Berba11

Thank you Gatsby!

Hi all, 9 hours ago I landed in New Delhi, and due to mega queues at the airport finally hit the hay at approx 5.30am local time. So right now at 11.25am I’m a little (a lot!) under-slept and rather hungry, but I’m here and will be updating this thread throughout the course of my journey. I’m currently writing from my hotel room at the Double Tree by Hilton, arranged through Eugenix. I’m scheduled for around 2,500-3,000 grafts into the frontal third with Dr Arika on Saturday 27th. We’ll see what the final graft count comes in at once we’ve done the hairline design & Dr Arika has seen me in person etc. Naturally I’ll be posting photos on this thread, but I’ll also try to include as much relevant information on my experience with Eugenix in general, as well as any tips & tricks for those travelling from afar in terms of medical visas, flights, challenges, food & things to navigate. I’m due to have some blood tests and am waiting to find out the details on where and when that will be happening. All I can say at this point is that my driver was there to collect me at the airport exactly where & when he said he would be and that he’s a saint for patiently waiting for about two hours past my scheduled arrival time for me to actually emerge from the airport! Feel free to ask any questions. Cheers Berba 🙂

Looks epic. I’d be over the moon with this results in 8 months’ time!

I think you need to slow down a second! All of the top doctors will achieve a satisfactory level of density. Realistically you're going to get no more than 50 grafts per cm2. There's cases where things are pushed higher but the harder you push, the less chances of the grafts surviving. Additionally, it's a lot easier to get a higher density over two surgeries than doing it in one pass. So don't necessarily limit yourself to "one and done" thinking. Rather than ask people for recommendations, you'd be best off looking at the forum's recommended list, then using the search function to look at real patient journey's on the forum and see which results you like from those surgeons. You can then contact those clinics yourself and start to find out what they think and what you like the sound of.

Personally I'd save your money, the hassle and the potential side effects. Keeping up the regimen for the next few decades sounds like a right pain in the arse. It won't be cheap, either! You're looking pretty much like a NW7 at 24. With some retrograde alopecia already your donor will be less that what it would be ordinarily. Retrograde isn't typically an issue - I have a bit, too - but you haven't got much up top to cling onto so the amount of coverage required is vast. My own advice regarding SMP is to avoid. Not because it can't look good, but just from a personal point of view it's a HT or nothing. I take the view that if I can't restore my hair, some naff imitation shading (that could fail to work well or require touch ups etc) isn't going to really do enough heavy lifting. I'd rather just let things be as they are. That's just my own view though - there will be plenty of people who like SMP and would have a very different take.

Yea the density isn't too bad at all. The hairline shape is the standard default 'M' shape that cheap Turkish hair mills do on literally every patient (regardless of their facial features), albeit this is one of the more exaggerated M's I've seen. @Patro1995 What's making it appear worse than it otherwise would is the incision sites have been made in straight rows. It's not evident in the post op pics in the main because it's all a bit bloody, but if you look at the small number of grafts placed within the central forelock, you can clearly see the diagonal rows. If you then hone in on other recipient areas, you can just about make out similar rows of hairs. This isn't how the grafts should be placed ideally. Think about how a forest looks naturally. If you stand on the edge and look through the forest, it's hard to see very far because all of the trees and bushes are all over the place and create coverage. Now imagine taking the exact same number of trees and bushes and putting them in straight rows. If you stand at the edge and look down between two rows - like aisles in a supermarket - you'll see all the way down. Same number of trees/obstacles )or, in this case, hairs!) - big difference in the perception of density. Finasteride won't fix this. If you want more density then you need a top-up procedure. That's your only permanent solution. Otherwise just use hair fibres.

What you're referring to is the density (the spaces). The reality of hair transplants is that you can only create so much density on the first go. If you want more density, you'll need another top up transplant. Just don't go to whoever did yours!

This. Unless you want to look like a 16 yr old girl, why the hell would you want to close off the natural, masculine angles of the hairline/temple points? To proceed with any work in that area with your complete lack of hair loss would be a ridiculous decision and you need to be told that straight up.

I'm not sure the density is your biggest issue here. You seem to have multi graft hairs in the hairline and the general shape of the hairline seems quite unnatural to me. The density can be improved with a second pass later on. What made you choose this particular clinic, out of interest? EDIT: I thought your pictures looked familiar... You've posted pretty much the same thread every month. Why not just update one single thread instead of starting new ones? You've been asked before but seem to ignore the request. Just refer to previous replies in previous threads. You've had a pretty dodgy hair transplant from god-knows where. The growth isn't too bad. No amount of Saw Palmetto or Biotin is going to make a bad HT look good.

If it never grew another millimetre from here you’ve got a pretty cool looking buzz cut! Epic after 4 months!

Impossible for anyone to help or offer advice without some good photos dude!

Will be following! Good luck & thanks for the write up

You need to get on finasteride and be regular with it for at least 6 months. Mainly to check that you don't experience any bad side effects which will show up pretty quickly. Your age means you're never far from a total disaster if you make a hasty decision, pick the wrong doctor and/don't plan long term. I assume that at 24 your budget isn't going to be great either. My best advice is to give yourself plenty of time. And by 'plenty' I mean at least a year. Get on fin, think this through massively, save some more money and keep researching. I understand the haste to do something in your 20's, however, as someone who is now just out of his 20's at 32, I can tell you life very much doesn't end after 30! I don't personally regret waiting, though I should have gotten on finasteride much earlier as I'd be in a stronger position going into my first surgery than I am now. You've been rejected by credible doctors for a reason. Pay close attention to that! Turan's compromise seems decent, but again, take your time!

Amazing results so far Adil! Such brilliant progress since your last update. Really happy for you brother!

It lingers of course, but more in the sense of "I'd love to have my hair back and I can't quite get the fact that I could sort it out off my mind" sort of thing. If I didn't have the option it would be no problem. But the option is there, nagging away at me! Yea I've told friends and everyone is super excited for me. 100% positive reaction and actually a few people have said they've often thought about getting one. Mostly people are curious about it. It's all good.

I think Eugenix can supply one, no? I'm banking on that or just grabbing one at the airport & popping a sleeping pill. Granted, Dehli to London isn't quite as far as LA!

I think you're conflating different things here. I'd like to have my hair back (and am having my first surgery in two weeks!), but it's not essential to my well-being. Desiring to have my hair back but not being bothered enough by the issue to be sensitive to comments by others are not incompatible. I do care that I'm losing my hair - not enough to feel sensitive about remarks by others or to not be able to have fun with the issue though. Nowhere close. It's really as simple as that. I understand that there are guys who get themselves into a right state over their hair - feeling down, loss of confidence etc... I can't say I truly understand how a person can get to that place (unless they've been butchered after a HT or something) as in all reality, it is just hair, and literally every bloke on earth who is losing their hair to a noticeable level (ie, the point at which styling it becomes hard) looks a million times better buzzed down. I've been buzzing down for years and years. It's a good look, easy to maintain etc... It's a pretty easy thing to deal with in my opinion whilst considering and researching the next moves because we have a super credible, viable and stylish buzz-cut option. Would I prefer to not be balding? Sure. And after nearly a decade of research and interest I've made the calm and rational decision to do something about it. But if I found out tomorrow that a HT wasn't an option, then I'd be totally cool with that too. It'll save me fair whack of money if nothing else! I don't think people should be getting surgery on their heads from a place desperate need, but rational, well-researched want. Really? You think people are really and genuinely thinking "you look like shit"? Dude, nobody cares enough about your hair to think that, and obviously your own friends and family don't think that about you either. Most people are just being playful about an ordinary thing that happens to most of us when they joke around about it. Do you go around looking at other dudes thinking that sort of thing about them? I certainly don't and it would be very unhealthy of me as an individual if I did!

If you're losing your hair to the extent that it's so unsightly that people are glancing at it without saying anything then that just means you have bad hair and it's time to buzz it down - as you say, take ownership and tidy it up! 99% of people aren't going to notice a bit of diffuse thinning or mild recession and aren't going to be glancing at it. I can well imagine for women it would be quite different as hair loss isn't so mundane and ordinary (excluding the regular sort thinning that everyone experiences with age).

Honestly? It's just words. Nothing happens. We choose how we react and how they affect us. Personally I'm very open to the banter and joking around - I gladly join in or initiate at my own expense. I really couldn't imagine taking it to heart or anything - I certainly don't see how that would help. If anything it's healthy, de-stigmatising and funny. And it's only close mates or family members that might bring it up anyway - it's all meant in good fun. It's not as if random people walk up to me in the street and say "dude, you're losing your hair!". I mean, even if they did... So what? Again, nothing happens. I just don't personally resonate with the description of such comments as a "gut punch". Most men experience hair loss to varying degrees. It's just a normal, mundane thing. You can either roll with it or take steps to restore the hair. For me it's nothing to get sensitive about and best (as with most things) to see the funny side and not take it too seriously.

It would be 1000 times more frustrating to take “preemptive action” (a HT), damage the native hairs because of a senseless desire for more density when it isn’t necessary, make your situation worse and then have to deal with that, no? Or suppose you get a HT this young, again unnecessarily, and then you rapidly lose more hair and need another HT sooner than you thought? How much money & hardship are you willing & able to go through in your 20’s? You’re just not thinking about this properly. The facts: • your hair is fine & looks plenty dense and full. If undetectable levels of diffuse thinning is enough to make your confidence & self esteem hit rock bottom then it’s not your hair that you need to work on my friend. • you’ve not given finasteride anywhere near enough time to discover its efficacy (but it’s good that you’re on it) • if you think a surgery is “preemptive” then you’re in the wrong headspace for surgery. Surgery is a last resort, not a first strike tactic So relax, stick to the finasteride and remember it’s just hair. It’s not that big of a deal! Certainly not anywhere near enough of a deal to get surgery at 25 on a full head of hair with all the risks, costs & pitfalls it entails in your case.

Dude, you're a 25 year old man but you're sounding like a 15 year old boy. We all want thicker and better hair, obviously. But don't daft. Don't be greedy. You have a very good head of hair that doesn't require a HT. You may need one in the future, but you don't right now. Surgery should always be an absolute last resort. You need to get yourself together and start thinking straight here. Based on a few months? If you've made it a few months on finasteride without suffering any side effects then you're in a great position. You aren't going to know whether it's stabilised your hair loss after a few months. It's going to take a minimum of 6 months and realistically a year++ to monitor positive outcomes. Everything about your posts smack of impatience. Dealing with hair loss in the best and most strategic way is a marathon, not a sprint. Keep taking the finasteride. In a few years, review the situation. You're in no rush, despite what you seem to think. No sane person wants to have a HT. They want to have hair - big difference. You already have hair!

You're better off sending them a message via Whatsapp - you'll get a reply very quickly.

It's not true, but in reality you should be asking these "top doctors" for some published papers in the literature that supports the claim. There aren't any on this of course, because it's just a marketing tool.

Brilliant write up. Your experiences obtaining the medical visa are virtually identical to my own here in UK (I'm booked for the 27th of this month with Dr Arika). I'll be following your progress keenly! All the best!

I think these photos actually provide a slightly better perspective as the angle from the more recent pictures seems to be accentuating the size of your head. From these photos you could probably be looking at 3K grafts *in the right hands* for the frontal third. You'd probably be no good going somewhere that is a little more aggressive on the dense packing like HLC because that's going to require more grafts. The question of FUT vs FUE so far as longer term planning goes will probably come down to your beard as a secondary resource. From what I can tell, you maybe don't have much of a beard that you can tap into later on, in which case FUT may well be the more sensible option. My own hairloss is strikingly similar to yours - a clear N3 pattern up front but some signs elsewhere of a higher NW level. Luckily I have a pretty decent beard that I'm happy to use later. Additionally, I'm not bothered about the crown too much. I'd consider maybe having a few grafts added to that area if/when the need arises (hopefully a couple of decades away!), but without caring to have really good density. Just enough so that there's a decent blend with the midscalp would be more than fine for me, and it would allow a buzz cut that gets less dense as it goes further back but without being slick bald. So consider what you might be happy with later and plan accordingly. If you want to go all out and maintain a very full head of hair front to back with surgeries, then starting with an FUT will stand you in great stead. If your goals in 20+ years are more modest for the crown then you've got more options. You're already buzzing down (like me!), so I assume that like myself you're pretty content and comfortable sporting the shorter look. Hopefully that gives you a bit to think about!