LordBaldwin

Yeah, understandable...the unhappiest people seem to make the most noise (in this case, about 6 people who continuously complained on the same threads).

This looks really good for five months, IMO. I think you'll end up being happy.

Yeah, I hear you, dude, and I'm really sorry to hear that you didn't get the result you wanted. That really sucks. I know stats are of no consolation to a person who finds himself in the unlucky minority (and I know it's probably irritating to hear that as well). As far any individual person is concerned, the only result that will really matter to them (especially if they've already had surgery) is their own. That being said, the forum is not just here for us to vent, tell our stories, and ask for tips/opinions, but also to give detailed and useful information to those who will take their turns after us (or those who are thinking about it). From that perspective, it's important to be as accurate as possible, and to give them as clear a picture as we can of what their options are. While I'm sure you may have gotten a number of personal messages from people who can relate to your situation (which is expected), anecdotes don't really make for good evidence; indeed, these anecdotes are likely heavily tilted as a result of self selection bias (in other words, people who feel the same way as you do are more likely to try to seek you out). I would agree that prospective new patients should pay attention to all of the results, including the most recent ones -- this is what I've tried to help them do with some of my posts. I know, personally, when I was trying to make a decision, I took a bunch of factors into account -- schedule, cost, location, safety, record of results, etc. Since this type of surgery is really expensive (especially if one were to elect to do this in North America), cost and results are probably weighted the most heavily in many people's decision making processes. I, personally, was willing to accept a bit more risk by going to Turkey because it meant paying a third of what I'd need to pay otherwise. I wasn't willing to accept the level of risk that would be incurred by going to Cinik, Maral, Turkeyana, or another clinic like this, as I felt that that risk would be substantially higher than the one incurred by choosing ASMED; also, I wasn't willing to accept the wait period of Cuoto. If we're being honest, here, while results are very important, and while some surgeons, like Konoir and maybe H&W, might have slightly higher success rates, the costs involved are also astronomical. For those of us who are rich, it probably wouldn't matter....but I think it's safe to say that most of us are not. Also, if the clinic is willing to make a 90% regrowth guarantee, I think that counts for something as well (though I understand your concern about limited donor grafts). It's not a simple decision to make, and I'll admit the decision was easier when his success rate was higher (it's dropped between 4 and 6.5% since I did my math back in December of last year, after taking into account surgeries from the middle of 2018, but it appears to be recovering a bit in 2019).

Also, I should note that a decent number of people see maturation all the way up through the 18 month mark. I don't really mind if it matures slowly, as long as it does ultimately happen. If we assume that those fine, light colored hairs I posted above are transplanted hairs, rather than native ones, there's no reason to believe this won't turn out well. Honestly, I've been experiencing diffuse thinning for the last 10 years...what's another 10 months, right?

Yeah, I'm thinking of growing it out a little bit more on top for more layering, but I won't use fiber because I live in a place where it rains a lot and the density doesn't really bother me all that much, as it is now. I'd be a bit more concerned about density if I were at 10 months or more (and it's really just in the forelock area)...but, as you said, there's still plenty of time for thickening. From the microscopic images below, you can see that there's still plenty of immature (i.e., fine and light colored) hair in that area, so I'm still relatively optimistic that it'll thicken. If no hair was growing in the gaps at all, that would be more of a cause for concern, but this doesn't seem to be the case. While a lot of my hair seemed to pop pretty early on, the maturation portion of the process might be a bit slower for me than it is for some (the clinic told me this could be because I'm not taking finasteride). From the other threads I've seen, my progress seems to be most closely following the trajectory of cali101, who also has fine hair and saw significant differences even between months 10 and 12.

Month 7.5 (Approximately) No flash (indirect natural light): Flash: Intense artificial light (mirror selfie): Direct sunlight: At this point, I should be about 60% of the way to my final result. Date of Surgery Speed of Growth Day Display Month Display Predicted Current % Complete 12/17/2018 Normal 226 7.4 57

No problem. Your pics were a bit dark, and it would be good to see them in higher lighting conditions as well, but I had you down as a 3 so far, with strong potential to become a 4 (since, right now, you're only about 32% of the way to your final result). Here's where you are, approximately: Date of Surgery Speed of Growth Day Display Month Display Predicted Current % Complete 3/4/2019 Normal 149 4.9 32

Haha, well, I was trying to take your own opinion of the area behind the hairline into account, but most of your recent pics look pretty damn good, IMO.

And just to go a little further, I've counted six patient posted results on this forum from people who had surgeries in 2019 at ASMED (hairlossguy1212, TempleRunner, MrBolo, zz333, JPEGMAFIA, and Craig2412). Out of these six, three are *already* good or great, and three are too early to tell. Out of the three that are too early to tell, two of them appear to only be a month out from surgery. The one that isn't is 5 months out from surgery and appears to be on track.

Looks on track for 4.5 months. You should be about 30% of the way to your final result at this point.

Respectfully, that number is completely wrong. Here are some of the people who have had "good" to "great" results on this forum from October 2016 through December 2018 (the time period in question): Username Sugery Date CurrentRating (1 through 4) Months Complete? Jonyny Oct-16 3 34 YES JustJax Oct-16 3 34 YES Scotty9107 Oct-16 3 34 YES Hamburger Nov-16 3 33 YES DEB1982 Dec-16 4 31 YES Alexmczane26575 Feb-17 4 30 YES Ponchik Feb-17 3 30 YES Vainism Feb-17 4 30 YES Ediee Mar-17 4 29 YES JeanLDD Apr-17 4 28 YES Handski May-17 3 27 YES Bloodshoteyes Jul-17 3 25 YES HairDew Jul-17 3 25 YES HG1 Oct-17 4 22 YES Sk78 Oct-17 4 22 YES Nathd911 Nov-17 3 21 YES Panos1982 Nov-17 4 21 YES Vchorro Nov-17 4 21 YES Shuriken Dec-17 3 20 YES Astaldo Jan-18 3 19 YES Jammerz Mar-18 4 17 YES Pancake Mar-18 3 17 YES Highlander6 Apr-18 4 16 YES Artofeden May-18 4 15 YES CosmoKramer Jun-18 4 14 YES Cali101 Jul-18 3 13 YES Redlord Jul-18 4 13 YES Grantleebuffalo Aug-18 3 12 NO SomeLad55 Aug-18 4 12 NO Kraistoff Sep-18 3 11 NO Heckenpenner Oct-18 3 10 NO Markymarc123 Nov-18 3 9 NO Nb98 Nov-18 4 9 NO LordBaldwin Dec-18 3 8 NO I won't list the results I consider "subpar" (i.e., poor or mediocre) without the permission of those individuals. Suffice it to say that there are fewer (13, only 8 of which are complete). Even if you doubt my ratings, you can check these threads yourselves and draw your own conclusions. The total number of patient posted results within the specified time frame, on this forum, was 47, 35 of which are complete (i.e., more than 12 months out from surgery). The total percent good or great (out of everyone, including incompletes) was 72.3%. The percent good or great out of the list of patients with complete results was 77.1%. Unhappy patients tend to be much more vocal, and, as alluded to above, have much longer threads that draw more attention. Additionally, here is an older post I made with an analysis covering an earlier span of time (back when I did this in late 2018 to determine my own chances of success); the relevant post is on the second page, December 1st:

Right. This isn't binary (i.e., good vs. bad)...there's a whole spectrum of possible outcomes. Also, I should mention that it's a bit tough to compare ASMED's success rate with that of other clinics, since many other clinics have far fewer posted results (i.e., much smaller sample sizes). ASMED is one of the few with enough posted results to actually take a statistical approach. That being said, a random patient still has about a 77% chance (based only on posted results from patients who had surgery between Oct 2016 and December 2018) of having a result at 12 months that is somewhere between "good" and "great" at ASMED. I agree that 23% mediocre to poor is not trivial, but there's some early evidence that the 2019 results are improved (though it's still a bit too early to say, in most cases).

Yeah, I can understand that. In my experience, most people don't even know how HTs work or that they're a viable option. You might be able to get away with not saying anything, since it can look a bit like a buzz cut within a week or two (before the shed). I'm sorry you had to go through this as early as you did. I started balding around that age and it really sucks. I guess I just had luck dealing with the HT situation by joking about the "triad of death" (that you can't be more than one of the following -- short, fat, bald) and calmly, light-heartedly explaining to people that I like having hair and I'll continue to have it if I have anything to say about it. Some people can pull off the shaved look...I'm not one of them.

The best way to deal with questions, honestly, is to not seem insecure about the fact that you had a procedure. They can't really make fun of you about something if you're not ashamed of it (and there's nothing to be ashamed of here). Or...you can simply say something like "I had a procedure on my scalp," which is true but could mean any number of things.

I see that I've been summoned...heh. I'll send @Gasthoerer a PM, as I'm not too crazy about the idea of posting my opinion of other people's results publicly.

Yeah, it's amazing how much of a difference proper framing of the face makes. Completely changes everything. TBH, by the time you're 40, I'm sure hair cloning will be available. There was recently an article in The Atlantic about scientists working to 3D print cloned follicles/dermal papillae on a biodegradable scaffold on the scalp to fully restore hair... Seems like the most likely approach to succeed. Out of curiosity, did you make a thread to cover your progress? The more information everyone has about clinic results, the better.

Thanks!

Yep. It was a learning experience...heh. I'm mixing it with the castor and emu oils.

Alright, adding castor, and rosemary, and peppermint oils to the regimen. Like an idiot, I applied too much peppermint last night, which ended up dripping down my forehead and almost burning the sh*t out of my eyes. I did some some studies that support the claim that peppermint and rosemary actually do stimulate growth.

Eh, I've thought about it. The problem is that my hair gets puffy (kind of like a fro) if I let it get too long, and it ends up looking unruly as a result. Also, to be honest, I'm not that concerned about additional density at this point. Since I was suffering from diffuse thinning from the very beginning of the hair loss process, I can't even really remember what it was like to have a really dense look to my hair. That being said, it would still be nice if it did thicken up a bit more. Based on my model, I should be no more than 65% of the way to my ultimate result right now, so there's still a good chance it will get there.

7 Months Things are looking pretty good, I think. Had a haircut this past weekend, so the hair is on the shorter side. No Flash: With Flash: Intense Artificial Light (Mirror Selfie):

No problem. If you, or anyone else, wants to try the model (assuming you have MS Excel), you can PM me your email address and I'll send it to you.

Thanks. Yeah, I actually made a model to estimate how far along a person is in their growth at any given time (it's based in Excel, so I'm still trying to figure out how to share it with the community). Here's a snapshot from today: If this is accurate, I should still have a while to go. Microscopic photos taken yesterday support the idea that a lot of the hair still isn't matured.

Thanks! Yeah, I'm still hoping for some improvement for a thick appearance in direct sunlight and when wet, but there's enough of an improvement already that I could live with it even if all progress stopped now (obviously I hope it does continue to improve). My biggest issue before was the loss of my hairline and the way it absolutely decimated my appearance. Here's what I looked like at 18, before the Noorwood Reaper came in on his wrecking ball, on a mission to ruin my self esteem (and dating life) forever. I acknowledge that I'll never look like this again unless hair cloning becomes mainstream in the near future: Here's what I looked like at 26, after loss was well underway but the hair still looked decent. This is what I'd like to get back to (and what I think is realistically within reach). And here I was at 30, when I finally decided things were out of control and I needed to pull the trigger on the transplant. Not to toot my own horn or anything, but I used to be a pretty decent looking guy before this all started. The loss of my hair was absolutely devastating. Hell, after it got this bad, I couldn't look in the mirror without getting hit by a wave of depression. Here I am now, again: As you can see, the difference between now and immediately before my surgery is stark, and I think I've already reached where I was when I was 26. The fact that I no longer have a "fivehead" transforms my look entirely; this is why any additional improvement would only be icing on the cake.

So there probably is a way to determine the likely cause, but it would require effort on the clinic's end. Essentially, the clinic would need to do a root cause analysis on their discrepant results, looking for any potential patterns or similarities between the patients who had unsatisfactory outcomes. For example, were any of them performed by the same tech team (I'm wondering if the clinic does performance evaluations for each tech team)? If so, how many? Did most occur during a similar span of time? Were they using the same lots of ATP spray or other graft survival-promoting chemicals (and were they using the same suppliers)? Did the patients have similar hair characteristics? Were they of a similar ethnicity/age? These are questions the clinic could probably answer if they wanted to, but this would require some research... and, to be honest, I'm not sure they'd see it as cost effective. I'm not sure how many clinics/medical providers do anything like this.