Mycroft

But again, assuming the hair being taken is true DHT resistant donor hair to begin with, and they're taking a handful of follicles at a time to clone a batch, I cannot imagine a scenario where you're going to run out of hair unless your donor area was compromised and no good to begin with because it was always going to thin out.

Really glad to see so many positive experiences with Dr. Arocha on the forum of late. He and I have only worked on non surgical solutions so far, but at the moment he's one of the only surgeons I'd be considering if I decided to go in for a procedure.

Okay, so this actually addresses the idea of why Farjo is saying it would need to be redone periodically, but it also suggests that they've figured out the cause of that flaw and how to avoid it in theory if not execution. Bernstein is actually making it sound like the longevity of it is the reason they haven't started more serious trials which...makes sense. It seems like it would be prohibitively expensive for most people to do a transplant megasession every couple of years, which would mean the ROI for bringing this to market as a temporary fix wouldn't be as good. I'm sure most investors would prefer it NOT be a permanent fix and have people keep paying into it like the pharmaceutical solutions, but there's a certain point where it's too expensive even for that. Most of us probably consider the transplants on market to represent a significant expenditure, so imagine having to throw down that kind of money every couple of years for life.

Also, why would you have to do it again every few years to maintain the results? Aren't they basically cloning healthy hair follicles and grafting them to your scalp just like traditional hair transplantation? You don't have to get that redone every few years.

I understand the mindset here, but this seems like a cash grab. Firstly, we don't have anything resembling a concrete timeline on the cloning procedure itself, or even successful testing. Second, how old would a patient have to be before we couldn't find 100 viable follicles from their donor to clone? Something doesn't make sense here. Maybe I'm missing it.

Cool deal. I think the investment for the pen and similar tools is well worth it when you look at the convenience of it. I spend substantially less time on microneedling with the pen and the consistency of the needling itself is greater since it's automated.

Definitely a visual improvement, and the new hair is blending in well with the transplants. I can't see a distinct difference in hair qualitt and strength compared to your transplanted hair, which is great. Even if it's still less mature and not as strong, you can't tell that by just looking at it, and it's likely to strengthen over time just like anything else. Which Dr. Pen head are you using? I've seen some with 12 which is what I'm doing on my Derminator, but I've also seen a 36 pin attachment as well. Just curious.

Very dramatic improvement in the appearance of youthfulness with the reconstruction of a strong facial frame. Hard to believe this is only six months in, but the 2,500 grafts obviously went a long way.

You can certainly give PRP a go. I've never heard of it causing shock loss although an effluvium shed is possible. I'd make sure to only consider doctors with good PRP results though and don't get taken in by med spas or people offering it on the cheap. Mine was done by Dr. Arocha. Dr. Cooley has also shown some strong results. Dr. Greco in Sarasota was the first to offer the procedure as far as I'm aware. There are others, but do your research. I'd recommend only opting for PRP with some kind of extra growth matrix like Acell.

PRP could help if you're a good responder. That looks like a relatively mild amount of thinning thus far. Are you on any medication?

I hear you. What I can tell you for sure about my results is that the Fin had been in play for years before my PRP, so that is a non factor. The minoxidil had been going for three months but I had only been applying it to the frontal third. While I have since moved to using it on the entire scalp, at the time these pictures were taken I had not yet started applying it to the crown. I had definitely been microneedling in that area for about two months when the after pictures were taken, five months after my treatment. The conclusion I can draw from this is the crown improvement is entirely PRP and microneedling in these photos. The doctor actually microneedled my scalp during my session, and from my understanding based on what he said and what I've read, the wounding helps to activate the PRP, similar to how it activates your natural growth factors, but with that extra boost. I've got some areas that are lagging behind a bit, and I'm hoping to get some slightly more scientific documentation of how they're impacted by my second PRP treatment in a few months. I'm going to ask the doctor to concentrate a few more of the injections in those areas to see if I can better gauge results this next go around.

The pill described in the article is just oral Minoxidil. You can already buy this from some online sources depending on where you live, but it's not really anything new. I've seen some people make claims similar to this article that oral ingestion yields superior results to topical application, and while that may be true you're also increasing the possibility of side effects substantially if you're susceptible.

I'm impressed that you managed to cover such a large area with such a small number of grafts and still achieve good coverage. Very nice, especially at six months.

Well, that eliminates the possibility of overuse contributing to your scalp woes. On a related note, I am really liking how the product leaves my hair feeling although the price per bottle is a bit steep. Too early for me to tell if it's been speeding up growth at all. Do you feel there has been a benefit?

It looks like your shampoo is the same one I just started experimenting with to enhance any gains I was getting. It does contain the same active ingredient as Nizoral in the same concentration. Are you using that more than few times a week?

I've been using Nizoral as long as I've been using Minoxidil and I've never had any scalp issues despite having some problems with dryness and flakiness prior to starting either. I think the head and shoulders should serve a similar function as long as you make sure not to overdo it.

This is a nice one. The area covered is fairly large compared to the number of grafts, but the patient has a pretty clear transition from careful and deliberate styling to rocking the same hairstyle with more confidence. The hairline has obviously been reinforced and there's much more bulk and fullness throughout the front. I'd bet the patient was getting a lot of comments about how nice his hair started looking without anyone being able to pinpoint exactly why. Great to see it holding strong after 3.5 years as well. Has he been taking finasteride to stabilize his loss?

Thanks. I'm feeling pretty good about it so far. I'm really hoping I might be able to avoid a transplant or at least postpone one for a good while, but it's a bit of tougher trying to be patient while you grow in the hairline area because it's so visible. I'm also constantly trying to figure out whether newly grown hairs are stuck in miniaturized form or if they will eventually grow out and thicken up. They're all growing at different times and rates so it's impossible to tell until months down the line. Even then, I've only been on a good needling regimen for five months. I'm glad you're taking such clear pictures because I really wish there was more data on the timeline for growth with this method. Right now I'm guessing reasonable expectation is even longer than a transplant since we're essentially trying to stimulate growth in dormant follicles that are less than healthy.

You seem like you've managed to cut your hair pretty damn short at only month four despite going the FUT route. Looks like you're going to have an amazing scar, and with such great early growth on top of that...you have to be getting a lot of comments.

I wouldn't stress it just yet. I've seen some people on these forums with pretty late growth in random patches, and hair regrowth is kind of a weird, slow process to begin with. Are you seeing any new sprouts that aren't really visible in your pictures here? Stubble that hasn't grown out?

That's a lot of area covered with that number of grafts, and just enough density in the hairline that you're not staring through it. Does the patient have any donor grafts to work with after this procedure?

I've got a thread over here with some clinic photos and inside there's a link to another thread where I have some low quality photos I took myself. Not the best documentation but I was going through quite a few life changes at the time. You can see there is a good chunk of regrowth for me in areas that were pretty sparse as well as strengthening of hair in areas where it was was copious but feeling kind of thin. Since these pictures I've continued to see additional growth in spots of the hairline that look a little gappy in these photos as well as new little sprouts in lower spots on the hairline. Left corner is still lagging behind a bit but you can see it was starting from a worse spot. Not everyone is a good PRP responder but in my case it seems to have worked. I'm a firm believer that microneedling has good synergy with it as well, since you're basically pumping your scalp full of growth factors, which you help activate by... microneedling!

Definite improvement. At this point you have distinct coverage, however sparse. It's tougher to track the improvement in areas where you've already got a bit of hair, but in a situation like this you can't help but notice right away. I keep thinking that I want to start adding 0.5 a couple of times a week in addition to my weekly 2mm session but I have yet to follow through... I should really get on that. I am at the point where there are a couple of spots that really just need a LITTLE extra push to get to a place where I would be more comfortable. I'm also hoping my second PRP treatment will work together with my refined microneedling to get me where I'm trying to be. Following your progress.

100% a situation where you need to ask your doctor. Always follow their post operative instructions to the letter.

Hairline looks extremely natural, and I could not even point out the scar at this point.