giegnosiganoe

If you're getting a density treatment, does that mean she already knows you have hair loss, or have you been hiding it with concealers? What is your reason for wanting to tell her?

The number of remaining grafts in the donor should be the same for either approach though. But if you extract over the entire donor vs just half, then you should have 2x as much space between extractions, so it shouldn't be that difficult to space it out if you have to do a next procedure? And I never see this method done with people who actually need multiple procedures - it's always those with minimal loss (which makes sense since it's difficult to extract 3000+ grafts from only one side of the head). Take someone like Dr. Zarev, who pushes the donor to the absolute limit. Not even he has an issue extracting evenly across the donor over multiple surgeries. It surely takes more planning/effort, but he seems to be proof that it can be done without any disadvantage. And I'm not sure I buy the scarring argument. Is it that the scarring of an extraction somehow affects the neighboring grafts? What does it do to them exactly? You'd also have 2x as much space between extractions, so it would be unlikely for the grafts you'd extract the 2nd time around to be affected assuming that were a problem. I responded to some of this in my comment above. How are you quantifying "damage" here? The number of extractions/surface area of scarring doesn't change whether you extract over the entire donor vs only half. I'd argue that placing the extractions closer together increases risk, as it would seem more difficult for the body to heal from wounds spaced closer together. I get that 2000 grafts may not make a noticeable difference in most cases (I've seen docs who do this go up to 2500). But I do think a more even extraction pattern would allow a slightly shorter cut on the back/sides. And what if we think about longer term if the patient continues to lose density in the donor, even simply due to senile alopecia? At some point that difference may become visible.

Saw this mentioned in another thread and thought it deserved its own thread. I've never heard of a good reason for extracting from only one side of the head (assuming the donor density is fairly symmetrical along the horizontal plane). There are two things I can think of that matter in this discussion: 1) the health of the remaining grafts, and 2) spreading out extractions to limit the difference in density across the donor. For the first point, I don't see how it makes a difference - a good surgeon should be able to extract quality grafts from anywhere in the donor region without affecting the neighboring grafts. If they can safely extract from one side of the head, why wouldn't they be able to do so for the other side of the head, especially when they have more space between extractions? For the second point, extracting evenly across the entire donor area obviously wins according to basic math. So according to these criteria, extracting from only one side of the head is strictly worse. Can anyone explain what they think is the benefit of extracting from only one side of the head? Leaving one side of the donor "virgin" is what you commonly hear as a defense. I guess it sounds compelling because people usually leave the discussion at that from what I've seen, but I really don't see how that means anything in and of itself.

Also, chance of gyno is about 2% for dut (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2929552/). Unlucky. I'd like to think the sensitivity could also be paranoia, as I don't remember rubbing my nipples nearly as much in the past 😆 I've been working out very consistently since early this year, am pretty lean/muscular, 6ft 190lbs, so that shouldn't be an issue. Thanks, will report back once I get the test results. Interesting, I had seen a couple of this guy's videos in the past. Though it seems very odd that he was on topical dut for only 5 days before concluding that it was causing his gyno to flare up? Wouldn't have thought he'd notice an effect that quickly.

Figure I'll tag along here, because I'm pretty sure I'm developing (bilateral) gyno as well! Can't say I've noticed any other sides, though I haven't been sexually active for the past 1-2 years (should be back on dating apps in the next couple months after I get some more recent pics, so maybe I'll find out then). Been on dut for 2 years now, and fin for half a year before that. Some previous context: My nipples always stuck out ever so slightly more than the average person (like when they got cold) as far as I can remember, but nothing anyone would ever consider to be gyno. However over the past few months, I've become increasingly aware of my nipples showing more through certain types of shirts, feeling slight sensitivity when rubbed at times, and feeling a small lump limited to the nipple/areola. At first I thought that maybe I already had these symptoms given my history and that I was overthinking it, but now that a few months have passed I'm pretty confident it has continued to get worse and that it's the development of gyno. I'm also surprised it has taken so long for me to notice this (given I've been on DHT blockers for 2.5 years), but I guess it makes sense that the effect would be cumulative. I went to see a doc yesterday who confirmed that he felt a small lump, and he ordered various hormonal blood tests. Let's see if the tests explain my perceived worsening of the symptoms/possible development of gyno. If it is gyno, I'm greatly leaning toward staying on dut and just getting surgery.

No one needs a HT. I don't think most people would consider you to be balding based on your current hairstyle if that's what you're asking. But are you a good candidate to have your hairline improved? Given your age and current medical treatment, I'd say yeah you could get a small procedure, say 1500 grafts. It would likely improve your looks marginally and give you more hairstyles to choose from. Would help to see some more pics with your hair pulled back - also recommend using the rear facing camera, without the mirror, for better quality.

Your donor density looks to be lower than average based on these pics. I'd wager that you have diffuse thinning as well. Could you provide more pics of the back and top? Are you on medication?

I agree with the others above. Curious how short did you cut your donor?

Looks really dense to me. How are you feeling about it now?

I've seen very few cases of temple point work that truly looks natural. If you were to do it, I'd only get a small amount transplanted there as a test, ensuring they're very fine singles, similar to how Rolandas did. Whether I think it's worth it in your case.. It'd be easier to say if you showed more photos straight on (right, center, left, not angled upward/downward), and some with your temple points slightly grown out (to see whether you have any thinning/retrograde, which would further emphasize the difference). From what I can see, yours don't seem bad at all. They seem similar to mine, however I have retrograde thinning (which I don't think you do). Before my HT I was thinking I'd definitely need to get them done at some point, but now that my HT has grown out I've realized they look pretty good as long as I keep them on the shorter side (due to retrograde).

Thanks! I'd been using dutasteride for over a year before my transplant, and switched from topical to oral minoxidil after my transplant.

I know you're partly joking, but I'm fairly certain he would've gotten similar results with finasteride. Dutasteride isn't some magical treatment.

I assume the OM is doing something but it's difficult to visually assess. As for side effects, I assume the pedal edema is still there, and not sure if I mentioned here but it does seem to have lowered my blood pressure a bit. I believe it used to be ~120/80, and now it's ~120/60. Could be because I've been a lot more physically active since getting on it and I'm a heavy sweater. Not sure if I'll be staying on it long term, but a bit afraid to get off of it right now. Can't say I've noticed any changes to my hair over the past month. Maybe a couple shorter hairs here and there that are catching up to the rest. I'm at the tail end now. Side note: Gotta say I absolutely love getting haircuts nowadays. I always used to go about 3 months between haircuts, even in my late teens/early 20s. Now I've been going every 3 weeks, and feel like a million bucks every time. The high frequency is partly needed to camouflage the retrograde at the temple points/nape.

You look wayyy ahead of the curve to me. That spot is probably growing on a normal time frame compared to the rest, for whatever reason. Many people have weaker spots that fill in over time - I was skeptical of this (thinking the weaker spots would stay thin) until I saw it happen to myself.

I think it's pretty rare to shed between months 3-4 - haven't really noticed that in any of my research. Can you share pics?