LondonRamen

18 hours ago, JoeMan said:

Did you post about your 2nd procedure yet?

Hey, not yet. Quite busy at the moment. I will probably wait until I get my surgery report from BF which has the pre and post surgery pictures which will be nice to compare with my photos at the beginning of my first surgery.

Good stuff! To touch on the topic about his marketing, he does actually have a lot more results on his instagram. I just realised my 10 month photos I gave to him a few months back ended up on there.

For the illusion of density you typically want 50-60grafts/cm^2 in the hairline. You can use that to get an estimate of how many grafts you need. Keep in mind though, for efficient use of the donor, sometimes the doctor will usually target a bit less (40-50 ish?)  a cm or two behind the hairline since it's less important than the hairline in maintaining the illusion of density.

18 hours ago, JoeMan said:

Dr. Ferreira has 3 to 4 people helping him. Mainly they sort grafts and load pens for implanting. He is the only person that touches your head. 

Obviously this doesn't mean he's the best. Plenty of great Drs get results with other methods. I personally felt better knowing that he was performing most of the work though. I felt like it reduced variables to me. His staff definitely seemed well trained and operate like a well oiled machine. I'm sure he'd even admit that they're essential for his success. 

Can confirm what you say - i've had two with him now. Extraction and implantation is done by the doc. Not to minimize the effort of the techs though, they play a vital role.  The techs sort and load. But also, they've been with him for quite a while and have good rapport/relationship with each other from what I can see so as you say, they work together very efficiently. Give it a few years and i'm sure they'll still be around and probably have more experience that some doctors out there. So if you plan on going back multiple times, I recommend learning all their names, it'll be worth your while as they're a lovely bunch

Very happy for you man. Hope it works out well. Looks like it'll be a good one.

A few more with leave in conditioner I use after showering. The slight clumping it causes does expose my scalp a bit more, but I like the overall style. But the good doctor reinforced my hairline behind the hairline on the right side for this purpose.

2 hours ago, Sitries1 said:

Great result. Did Dr Ferreira touch up any areas from the 1st HT when he carried out the 2nd HT??

hey, yeah that's right. On one side behind the hairline he strengthened it a bit, as it seemed a bit more see through there. Likely an artifact of the way I comb my hair which forcefuly exposes more of my scalp on that side.

Sorry for the late update. Here's some photos I took on january 22

 

~13 months

The last two close up are for the follicle peepers who want to count the grafts and compare with my close up from the first post.

Overall i'm very pleased.

Also big news. I have just finished my second surgery today with BF for my crown work (separate post to follow). Bit of a mare at the moment as I noticed some bleeding and it looks like one of the grafts might have come out (potentially bumped my head without realising since I can't feel anything and wouldn't have realised).

32 minutes ago, teeplant said:

Great result! Looks extremely natural!

@LondonRamen Did you see any progress/new growth from Month 7 to 8? Any new hairs that you can feel sprouting through?

For sure, there was noticeable increase in thickness going to month 8 from 7. I can't really 'feel' hairs sprout through- my scalp is not sensitive enough I just notice in the mirror my hair looks thicker. I don't generally go close in either to count the follicles or track new ones poking through. I feel like i'd go insane with paranoia if I did that regularly haha.

Most of the growth was from month 6 to 7 though. That was when I achieved scalp coverage and I could no longer see through.

My lack of follicular peeping means I sadly can't give an honest answer here because I don't know if the growth is from new hairs or the current hair thickening up and maturing.

All I know is that even 8 months in it is still improving so looks like I may be one of the 'long growers'  relative to the people who basically get complete growth 6 months in

Oooh, after digging around in my google photos album I found some extra pics pre-surgery and pre fin+min. All around the same length of hair by luck.

Pre fin + min (4 years ago)

Pre-surgery (around 2 years ago), when the hairloss and extra growth from going on fin+min had stabilised

And then my 8 month result

Hello all,

Last weekend was the 8 month date when I took photos, though just getting around to posting it now. Please have a look and let me know your thoughts.

I had a little haircut and the hair length is roughly the same as it was pre-surgery so I'm pretty pleased as you can no longer see my scalp at this length whereas before you could in the pre-surgery photos (apart from my crown where I did not have surgery - to be addressed in the future).

It was a bit of a gamble getting this operation as a diffuse thinner, but I think it's working out for me so pretty chuffed. Unfortunately it's hard to take the right photos that can display to you what I and others see in real life. it's pretty dense in real-life but with this newfangled computational photography some phonemakers like iphone do I find the contrast is messed around with a bit which can make things appear thinner than they are.

This is my usualy style of combing my hair. Freshly washed and dried here too.

The side parting I do, can make some parts look thinner and other parts thicker than they really are because of how the hair angle hits the camera so I've also done a few where it is combed straight down so you have a more realistic view of the uniformity of growth. Scalp is still hidden, so pretty good!

Congrats! Looks good and I'm looking forward to the final results!

21 hours ago, Mycroft said:

How's this progressing @LondonRamen?

6 hours ago, Melvin- Moderator said:

Would love to see an update.

20 hours ago, JohnAC71 said:

+1 👌

Hey gang, sorry I haven't been updating the past couple of months. I took 6 and 7 month photos, but haven't had the chance to post get them off my phone and post them yet. This weekend it will be 8 months exactly and it's looking good and i'm pleased with the result so far. Hopefully I can find the time to post all three months in one go this weekend and give you guys an update.

7 hours ago, cpfm said:

@LondonRamenGreat work by Dr. Ferreira. Thank you for sharing your story here.

If you don't mind me asking, did you notice any change by adding DUTA twice a week?

I'm currently thinking of adding DUTA to my regimen but unsure if it will be of any benefit.

Thanks!

Only a minor improvement (like 2%?) and is the kind that only appears if you're looking for it, and probably hard to show in static pictures. Not a difference worth fussing over as how clean, dry or what product you use in your hair has a much bigger visual effect than what I got from taking Duta.

The main reason I took it was to help strengthen my hair pre-surgery and minimise shock loss. I suppose it will help me hold on to what I already have better and for longer than fin will do alone, which is more important to me than gaining density from it.

5 month Post Op

Hair has become quite long in lockdown which is definitely contributing to the illusion a bit. Feels and looks thicker, especially in real life and people have commented my hair looks thicker these days. It looks a bit thinner in photos than what I see in the mirror, I suppose the bright lighting by my window in this sunny UK weather and computational photography on iPhones automatically increasing contrast doesn't really help in showing how my hair looks in normal settings.

One thing I noticed is that when wet (such as applying minoxidil in the mornings) my hair no longer becomes quite transparent and whispy. It seems to mantain a reasonable a density and not look too bad when combed.

Now that barbers are open again in the UK, it will be interesting to see how it looks after a light trim...

3 hours ago, teeplant said:

@LondonRamenHey man, how's it looking now ? Really curious to see how your progress is going! 

Hey, pretty good this month. I should be approaching the 5 month mark this Sunday so hopefulyl a post to follow soon after!

On 3/20/2021 at 12:18 PM, teeplant said:

@LondonRamen How's it looking at month 4? 

On 3/20/2021 at 12:20 PM, JohnAC71 said:

+1 agreed a update would be good 🙏

Sure, I took some at the 4 month mark on the 18th - didn't have time to post then, but i'll do them now. Took these at roughly the same time of day/lighting and place in my living room as the previous post.

Better than last month (partially because the hair is longer) but still quite a bit of a thin relative to every else. Not too bad though IMO for only four months.

Here's some head on with one further out. It's dense enough that no one comments on it as looking weird and probably wouldn't notice my thin temples unless they were purposefully looking for it. At the very least, I don't feel self concious about it.

And a couple extra from different angles below

Oops, double post.

If you look at me head on without me leaning forward there's quite the illusion of density too, so it doesn't look too bad in real life. Considering i'm 6 foot, this is how most people see me.

Hello! sorry for the delay, here's some pics of the 2 month mark and 3 month mark. At the 2 month mark my shedding had finished with maybe say 10% of hairs surviving the shed. As a useful guide i've also highlighted one of the regions with black lines that indicate an area that was basically bare naked before the HT.

2 months

3 months

No real changes yet, just the 10% that survived the shed which is growing. Though under less bright my hair is looking significantly thicker than it used to at this length (maybe the 10% is helping here). I took these pictures around noon with the sun out and near my window. The reference spot near my bare temple with my mole is still fairly sparse/empty.

13 hours ago, teeplant said:

@LondonRamen Excited to see your update. You must be coming up to 3 months now?

5 hours ago, Melvin-Moderator said:

Hope all is well mate, would love to see an update 🙏🏼

Hey guys, I haven't forgot about this. Sometime next week i'll be exactly at the 3month mark so I will take some pictures then and post.

I also took some at the 2 month mark as it was the point shortly after I finished shedding so thought it'd be a useful comparison. Unfortunately, a busy lifestyle hasn't left me much time to go through my phone and edit the photos for posting 😅

Will post both post sets of photos next week at the 3 month mark!

Tying your hands with rope is probably going a bit too far haha. If you need to, wear a top while you sleep and pull your arms inside into the top through the arms (so the sleeves are empty) and then your arms can't wriggle about or be used to scratch your head. Or if it's too early for tops and you're wearing a shirt/ hoody - you should still be able to pull your arms inside them.

3 minutes ago, ciaus said:

 

That chart is not based on 2.5mg dosage. Up further on that page the recommended dosage is starting at 2 pills a day (5mg) and higher. The potential for side effects are much lower when taking less than 5mg a day.

 

oh, good catch! I missed that. Saw 2.5mg in the page title and assumed that was the dosage.

But also, god damn, some people are taking 100mg a day!

Intriguing, I just had a look at this page for loniten (2.5mg oral minoxidl).

https://www.medicines.org.uk/emc/product/4294/smpc

Unless i'm mistaken, the manufacturer lists quite a few side effects as being more than 'Very Common' (> 10% chance).

Seem pretty risky imo. I don't think these sides are permanent though, so you could take the dice roll on this and if you get sides switch back to topical.

5 minutes ago, deitel130 said:

What has probably happened is that during washing the hair strand broke off leaving behind the remaining hair. Given that majority of transplanted hair sheds had it not broke off it would have shed and you would probably not have seen the stubble. It's just now there is not much hair sticking out to help remove it during washing. It will probably get pushed out at the 3-4 month mark when the new hair comes through. 

You are almost at 2 months right?

That's right. Hopefully we will see if its an issue or not around the 4+ month mark.