Blackweasel

I have basically restored my crown. Thats why.... I only got like 100 grafts on crown and no point having a nice front if my crown is visibly balding. I dont like the balding look and would end up shaving and being depressed. 

Being honest there have been no sides and ive been on 200mg Spiro for 2 weeks. The difference it makes is beyond beleif and except having sore left nipple I have 0 sides, I shed 0 hair. 

When there is no sign of balding I will taper down doses. I dont want to use more of my donor at all, ever if possible. I am now at 4.5 months after the op and 6 months into meds. I think I will have a ful l head of hair very soon with minimal signs of balding. Heres for hoping. 

Very happy to finally be seeing progress.

compared crown pics from January to today and ive definately progressed in the crown area.

Started 200mg oral Spironolactone and 5mg oral minoxidl about a week ago, I am hoping and praying I can recover to a happy NW2. 

Ok guys.... Im 100% im getting regrowth now.

had some vellous hair down on my original lower hairline and I can see them slowly all going terminal. You can even see very few thicker hairs sprouting. Its very slow progress.... but atleast its something! 

Oral: Still on 0.5 duta x2 per week. 2.5 mg fina daily saw palmetto 200mg+ dermaroll 0.5

Topical: 15% minox+ fina+ topical Spiro. Soon starting 2.5 mg oral Minoxidl. Possibly try 100mg oral Spironolactone, libido is still good if not a little better possibly due to test increase via DHT inhibition. Worst side effects have honestly been from Minoxidl thus far....

Just now, LonelyGraft said:

Looks great. To the untrained eye it’s very difficult to tell.

I agree, and must remember its only been 5 weeks since operation in those pictures and 3175 grafts were taken which is a substantial amount. Its also shaved down to lowest guard possible 0. Cinik and staff did a wonderful job, hopefully the growth in 3 months is just as good as the minimal scarring. 

22 minutes ago, LonelyGraft said:

Can you show us the overall donor that includes top and sides untouched? Your scarring is obviously very good. But with fue there will always be a decrease in density where the hair is harvested. This can sometimes he noticeable with short hair 

So you want to see full pic of donor?

or pic of donor before FUE procedure?

i dont have any pics of donor shaved on low guard as I had longer hair before the clinic shaved my head. Am keeping hair shaved now since its easier and more effective to apply topicals (minox, spiro, fina etc) on a shaved head. Heres a pic of my whole donor area 1.5 month after FUE. 

Close to Invisible FUE scars- 3175 grafts. Only 2 months after the operation.

im very happy I can shave to low guard if I eventually loose the battle against MPB. 

Updated pic on crown and me at baseline.

I think magic is very slowly happening, hard to tell with a shaved head but I do think my hair is slowly thickening up. 

I see a small number of terminal hairs also sprouting at hairline. Which is great. 

Fue scars are invisible 2 months after the procedure. Im down to 0 guard and nobody has noticed anything was done to my head. A testament to Dr Cinik and his staffs extraction and scar-less tecnique (atleast in my case). 

Compared to where you where before these are wicked results. I would be very happy...

Saw palmetto is alot weaker vs Finasteride.

I would say anyone with significant Androgenetic hairloss should opt for Finasteride vs Saw palmetto. I take both but saw palmetto doesnt do much, I just have some from Cinik so I will use it. I dont think side effects are possible with saw palmetto unless in ultra-rare scenarios but I dont think it does much either. Just my gut feeling thats all...

Lots of new vellous hair on temples, hopefully they will go terminal and thicken up as time goes by. I can defo see something happening on temples. Nothing on crown/ mid scalp just yet. Now on Minoxidl 3 months, Finasteride 2 months. Dutasteride approx 1.5 weeks.Topical spiro 1.5 weeks. 

Some side effects to report since starting dutasteride:

Random minor ball ache

slight tenderness in breast, keeping a close eye and there is no gyno just yet. Ill have Raloxifene at hand for peace of mind. 

sleeping seems a little more challenging, may have to do with meds or may not. 

Irregular heart beat with minoxidl and also some water retention from Minoxidl. Im also getting vellous hair everywhere on forehead/ face. Eyebrows growing longer. Black eye sockets with Minoxidl. Trying to counter all this with Aloe vera gel applied to face 2x daily. 

Less Libido and sex drive BUT I still get erections and still same consitency. 

Beards seems to be growing slightly slower. 

Yeah I get your point,

its a hard one, but having NW7 in my immediate family and being a nw6/7 diffuser myself it was important to me that scarring is minimal so I can resort to shaving my bald head if I ever loose the fight or decide to give up meds for some reason which someday will happen (hopefully im 40+ years old). People change, mentalities change and I wanted to be safe. I also researched a good FUE doc with small punch size and my doctors used 0.7mm and implanted with choi pens. 

Its hard and hair loss is a cunt. I dont think I will ever extract more follicles from my scalp, If I had to do more HTs itll be chest and beard hair or shaved head for life. This is why im going hard on meds with dutasteride etc for regrowth as I basically have 1 shot to make this work.

12 hours ago, hairlossPA said:

the recovery is mainly what scares me the most. i think i could get 2 weeks off, and then maybe work from home the 3rd week, but i’d just be so afraid of looking ridiculous when going to the office where I can’t wear a hat

It depends how many grafts you get and if you go FUE or FUT. The recovery is very hard, harder than I thought. It plays with your head and your constantly looking in the mirror. 

I was wearing a hat after 2 weeks.

I was on the plane for 28 hours with a hat from Turkey back to Melbourne. It was hard but I did it. If you can get more off time do it, the more the better. Transplant area will be red for months, donor should heal quick but was uncomfortable for me, kept using aloe vera gel from dr cinik. 

21 minutes ago, BeHappy said:

It's the same reason everyone else gets a transplant. They don't like being bald or having a shaved head. If you try shaving or buzzing your head and decide to get a hair transplant because you can't stand the shaved/buzzed look on you, then believe me you will like the shaved look MUCH LESS when it includes scars. I personally never understood people who get a hair transplant because they felt their hair was so bad that they had to do something about it turn around and try to tell someone who has even less hair than they do that he should not get a hair transplant as if having even less hair would somehow suddenly magically make a person be OK with that.

 

Well to each his own, unless I get my hair to grow thicker itll be a buzz cut for the rest of my life. I cant stand balding/thinning head and prefer short cut. FUE 3000 graft has given me a frontal hairline again and theres a MASSIVE difference between bald head buzzcut and short cut/buzzcut with visible hairline framing the face. 

I already shave my head 2 months post op and will do so until I get growth in another 6 months and in the same time frame thicken the mid scalp and crown. If that doesnt happen it will forever remain buzzed. Scars are barely visible in my case, nobody noticed on 0 guard. Im very happy about this as can keep shaving low guard until I need to...

Just now, mrax said:

From your videos, it seems you get well informed before making any decision. Did you ever check whether your FUE-scars are unnoticable when shaving your head?

I've seen quite a a few pictures of people with very noticable white-dots on the back of their heads. Having the option to shave my head, in case the hair loss progresses and leaves me with a hair island on the top of my head, is a really important for me.

However, I'm not sure how unnoticable the scars of the latest FUEs performed by good surgeons can be. From what I've heard, the punch size can play a major role.

Ive seen some white spot FUE scars also.

I did my op 3175 grafts at DR Cinik in Turkey on 13 th December 2019. So about a Month and 2 weeks ago. I have shaved my head to 0 guard. This is what it looks like, nobody around me realised anything was done. This is only a month after the procedure. I use Fresh Aloe vera  gel on my whole scalp and it seems to help. 

Punch is 0.7mm and I think im very lucky with my tanned skin colour. Im almost positive the scars will be completely invisible in a few years. 

What a result! If this man could do it, why couldnt other NW7 sufferers  

I always wonder why people that end up with the island of hair and general transplanted bald look dont just shave their head. I would guess its because of the FUT scars in this case? 

The shaved low guard look is so much better vs the high norwood balding look. 

Honestly, the operation itself is a piece of cake compared with the following ugly duckling phase and mental challenges associated with it. Thats the real challenge, waiting nervously for growth to take off whilst looking... well lets say not that good. I wish you the best to overcome your fear.

In honesty once youre past the initial anaesthetic injections the rest is painless.... recovery is also not that bad. My opinion is in regards to FUE procedure and reflect my experience thus far.

1 hour ago, Sybutwhy? said:

Got to be worth a go, but my surgeon (won’t name him but the most famous in the UK...) basically said that it will grow when it grows, didnt dissuade me from trying remedies but spelled out they’re unlikely to do anything and I’ll be fine either way.

but... heard aloe vera works a treat, also T Gel?

I use plenty of Aloe vera. I also apply it to my face before I apply Minoxidl to mask the face if minoxidl drips. Hopefully stops wrinkles and black eye sockets developing. One can only try....

1 minute ago, Sybutwhy? said:

Ah I had it part shaven so still have a lot on top to cover up. Except for the massive missing patches...

You’re a fair bit more tanned than I am so it looks okay - can’t really buzz mine as redness is still horrendous.

Damn pasty skin.

I wonder if swimming in Saltwater can be beneficial for redness and healing scars. I read some HT surgeons used to recommend it, others say to avoid so am unsure at this point. I did swim in some freshwater flowing creeks without issue 1.5 month post op.

6 hours ago, Sybutwhy? said:

I have a bit of this too - particularly bad on the left side. Tbh yours really doesn’t look too bad, but I have patchy hair on the sides of my head anyway so it sort of blends for me.
From what I’ve seen shock loss at the back from FUE recovers quickly, would definitely grow it if I were you - will look fine a bit longer!

Yeah but that means you have to grow the top aswell and I cannot sport the balding look, id rather shave it off, which I did. Also Minoxidl seems to be easier to apply with a shaved scalp and I can now see my scars which really arent too bad I think. Really hoping the top will thicken up with HT and my regimen of 5ar blockers and anti androgens. 

4 hours ago, fabofly said:

Dude I totally get why you are so upset but you are being irrational. Think about what people were telling you about running a cycle at age 18. I'm sure many told you, you were making a huge mistake that you ended up paying for.

Listen to the doctor and let the hair be. 

Let the hair be in what way? 

Im only using minoxidl, fina and spiro as topicals. I really dont think my regimen is that extreme. It seems like anyone that takes more than 1mg finasteride is a bad boy here or something?

Im currently going through ugly duckling phase and would like my crown and HT to fill nicely by 12 months, hence I ethically want to throw all I can at it. Ive got cyproterone acetate in the drawer which im not using, that would probably be irrational. 

20 minutes ago, wasteyute said:

Dr Cinik's clinic recommends not to use Minoxidil for 6 months. I still ended up returning to it 2 months post-op, but just an FYI.. I don't think it's an issue, I have no idea why they tell us no Minoxidil for 6 months.

Hey wasteyute,

Yes thats true, I had just gone through massive shedding due to Minoxidl pre op and couldnt afford to stop using. Since others promote its use in HT setting I thought id keep using. It does dry the scalp a little but not stopping now....

Temple pics. 

Ive had massive shedding since starting Minoxidl. Maybe some of the new hairs were ones lost in previous shed coming in a little thicker. Possibly....

Ok.... so back on topic on my journey to try make something out of this semi-bald head. 

I think my treatment is finally showing some more convincing signs. I am using this page as a diary to save my progress. I see many sprouting hairs. Also my balding areas seem to have slightly thicker hair. Following images are a month apart and from the same area which is by far my most bald area.

I keep thinking that DHT labs pro formula shampoo and Nizoral are making big difference for me and aiding my regimen greatly. 

18 minutes ago, Uncle drew said:

Where do u get dutasteride from?

Email me on za9c005@gmail.com and ill send you the link. Happy to help....