Curious25

Oh wow I’ve never seen pictures like this before 😂 Yes 100% a hair piece! I briefly came across this pic in an online news article earlier this year which without delving into the depths of an investigation, just struck me as looking like he’d probably had some work done, but your picture certainly suggests otherwise! I guess he’s done ok considering how many steroids he has surely taken during the course of his lifetime, because I think he held onto quite the mop way into his 30’s.

Haha I’ve enjoyed reading through this thread - without a doubt a fantastic transformation, and if the jury was ever out before as to whether it was a transplant or hair piece, these pics revealing his neat strip scar certainly confirm it. I too would wager it was a H&W special - what an honour performing surgery on one of the most intelligent and wealthiest men in the world, I’m sure they have had plenty a famous face through their clinic over the years, I know it’s a pretty safe assumption thats where Conte went to. Where do the Hollywood guys go to, your Sylvester Stallones and Arnies etc? I imagine he his on finasteride, I don’t think any potential finasteride brain fog would make too much of a dent in that abnormal size brain of his 😂

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Donor looks ok to me aswell, what were his reasons for saying you weren't a candidate , was it specifically because of how your donor appeared, or because you still have too much hair (albeit miniaturised) - as these two reasons mean completely different things in terms of your candidacy. How long have you been on medication? Have things slowed down/improved since then?

Thankyou for your input Dr. @Cristero@ADuckwithNoHair

Thankyou for your input Dr. What age, in your opinion, can one start to safely assume final hair loss patterns? For instance - there has been a recent case from a leading clinic extracting from high in the donor region from a 29 year old patient . . I’m not suggesting this was incorrect, but I want to know how it could have been justified to be be safe?

Bit of a strange point - many of the worlds leading hair surgeons are bald or balding, should we discredit them also? That’d only be an issue in my mind if he was wearing a hair piece, yet proclaimed to prospective patients his hair was a result of undergoing FUE.

Don't worry and let it consume your life - we are fortunate today that there are decent options available, and they are only going to get better and better as time goes on.

Video editing is simultaneously advancing in line with your hair follicles my man - looking fantastic. Second to none showcasing of the comb throughs as always - and you've now got a nice and solid frame to your face, with the hair sitting really well naturally. Big thumbs up to Dr BF

I think the forum needs and quite frankly deserves some clarity surrounding safe/unsafe extraction patterns, and how doctors are able or unable to ascertain this. It seems as though it is acceptable to nit pick at this particular Dr who isn't recommended on the forum, for his larger use of the donor region - however when other recommended clinics are doing exactly the same, its accepted that not all hair loss patterns are the same, and for some patients (and rightly so) who are NW5/6, surgeons are able to be a little more aggressive with the size of the donor area that they extract from. I'm pretty sure I read one of the clinic reps (I cant remember who) on here talk about Dr Zarev's seminar at one of the conferences, and allude that his extraction pattern went out of the traditional safe zone - yet only a few days ago the rep from one of the leading hair restoration clinics in the world informed me that there is no such thing as a traditional safe zone, every patients hair loss is different. So what is it . . some doctors are rightly or wrongly more conservative and risk averse than others, or other doctors are more confident they can pretty accurately determine final loss patterns? If this is the case, then we need absolute clarity as to why and how this can be determined - because we have the likes of Dr Bernstein and Rassman preaching that extractions only from NW 7 regions of donor should be utilised, to avoid the risk of the patient progressing to that extensive level (risk averse) and then on the othrer hand we have showcases of other world class doctors such as H&W extracting right up until just below the crown. I've also noticed this a lot on Dr Diep cases, however won't use him as an example because I know some of his techniques are questioned by quite a few of the community regardless of this. I've not came across this trend as much with the European FUE surgeons who get a lot of postings on here, which again makes me wonder. Essentially, I want to know what mine and others donor estimations are based on, and how this should be done - conservative NW 7 extraction patterns, or NW5/6 - because the difference is going to be quite a few thousand grafts, which would quite considerably change ones restoration goals and plans if this were to be the case. On a final note, I don't think its a fair or appropriate comment to cite a Dr's nationality and/or location as being a reason as to why he wouldn't be able to pioneer anything in the hair restoration industry.

I agree with Melvin, your temple points and new hairline look fantastic . . When it grows in you’re going to look like a rockstar. Just goes to show how talented the top docs are, because despite after the thousands of cases I’ve studied and watched over the years, from your initial pre op pics, I just couldn’t picture the outcome being as brilliant as it looks, the temple points looked really rounded in the design (maybe it was the angle of your head in the pic Aswell) . . Anyway, looking great, will check back in as you update.

Doug - could you elaborate on how Dr Hasson can determine that a patient is going to reach NW5A as opposed to NW6/7? Is it based on checking for miniaturisation across the whole scalp, and to what degree of accuracy can this be safe to assume? Thanks again,

To add further to earlier discussions on here, please find attached thread from a recent 29 year old Hasson and Wong patient. As you can see his extractions have been harvested outside the NW6 Zone, in which the clinics response was that this was due to everybody's safe zones (hair loss patterns) being different. If Dr Hasson is comfortable to assume this 29 y/o patient won't reach an advanced NW 6 stage, surely that would suggest patients eventual hair loss patterns are detectable from earlier years?

Thankyou for your response Doug.

Instagram before and after pending 😅

Looks great, a huge difference to where you first started, and you look like a completely new man. I have seen a few of his youtube videos on his channel and have always been impressed with the transformations, so its nice to see a patient testimonial. Are you taking any medication or undergoing any other treatments such as PRP or laser? Is he a german doctor working out of Spain?

Recipient looks clean and donor immaculate , I’m sure this will be a lovely result come a few months! Once again a question for @H & W Doug please, which still hasn’t been answered every time I’ve asked on either a H&W or Diep thread - why is the extraction pattern so large and out of the traditional safe zone ? I’m not insinuating any negativity by this, it’s a genuine question - because surely if this pattern is deemed safe and acceptable, peoples donor capacities vía FUE are going to double.

Great little table of comparison there Portugal . . I didn’t realise how price competitive the Spanish doctors were! I have no idea how or where any clinic would be able to fit 3500 grafts on you OP. You may benefit from laser and prp therapy alongside Minoxdil - could be worth looking into. For now, hold off on the Idea of HT’s. Your hair colour/skin colour contrast isn’t too severe, hairlines still solid, and I’d bet that the majority of people wouldn’t even realise you’re thinning. There’s a lot worse positions to be in.

It’s a drug that can have a cumulative effect on people. Initial DHT suppression in the short term may not have too many negative consequences as the body may be able to counter act the short fall by compensating for its reduction in androgens through the potentially higher level of free testosterone. However continuous suppression of DHT may in some cases change, or have changed the natural equilibrium of the body’s endocrine system so much so, that androgen receptors start shutting down, and in a worst case scenario no level of testosterone therapy is able to re-stimulate the body to returning back to its baseline level. Again, worst case scenario. There are so many variables and factors that go into the equation, but the broad fact of the matter is that physiologically we are all unique .. therefore everybody’s sensitivity levels are different - some people may experience negative side effects within the first few weeks - others after years, others seemingly non at all... I’ve seen plenty of cases for each scenario. The same goes for positive effects , people have varying levels of success using the medication (Just from passing observation the people who tend to have the most positive side effects, also unfortunately tend to have the most severe negative side effects). The longer you take the drug the more you’l be able to make an informed decision on whether you want to commit to it for life - which like I previously mentioned will determine your hair restoration strategy. There is no size fits all answer for these types of questions because a) everybody’s physiology is unique b) everybody’s hairloss rate and pattern differs c) it’s subjective to what you classify as being important to you - hair vs other functions that may take a hit as a result of medication There are genuinely people I’ve came across who deem their hair so important to them they would sacrifice sexual/cognitive function, gyno, cardiac issues, excessive hair growth, (these two are related to oral minoxidil) in return for maintaining their hair, and fair play to them it’s their life and their choices. Equally there are people who care about their hair, however even the slightest chance of experiencing one of the aforementioned adverse effects wouldn’t quantify as a worthy sacrifice to risk. All personal - just research as much as you can and be as well informed as is possible.

Great write up, and I echo the comments about how impressive your journey was with regards to your first repair journey with Dr Feriduni. I love you hairline design and the way you are keeping your hair short - eventually you will have a really nice homogenous head of hair. Any estimates of how much scalp donor you have left to play with ?

+1. Reasses in 11 months time, when you have been on medication for 12 months, for two reasons. 1) you may have visually strengthened or regrown some areas, making your ht needs less so, or maybe even non so depending on how you feel. 2) you may not be able to tolerate continuous use of the drug/it may not have the desirable affects . . Therefore despite still being possible, your hair restoration course of action will follow a considerably different plan without using medication aimed to slow the hair loss process.

I don't think many top surgeons would aim to fill your crown region with a density of 50FU/cm2 - its too much, and frankly an unnecessary amount to achieve the illusion of density. Native density is also very rarely 100FU/cm2 - 70FU/cm2-80FU/cm2 tends to be the average scalp density for white caucasian men. Anyway, going off your picture I think you could definitely get a nice result that you would be satisfied with using around about 1000 grafts, it all depends on what your groupings are like and your hair calibre - these two factors go a long way in determining graft count. A high HGI will stand you well, as crown transplantations usually consist of only multi hair grafts. Two doctors who stand out massively for me with regards to being crown restoration wizards are Dr Konior and Dr Wong - with the former seemingly able to work magic using alot fewer grafts than most.

Interesting thread to read through. Just to chime in briefly, I think its a great platform on here to get ideas/inspiration from other members of the options you have - but ultimately, I'd warrant Dr K's opinions and assessments to be worth their weight in gold, and I imagine he will see you right. By all means, I'd encourage you to take to the table the ideas you have already, or have got from people on here, and quiz him thoroughly on the feasibility, likely outcomes, etc. of certain techniques - but be sure to already have in your head what your goals are, so you can set out the eventual plan according to whatever they may be. For what its worth - your beard looks like it will provide quite alot of grafts, and a decent coverage value, I really wouldn't worry about any colour contrast that there may be - alot of people have colour contrast between different areas of their scalp hair, it will blend in, and not stand out to the naked eye - and hey, it's better than seeing scalp right? I also wouldn't be massively discouraged by some of the more apprehensive comments on here regarding your chest hair as a donor source. Techniques, knowledge and understanding of utilising body hair is a rapidly growing area of hair restoration, and there are certain doctors across the globe who are taking more of a direct interest into these methods, and specialising in these procedures. I am quietly confident that better utilisation of body and beard hair is going to be the next step in improving hair restoration. Look how far FUE has came in the last 10 years - and look at how far hair transplants in general have came in the last 20. Its night and day. Please keep us all updated with what route you choose, wishing you the best.

PRP and Laser therapy require there to be hair follicles present. When they work and have effect - they reverse the miniaturisation process of the thinning follicles, and the hairs sometimes shed and regrow thicker and stronger, or simply remain growing. The only way you will be able to replace the lost hair in your bald temple regions is through hair transplantation. With regards to finasteride - like I thought, the majority of people will advise trying lower dosages or less frequent dosages. Topical finasteride which was mentioned, I suppose is also an option, but whether or not it isn't absorbed and doesn't go systemic is still a little bit of a mystery. Ultimately you have to decide what is and will be more important to you - stabilising your hair loss, at the expense of the potential resurgence of side effects you experienced, or accepting losing more ground, and looking into other ways to try and recreate an appearance you will be satisfied with.

You could try a reduced dosage, or take it MWF as opposed to every day . . this is probably the advice you are likely to get from most of the guys here, however personally if it was me in your shoes, having experienced pretty much all the worst possible side effects within the first 3 weeks of you taking it, I wouldn't bother. Nobody has provided a credible argument as to why a reduced dosage of the drug reduces the chances of side effects, despite allegedly dropping DHT levels by a very similar level to that of the recommended dose, therefore I'm suspicious of this theory - however, there are some guys on here who claim not to have side effects at a reduced dosage compared to when they took higher levels. If you already have slight gyno, or are prone to it . . its very likely to only exacerbate this issue as you potentially already have some form of hormonal imbalance. I can't remember who - but I believe either @transplantedphilor @Taken4Grantedto have been through several Gyno surgeries induced by finasteride. As for your options - minoxidil is a growth stimulant, so may revive some of your miniaturising follicles and give you a few more growth cycles of those, however won't address the direct problem of you continuing to lose hair. RE. the impact it has on collagen levels - I think the jury may still be out on that one, its not something I'm very well versed on. You could try other treatments, such as PRP and laser therapy - they may provide some form of help, and finally you could start consulting with clinics and surgeons regarding hair restoration options. You're still on the younger side of things at 26, and I think it would be fair to conclude you have lost a noticeable amount - so long term planning is going to be essential. Delve into what your family history looks like, your donor densities, hair coverage capability, hairlines and hairstyles you would be happy with and that would be realistic to your individual case - most importantly is not to rush into anything, and bury your head into research for the time being. Knowledge is power - as is having access to finances, so get studying and saving, it will make a huge difference, and certainly pays off.