JDEE0

Because, people get transplants without meds, it's not an absolute must (although you already know I'm a big proponent, especially in cases like yours). Look at Melvin, he's nearly a NW7 and is objectively in a considerably worse position than you in terms of gaining coverage, but after his HT at Euguneix comes in, he will be in a very good spot. I can't say, it might not even shed to begin with, I think you'll be alright and either way it doesn't really matter in the grand scheme of things - all that hair on top in your NW5 pattern is going to succumb to MPB in the next 5-10 years anyway, so it's going to need to be replaced with transplanted hair. I suppose whether its your genes or surgery that pushes them over the edge is mostly irrelevant, they're still going over.

2 month update: Tomorrow will be 8 weeks exactly, not much to report really, most of the hairs shed by I would say week 6, maybe 5 percent or so have stayed and kept growing. There is some growth happening, but it's only really visible in zoomed in pictures and I can feel a little bit of fuzz when I run my fingers over the area. The last 2 pictures show what I'm talking about, the first of which is from a few, I think 2.5 ish, weeks ago and the second is current. Green circles are around some shed but stalled/stuck in the skin grafts to highlight they show the same area and see the difference more easily.

No worries man. The shock-loss you've seen when googling it is probably just referring to general, temporary shock-loss in the donor and or recipient. Usually this is just from all the anaesthesia/epinephrine injected and general trauma to the scalp during surgery that can disrupt blood flow, but it will come back in nearly all cases. What I'm referring to is permeant shock-loss of already weak hairs. If someone has lets say a NW3 sort of level of loss with strong hair behind it that isn't miniaturising (look at my thread and my own hair for an example of what I mean), the healthy hair just won't really shed, or if it does, it will have no problem coming back in a few months. but in a case like yours where lots of the hair up top is on its last legs so to speak, it might not be strong enough to recover if it shocked out. You'll probably be fine and it won't be an issue, but it's just something that anecdotally happens regularly enough to be considered. Oh yeah, there have been many cases of people who've had multiple transplants with no meds, and there will be many more, all I'm saying is that it's just more unpredictable. You might end up a NW7 that you otherwise wouldn't have reached if you took them, your donor might miniaturise quite a lot which wouldn't have otherwise happened, and s on. I think you'll be fine to be honest, you just need to prepare for numerous surgeries over the course of the next however many years. You might well just end up a NW5 even in 30 years, in which case 2 surgeries of say 5-6000 grafts in total in the next few years would leave you in a good spot for a very long time, who knows.

I mean, Melvin, c'mon - look at the right side of his hairline in the last bottom right picture and zoom in. Anyone with a pair of eyes can see he's had very poor growth, that's not even up for debate in my mind, you can literally see the roots of each hair strand and it's objectively visible he has anywhere from 0-10 grafts or even hairs per cm/2 in the area he was previously slick bald in. Nearly 2300 grafts in an area of this size is more than enough for very good density. And yes, I do very much agree with you when people spread their hairline to distort the result its very unfair and not representative of the result in general, but I don't think that's what's happening here... I think OP was just trying to show his hair in different ways. But yes OP, please post more pics brushed fully back, just for the sake of complete fairness. Although the bottom right isn't really spread apart and is pulled back and you can see the roots of the hair like I say... I know you like the guy Melvin, and I'm sure he is nice enough and it's probably not pleasant to call him or his practices out, but it's not really fair to defend a result like this and say stuff like hate bandwagon, I'm sure if you were this guy you would have no issues saying this is about as crap as a result gets with this area and amount of grafts. And those comments would probably piss you off if you were in his shoes too. If there will be no review of his membership or anything similar even with people voicing their concerns, then well it's out of our hands and I don't want to beat a dead horse, so I'll just leave it at that.

I think your results look pretty good for the timeframe mate.

Hi, I don't mean that infection is the main reason for a bad result, most people don't have any infection after a HT (unless they go to a cheap, unhygienic clinic, although it does happen regardless of where you go from time to time). I was just saying that in response to AKAwonderkid stating that he would rather stay home because he'll be screwed if something goes wrong and he's not near the clinic. There's not much else to go immediately wrong post op that you'd need medical attention for is my point. As I say, most people don't suffer an infection of any kind after a HT, whether they have good results or bad. Most poor results are down to poor handling of the grafts or poor extraction/implantation techniques, all of which can damage the follicles ability to produce hair. Beyond this, some people just don't respond well to surgery for reasons unknown; it is a surgery moving living 'organs' at the end of the day, it's unpredictable and some peoples physiology might just mean that the grafts struggle to survive outside the body, to re-establish blood supply, and so on. No one really knows in these cases. Although I think these instances are fairly rare and the vast majority of poor growth does have a cause. Beyond this, there are diseases and conditions that make the conditions of the scalp very hostile for growth; different t forms scarring alopecia are a prime example. As far as what is causing the issues with results from the Hair Dr, I have no idea and could only deduce its something to do with their techniques seeing as there's a trend of poor results.

This is correct - @aKaWonderKidI understand you'd much rather be able to jump in the car, drive to wherever you're having it done and then be home the same night. That would be nice and easy, and obviously you're not alone in that; I'm sure everyone would much rather do this than have to fly to a foreign country, have a HT, rest up in a hotel for a few days and then have to travel back looking like a circus freak. However, it's really best to base the decision off of skill and not convenience - this will be your hair forever, if it goes tits up or ends up underwhelming, trust me, the consequences of that pale in comparison to just having to travel for your HT and being out your comfort zone a bit in the process. Once all is said and done, it's a couple days, you're back home before you know it and it's all behind you - at this point you can relax knowing you genuinely picked whoever you thought was best and not someone just because they were down the road or nearby. Also, as New Barnet says, there really isn't a great deal to go wrong, and if it does, there's not a great deal to be done. The only thing that realistically can happen and cause major issues is some sort of infection post op, but all your surgeon is going to be able to do is prescribe antibiotics in this case and maybe clean the area a little. Just stay for few days if you're concerned so that if anything does happen, you can go right to the clinic and see the doctor. I was literally a 2 minute walk from my clinic in Porto and the doctor gave me his personal number to contact at any time if needed, so I was covered in this department if necessary. But either way, what I'm saying is, if something goes wrong to the point 'you're screwed', then it would have to be fairly bad and you'd be up shits creek whether you were at home or abroad to be honest. Something like a serious or nasty infection is going to do whatever its going to do, not like you can just visit the doc and he will fix it on the spot and make everything ok... Best of luck anyway, but don't convince yourself to stay here for a HT with illogical rationales just so you can feel more comfortable and stay in the UK; you'll thank yourself in the long run.

You can go ahead, yes, but as we have all said before in your previous thread, you just have to accept that you're definitely going to lose more hair in the coming years and there's no doubt you will become a NW5 at least and very possibly may progress even further as you get older. As long as you're prepared to get multiple hair transplants, most likely over the next decade or so, and understand that you might get to a point in your life where you essentially run out of donor and will have to compromise on coverage in certain areas, then I personally don't see why not. This is a risk for anyone in general anyway of course, but due to your type of hair loss and lack of medication, it's just much more amplified. The only other thing is that you have diffuse thinning and a HT in general could lead to permanent shock loss of some of your native hair, but I assume your surgeon has gone over this with you and is confident it won't be a big issue, so if they think it's ok, then trust their opinion if you've picked them for your HT.

Looks great so far, you made a good choice of doctor. Good to see Dr. Ferreira building up a portfolio of work through an increasing amount of patient posted reviews on here. Best of luck with your second day.

Hi, Yeah most of us have heard about it, it was actually announced formally on this site in an instagram live with the moderator of the forum, here is the thread for that below. You can read everyones comments and also watch the video itself.

When you say it didn't work, what do you mean, seeing as you only took it for a few weeks? Anyhow, if you're going to hop on TRT, the speed/rate of your hair loss from AGA is going to ramp up, without question. By how much, who knows, but probably by a moderate amount. The optimal solution to this would be to take finasteride or dutasteride (dut would be the more bulletproof option for obvious reasons) and also some sort of topical AA to combat androgen activity on the scalp itself. For now we don't have much, only really RU or CB, but hopefully kintor will succeed with pyrilutamide and there will be an official, approved option in the near future. If I absolutely had to take TRT, I would probably do oral finasteride and RU58841 daily and then maybe topical dut for the sake of it every 7-10 days or so. As long as the TRT dose you're taking is reasonable and is actually only replacing your T levels to the upper mid end of the reference range, this stack will probably serve you well, but it's still not guaranteed you won't notice an acceleration of MPB.

Looking great for 4 months in - I'm jealous. And your density will certainly continue to improve - you're not even half way yet!

Haha, I can't come on here and make - false - claims that many top doctors claim FUE is better than FUT? Well, firstly if you use some reading comprehension and actually read what I wrote, I said the following, and I quote: "Many top doctors have come out in recent times and unequivocally stated that FUT is no longer superior to FUE in any way". How is that me saying that FUE is better than FUT.... what on earth are you even talking about. I quite literally said that FUT is no longer considered to be superior to FUT anymore (as it was in the past) by many top doctors (if you want names: Bisanga, Hasson/Wong have both stated in interviews with Melvin that this is the case... also pretty much any Iberian doctor such as Dr. Pinto, who performed surgery on me, but also De Freitas, Couto, Lorenzo and so on clearly believe this). So please, highlight where I said that FUE is better than FUT? If you bothered to actually take the time to think about what you write before coming off all argumentative for absolutely no reason, you would have realised that I didn't. Me saying that FUT is no longer considered superior to FUE simply means that it's no longer considered better, i.e. it's not seen to be more viable or have have better survival rates anymore by said doctors above.. the fact that for some reason you interpret this as me saying FUE is better is your issue. I then went on to give an example of a doctor, Dr. Hasson, who himself said in his most recent interview with Melvin that he personally far prefers FUE to FUT in the vast majority of cases these days, and that he personally feels he gets better results with this technique nowadays with his patients due to the advancement of technology and refinement of skill... go and watch it. I agree that the two are generally equal in terms of growth etc in a good surgeons hands, so I'm not really sure what you're going on about.... why would I want to find 'scientific evidence' of something I don't believe to be true or never claimed in the first place? The funny thing is, you're the one spreading misinformation and making false claims, not me. You tell OP that the only time you can see an FUT scar is when you "literally shave your head" and that he can "get away with wearing his hair short". Absolute crap and you have no idea what you're talking about. Most peoples FUT scars will be visible way before they are at a 0 or 1 guard, and although, sure, it is possible he would be able to wear his hair short and not have a visible scar at very short lengths, why are you telling him this as a matter of fact when scarring is largely about individual physiology? You have no idea how he will heal, whether his scar will stretch, whether it will just heal wide to begin with, whether his surgeon will do a good job incising, and so on...

Not really true though, no one knows how the scar will heal, if it will be pencil thin, if it will stretch, and so on. I'd wager that the vast majority with an average FUT scar can not wear their hear below a 4 guard or so without seeing something. I can literally have a mid skin fade and see nothing with my FUE scars, not going to be on the cards with FUT. Besides, like I said, if he really 'needs' to go FUT, then that's fair enough. If he doesn't, then why do so?

What's your situation? Any pics to share to see your NW level etc? Some people might really need to go FUT first to maximise grafts, but it's not necessary for most; many top doctors have come out in recent times and unequivocally stated that FUT is no longer superior to FUE in any way, such as Hasson in his most recent interview with Melvin, and has even said that he much prefers FUE now and gets better results with this method at this point. Personally, I would never get FUT due to the scar, if you like to wear your hair short then yes you'll probably regret the scar. If you really don't need FUT and you're just consulting with a surgeon who is very pro FUT, such as someone like Bloxham, for the sake of it and this has pigeonholed you into accepting, then I would reconsider.

I think everyone recovers from the numbness at different rates, but it's normal to still be experiencing it at 3 and a bit months in. I am now probably 90 percent recovered from this at just under 2 months in, but I had half the grafts you did and they were spread out over a much smaller area, which I'm sure plays into it. By the sounds of it, it is improving as you said still 'somewhat' numb, so it will continue getting better and you'll be fine in a few more months I'm sure. Not to worry.

I would imagine the growth cycle of body hair from places such as the leg would also be a bit of an issue cosmetically in the grand scheme of things. Beard, for example, doesn't have a massively shorter length of an anagen phase than scalp hair does; hence why it can grow very long down past your chest if wanted (although obviously I'm not suggesting this should go in the hairline, just pointing out growth phases). Looking at my leg hair, it is probably maximum an inch/inch and a half in length in all areas, and as such, I would imagine the anagen phase for it is less than a few months, max. Having this placed in your hairline would mean that growth in this area would likely be pretty volatile and subject to constant change, and I would imagine it would look ok for a bit and then sparse and then ok and sparse again all the time. Although I'm certainly no expert in the matter, I could be wrong and I'm sure it's been done in rare cases before, but just my thoughts. Maybe it could be of use in some areas if absolutely necessary, but I don't know about right at the hairline which is the most visible and arguably important area of your hair. As others have pointed out, there are likely enough fine hairs from other sources available to put in the hairline, even if you're depleted. The nape, as Melvin says, would be a much better choice even if it is subject to the effects of DHT quite heavily. Beyond that, if BHT was the only option, surely something Iike chest would come before leg in the list of choices?

Haha, hopefully so mate, you'll be at 2 months this week as well right? I'll be keeping an eye out for your update

Looks great, and as everyone else has said, you're pretty much in the ideal position for month 4. Apart from the absolute (and very rare) outliers who are maybe 70%+ grown at this stage, usually because they just didn't shed any of their grafts initially, you really can't ask for much more than where you're at for the time frame. Congrats on the result so far

Oh yeah, you're still very early and I've seen your thread, you look to be coming along just fine mate. I'm not just saying that because I feel bad and don't want to make you panic based off what I have said re the clinic that you had surgery with, but to me everything looks normal for you right now and you're on track! But yeah, that's not really an ideal response from the clinic, is it. I would have told them that I don't appreciate the patronising tone or attitude and that, believe it or not, this is what these forums are created for.... to get some impartial advice or opinions on what's going on with your HT, whether it be 2 months in, 6 months in or a year in. It's not as if you said something bad about them, you just asked a normal question that many have asked before you. To respond to you with "If I knew you were like this we wouldn't have done surgery with you" is borderline outrageous in my eyes. Reading that has actually pissed me off a little bit for you. To be honest, I had only really read good things about their customer service. I have clearly not been a fan of their results for a long time as I've mentioned before when it has come up in threads, but until recently at least, I had if nothing else believed their aftercare and support to be very good based off what I read. But, along with reading what you've just said, I recently saw something else on the UK forum (hairlossexperiences.com) in a thread about the Hair Dr that pissed me off even more than what was said to you. A guy made a thread called 'The Hair Dr. (Dewsbury/Leeds) - A Discussion' (anyone interested can look it up easily on another forum to see that I am being completely impartial here) where he was extremely respectful and really said nothing but good words about the clinic, but had a poor result nearly at the year mark. As a result, he posted some pictures side by side of before and after and did so very fairly and well; they were in almost identical conditions/lighting and were about as fair comparison photos as anyone could possibly provide. Similar to yourself @londonhairlossvictim, the clinic saw the thread and had some words to say. The OP informed readers that, and I quote, "Sadly Sommiya text just to call the pictures I posted on here disingenuous. I really can't do any better than same angle, place, same camera, lens and camera settings". This is completely unacceptable and unfair - if you see the thread yourself then you'll understand why. As I say, the pictures were completely accurate and very fair; the poor guy who posted them paid nearly 15 grand, used up nearly 5,000 grafts of his donor supply, waited patiently for 9 months only to find out he looks the exact same as before surgery, and their response is to attempt to completely gaslight him and blame him, the true victim in all of this, unjustly? I'm sorry, but upon reading what was said to londonhairlossvictim, this needs to be called out and brought to attention. It's completely unacceptable.

Looks really good and should provide some nice coverage for your crown; I really like the hairline and temple points. Congrats Melvin.

Hopefully so - waiting patiently to get to the point you're at!

Cheers! Yeah, I have seen Rolandas say so in some of his vids, I'll update in my thread when/if I decide to hop on.

Topical fin, not for me just because of the hassle and relatively small difference in Serum DHT reduction. We pretty much know now that it slashes this from roughly 60-70% to 30 or so, which is good don't get me wrong, but for someone like me who doesn't mind taking fin and has 0 issues, it's not worth the daily application and commitment, I'd much rather just keep using oral. Topical dut, I would definitely consider. I'll wait for Hassons data to come out on it and re-evaluate, but if it is equally as effective, only reduces serum DHT by 10 percent or so and only has to be applied say weekly, I would be very tempted to make the switch.

Thanks for taking the time to comment! Hopefully it continues on at a steady pace and I have a little bit of early growth, but we will see. It does feel a lot more 'fuzzy' with hair I think as well than it did 2 or 3 weeks ago right after shedding had stopped. Haha, yeah it will be strange to be taken back a good 8 years or so all of a sudden, I'm sure I'll take a full head of hair far less for granted this time around. I just take 0.5mg of fin daily at the moment, that's all I've ever done since beginning treatment 2 and a half years ago (well, I have played around with dosages and taken between 0.25 - 1mg at different times but I've only ever used finasteride overall). As soon as a topical AA makes it to market, I'll most likely add that in to my regimen and I'm also considering oral minoxidil but haven't decided yet.