Grouse

@DavidD777 did you hear back on your candidacy? Wishing you the best

Wow congratulations Gatsby! You'd never know you were bald before this. Unthinkable! How do you feel about it so far? Is it relief to no longer be thinking about hair, or are you still thinking of more density in the future 😄 I wanted to ask. Do you have any pictures of your before state? I can't find them. Curious to see how your donor was

Yes, it is a difficult position. Money / beard hair is not a factor for me. I'm 30 and just got out of a long term relationship. Would rather be dating with hair, rather than thinning - but not sure if I will be kicking myself in 20 years for not waiting for Zarev... Anyway - I feel I am derailing OP's post. Thanks for your input.

I'm in a similar spot as OP. Hopefully some of this discussion is helping OP decide what is feasible and which doctors to consider. I am able to see Dr. Zarev in early 2026 for a consultation. I agree he seems to do the best cases, but unclear if its worth waiting 2.5 years (!) to get a consultation. It would probably be 2027 until I could have actual surgery. Are Dr. Pitella / Sethi good enough for a NW6 / 7, or is it worth waiting up to 4 years for Zarev?

If you had to go in for a transplant today as a NW7, knowing what you know now, which of these 3 would you pick as your first choice? What about your second choice?

It does seem weaker than most. That said, none of us are a doctor doing an in person consultation. I am confused how people are confidently asserting this donor is insufficient, when there are what I'd consider excellent results from even worse donors. See 2 examples below. 1. 2. I'm still new, but I think either a) people are understimating what can be done with sub-optimal donors and beard hair or b) the results I posted above are total freaks of nature and exceptions to the rule of donor quality. 🤷

Which hormone do you monitor for this? I'll also ask my doctor if I consider trying. Any recommendations on where to source high quality CB?

Where do you recommend getting CB0301? I followed your advice to not get topical dut from minoxidil max (used Mwamba) and am very glad I did. Any concerns about HPA axis impacts from CB? Any sides you can report? Thanks Mustang!

This is a great thread - thank you all for contributing! 3 questions: 1. Has anyone ever done before / after blood work to check if topical DUT impacts DHT? 2. Is it possible to get XYON DUT at a lower concentration? 3. Are there any places in the US that will administer dutasteride mesotherapy? I've been using Trichosol topical DUT but am considering trying XYON. The massive concentration difference kind of scares me off though. Had a very bad reaction to liposomal finasteride at a high dosage (1%) from Farmacia Paratti, and am not eager to repeat that with an even more potent drug. I'm very interested in DUT mesotherapy, but seems its really only offered in Europe for some reason.

What length is best to evaluate donor from? Shorter, you see the individual follicles better. Longer, you see how it may look when actually grown out. My donor looks quite bad when short but seems better when long, so not sure how to think of this either.

Right, but he had FUT. So there would be no pits anywhere, just the long strip scar. Which I actually think looks better / cooler than a bunch of weird white spots tbh. Right, but doesn't your donor continue to thin? What happens to those that get Fin side effects 5 years later - their already thin transplanted hair will thin out as they get into their 40's, 50's, 60's etc. I guess I am not convinced a transplant is a life long solution (at least for me), and that is ok. I only want hair to help find a wife - then it can go I hadn't thought of this. I would need to travel a long ways for my hair transplant, so need to think about how I could do this. Thank you for your pictures and recommendations!

Is it possible to shave your head slick bald years after a high quality FUE transplant? The consensus seems to be I have very poor donor hair. I could probably have a good result for a while, but I'm not confident it would look good in 10+ years. To be blunt - I mostly want hair to maximize my dating life and find a wife, which I think would be significantly harder bald. Later on, I'm very open to shaving slick bald. Is it possible to shave years later and not look terrible? Or is this truly a 1 way door, and you're stuck with thin hair if your donor / transplanted hairs thin out later on?

Incredible result! And thickening is happening. If I were this person, I'd get SMP on the scalp and call it a day. Most on this forum would have told this person to shave and never consider a transplant. Really goes to show how important the surgeon skill + a conservative hairline is

Good idea. I'll maybe try to book a consult with a good US doctor

@A_4_Archan that was directly from his office on WhatsApp. Crazy right? Earliest was late 2026. Eugenix is confident I can have a good result, but they haven't seen me in person. I don't know how to get a in-person consultation without flying halfway around the world to these doctors! @asterix0 I have tried lower dosages and they result in the same issue. I am considering trying topical dutasteride as I hear it has fewer side effects.

I'm a NW3 or 4 heading to NW6. My donor hair is thin in caliber, and may be thinning? Looks good when it is grown out (pic 1), but not so good when it is cut close and in harsher lighting (pic 2). I am unable to take finasteride due to bad side effects, so am interested in a medication free transplant. I'd like to use BHT, and am ok with a conservative hairline. I've narrowed my search down to 3 doctors - Dr Zarev, Dr Sethi, and Dr Pitella. Zarev has a 3 year long wait list just for a consultation (and probably 3 more for a surgery) so I'm down to Dr. Sethi or Dr. Pitella. Which doctor is better for high norwoods these days? Anyone else I should be considering?

What's the peaky blinders look? Did Eugenix say you were a candidate, or was that your call? They've said they could operate on me no problem, but I'm wary... It's quite hard, especially when most people use apps these days. I've thought about systems, but I'm not sure I'm comfortable with the upkeep. I'd always be self conscious about the edges coming up. I've thought about a strong frontal HT, and a system on the back end maybe.

Thanks Rahal. I'd say I fall into #2 here, open to very mature hairline, BHT, SMP, and complete donor depletion / fit farming. This is a helpful framework. Yeah I've wondered about that. In my instance - I'm wondering if I'm ok with getting a transplant knowing it'll eventually thin out to the point of looking not good in my late 40's and beyond. The only reason I want a transplant is to help with my dating life - hair is far, far more valuable when you're dating and in your 20s / 30s than when you're married with kids in your 40s / 50s IMO. Yeah I can't tell either. Donor looks great long, not so great short. Lighting on the shorter picture was with a direct flashlight essentially, so as harsh as it gets. Still looks sparse tho idk.

Hey all. I've spent the last 6 months learning about HT from this amazing forum, and it seems there's a general consensus on things like doctors, scarring, illusion of density, etc. However - it seems like opinions are split about doing transplants without medications. Dr. Pittella and a few others seem to not require it, while some like Dr. Lorenzo 100% require it. Similarly - some members here seem to say meds are always required for an acceptable outcome. Others like @Melvin- Moderatorseem to have absolutely perfect, knockout results without finasteride / dutasteride. Curious what everyone's thoughts are about this. Is requiring meds case dependent? I've had bad sides on fin before, and feel like I'm a borderline case that will go to NW6 (pics attached). Consults with top clinics have been split - some told me no without meds, others have said no problem at all without meds. For those without meds - how did you get comfortable booking surgery when some say its a very bad idea?

May I ask how you managed to get ahold of him? Enjoy what are sure to be some phenomenal results!

Awesome! I will reach out to them, I haven't heard of this before. Wish more docs would do this - sounds extremely helpful.

Great discussion. How have others managed in-person consults for overseas doctors? Would hate to show up and be rejected for poor donor, but also can't really afford to visit a country 2x either. @Melvin- Moderator @Gatsby @Zoomster - think you all went to Eugenix for example, and had many grafts done. How did you all manage the need for an in-person consultation before booking a procedure?

Surprising. Your donor seems thin but not “poor” from the image you posted. many have had good results with worse from what I’ve seen. Don’t lose hope!

Wow!! This looks AMAZING! I'll be following this one closely, looks like you're gonna have a killer result! If you'd asked this forum if you were a candidate for HT before going, you'd have gotten "NO's" across the board. With the amazing work done on Zoomster, Paddy, and Gatsby, and others from Eugenix I have a hypothesis that transplants can be reasonably successful even in very difficult circumstances like yours (and mine!). Thanks for posting. Good luck growing!

Awesome. No clinic has mentioned this yet, assumed it wasn't true any more with how advanced FUE has gotten. I'll go back with more detailed pics and ask for video consults as well. I'll also ask about FUT first and then FUE. I'm willing to do it if it could mean the difference between getting a HT or not. What a difference! Yeah I'm hesitant because I had such bad sides from topical, liposomal fin @ 1% in the past. Just ordered topical dut from FUE clinic after reading @mustanggoing through something similar. Fingers crossed.