Curious25

I’m more or less completely against dht inhibition personally, however if a topical dutasteride formula came light that only reduced serum DHT by 10%, and only needed to be applied once every week for 4 hours . . I would be hard pushed not to give it a go.

One of the best ever. How you enjoying oral min? Noticed anything?

Looks ok growth wise if you only received 3000-3500 grafts - your donor looks a little over harvested though. Honestly, My opinion would be that a second pass of 3000-3500 would give you a really nice overall result, especially because your hair calibre seems pretty decent. I would really recommend however, spending some time doing more research, and look to go to a different surgeon with a more extensive track record. There are plenty of good ones out there, not too far away from Romania either.

I think its incredible how you were able to extract 7815 from what was considered to be a poor donor area. Can you go into a bit of detail with the forum what your extraction pattern technique involves, and how you were able to execute this?

Really great interview thanks Melvin. Interesting points I noted: Their topical finasteride formula has shown to go 95% less systemic than oral administration, yet this still reduces serum DHT levels by 30%, which IMO is still quite a bit of a reduction. I do however acknowledge their patients haven't reported any adverse affects at this level, which is great - however I am surprised at how such little systemic absorption still has the capacity to reduce serum DHT by almost a third. Pro FUE stance - really interesting, especially coming from a leader of strip surgery. I thought his points were fantastic, and his confidence in the density he is able to achieve via FUE was obvious. @Aftermath is testimony to this. Oral Minoxidil - his concern RE. collagen depletion was anecdotal from what he has seen in practice, however I believe from the gist of what he was referring to, only relates to the potential implications of healing from surgery. There is literature online supporting a reduction in scalp collagen being a positive in relation to hair loss, in the sense of it reducing the potential for collagen build up around hair follicles, and speeding up the miniaturisation process - essentially mimicking scar tissue, and being comparable to how scarring alopecia functions. Again his concerns for the affects it may or may not have on facial ageing, is non hair loss related, however as an overall aesthetic stand point, important to consider. I'd be keen to learn what pro Oral Minoxidil doctors have to say in response to these two trails of thought.

Yea that’s the case, because your transplanted density will usually be no more than half of your original density - when dry, and at a strategic length, the illusion is very good. The illusion struggles to hold up in certain conditions - wet hair and bright lights being two of the harshest. Just to finish - non balding hair also looks thinner when wet, the hair is clumped together, therefore showing more scalp. If it’s that bothersome - look into going for a second pass to add further density to the areas of concern.

Go for it !

Wow, this is great. Top work - I’m sure he’s a very happy man now.

I think as of today, if you are an 18 year old NW1 who is genetically programmed to reach NW7, there are enough things he can do to massively slow this down from becoming a reality, if not prevent it at all. A regime of daily dutasteride and oral minoxidil from the age of 18, could potentially keep his loss at bay for many years, which isn’t too far off your original question, of taking a pill and then being done with it . . apart from the fact it will be taking 2 pills daily, and hair loss needs not to have already occurred. Whether or not the patient could withstand the medications is a different question - which is potentially what you were also referring to? As for a bald NW7 taking a pill and growing it all back . . i think we are light years away from this happening. Unless you watch Dr Dan McGrath try and convince you he transformed a NW7 patient of his with some exosomes, when in reality, he let his hair grow out from a buzz cut, to a slightly longer length, giving the donor a healthier appearance, and the tuft of a forelock becoming more obvious with the increase in length 🙂

I think I’m more hyped for this insta live than Oliveira Poirier tomorrow 😂

Looks great work, such a minor surgery such as this can still make a dramatic improvement to a man’s overall aesthetic.

He’s a general plastic surgeon, so that would eliminate him in the first round for me.

Please can you ask about the treatment protocol for their topical dutasteride, and how (if) it differs to other versions on the market, such as those from Mwamba and Strut, ie. vehicle agent, etc . . and whether their unique formula/protocol is why they are so sure of it not going systemic. Thanks Melvin

Really great result Congrats man!

😂

I understand - but I just don’t buy the 5% figure and never have done. If you have been online for long enough, anecdotally it was clear that the number of users affected was higher than 5%, and now surgeons are coming forward and admitting they have witnessed first hand it is a higher number than 5% from their own patients. The fact people have even gone out to pursue developing a topical (a more impractical application to use) wouldn’t make sense if 95% of people could quite happily just pop a pill each morning, and be on their way. Anyway, yes, I’ll be very eager to hear what he says tomorrow . . It’s a bold statement to call it side effect free! Keep up the great work arranging these one on ones, it’s been a game changer on the forum.

There’s surely a reason behind all this early growth 😂 Is this patient on oral minoxidil? Great result btw

I’ll address the elephant in the room and take the opportunity on here to make comment upon how it’s interesting that now topicals are the current trend, HT doctors are being a lot more forthcoming with talking about the real numbers of their patients who have suffered from side effects and unable to take oral form finasteride/dutasteride.

That makes sense. Thank you for taking the time to answer Dr.

Weird advice from JT, it is is pretty industry standard advice to use both to help stimulate growth 14 days post transplant - and the 14 days is because that’s for topical minoxidil. I imagine if you take oral, you can just continue it throughout your whole surgery.

Totally normal , new hair sprouts often cause pimples to form

There’s no proof as such, but when you’re on a forum full of transplant nerds, looking at his scar and hairline design, you can make safe assumptions. Obviously without his permission, it would be a huge violation for them to have released this information.

I understand about the ability to create a transition zone, so there not being an issue with it standing out as such. My point more so was, if one was to restore a patient from a ‘blank canvas’ . . then they wouldn’t place a band of singles and finer hair in this mid section of the design, as it wouldn’t make sense - therefore retrospectively, if hairline lowering is carried out on a patient at a later date, their graft utilisation and efficiency wouldn’t be as good as what a pre planned full restoration of a patient would provide ?

It’s not as straight forward as this - it’s entirely down to the individual and how their body reacts to the change in hormone profile. We’re all delicately tuned so differently. Agree with this

This is the reality of the situation. It doesn’t matter what you use or how you suppress DHT, if you are affected by the decline in your levels, you are affected either way. The key is finding the balance in being able to suppress your DHT to a point in which it halts hair loss, yet doesn’t have any physical or mental implications on your body. Perhaps it will be easier to achieve this with natural supps that offer a milder suppression for some, perhaps microdosing propecia is the solution for some . . Who knows? I’m all for a more holistic approach though, as opposed to manufactured chemicals.