hybonix

I just started topical minoxidil in lieu of oral. Ron Shapiro says that I shouldn't have the minoxidil shed since I am on Fin and the Fin has strengthened my roots for the past 5 months. However, has anyone here started minoxidil after using Fin for awhile? If so, was there any shedding from minoxidil?

SMG is recommending oral minoxidil, but I honestly do not want unwanted hair growth on other body parts. It will be noticeable as I am naturally hairless, which I prefer to maintain. I will try topical minoxidil once I run out of my current supply of hair growth product.

@Melvin-ModeratorMy only concern starting minoxidil now is that there will be lots of shedding in the first couple of months. Should I wait to start rogaine until 6 months have passed to see the true results of my transplant? I am slightly worried that minoxidil will destroy my progress so far and have a lackluster 6 month update.

Thank you! 🙏 I am going to Costco now to pick up the foam version. I have sensitive skin, so I will not use the liquid dropper. I am excited and a tad nervous though regarding the baggy eye side effect. However, you look great Melvin, so I will follow in your footsteps.

Thanks for the advice. lol. Should I take the plunge and buy minoxidil? How long have you been using minoxidil?

I got it for free. lol. Debating if I should actually buy this product though. May just go to minoxidil... Anyone here using minox with no issues?

I am currently taking this instead of minoxidil: https://aseircustom.com/products/auxano-grow-hair-growth-formula It may be snake oil, but the doctor did say that copper peptides can help with hair growth and stability based on past studies. I am bit scared of taking minoxidil as I heard it can hurt your collagen and I am seeing some new studies saying it can give you baggy eyes which make you look older. Also, once you are on minox, you have to take it forever. I am debating if I should take the plunge and take it though...

Month 3 Update (1/26/21) Starting to regrow hair! There are many little hairs sprouting right now, so we are making progress It's still very thin, but I am starting to see a shadow/outline of where the growth will happen. Old hair growing back out, but I think some new as well. Left temple is coming in nicely, right temple is lacking Hairline is pretty high, which is fine. Depending on how things grow out, may want to lower the hairline in a future procedure. Still have not gotten a haircut since procedure day. I am waiting until Month 5 or 6 to surprise my normal barber with the new hairs. lol On Month 5 of Propecia as well. .5mg daily dose

Wow, this is truly amazing. Completely changed the appearance and super excited to see the final results here.

Omg amazing results so far. Huge huge difference there. Super excited for you and happy that you found a good doc. I’m anxious to see your final results!

Month 1 Update (11/29/20) Ugly duckling phase has hit me hard. I noticed the shed happening only 2 - 3 weeks after the transplant. Week 4 now, and it's pretty rough Donor hair looks okay, but definitely weaker than what I am used to All scabs came off around Day 11. I would periodically rub my head throughout the day with the pads of my fingers and just watch all the scabs come right off Got a long road ahead of me, but I am not obsessing over my hair and just living life. Although, I seriously need a haircut to even out the patchiness. lol.

Looking good! Diep's same implant style coming through here, but I think this technique is working well for him. Skyb and others have had great results and we are excited to see your results as well. Happy Growing! Are you taking any meds like fin? Rogaine?

Dr. Konior and Nadami definitely superior in extraction of grafts. Diep yields generally favorable results per YT. There are a couple of unsatisfied clients on the forums in recent memory, about 2 or 3. But there are a lot of people happy with Diep on these forums. You should also consider H&W, SMG, Rahal, Cooley, Gabel and etc. I would consult with several doctors and go with the clinic you feel most comfortable with. Also, please find a clinic who have good ethics and look at your future hair loss. Too many clinics are simply wanting to sell you more grafts at the expense of your limited donor supply.

Amazing video. Thank you so much Melvin. Honestly, I think it may have survived as I still see the same graft in that spot. It was not bleeding and none of my grafts bled at all throughout this whole process. On day 6 I did slightly bump my head but it was light and no blood. I think I’m good and I’m just working all my scabs out now! Look forward to posting my one month update in a little less than 3 weeks!

Not to be be rude, but Diep's donor site always look terrible. My FUE punches were already closing after one day and on the 4th day, you could barely even tell they were present. 4 days for you is a much different story than my own experience. But results talk, and Diep achieves high/mass volume. Even Dr. Shapiro said Diep is capable of high density transplants. Ethics are a different story though with Diep though based on my own experience... That is partly why I went to SMG as they were more honest with me.

I have absolutely zero pain in my donor area. I have not had any at all and I am on day 11 now.

Mini-Update The final graft count is as follows: 1’s - 663 2’s - 1912 3’s - 757 I had a ton of twos! Wow, more 2s/3s than 1s. Hopefully this will reflect well in the end result. It already feels weird to have hair on the top of my head. On the 11th day and 60% of the scabs are gone at this point.

Grafts are looking good, but I noticed something a tad alarming with one graft. It looks like one graft is wanting to “pop” out and is sticking out about a .5 - 1mm versus the other ones. It’s still attached but looks loose. I also notice a little tiny red dot underneath the graft. Am I losing this graft? Not a big deal as things happen, but curious on your thoughts here:

Thank you for the feedback! Exercising was more of a tidbit (not a huge discussion point) in that being healthy by exercising, eating right (proper vitamins, nutrients), and reduced stress will lead to less gray hair or thinning. SMG really focused on the medication though for preventing hair loss with propecia and rogaine. They helped me get a prescription when other doctors did not, so that was nice. Day 1 Update: Spraying my head with ATP every 30 minutes and keeping it moist. Using ice packs on forehead to reduce swelling No real pain or issues Performed my first hair wash which was a little scary but very easy once I started The team at SMG has already followed up with me to ensure I made it home safely and answer any questions that I had. Photos Before Wash: Photo After Wash: I will be moving this to a monthly update, as a weekly or bi-weekly is too aggressive. However, I just wanted to show one day post-op photos so the forums can see the donor and recipient sites. I look forward to updating this on a regular cadence and please let me know if you guys have any questions. Happy growing!

Diep was the same price as SMG, except, his would have been FUT. Diep's FUE was much more expensive than SMG.

Please check out my official thread!

Journey & Decision After thorough research, I decided to pull the trigger and get a HT at Shapiro Medical Group with Ron Shapiro and Dr. Josephitis/Dr. Joe. SMG spent many hours over the phone with me and answered all my questions. I emailed Ron Shapiro directly and Matt Zupan (Patient Educator), and they always addressed all of my concerns/follow-ups. Matt called me very frequently to check up on me and has pretty much become a friend at this point. The front office staff, Matt Zupan (Patient Educator), and everyone involved wanted to make sure that I had the best care. They did not care about making money or getting the "sale" as they honestly wanted what was best for me. They even recommended other great clinics if I decided not to go through with SMG. SMG was the only clinic out of the 5 places I contacted who actually walked me through the concept of donor supply, how to look at the future for when my hair loss progresses and what I can do to prevent more hair loss (medication, exercise, etc.) They have a concept to not blow your entire "wad" with a mega session and see how the first procedure goes to ensure you can make revisions later on and assess where you are. This approach makes perfect sense and gives the patient more donor supply to fine tune their hair in the future. I originally booked with Dr. Diep but decided to back out due to a lot of recent negative reviews and concerns about his ethics. Please review my other thread here and post here about the situation. I want to give a major shout out to aaron1234 for coaching me through the whole process and recommending me to go through SMG/Ron Shapiro. This is the best decision I have ever made and I would not have gotten this far without him. Aaron, thank you for everything, I owe you. Also, notable mention to jimcraig152 for giving me some solid advice regarding my surgeon decision. Shapiro Medical Group (SMG) Review This clinic is hands down one of the most professional clinics I have been to. It was an amazing experience and I felt right at home at SMG. The staff/technicians/doctors are so genuine, caring, and love what they do. Ron Shapiro took his time with me to explain the process and decisions behind the HT and hairline. The staff and technicians were very friendly and we got along well. They introduced themselves and wanted to know more about me. They cared about my personal life, we joked/laughed together and we were all just having a great time during the procedure. This made everything so much easier. Oh, and everyone is super organized which is a huge plus. The office itself is super clean and everyone followed COVID procedures to a t. Great atmosphere and I felt 150% comfortable being there. Pre-Surgery Appointment Mattt Zupan (Sales Consultant) took my before photos in their studio. Pamela (receptionist) took my food order for the procedure day. I got to meet with Dr. Ron Shapiro and go over our game plan. He let me ask as many questions as I wanted and was very patient with me. He also showed me many photos going over this donor supply philosophy and why he likes his conservative approach versus mega sessions. Before Photos Surgery Day 1 Got in at 7:30 AM and was greeted by Pamela (receptionist). Dr. Josephitis/Dr. Joe greeted me and had me change into their provided shirt. He asked if I had breakfast and I had not. He immediately got me some breakfast/energy bars and apple juice so that I was not hungry. Dr. Joe cut my hair (in their barber room) short enough, but left enough hair so that Dr. Shapiro could see how to properly blend my grafts with my hair loss appropriately. Went into the surgery room and my vitals were taken. Everyone introduced themselves and I hit it off with the staff immediately. They got me blankets, water and let me pick out a movie on the Apple TV. The technician (Vicky) numbed my head so we could make the incisions. They used massagers/vibrator on my face to distract me. Ron Shapiro came out and began to make the incisions on my head. He did roughly 2000 incisions. Hole sizes were predominantly meant for 2s and 3s. Some 1s for hairline. Ron took his time and did not rush the incisions which was awesome to see. He did them with intent and purpose. I got numbed in the back of my head for extractions and received a back massage + face massage for a distraction. SCORE! Dr. Josephitis came in to perform my extractions and got roughly 1620 Grafts from the middle section of the back of my head: 674 3's | 782 2's | 164 1's Dr. Ron came back out with the technicians and supervised for a bit while they began to implant the grafts. He also made some additional incisions for 1's that Dr. Joe extracted PS: Lunch was amazing! Lunch Break Photos End of Day 1 Surgery Photos Surgery Day 2 Front staff fed me again, provided blankets, movies, etc. Technicians numbed me again for procedure Dr. Ron made an additional 1000 incisions in anticipation of harvesting a total of 3000 grafts. Ron took his time and did not rush the incisions. Dr. Joe finished my extractions on the sides of my head and was able to extract a total of 1600/1700 grafts and exceeded my expectations. Dr. Ron and I were pleasantly surprised here. This surpassed our planned 3,000 graft count and hit 3332. Dr. Ron came back and added more incisions to cover the new grafts. He finished my hairline and advised his technicians on where to place the 1s, 2s and 3s. EDIT: Ron injected 5cc's of exosomes into my scalp which are derived from stem cells. This is supposed to be better than PRP and has major benefits from a single session. SMG has seen great results with hair growth from this treatment, and I decided to give it a shot. This exosomes were diluted to 10ccs and injected all over my scalp. You can learn more about exosomes here. End of Day 2 Surgery Photos FINAL GRAFT INFORMATION COMING SOON Summary All in all, I am super IMPRESSED by the professionalism at SMG. Ron Shapiro did all the incisions in the recipient area while Dr. Joe (Very experienced surgeon) did all the extractions. Dr. Ron supervised and helped the technicians with the implantation. Ron came to the surgery room frequently when the techs were implanting and always made sure I was taken care of. Always took his time to re-asses the hairline and make sure it looked good. Dr Ron & Joe took their time to ensure that the incisions made sense and that the extractions were super clean and spread out. Dr Ron & Joe answered all my questions during the procedure as well and you can tell they are both super passionate about what they do. I got thorough answers and learned a lot in the surgery room. The staff was super friendly and we talked about our lives, kids, family, interests and etc. Made the experience really fun. I would definitely recommend everyone who is looking for a US surgeon to go to SMG as this is a world-class clinic which provided an experience I will never forget. They made my first Hair Transplant an amazing experience and I look forward to returning if I am going to get another procedure. I left the clinic thrilled and ready for my next steps in life. The final graft count is as follows: 1’s - 663 2’s - 1912 3’s - 757

Thank you! I’ve got a major thread coming today later on... on day 2 of surgery and loving the results thus far.

Awesome documentation thus far and everything looks great! I am excited for when you are out of the ugly duckling phase but that will definitely take some time. Please keep up the good work!

I appreciate the explanation. That would make sense if Diep always implanted his patients that way. Historically, he did it a more random interval. Unless they have recently been finding rows provide more density and are changing their approach now. I would be curious to have another surgeon like Shapiro, H&W, or Konior respond to this claim...