Curious25

Coming on. Occipital donor looks amazing - plenty more grafts to dig into should you ever wish to do so.

You look like you’ve been in the sun with a baseball cap on.

Research finasteride (oral and topical) and once you understand it, if you feel comfortable, this will more than likely completely slow down any potential progression you are due to experience. From what I can make out in the pics, Minoxidil won’t do anything of major benefit for you - perhaps you have some miniaturisation in the zone 2 area I suppose, but the areas of obvious recession you have faced in the temple area are slick bald, so your best course of action is to preserve what you currently have (which is very good for 36) through a 5AR inhibitor. Minox could strengthen the possible miniaturisation you have going on behind the hairline, but I think for you, finasteride will be more than enough. And if your hairline bothers you, it’s a pretty straight forward fix for any good surgeon worth their salt. 1200-1800 grafts depending on who you go to, should leave you looking like a rockstar.

Won’t work for coverage

Hasson seems insistent that 2.5% is the required and optimum dose, which equates to 25mg per 1ml. If their formula is so good at penetrating/drip feeding finasteride into the target area tissue with this magical mesh system, and it largely remains locally in the scalp, then why 25mg per 1ml is required is beyond me, given the overwhelming success a mere 0.25mg - 1mg oral serving provides the large majority of men. My inclination is that 2.5% is overkill, and a lower concentration topical that uses a good carrier agent will be much safer with regards to unwanted side effects, yet remain efficacious. Have a look at the European study published in October 2021 on 0.025% topical finasteride.

Very rough sketches - but you can see how the reinforced temple points have a massive impact on your overall facial framing, compared to what just a hairline lowering would do. Again, totally your call and what you’d be satisfied with, but worth a consideration none the less, because a lot of people new to the game tend to get so hung up and focused on having a straighter hairline, and overlook the temple points. This is usually further encouraged by surgeons purposefully neglecting on doing them, not because they are unnecessary or a waste of grafts - but because they are hard to do. Going off your hair type from your photos, both these designs by the way would require more than 1500 grafts, as I see one clinic has seemingly quoted you. Not sure what their design would be, however.

Temple points - If you are looking to regain a solid framing of your face, your hair loss pattern requires quite a bit of focus on this area, which isn’t the easiest thing for even accomplished surgeons to get right - so for that reason, I would focus on searching for doctors who are able to provide a multitude of results/have patient posted results, of temple point restoration. The three names you have provided are good doctors, so you have clearly done some research to get to this point - however I suggest you think about what your goals are, and consult with doctors who are able to provide you with exactly what you want. Simply lowering and straightening your hairline will still leave you looking somewhat recessed - maybe you don’t mind this, which is fine, but it’s just worth being aware of this before proceeding. Contrary to popular assumption, temple point work doesn’t actually require a huge amount of grafts, and good doctors will take them from areas of the scalp that wouldn’t provide optimum coverage for other areas of your recipient anyway - so the whole ‘higher Norwoods shouldn’t be wasting grafts on temple points’ argument is just something of an old wives tale IMO, on a patient such as yourself anyway. Good luck with your choices,

The fact of the matter is simple; the only way to ascertain which clinic or surgeon will be most suited for your procedure is to conduct both an objective and subjective analysis upon service providers within the industry. Subjective, as the word suggests, is an individuals personal perception, and is far more likely to potentially cause bias or risk patients’ feelings being hurt, should their photos be used as a talking point, for example. However the thread in question was purely centred around objective factors for consideration, discussing mainly the differences in approaches between Dr Konior and Hasson & Wong - not once mentioning anything about quality of results, because, as from my perception, there was an established understanding on the thread already that both clinics have a solid history of proving themselves capable. I really struggle to see how this forum could even exist, should it be prohibited to compare surgeons side by side. Even the title of this thread is a complete misconception of what posts in that thread were intending to achieve.

If you post a picture of your hairline, it would help

That’s not really concealing it though is it, rather the complete opposite and actually being transparent. After 1500 grafts, assuming you have a virgin donor judging by your post, by day 6 onwards, it should be undetectable given you are having surgery with a skilled doctor. As for your recipient - it depends on the nature of your restoration. If it’s just a small hairline transplant of 1500 grafts, 3-4 week growth of the recipient should be enough to push forwards and cover any of the shedding/redness. It’s all very hard to say without seeing pictures of your case, and of course, no one knows how your surgery will go, and how your recovery will be. However, to serve up a rough idea for you - go with the above as being a pretty sound portrait of what to expect.

No one was being picked apart on that thread though Melvin, it was just a collation of finished results taken from patient posted threads, from two of the surgeons the conversation was centred around. I’m at a loss at how you expect a prospective patient to decide on choosing a surgeon? You chose Dr Sethi for your most recent transplant, because you liked what you saw from his results with BHT - however it will be fair to say, you have seen BHT results from plenty of other recommended doctors on here, so how did you narrow it down to Dr Sethi without comparing his results to that of the other Dr’s? By viewing the patient results I presume - which was literally all that was done on that thread, albeit in a condensed format, saving the OP the time and hassle of going through searching the forum and looking for all the individual cases himself. If links to the original threads that the photos were taken from, rather than the photos themselves, were used . . would that have been acceptable?

That’s a fair and valid point. At the risk of pandering the contributors on the original thread, I believe the level of the conversations being had would suggest that the posters were well aware of these factors obviously being fundamental to overall results, however if it wasn’t specifically stated - I agree, for full transparency it should have been mentioned (I don’t know if it was or wasn’t). This could have been as easy as staying it in in a simple post, rather than deleting the whole thread though. You didn’t ask for my pics on your PM, so I assumed you weren’t interested - more than happy to show you them though, as long as you play by your own rules and don’t go posting me around the Internet 😉

We need Elon to buy HRN - he’s into hair transplants, so who knows

Melvin, I had surgery with Dr Feriduni in 2016 and actually had a thread on a different site because I wasn’t aware of, or using this forum at the time. I can send you my pictures privately, link you to the thread (if external links to other forums are permitted) or you can speak to @L0ke to confirm who I am. Regardless, I wasn’t aware of it being a stipulation to sharing your own photos before you can voice concern over unwarranted censorship on what is meant to be the internets only free voiced hair loss forum? Anyway, I really don’t want to get into tit for tat with you because I actually respect what you do, and don’t want to waste your time with having to muster up some other excuse and respond to whatever I say - but the bottom line is , a lot of what you have said to justify the removal of the thread is not, and has never been the case from what I have seen on this forum. You constantly (in a positive manner) put photos or link threads from other patients’ when their dr’s names come into question from a user, to provide them with examples of their work. Which makes sense, because after all, that’s what this forum is about ? So to take disciplinary action to that particular thread and remove it, where there was absolutely no bad mouthing or tribalism going on, just a very detailed and in depth analysis from actively engaged users . . I mean you even liked the actual post in question with the comparison photos on - it begs the question, what has really gone on here? I pm’d you yesterday by the way and you haven’t replied.

It just doesn’t make sense. You were actively engaged in the thread, liking the posts one minute . . Then it’s been removed, despite not one of the members having any issues with the content ?

Melvin, come on. This is literally done on a daily basis, including by yourself. I’ve done it before on a hairline thread to point out the difference in quality surgeons and not so, using patients of BHR, Rahal, and De Freitas ALL from patient posted threads on here - none of them minded, nor did the board? I can imagine your job on here not being a straight forward one, and having to mediate between being fair to the community and the clinics not always being a simple feat - but this whole debacle screams that there has been some higher power at force here who has requested this to be taken down.

Given the clear appetite for threads such as this one from the community, the clarification from the individual whose photo was used as an example of not having any issues with it, and an admission from the moderator that in hindsight it was unnecessary to remove the thread - could we see it restored please and allow the discussion to continue?

It depends on your goals and expectations. Your hair type is generally considered advantageous for coverage, so it is not uncommon to see patients with these or similar characteristics usually getting away with lesser graft numbers than perhaps you have seen others require for a similar sized area. I would recommended consulting with some other clinics as well, for comparison. Second and third opinions are always worthwhile, even more so if you feel a little bit of doubt from your initial consultation.

He uses topical finasteride now apparently, I’m assuming it’s the one from H&W. I think overall he’s a lesser evil of some of the hair loss ‘influencers’ . . he knows his stuff, and has worked in a world leading clinic for over a decade I believe . . however I’d still take things he says with a pinch of salt, but I think you should do that with most things in this industry. Kobrens just an oxygen thief. How he’s made a living off the back of an industry he has never even had first hand experience with, is quite frankly beyond belief. And when I say made a living, I mean, made a fortune.

Yes it very much is so . . Which is important because we’re not just a bunch of apples on here. Patients are an eclectic mix also, so once skill level has been established with a clinic, matching the correct patient to the correct surgeon based on his style or surgical approach, is very important IMO.

I’m not going to bother with the studies - first of all if there were serious cardiac concerns about the topical, cited from a study in 1988 . . I doubt that we would have seen rogaine on our shelves from that time period. Second of all, rats.

You’ve provided a study from 34 years ago, a study on rats, and a video from a YouTuber. Keep your fear mongering to yourself rather than derail a great thread.

I agree with what you are saying - but I am failing to see the relevance of it to the thread in question, unless you are just going off on a different tangent to add to the debate of removal of such threads? The comparisons between the two clinics, H&W, and Dr Konior, never made any mention of one being g superior over the other - it was a technical analysis and breakdown of the differing strategies employed by each, and discussion into the pro’s and con’s of each . . which was done very fairly, and in a supportive manner. If I were a prospective patient - that is exactly the type of information I would be wanting to read and learn from, and I thought it was conversely shaping up to be a thread that would be excellent promotion for each of the clinics, because of the volume of information about each that was on show.

Thanks for clarifying why this was taken down Melvin. I agree, it is a fine line between maintaining a healthy and positive environment where posters and surgeons are comfortable to share their results, whilst remaining fair and consistent with feedback. I may have missed further posts from the thread in question, so could be overlooking things that were said - but from what I recall, the individual who had one of their photos used as an example in a previous post, came on to contribute to the thread, and was actually pretty much in agreement with all that had been said, and even opened up the invitation for posters to contact him for further information, which was great to see. The points (the ones that I saw) made were absolutely brilliant from a lot of contributors on the thread, and it’s a real shame that it was taken down, rather than locked, because some of the analysis was better than any hair restoration content I’ve ever came across before.

The success of this restoration will be reliant on temple point work. You hairline could benefit from being lowered, however aiming to bring back your recessed temples and create a boxed off look to frame your face, will make a huge difference. Which area of your head did you have your original transplant with Hasson?