Flash10

Don't care if u come back bro.. just hope u got the results were u hoping for.

Month 5 - Wet and combed back

This is as bad as I can make it look - pretty clear that there is still some room for improvement, but I'm hoping for another great month of growth (fingers crossed).

Thanks gentlemen @Melvin-Moderator @JohnAC71

I will post a wet hair comparable pic tonight after my workout. Should give an honest look at where things are at now. In my opinion, still lots of growing to go. 

Month 5

Huge improvement during month 5; still hoping for lots more growth in the coming months.

As mentioned before, I am not on minox. Therefore, it makes sense that my timeline is a little delayed relative to results of those who were on minox. Thus, I am optimistic things will continue to improve in the coming months.

Month 4 - Donor 

Couldn't be happier with the donor. 

I will continue to provide updates on the hairline semi-monthly. 

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Month 4

Comparison of hair dry under light. Also, some pics with wet hair under light. Lastly, I included a donor pic for @jimcraig152 - this is at 0.5 guard. 

Any comments are appreciated.. seems to be coming along.. 2 more critical months of growth.. 

@Melvin-Moderator

I completely understand, however strongly disagree. Not allowing him to post updates is depriving all your forum members the ability to objectively view his results. It looks like you're protecting Diep when in fact you are doing him a disservice by not allowing the results to speak for themselves. I would have constrained him to only his fourm. Regardless of my opinion, you're the boss and I appreciate the update. Hopefully you see this Jim - wish you all the best and hope you have a Merry Christmas! Merry Christmas to you too Melvin and whomever else is reading this.

How's it going buddy?

@stephcurry30 thanks man.. slowly getting better.. next 2.5 months are going to be interesting.

hey @jimcraig152,

here you go bro.. not really helpful since i've let my hair grow since toronto is in lockdown.. i will be getting a haircut for christmas on the 22nd.. will update then, until then i would still refer to the 2 month update pic.. donor looked 99% i would hope it stayed the same or even improved.. couldn't have asked for better in terms of donor.. recipient continues to improve - kinda stressful to be honest.. but im trusting the process and being patient lol.. hope all is well bro.

Hey guys,

Here is what things look like mid-way through month 3.

The comparatives are what my hair looks like dry under direct light. I also included pictures of what my hair looks wet under direct light. 

Hey guys - 

Sorry for the lapse in time without any update. As most on this forum already know, there isn't much action for a couple months.

Here is a pic of what things looked like at the 2 month and 3 month marks.

The ugly duckling phase (week 3 to month 2.5) sucked.. but, from then on I have seen some growth.

I will likely be posting updates twice a month from now until month 6. 

Let me know what you boys think.. some days I think it's coming along nicely, others I think I am growing slowly.. any thoughts, good or bad are appreciated guys!

Next update will be end of next week.

@jimcraig152 your results are amazing bro. Hope the Gods of Growth continue to show you love.

@Melvin-Moderator these guys are killing you eh bro!? For your sake I hope they give you a little vaycay.. or take the time and make another youtube vid..

I will do month 2 and 3 updates together in 2 weeks. Not a lot of action at the 2 month mark, so I figured it could wait.. 

Melvin trying so hard to defuse the situation and remain professional. 🤣🤝

Poor Melvin.

Jim I'm on this ride with you brother.. next couple months are going to literally be life changing for us! Wish you all the absolute best. 

RIP donor.   

@CristeroI think you spelled his name wrong unless that's a different surgeon.  Assuming it is the same person, it seems like he does great work. I also assume you had it done recently if your are still waiting for pics, so I look forward to following your progress! Hope you have been healing well buddy.

Yup, fin definitely isn't a magic cure, but its the best thing we got. And assuming you use it safety with a doctor monitoring your testosterone levels periodically, it's our best shot on having a full head of hair.

Money wasn't a big factor to me. I am by no means well off unfortunately, but I view a hair transplant as a lifelong investment, so a bigger expenditure to reduce the risk of being unhappy and increase the chance of success is a no brainer for me. Plus the peace of mind of knowing Dr. Hasson did my ht is really reassuring during the ugly duckling phase .

Yeah man, all we can do is try to educate ourselves on this complex topic before making a decision that will affect us for the rest of our lives. All the best bro.

Looks amazing man. I just had something similar done with Dr. Hasson a couple weeks before you. Wish you all the best during the recovery process. Make sure you take care of those precious grafts during the first week. Also, I wish someone would have told me. this - try to really enjoy the period from week 2 until the time you shed - it's a true testament to how you will feel after everything grows in. Hold onto that feeling because by week 4, you will likely shed and enter the ugly duckling phase - which is a huge buzz kill.

Looks like the growing has begun bro!  I'm honestly so jealous! I'm at the climax of the ugly duckling phase. I read the entirety of your forum and see where you are coming from. Feel free to just disregard my advice completely, but I think the best way for you to be happy is to stay positive and not compare your transplant to others. Although there are some things that aren't ideal, at the end of the day, if your grafts have a huge survival rate, you're going to have an amazing head of hair where if it really bothers you, you can have a great surgeon come in and finesse the hairline, which really is the only thing that matters IMO lol..  Donor seems to be healing well and I'm sure will look better as the head recovers from the trauma and any hairs shocked out will regrow and create great density. All the best healing and growing brother. Stay positive!

2 hours ago, Cristero said:

I've already had my procedure done and I did a dense pack on the hairline (50 grafts per cm2) and rebuilt the crown with the swirl. Time will tell how the HT will turn out to be.

@CristeroCongrats man! When did you get this done? Did you make a thread? If your crown is similar to mine I would love to see the results of work done on a crown similar to mine. As I said, the ethical surgeons I spoke to warned that the shock loss may be worse than the new hair growth. I hope this is not true for you and would be curious to see. 

2 hours ago, Cristero said:

I truly really hope for you that finasteride is gonna maintain as you said for 20 years, but I highly doubt it.

Why the doubt buddy? The studies I have seen showed that someone can experience hair growth and improvement for a three year period. And I read that if there is no regrowth there is still a very good chance of long-term stabilization. I have been on it almost a year now and have seen nice regrowth and I am optimistically hoping for more. Propecia was a  huge part of Dr. Hasson and I's conversation and long-term planning. He's a huge advocate of the medication being on it for more than 20 years himself. 

2 hours ago, Cristero said:

I'm not a big fan of any North American surgeon to be honest, as they do great FUT, but I never saw good FUE results, unless they use an unnecessary high amount of grafts. And I'm talking mostly about H&W. I know many will disagree with me, but that's my opinion.

I thought this way at first as well after looking at the countless cases with high graft numbers. However, after comparing cases with similar size recipient areas it seems evident that Hasson gets greater density with greater graft number. Therefore, it seems like Dr. Hasson's magic isn't a higher survival rate than other surgeons, rather the ability to achieve nearly the same survival rate at higher densities. I am not sure if other surgeons are comfortable performing transplants with the density Dr. Hassson aims for.. but, it just shows me that Dr. Hasson has lots of experience with high density work vs. other doctors who seem to not even attempt the level of density he achieves.

2 hours ago, Cristero said:

What's the history of AGA in your family?

My nono (mom's side) had a full head of hair when he passed away. My nono (dad's side) and dad are N5 - nono is now probably N7, but he's 90+. Realistically it would seem I am on the same path as my dad, which is cool - he's a good guy lol.

2 hours ago, Kruchie said:

Looks like fantastic work!

Dr Hasson is currently my first choice for my second procedure. I'll be keen to follow your progress. 

@KruchieThanks bro. Best part about choosing Hasson is the peace of mind and reassurance of going with a world class surgeon during the recovery process as doubts begin to creep in.. based on my personal experience during these ugly duckling days..

1 hour ago, Melvin-Moderator said:

Very few document with high quality pictures like you, really fantastic. Great to have you here on the forum sharing your journey with us, you’ve entered the dreaded ugly duckling phase. The good news is in a few months you’ll be having fun 😎

@Melvin-ModeratorLol, honestly you seem like such a good guy man. I appreciate the kind words and its my pleasure to be sharing the journey with you guys. While I have your ear, just wanted to personally thank you and tell you that this forum genuinely helped in me in my hair transplant journey.  Have a great day bro.

On 9/29/2020 at 5:04 PM, Cristero said:

Does anyone else think that some grafts were harvested too high?

The OP is clearly a diffuse thinner like me, you can see the whole "horse shoe" being less dense than the occipital area and the sides.

They went to extract right at the border of the thinner areas.

Hard to argue with a world class surgeon bro.. time will tell, but hopefully it works out..

I'm not sure how bad your crown is, but the crown is always a pain in the ass due to angles and lighting.. it always looks a little thin when I buzz it down.. makes sense considering light is hitting the scalp at a 90 degree.. looks good when grown out though.. also hoping propecia adds some density and helps it stick around for a couple more decades..

How bad is your crown man? If your crown looks like mine and you're considering a ht on your crown i would strongly recommend not to touch it. Both Rahal and Hasson personally took a look at my entire head and said they would only do the hairline. No ethical surgeon would touch a crown that looks like mine (their words not mine). 

1 Month:

During week 4 and 5 my hair began to rapidly shed. I would say 70-80% of transplanted hair has shed. Enter ugly duckling phase. 

End of Week 3:

I was absolutely loving life.. visiting friends and family with a new surge of confidence.. sadly it wouldn't last..  

Looks great, but hard to give genuine feedback with the hair combed forward. Hope that you are happy with the result, and if that's the case, then that's all that matters. Amazing transformation considering where you started. Congrats.

Looks great man. Congrats!

I had almost the exact same thing done a couple weeks ago. The swelling is miserable.. my mom wanted to disown me.. we're Italian and she is very emotional.. as already mentioned above, the swelling will continue down your face and potentially close your eyes.. at one point all I had was a little sliver to see through (never completely closed)..

More importantly just make sure you're taking good care of the grafts for the first week! All the best healing up man.. week 2 and 3 were my favorite because the hair is still there and scabs are gone, so it appears you have a full buzzed head of hair..