Balding Bad

1 hour ago, needmyhairback said:

I hope there has been improvement?

I can't honestly say there has been, but you be the judge. I'll be posting an update momentarily.

2 hours ago, Tope said:

I didnt do a thorough review of my HT really just because I dont want to scare anyone lol still I did just for the community. But if this is a fail, I wont get another transplant because if I knew how painful it is, I would have never done it. I have stopped the procedure by the time they start to inject that local anesthesia. I was begging them to use a needleless local anesthesia but they dont have it (I saw a video before of a clinic where they use needleless anesthesia). I had a few surgeries done and a lot of dental works done in the past with local anesthesia  and those are nothing compared to this. Before I thought I must have a really high tolerance for pain but now I dont think so. Lol. I am a nurse for over 10 years so I think Im reliable to say that every person has different pain tolerance, so if you really want it then go for it, no pain no gain. They have been comforting though even though only one speaks english. I was like a kid trembling, sweating, and biting my hand towel just for me not to shout every time I need additional injections. I think my eyes are more swollen that day compared to my head crying. Lol. 

Ill just skip the months that I dont see a difference, if there is Ill surely still be giving update. We need more slow growers to share their progress because comparing myself to the chosen ones by the God of Hair, its really frustrating. Lol. The waiting game is no joke though. And I really appreciate all those people who takes time to give their opinion about other peoples progress. 

That's interesting to hear. I guess everyone's pain tolerance is indeed very different. I didn't find the anesthesia injections to be bad at all. Very pain-free in my opinion.

Well, do what you want, but I think you should at the very least provide a 9 month and 12 month update. Those are typically the benchmark months, so it'd be nice to see your progress at those junctures. For your sake, I hope you turn the corner. Best of luck with the growth!

18 hours ago, Tope said:

I already accepted it as a fail already to be honest. All those people who says next month will be the month of growth and you need more time do t worry. Lol theyll be all gone or theyll be saying you need a 2nd trnasplant. If I dont see any difference the next month, this will be my final update. 😁

Ah, I'm sorry to hear that and to be honest, that's where my headspace is right now as well...but I think month 9 is usually when the corner is turned for slow growers. Ultimately, only time will tell...but yeah, I don't think it's a bad idea to start considering a 2nd procedure IF this one doesn't work out for you.

In terms of updates, I think you should see it through...if not for your sake then for everyone else on here who would appreciate the followthrough and transparency. Your continued documentation could help someone else down the road. That's the reason why I continue to document my "progress" even though I feel like none is happening.

As someone who is struggling at the 7 month mark with my progress, I can totally relate with your journey. Hoping we see a drastic turnaround at some point!

Insane results man! Very happy for you!

Appreciate your consistency with documenting your journey and sorry to see you've been unhappy with the pending results.

That said, you keep complaining/asking about how to prevent the cobble stoning and mostly everyone has suggested you grow out your hair/stop the constant shaving to which you refuse to even humor. At the risk of sounding like a broken record, but maybe after all this time you should maybe try something new? Don't shave for 1 or 2 months and see if the cobble stoning improves.

@MFR84 has given a firsthand account on how the cobble stonning went away once he stopped shaving...maybe it's time to take everyone's suggestion???

Congrats with the insane results! 

22 hours ago, consequence said:

Do you have more detailed pics of your journey leading to this point? And any immediate pre op/post op of the surgery itself?

Something about this thread and its limited pics comes off so strange.

Agreed. This is probably a fake posting. If you look at the edit done by the Admin, it says promotional link was removed. The new account, the scant details, the bare minimum low res photos, the lack of engagement with other forum users...

@mavigo thanks for the update! How do you feel about your progress so far?

Not sure if it's just cause your hair got longer, thereby giving the illusion of more density, but there does seem to be a slight improvement from your photos from May 30th.

Probably bumping a dead thread here but any resolution, @Mighty?

Hey @davidjosepha, appreciate you taking the time to chime in on my thread with a very lengthy reply! No worries on "harshness" of your tone, all fine by me as I much prefer brutal honesty over sugarcoating.

To address some of the things you mentioned, as far as my Finasteride thread goes, it's been a couple of years so my recollection of it is a bit rusty, however what I do recall is that my temperament and expectations during my time (trial) on Finasteride was cautiously optimistic. I was never as dour or negative as you proclaim that I was. Perhaps you just read it differently in your head, but my updates were never rooted in the supposed negativity that's purported or implied in your accounts. My hope was that Fin would help regrow hair in my frontal third, but if not, at the very least stabilize and prevent any future hair loss.

My regimen of titrating the Fin dosage is one that is commonly practiced. Browse through the forums and you'll see plenty of examples of other people implementing dosages at similar amounts and intervals as me. Granted, no two people are the same, so obviously we all must adhere to a regiment that makes sense for our own unique bodies. Taking 3mg per week is not unheard of and, in fact, it's actually championed by doctors like Dr. Russell Knudsen and Dr Vikram Jayaprakash. Always better to be safe than sorry.

Also, in regards to the negative side effect of watery semen, your callous dismissal of that side effect is entirely your prerogative, however, to me, it's not worth the risk. You claim that I should have ignored it and powered through Fin for another 6 more months in hopes the side effect would eventually subside. That's completely okay if that's something YOU'RE willing to do, however my risk appetite is clearly not as tolerable as yours, especially when you consider it can potentially become permanent. Granted, this is on an anecdotal basis, however the likelihood of that happening is still very much possible.

Moreover, it's heavily implied from your post that I only took issue with the watery semen due to the visual change in its consistency, as if it's only a mere cosmetic inconvenience that I'm concerned about. The change in consistency is absolutely indicative of a decline in the semen quality. No one in their right mind would shrug that off and hope for the best. As someone who hopes to have kids one day, to prioritize a head of hair at the expense of one's manhood / future posterity is outrageously negligent.

Anyways, not sure if you saw my latest post, but I'm actually back on Fin, 0.25mg every other day for 1 mg per week. I'm gonna see how I fair with that dosage. If the watery semen rears its ugly head again, I may have to throw in the towel with oral Fin completely and opt for topical Fin instead.

In terms of my HT progress, I agree that I need to be more patient and let it play out...but that being said, the current  trajectory definitely seems to be lagging, especially when compared to most folks, who are typically further along (visually) at this point in the game. Other people who have chimed in and opined on this thread seem to agree as well. So it's clearly not just me who thinks the progress is underwhelming...because objectively it is.

Anyways, appreciate you chiming in and I look forward to seeing how your journey panes out.

30 minutes ago, mister_25 said:

They did reassure me by telling me that there are just as many slow growers like myself then there are faster growers, they also did not really offer a refund/touch up as of yet because there is still time for it to grow, they brought it up to illustrate that Dr Hasson stands by his work and to show what he is offering if my case were to fail. They seem pretty confident that I am a slow grower rather than a failed case.

I wouldn’t say that your line of thinking is wrong, it’s just that I was rather unclear of how my discussion went with the clinic.

Ah, gotcha. That makes a lot more sense. Well, for your sake, I hope on refund is in the horizon for you!

@mister_25 appreciate the thorough update and sorry to hear that there hasn't been much meaningful progress.

Surprised to see that H&W is willing to provide a full refund. While that's a very nice gesture, is that essentially their way of acknowledging that they flubbed this procedure?

I feel like their response at this point (7 months) would be to reassure their patient and to tell them there is still ample time for things to turn the corner, but for them to outright offer a refund, that's akin to throwing in the towel and saying yeah, this ain't gonna work out, so the least we can do is give you back your money...

I dunno, am I wrong with my line of thinking here?

As a fellow SMG patient currently going through the post-op growing process, I wish you best of luck with your results!

Anymore updates @dsq83? I find the 5 to 7 months change to be quite drastic! Congrats! Hope it's filled in more.

Echoing @needmyhairback back. Would appreciate an update!

6 minutes ago, needmyhairback said:

Any noticeable improvement yet? Do you plan to contact the clinic? At this point they can only tell you to wait until 12 months

I'll wait until the 7 month update to make any type of assessments in terms of "improvements." I also plan on contacting SMG at that point to get their evaluation on my progress as per their recommendation in their literature.

On 6/3/2023 at 2:54 PM, stephcurry30 said:

Any follow up on this thread? Did OP get a refund? 

Are refunds even possible? I don't believe I've heard of any clinics doing that...usually they offer free repair.

JULY 2, 2023 UPDATE (STARTING FIN AGAIN!)

A minor update. Just wanted to flag that today I started Fin again. I was initially planning on halfing my pill and taking 0.5 mg twice a week, but decided I'll quarter it instead and take it 4x a week.

I don't actually have a pill cutter, so the "quarters" are approximate at best and I'm sure I'm losing the exact quantity/potency in the splitting process. I'll be monitoring for negative sides again (which were watery semen and anxiety/depression)...hoping for none, but only time will tell...

On 6/22/2023 at 6:53 PM, Hairfulthinking said:

Yet the op was performed by two experienced surgeons together (their business where they do one client per day) who are well reviewed and have an extensive website with information, such as hair angles. Even before the op we went over hair angles and they described what my native front line hair angles were, so I am confused, especially as in the photos 10 days post op the angle looks flatter (and denser) than now.

I mean I waited years before moving forward with a HT, I did my research and contacted many surgeons, got a range of quotes and visions etc. I am well clued up on everything. So I'm disheartened at my current state in contrast to others who just jump on a plane to Turkey and pay half the price without any clue and get a greater result.

 

Brother, me and you are in the same boat right now. Did my homework with all the clinics out there and settled on what I thought would be the best one for me and now I'm finding the results to be extremely underwhelming. Hoping we both turn the corner as there's still technically time for it to theoretically happen...

Will you at some point reveal where you underwent your procedure from?

16 hours ago, stephcurry30 said:

OP Why did your surgeon make the incisions the day before? This makes no sense to me. 

 

I remember reading a Patient of Dr Bhloxman not too long ago who made pre made slits the same day and the Dr mentioned that the slits closed up extremely fast and the grafts might have not survived because of it.

 

I have bene on this forum for 7+ years and have yet to see a single surgeon who has done this? What's the purpose of this? Is this the possibility as to why your surgery didn't succeed? 

As @needmyhairback has correctly stated, SMG prefers to break up the procedure into 2 days if the graft amount exceeds a certain amount, which I believe is 2,000. The first day is dedicated for the incision making process and the second day is dedicated for the extraction/implantation process.

As far as I'm aware, this is how SMG has always done it. In terms of this method negatively impacting the final outcome, that is not something I've heard or seen before.

52 minutes ago, needmyhairback said:

Looks like you still have many baby hairs. When they mature it will look better.

Tick tock. Fingers crossed. 🤞

Although, it's also entirely possible those "baby hairs" are just my native ones that are just naturally thin and wispy and on their last legs. 🤷🏻‍♂️ But if they are transplanted ones growing, then yeah, I hope they thicken up.

3 hours ago, ALittelTeal said:

I’m probably as critical as anyone for cases like these given that my experience with FUE had even less results at the 18 month mark and I’m considering Shapiro should I opt for a second pass. That being said, I feel like I am seeing some solid growth between Months 5 and 6? I’m open to people telling me otherwise, but I would be incrementally optimistic after seeing the progression over the last month. I say this as someone who last month thought that your growth was in fact disappointing. Regardless, I’m sorry that you have had to wait as long as you have and still wrestle with the frustration and doubt of a potentially poor outcome.

Appreciate your input on the matter and sorry to hear about your less than stellar results at the 18 month mark. May I ask where your first procedure was? And what is making you consider SMG for your second procedure?

Also appreciate the brutal honesty about my results at 5 months. I was struggling and underwhelmed with what I was seeing then as well. Glad to hear you think my month 5 to 6 as "solid growth." Hopefully that translates to even more growth down the line, but, man, this certainly has been a psychological/mental struggle for sure...

6 hours ago, baldfighter said:

Interesting story. Your grafts shed quite early, did you notice any growth before shedding? 

If memory serves me correctly, I believe I may have had some minor growth before shedding, but I think the timeframe for when I started shedding was more or less on par for the course.