Balding Bad

21 hours ago, mxnprettynice said:

I would've recommended a more proactive medical treatment, perhaps considering a Cialis + Viagra microdosing combination along with macrodosing minoxidil. However, I believe this approach is most effective in the early stages of a hair transplant. I've developed a new protocol, which I'll discuss in an upcoming hair transplant post. With this protocol, I managed to maintain all my grafts in a perpetual anagen phase. As a result, I experienced no shedding, and the transplanted hairs have continued to grow. It's been nearly a month, and they've shown consistent growth. Baiscally you just need to commit to an aggressive medical regimen for just three months, after which you can discontinue it. Given your youth and health, I believe you'd handle this approach well

Sorry, but I don't think the answer to counteract an unwanted/negative side effect from a form of medical intervention is to introduce even more medical intervention. Moreover, my specific negative side has nothing to do with getting or maintaining a woody. My negative side from Fin was altering the consistency of my semen, making it watery. So in that regard, Cialis and/or Viagra would have done nothing to prevent this. Appreciate your suggestion though.

54 minutes ago, baldfighter said:

That's weird because usually wet hair looks thinner...

I agree, but do you not think the overall aesthetics/caliber/"density" of my hair look better when it's wet? Or is there no discernible difference in your opinion?

2 hours ago, baldfighter said:

I think there has been some improvements.

Yes, for sure marginal improvements. And if the marginal improvements continue it'll hopefully add up to something meaningful. 🤞

4 hours ago, Spring15 said:

Different lighting makes it go from looking decent to underwhelming. Probably not the desired outcome you were hoping for but I've definitely seen many worse results

Yeah for sure and wet hair is the most optimal look in my opinion, makes the thinness of the frontal hairline less noticeable, but all bets are off when the dry look settles in.

Definitely not the desired outcome right now, but I think if there continues to be improvement in the coming months it could potentially leave me in a place where I'm overall okay with everything. We'll see though...

Interesting to see that you're unhappy with your results so far as I think it looks great, but results are subjective to a degree and since you expected better density on the righthand side then it's understandable. Overall, I'd say this procedure was objectively successful though.

Looking good so far, very interested to see how this turns out!

DRY HAIR - DIMMER LIGHTING

DRY HAIR

WET HAIR - DIMMER LIGHTING

AUGUST 18, 2023 UPDATE (240 DAYS POST-OP [8 MONTHS])

Greetings all. I'm a day late with my post, but made sure to snap these photos yesterday to accurately reflect 240 days/8 months post-op.

So to start things off, I'll recap my call with Dr. Joe that occurred on Tuesday (08/15). I've got to hand it to Dr. Joe, who spent an entire hour speaking to me and during that time I never felt as though he was trying to rush the call or cut it short. His time and attention was fully dedicated to me and I feel that deserves some recognition and praise. That being said, I do feel like the convo was overall not super helpful or informative and felt like we were going in circles at times. He didn't really provide any insightful commentary or assessment on the photos I provided other than saying that it appears that I'm "on track" in terms of my progress. I was hoping he would provide some basic analysis regarding the areas that are clearly lacking, but he kept it very neutral, neither praising or being critical on the matter.

As I kept pressing about the lack of density and the overall thinness/sparseness of the hairline, he did state that it could be due to shock loss of the native hairs. I asked if the thinness could be due to poor yield with the grafts not taking, but he doesn't believe that to be the case. I asked if the current growth looks to be appropriate and reflective of 2,309 grafts and he concurred that it does. When I continued to press about how it looks very weak/see through at the 8 month mark, he did concede that he may have potentially been too conservative with the graft count and it's possible he should have placed more grafts, but cited his decision was based on me having very limited donor hairs and, therefore, didn't want to overharvest in the first procedure. I have an odd T shape on the back of my donor, where the hair in the T region looks a bit thinned out. This was flagged to Dr. Joe prior to the operation and he took that into account when extracting grafts.

Ultimately, Dr. Joe said he wanted to make sure to do right by me and offered to do a free touchup and/or discounted 2nd procedure. As of now, I'm unsure what the next path forward will be for me. I know I'm going to wait for the full 12 months and probably several months after to ensure the full results are achieved before making any decision.

Anyways, in terms of my progress for Month 8, I have to say I think there has been some notable improvements. I feel like my hair looks best when it's wet and combed. When I view it from a straight-on angle under favorable lighting conditions (low lighting) and from several feet away from the mirror, I actually think it looks great! But then when I go in closer for an inspection that illusion crumbles...and that frustrates me. It's akin to seeing a girl off in the distance that looks hot, but then as you get closer it becomes clear that she's mediocre at best. Good for afar but far from good. And I think that's the situation with my hair/progress so far. I think the reason my hair looks better when wet is cause it essentially thins out all the hairs on my entire head and, therefore, the frontal thinning doesn't appear as bad by comparison.

When my hair is dry that's when I think it looks the worst. It just looks super sparse and see through. There's no volume to the hair as one would expect when it's dry, like it should fluff up and give off an illusion of blending to make it look thicker...no such luck with my hair. Moreover, the spot in the front of my hairline that is visibly bald (circled in last month's photos) continues to show no signs of growth. I think the right side of my hairline looks pretty decent, but the center and left side is very sparse/see through and is very blatant when viewed from above.

Even though I think we are still running behind schedule and that the sparseness/lack of density is still an issue and I'm STILL resorting to my old styling tactics to conceal the frontal thinning, I do feel like there has been a marginal improvement over last month's.

So for Month 8, I'm gonna bump up the score from 3 out of 10 to 4 out of 10.

As of now, I still don't feel confident with my hair and I often rock a hat when I can. I hope the remaining 4-6 months of this journey will get me to a place I'll be happy with...I really, REALLY hope I can turn that corner, but I also do realize that another procedure is likely what it's gonna take to get me there... 🙃

Anyways, photos below for you all to assess. Would really love the community's feedback! The photos will follow the same format from last month's. Thanks!

P.S. I'm still on Fin at 4x a week at .25mg dosage for a total of 1mg per week. I've detected no negative sides as of yet. Also, I finally cut my hair on 08/12, which was a good decision since I'm finding it has made styling my hair more manageable and I'm no longer wasting up to 20 minutes to get the concealment styling right! 🙂

Lastly, I do want to flag that my folliculitis on the nape of my neck has been dying down. Not 100% resolved. If anything, it just seems dormant right now, like there's still light and minor bumps here and there but nothing crazy enflamed like last month.

WET HAIR

On 8/17/2023 at 6:32 AM, Hairfulthinking said:

I just think its the right thing to do rather than be too hasty with naming and shaming. Especially considering that while I am critical of the result currently, I am aware there is still time to go and they have said they are willing to do a touch up.

Okay, I will be sure to take a look.

I think you're being presumptuous in thinking that naming the clinic you went to will automatically mean you are outing them for shaming purposes. That's only the case if you intend on that being the motive, but you're obviously free to withhold that info if you want.

Fascinating thread/journey. @John Doe if you're still around, can we get an update???

On 8/15/2023 at 10:57 AM, Hairfulthinking said:

I buzzed it because I was finding it difficult to style, if my hair was up, it was apparent how unnatural and sparse it looked, and when I styled it down, over the course of the day the hairs lifted back up - so I just buzzed to give my mind a break. However, since my update a few days ago - and I hope others find this helpful - a female friend suggested leaving in a deep conditioner mask for 20 mins before rinsing out and then gently drying down and forwards with a hair dryer, in addition with using a small amount of hair oil at night before bed; and over the last few days there is a big difference in how my hair sits. The conditioner mask has made my hair far softer than normal conditioner allowing it to dry in more natural position:

Before (no product, just how the transplanted hair naturally sit):

Now 

 

I plan to consult a more doctors, but I am noticing the opinions on my current HT are wildly different leaving me quite confused - especially Dr Feriduni as previously mentioned. I plan to still go to the in person consultation with my current clinic next month and see what they have to say while arming myself with questions and thoughts gathered from other surgeons and fellow patients. 

Nice! The conditioner definitely improves to overall aesthetics of the frontal hairline, but overall I can see why you'd be unhappy with your current results.

On 8/15/2023 at 10:35 AM, Hairfulthinking said:

I don't know if I will reveal it, but how is yours now? Are you happy with your situation?

Gotcha. Is there a particular reason you're guarded about revealing your clinic?

Can't say I'm happy about my situation. I've more or less accepted the end result likely won't turn out in a way I find satisfactory. I'll post an update later this week on my thread so be on the lookout if you're interested.

Sorry to see this unfortunate turn of events. Did SMG provide any other feedback or advice?

Also, agree with @OliverAtom. Your hair looks slightly wet as opposed to the other photos where it's dry. Are you able to share a photo with dry hair?

Hey @Milkman555 -- any updates?

8 hours ago, Melvin- Moderator said:

It’s still early, hopefully you’re a slow grower. Have you been in contact with your surgeon?

Same here. 🤞

I reached out on Monday and was supposed to have a call scheduled with Dr. Joe this Friday, however he needed to reschedule/postpone it due to an upcoming HT conference he will be speaking/presenting at. So hopefully I can lock him down in mid-August and get his assessment then.

On 7/25/2023 at 8:07 AM, Spring15 said:

With a name so epic I expected more from this doctor. Disappointing slightly. I think with a second session to add density would give a great result - maybe not with Josephitis though 

Haha, appreciate the humor. Although I must disagree with "Disappointing slightly." It's more than slightly, I'd say "majorly" would be more accurate...to me at least.

Yes, that's my thought as well for a potential 2nd op. It's a shame, but it is what it is.

On 7/25/2023 at 2:12 AM, Henry said:

I think if you trim your hairs on the side, you'll have a much better, much fuller looking head of hair. Just a suggestion.

I wouldn't really jump to any conclusions yet though sir. It does look pretty thin now but 5 months is still a lot of incoming hair growth, I've been watching time lapse videos of hair growth from people without hair transplants and let me tell you, the difference on the thickness and volume of their hair for any period of 5 months is amazing.

So even if there wasn't any new hairs sprouting for you at this point, those hairs that you already grown could still have a chance of thickening and blending in better with your native hair.

If it didn't improve though, i really think finding a hairstyle that's thinner on the sides and longer on top, would be your best course of action. 

 

 

Appreciate the suggestion and it's something I also considered. However, my original plan was to grow out all of my hair since longer hair (slicked back) has always been something I've wanted to rock. What I didn't take into account was the HT not being successful/yielding poor results. So with fuller, denser looking sides, that obviously exacerbates the sparseness/thinness of my frontal hair.

I'm still partially hopeful the transplanted hairs thicken/more follicles pop up and improve the visual/illusion of density. That's why I haven't gotten a haircut yet, but, yeah, if there continues to be no signs of meaningful improvement in my frontal hairline then I'll likely shorten the sides to improve the overall aesthetics. 😐

54 minutes ago, needmyhairback said:

Thanks for the update. I agree this is disappointing for month 7. I understand the frustration when you still have to use styling tricks to cover your baldness, but to stay positive I think now it takes much less effort to cover your baldness than before the procedure, doesn't it?

Don't lose your hope yet. It can still improve in the coming months. I am curious what the clinic would say other than please wait for the 1 year result.

Appreciate the positive spin, but the irony is that styling my hair actually takes the same amount of time, if not slightly longer now, since the frontal hairs are very wiry and do not blend well when I comb my hair forward, so now I have to futz with the front to make it seem convincingly "normal."

Yes, I'm curious to see what SMG says beyond the canned response of wait for the full year. I think, barring a miracle, the current trajectory indicates the final year's result will likely be lackluster, with none of my original issues remedied (thinning, see through, continuation of styling tactic to conceal balding). 

Wow, this looks to be an interesting thread to follow. Best of luck buddy!

DRY HAIR - DIMMER LIGHTING

DRY HAIR

WET HAIR - DIMMER LIGHTING

Light is pretty much my sworn enemy right now. See last photo...

JULY 22, 2023 UPDATE (213 DAYS POST-OP [7 MONTHS])

I've been a bit busy, henceforth why I'm 3 days late with my scheduled update, but as the age old saying goes: better late than never! Hopefully same goes for my hair growth because, in my opinion, there hasn't been much meaningful growth since my last update. In fact, in certain images it looks like things have regressed rather than progressed!

At 7 months, we're past the halfway point, but can't say I feel like I'm over the hill. There's still a lot of ground to cover in my opinion. My sentiment is still the same as last month's, so I won't rehash it since it'd just be repetitive. Although, I do have to say, I really can't believe that 7 months later I'm still rocking a hat whenever I go out. And on the days I am forced to style my hair, it blows my mind that I'm still utilizing my styling tactic to cover the frontal thinning...it's just very aggravating when I think about it.

In my month 5 (May) update, I had indicated I had some annoying folliculitis occurring at the nape of my neck. For whatever reason, this month it's decided to flare up again and it's actually gotten worse with more popping up. As of this writing, the situation has improved slightly with the size of the cysts decreasing, but they are still very much present. The only reason they aren't visible in my photos is because I still haven't gotten a haircut yet, so they are essentially covered at the moment.

At slightly over 3 months now, this continues to be the longest I've gone without a haircut.

I'm still on Fin at 4x a week at .25mg dosage for a total of 1mg per week. I've only been on this regiment for just under a month, still too soon to notice any benefits and/or potential negative sides rearing its ugly head.

I haven't reached out to SMG yet to get their take on my progress, but I will be doing that within the coming days. I'm quite curious to hear what they have to say.

My month 7 rating still remains 3 out of 10.

In terms of the photos, I've kept the same format from last month, which is:

Anyways, looking forward to seeing what the community thinks of my progress at the 7 month mark. Thanks!

WET HAIR