keratin_matters

What do you think about adding some beard grafts in the donor area where there's a patch of retrograde alopecia. 

Month 7 Update

So in my effort to document this whole thing upto the one year mark, here's the next post. Mostly adding the hairline photos now, nothing special to see in the donor, it's undetectable.

A shot from farther away to see how other people may see it. I feel like they might just be detecting it as nothing out of the usual. The curly nature of my hair really helps in making it look so much more denser.

Here's a close-up shot in more harsh lighting.

It is always important to remember that after all this is an illusion and can never match the real density. I'm very satisfied with where it's now and hoping for some improvements in the density. Either way this is looks natural to me and most people don't go scrutinizing somebody's hair density so I'm already pretty happy. I do have some alcohol based minoxidil in my hair over here, it does make the hair a bit coarse and make it look a little more thicker.

Interested to see your updates!

Month 6 update

I couldn't update the month 5 results due to having a busy schedule. Will try my best to update regularly until the one year mark so that it can help others in what to expect. 

So here is the progress: 

Hairline left side

Hairline right side

Hairline front 

Donor right side

Donor left side

My thoughts: My barber told me today that most transplants are detectable and mine absolutely isn't and he wouldn't have known if I'd  not told him! 

The donor seems to be recovering well.

The transplanted area density is increasing but is still far from where I'd want it to be. The right side is much thicker while the left side is still catching up. I'm hoping it will thicken up in the coming months. Will reserve all judgements until the 1 year mark. 

I think if you ask for the doctor name for a package, they'll tell you. For the exclusive package, it's Dr Somesh that leads the surgery afaik. He has some results posted on this website that you can review and decide for yourself.

Any pics? With Dr das you're in safe hands. Best of luck. 

Aata takkal visrun jaa! 😉

7 hours ago, Madhur Vansil said:

Videos :

4 months -15 days (Video under Room lights) :

1: https://imgur.com/a/t69zrkj

2: https://imgur.com/a/Kv9jsUg

 4 months -16 days (Video under bright and strong sunlight) :

https://imgur.com/a/CZh09s1

Please share thoughts on the progress and what do you think is it good as per timeline and what shall I expect in coming months ?

I think it's ahead of the schedule! By 6 months you would have much more thicker results. 

I found this video from Mr rolandas which is really helpful in assessing where we are and where we should be :

https://youtu.be/cmxmeuO7kHY

3 hours ago, GeneralNorwood said:

Clearly you had taken some grafts from area that you have retrograde alopecia. Not the best area to take grafts from. Shouldn't it be no-go zone?  

Now maybe it's some shockloss and it will improve, but by simple logic this beforehand thinned area will be less dense then before HT, because you had taken grafts from there. 

Maybe i am missing something, we will see how it will turn out in few months. 

 

Agreed. The area should have been marked out and avoided for extraction. But it seems that they've extracted from the zone at the same density as elsewhere.

OP should try some minoxidil on the area to speed up the recovery if it is shock loss. Worst case scenario, one can do some beard hair grafting or SMP in the area. 

40 minutes ago, Madhur Vansil said:

Yes magical months ahead bro ..we are in same boat…

Yup.. may the hair gods bless us

39 minutes ago, ZeeMan said:

Looking good for 4 months @keratin_matters, I can see the hair popping, should be a great next few months.

Thanks! I think the next 2 months are probably going to turn the corner.

Hey everyone! I'm almost at the four month mark now, so wanted to give my update. 

So far there are some hair that have come up but it's nothing very dense as of yet. I'm being patient and I'm ok with it for now because I can comb my hair forward and with for toppik I can roam around freely. At least the stage where I was super conscious of it is over 😅.

Hopefully, The next 2 months are going to be absolutely amazing.

Not adding the donor pics because the hair are so long that there's no point in evaluating it at this length. I'm in no hurry to cut them down very short as of yet. I will let it heal and cut it months later. No need to cause myself needless stress untill then I guess.

12 minutes ago, aaalan said:

Good luck brother! Are you going to Delhi or Mumbai?

 

i am in US and considering Eugenix.. Mumbai is my first pref. As my parents are there but believe Delhi has their best doctors…

The doctors are the same. It's just that they're available at the Mumbai location on limited dates.

Hey guys. Need some advice. I'm about 3.5 months post op right now. Is it safe to us dermmatch during this period? How long can I keep it on? 

23 minutes ago, daz 2 said:

The first part says "You have to get you blood pressure checked and send in the report".....

The part below says you shall be required to perform ......,.. and covid pcr test. There is absolutely no mention of it having to be sent in pdf format or actually sending in the report. In fact as the covid pcr is stated within it and you are required to do that when you are arrive at the surgery it certainly does make it look like they do those when you arrive. 

When I went to Turkey, they did blood tests when I was there.

Surely, there should be one line that says "You have to get blood pressure checked and the following blood tests - platelets etc AND send us the report.

and another that says

You will be required to do covid pcr test on arrival?

But officer, shouldn't the chips packet say it's 1$ AND you have to hand over the money to the cashier? 

12 minutes ago, EricEdwards said:

Dr Arika is now 350inr +18% tax per graft for the Super Premium Package

So I'm guessing that if you go for Dr Arika now, you are going to have to get her complete involvement including extractions and hairline placement.

11 hours ago, EricEdwards said:

Yes indeed. I received my quotation today for 210 Indian rupees + 18% tax per graft

So then two surgeons Dr Bansal and Dr Das now operate under the 210 package or is Dr Arika promoted again as well? 

Tbh I knew this was coming. When demand goes up for a surgeon, if they don't increase the costs, it will inevitably lead to one surgeon being streched across many OTs and patients. It's better to hike the prices to keep quality under check.

2 hours ago, Khanate said:

Do you mean for Dr. Priyadarshini Das ? i had the procedure barely 15 days ago at 120 per graft ,how much is it now? 

I read somewhere that Dr das now comes under the 210rs package. Can anyone confirm this?

Did you reach out to them that you didn't want to cancel? And six months might be a binding deadline for them, perhaps they might transfer it sooner? 

4 minutes ago, Gatsby said:

It's coming brother. After three months you can kiss goodbye to the cold, hard ugly duck phase! 👌

Tis' indeed cold and hard. Can't wait to ditch the fibers and the hats. 😂

8 minutes ago, Gatsby said:

@keratin_matters your donor looks great. Wait until you go from three months to four months! 👌Thanks for sharing!

Thanks Gatsby! Really excited for what's next! 

3 month Update: 

I guess I'm nearing the end of the ugly duckling phase. I can see tiny shoots coming from the transplanted area. I feel like I've now left the worst behind me and it'd get better and better from here.

Transplanted area: 

Donor left side: 

Donor right side: 

5 minutes ago, Pubichair said:

Why would you go for fut these days? 

To maximise graft yield. Especially when the donor is limited, you can get more grafts from FUT.

I think an FUT + FUE combination can be a better option in this case. 

1 hour ago, JoDimaggio22 said:

I could probably wear it 2-3 hours a day honesyly

Well if you can, then there's no harm in it. Just keep it as an adjunct to finasteride and minoxidil. 

You can pop a pill and use a topical for the long term. Can you have that hat on for an hour daily for years to come? Even if it did have some marginal returns, it's simply not sustainable imo. Only stick to sustainable things.