably are. The same drugs from the same manufacturers, but here in the U.S. our prices are somehow six times as much. The entire industry is run by criminals.

4 minutes ago, transplantedphil said:

Yes I agree completely @Mycroft. Personally speaking I've had 3 done now (around 5600 grafts) so I am just hoping that I do not progress to a higher level NW. I think it mostly comes down to the planning

I believe @LaserCap is a patient with a long history of HT's and apparently was the person to get FUE. I think he said once he was thinking of creating a thread .. might be an interesting read 🤔

If you've had that many you are a great example for all the other folks out. How severe was your progression?

@LaserCap used to (maybe still does) work in the industry as I recall. I'd be interested to hear some of his stories relating to this.

Not surprised, but to be completely blunt, nothing in the widow's story seems to implicate the drug as the cause. There are any number of reasons her husband could have fallen into a depression at age 40 (midlife crisis?) And lack of interest in sex goes hand in hand with depression. I think it's much easier for us to blame some pill than to acknowledge that the human brain is a horrifyingly complicated thing that we really don't understand and often don't know how to "fix" in cases like this.

7 minutes ago, transplantedphil said:

I'd be fascinated by this as well.

You occasionally see guys come on the forum after 8-10 years with an unnatural balding pattern asking for recommendations of what to do next from their initial HT's. My greatest fear myself is actually not going bald or thinning (that's just ageing) but being left with an unnatural appearance once all my native hairs fall out and having to reconsider surgery again [as I always thought the goal of a successful HT was to never think about your hair ever again].

I have seen some posting by clinics of patients which cover some history, Konior documented one lasting over 14years, (albeit it was a repair case)  https://www.hairrestorationnetwork.com/topic/50312-raymond-konior-md-chicago-hair-institute-hairline-repair-a-14-year-history/

 

But sadly you don't in much in the way of patient postings (or at least I haven't seen it). I think part of the answer might lie with the fact that HT's themselves have only really hit a critical standard in the last 10-15 years so a long term analysis in this field might not have been realised yet. Another possibility is (and I secretly hope it's the truth) the lack of postings reveal a potential that most of these guys have the procedure done and just enjoy the rest of their lives. So there's no need to return to a forum and share.

Having said all that it's a great idea for a thread and I'd love to see more examples myself ...

 

I am just going to chime in and say that you're probably not looking at a "one and done" situation with a transplant option period unless you're either A: already pretty darn bald and getting a large transplant done or B: extremely lucky in that your hair loss has already reached its final form and you don't experience any surgical complications. Otherwise, no transplant is going to be a forever fix, unfortunately.

That whirl pattern is really starting to solidify. Very nice 

There's a definite narrowing of the part line here; more "solid" and less jagged. This lady doesn't look like she was suffering major hair loss to begin with, but the frontal part line was probably the most noticeable area of thinning, and that seems to have filled in fairly well.

Looks like the work is holding up well. It's always nice to see how the results last over time, and that's a good span. Congrats!

Very nice transformation. How many total grafts? How long ago was the first procedure?

11 minutes ago, ArochaAngel4247 said:

Hi Mycroft, 

The patient was in his late 20s when he came in for his procedure. You are correct - he has some good donor remaining if he decides he wants some more work!

Wow! The before picture makes me want to guess a little older, and looking at the after images I'd say I would have guessed mid thirties tops. I think that says it all.

Looks like you've managed to get some pretty good fullness in your hair style there. Perfect example of why non-surgical options should be seriously pursued prior to going under the knife.

Finasteride and Minoxidil particularly are extremely easy to get and fairly inexpensive if you use generics. 

PRP is also a good option, but probably more expensive which may or may not be an issue for you at your age. Where do you live? Have you done any research regarding hair loss specialists in your area?

How old is the patient?

Eight years later and I'd say he's still looking pretty good, and probably still has plenty of grafts left for the future if he desired. Love seeing sustained improvement from long term results.

3 hours ago, RecessionProof said:

Damn, interesting case and  great cosmetic improvement for 600 grafts 👍

I was just thinking the same thing. We rarely see anything like this here on the forums unless it is a touch up to a previous, larger procedure. I didn't even realize anyone was offering something so small as a standalone.

So funny that you say this. Despite my hair being far from bulletproof, I've actually had a number of compliments on it lately. A friend asked me for advice with his own hair after remarking that mine was looking pretty good, and I recently had a gal in her mid-twenties comment that I had a "nice hairline" which was hilarious to me. Still, it does seem like all of the effort I've put in is yielding some results. 

The temporal recession on the patient's left is pretty noticeable in the top down photo but, but the post op photos really help to confirm how much work was done on those corners/sides which definitely LOOKED thicker in the initial after photos. I just wasn't sure whether some of that had been a change in hair styling.

Is he thinning at the fringes towards the back at all? The top down makes me wonder a little with the hair combed back, but I could be imagining that.

Managed to snag a better picture without the selfie function. I used flash on this one to help show the contrast against my skin. Notice that cluster of little hairs in the center. The left side is/was the lagging side which you can still see, but with the flash you can kind of catch a glimpse of some of the growth currently happening there.

Edit: also including a frontal image from the five month mark for reference.

That's a very dramatic improvement for only 2,500 grafts.

1 hour ago, paddyirishman said:

Great results ., probably better than medication and which is a win win for everybody .

What does the doctor say if you stop taking the treatment?  Do you need to keep the treatments going ? Does your hair go back to where it was before if you dont take more treatments.

.....thanks and all the best Paddy.

 

 

 

Dr. Arocha recommended treatment every 12 months to maintain the results, which seems pretty standard for the PRP+Acell combo as far as I have seen. I have certainly seen some patients whose results seem to last longer than this without any "renewal" treatments, but beyond simply maintaining my results I've actually found some patients see additional improvement with subsequent treatments, and I'm curious to see if that is the case with me. I don't want to push it longer than the 12 month mark at the moment though.

My plan is to see if we can get a little more concentration of the PRP towards those lagging areas in the front that I've highlighted to see if I can bring them up a bit.

Hey guys, my hair is a bit shorter in these pictures but I figured I'd share an update from today. As of now I'm around ten months from my first treatment and I can still see improvements in my hair. My phone camera is limited but hopefully you can see a few interesting points.

1. The crown is definitely looking stronger. In the five month images it still looked a bit thinner than which may have been partly due to less PRP concentrated in that area. 

2. The weird segmented horn look on the right side of my hairline has less contrast and is blending in much better. You can still see it scrutinizing up close, but at a glance it is far less obvious.

3. The gap in the front center of the hairline has a number of new, pigmented sprouts popping up, which I hope you can see here. The left corner, which is definitely the weaker side, has a whole new row of small, pigmented hairs as well. They are soft in both cases, so it remains to be seen whether they will be able to grow out to an appreciable length and thickness. Second round of PRP may help this. What you're not seeing is a bunch of vellus, non pigmented hairs that are intermingled in there. Not providing much cosmetic benefit right now, but the dark sprouts looked that way initially, so you never know.

Obviously this is slow going, but on top of this I've noticed that any shedding and hair fall has dramatically reduced. Hair still sheds from time to time but well within "normal" amounts each day. While my hair is by no means bulletproof, I'm pretty happy with the fact that I still seem to be making small forward progress even this late in the game.

I've never seen such a large case done exclusively with body hair, much less one that looks this good. Your hair honestly looks much better than some guys I know who still have a decent chunk of scalp hair. I'd be interested to know if you see the characteristics changing at all over time, as I've seen it suggested that transplanted body hair will partially take on traits of the recipient area after a while.

Looks terrific, and you like to style your hair kind of like I do, so I can really appreciate the impact this has had for you. Any idea how many grafts you might have left in your donor?

We see cases with African American hair so infrequently, which I understand is partly due to the challenges of those hair characteristics, and I've seen even fewer African American women because women are a trickier situation on top of that.

However, in the results I've seen for African American men, it seems like the hair characteristics do work in their favor for the final result if the doctor is able to implant the grafts successfully, even with the hair cut very short. I'd bet the added length really enhances that effect.