NARMAK

Perhaps not as strong but it's something a person that isn't wanting to take Finasteride etc. can fall back on to help assist them and is an option to help at least. Personally i'm on medication and keeping things in my back pocket if i need like Oral/Topical Minoxodil but a HT is honestly the last thing you do want to go for with our finite donor supply and still all the possible things that can go wrong even using a good clinic.

Hey bud, i will be posting an update soon. I got a new phone but still haven't set it up yet and it should have a slightly better camera, but hair being so fine and camera lenses being what they are, it's been a little more tough to try capture exactly what i mean sometimes and see in person. By no means at all do i want anybody to think that this hairline looks anything close to a hair mills mess at all. It's just that considering magnification is supposed to be in use and the principles of having 2-3 rows of singles beforehand, something went a little awry in some areas. I guess this is just an example of the limitations we have when we have to use techs as well though i guess.

I mean, OP is over 40 now and looks to have a solid beard for possible donor. So if he went with a very conservative hairline, i think he could get solid results. Although him being on Finasteride again and staying on it would very likely help with the longevity of the HT. I think that's a rather mostly undiscussed point that some people do not consider. Hair loss isn't also linear and for some has actually been fine for a while, then suddenly accelerated later in life, going against the wisdom some say that it slows.

I was born in the UK but i am of Pakistani descent. You'd thinking having been born in the UK and holding a full British passport would make things a breeze, but unfortunately India has a very poor process of many, many hoops to jump through in addition to the regular Visa process and you have to wait months MINIMUM for a decision and even then, i had to go chasing them for a response. It's actually a miracle i managed to go to Eugenix at all and tbh, the Visa issues i had unfortunately are truly a nail in the coffin it seems for me ever being able to return. I was fortunate i could rebook by my flights during more flexible COVID-19 policies of the airline, but give the fact that you cannot book a flight and be guaranteed a Visa in time as anybody that has Pakistani heritage, its not even worth the effort with how much more money you will end up having to spend. The flights i booked went up double the price almost and if i had to apply for a Visa to India, they tell me to put my expected date of travel, then sign documents that say i have to give them a MINIMUM of 45 working days to process. If i even get past that point, after only chasing them through multiple emails did i get told "Yes, we can give you a Visa to India but it will only be valid for 30 days" or something very small in terms of a window to enter and leave. Usually in most places you can get a Visa that's valid for entry for months and until you first enter the country. India unfortunately has an extremely backwards approach in the UK and if you have any Pakistani heritage, it's probably best to go elsewhere. If it wasn’t for the temple points and Eugenix matching the criteria of skill and my budget, i would probably have given up and gone anywhere else. Unfortunately the politics are out of the hands of the clinic, and in the eyes of the government it only affects a minority of people, and because it only affects a minority of people, most don't care. They'll say it's unfair that's the case, but swiftly move on. So there's never any sustained pressure to change such a blatantly discriminatory policy.

I personally don't understand how alongside these photos they classed you as Grade 3A at Eugenix tbh. It's good you've resumed Finasteride as it should help but i would probably strongly advise you wait 12 months if you can because a lot of the native hair in the area to be transplanted look weak atm and if you allow Finasteride to help strengthen them up, there's a good chance that you may keep them rather than lose them permanently with shock loss etc. Also, if you don't mind me asking. What was it that led to you stopping Finasteride all those years ago? It doesn't seem like you had side affects.

The one example i saw, it wasn't even a full example where the hairs looked more thicker which is what surprised me. There was of course an obvious colour shift as well where the hair was white natively and darker from the donor. Ultimately i feel like losing your temple points like i did entirely, is probably one of the worst things to deal with in terms of reconstruction. At least with the hairline and midscalp, there's much more obvious and easier techniques to rebuild it. What's worse for me i guess is that even if i started medication at 18, my temple points were basically washed out and gone. Although knowing what i do now, i genuinely wouldn't mind a trip back in time to when i was around that age and start over lol.

I do genuinely think it's again demonstrating that it genuinely is a case by case basis on who is best for your situation and budgets etc. rather than just trying to objectively say one is better than the other when there's a lot of artistic elements involved too and people may lean to one over the other. I got curious and went back to look at the Dr Cuoto temple points video again. Now, i am fortunate to be able to watch the video below on a TV and when i did, i did notice something not wrong per se, but showing just how difficult even for the most elite temple points can be. There's people in the compilation where the hair looks thicker and almost dare i say pluggy at times despite being angled almost exactly how it should when you see it with the actual native hair. I think this again further goes to show how hair types play a huge factor in things. Personally i do think that even when Unlimited Grafts become a thing, the different hair types needed like for the main hairline, soft singles etc. will mean we have to have like 3-4 different types of grafts for patients. That seems like a huge technical challenge. https://youtu.be/FyYjCJTZz9E

Personally i think i would go with Dr Cuoto and that's in no way, shape or form a knock against Dr Bisanga because i think he's an amazing elite surgeon, but my reasons are perhaps more selfish to me. I needed a complete temple point rebuild and unfortunately i do not see Dr Bisanga have as many examples of this compared to Dr Cuoto even on YouTube. Dr Cuoto has some amazing restorations and i love the design of them and was mostly where i took my inspiration from too watching some of his videos of results focusing just on temple points. However, neither Dr was in my budget range when i did get my HT done and ultimately Eugenix was best for me and my case. I think even if i was to go to enquire with Dr Bisanga or Dr Cuoto, even if i could wait the times they have, and i wanted to go for a refinement of my hairline and temples with maybe up to 1k to 1500 grafts, i am not sure i would still be able to budget for them.

Sorry to hear about this. If i can ask, does this pain feel like the implanters they used to insert the hair or almost a needle like feeling stabbing into your head?

I actually think its really great Melvin did manage to get the great result he has with the current limitations of a finite donor area and careful management for his subsequent procedures but i think we can all agree, that the #1 use sadly for these grafts will be for repairs. I have no doubts about that at all. Hair transplants have exploded in popularity and hair mills luring in vulnerable guys is creating a ticking time bomb of repair cases in waiting. I think we're going to see some amazing redemption stories but the fact we even got to that point is ridiculous. Sites like this and genuine patient reviews have to be at the forefront of educating potential hair mill victims but it's definitely an uphill battle.

I definitely think there's a noticeable difference in the 0.4 C and T skin pigmentation that shows an appreciable difference for scars being less visible, but i do notice some very subtle areas of actual hair coming through a few of the scars and that's just in my eyes an extremely big bonus for almost SMP like effect. However, if those hairs ever became fully terminal, that would still be amazing even if its a rare and lucky bonus. If Verteporfin can reduce scarring and improve pigmentation, i wonder how it might be directly compared with that A Cell treatment that's already FDA approved and which might potentially be considered as a better priced additional treatment.

Lol. Honestly, just speaking for myself i would get my donor area completely restocked from whatever prior procedures i had and i'd probably go for native density and maybe lower and refine the hairline. When i say lower, i mean by adding a very slight widows peak and just adding a few more singles at the front to bulk the density out to a more native density. Ooh, to dream. That said, probably can't afford it now and by the time it becomes available in 20-30 years, i'll probably stay with what i have lol Stemson are making good headway it seems at trying to bring them to market but it's still early with human trials yet to be done i believe and if it does come to market, i am curious if they will use the first 5-10 years to be really expensive and then mass market it. Hell, if i had to guess, hair mills in Turkey and worldwide are having wet dreams about it but i genuinely want to know how elite surgeons like Dr Bisanga, Sethi, Cuoto etc. would use them

Not paying them a deposit is good. You can back out and do your research more properly with this site and really figure out what you need. You can always use the flights and whatnot as an opportunity to have a holiday in Turkey and if there is any surgeons you really want to see there, they might be able to accommodate you for an in person consultation if you explain what happened leading you to Turkey. Personally i like to ask people whether they're taking medication like Finasteride and/or Minoxidil to stop further hair loss and if you can share pictures showing your current situation. People will usually help guide you and help you educate yourself to be much more aware of what a good hair transplant is. To be knowledgeable about hair transplants is to be forearmed against Hair Mills and bad clinics or practices in general.

Thanks for sharing your story and look forwards to your results. I think just looking at your before picture there at the end, you definitely made a smart choice and i think just the new framing the temporal areas being more closed off will make you feel significantly better about how it looks. In some ways, my hair was very much like yours but not having any temple points on mine probably made it look worse. They do definitely help frame the face and the fact yours still look solid should mean you get a great looking result sooner rather than later too with the temporal closure. Good luck with your post-op healing and stick indoors and heal up for as long as you can before you travel. You always want to minimise any potential risk till the grafts anchor within the first 10 days.

To anybody that didn't know you at all, it would just be seen as a bit of thinning and chalk it down to natural aging or lighting. The fact that it looks like that right now and is a complete rebuild of the crown is testament to how damn natural its looking. The crown may be seen as a black hole, but that's a damn fine use of grafts for coverage you got Melvin. As for the hair greed, i genuinely can't wait to see what everybody does once clone grafts become a thing lol. I personally think you've got a great result coming along with further maturity and refinement to come. It's looking on track for a stellar looking crown rebuild.

If it's that line of evenly spaced out red dots, i don't think they're grafts, but anaesthetic spots where they injected. The other thing about the actual hairline is the grafts at the bottom look like they're trying to create an irregular hairline but it seems too regular.

Dr Mwamba is a solid doctor so you can feel assured you're in good hands. I think the above post covered a lot of great ground, BUT i wanted to touch on some points that didn't and helped me. When it comes to post-op sleeping, if you can, get a chunky memory foam pillow to wear and if possible, there's like a single seater/recliner, use that to sleep in for the first week or so till your head wash, it can pass enough time for hair to fully anchor and give you more confidence you did your bit. I personally had concerns about touching my grafts whilst sleeping, so i recommend to basically buy a slightly oversized stretch cotton zip hoody, so that you can zip it up and then slip your arms out of the sleeves and wrap them around your torso. Overall, i would personally say focus on recovery and being comfortable. Keep travel to a minimum and whenever possible, try get food to come to you. I say that as a person who tried so hard to never hit his head and ended up bumping it post-op to my utter horror. I did lose at least one graft i know of, but like above, don't dwell on it. One won't break your HT. The anaesthetic part of the HT for me was painful, because around the temporal areas the skin for me seemed more sensitive and generally i think most say its the most painful part of the operation and do not be shy to tell the team whenever you need a top up because it's better for you to be comfortable and not in constant pain. You will feel them working but it shouldn't hurt you i guess with anaesthetic. Also, i don't see this mentioned often. Phantom Pain. The sensation of the implanter pens etc. poking into your skin was something i experienced and it does last a little while. Up to maybe a few weeks to a month. Also, pimples in the donor area. This has become better after 3+ months, but it was a bit unexpected.

The consent part to share your pictures is reason enough for me not to do it, but i wonder how they would look if you cropped your face out of the pictures and used only your eyebrows and whatnot. Also, i think having looked back on this, how it could lull you into a slightly false sense of expectations on the hairline design and density you might end up expecting. I think a better thing is for people to become familiar with hair transplant limitations and then design elements because i can imagine so many 20 something year old guys going Norwood 0 with their Norwood 4+ starting points.

Regardless of whether you are a Norwood 2 or Norwood 6, the principles of a hair transplant generally should be geared to maximum graft survival. If you put 100 grafts per cm/2 to match your native density but you lose 30% of them because they competed for blood supply, then you don't regrow those hair. They're lost and gone forever. Instead if you say went for 50 grafts cm/2, you may only lose say 2-8%, that's significantly less grafts wasted and you can then go for a 2nd hair transplant to add density because the hair from the previous transplant now should have a proper blood supply established and not be competing with other grafts just transplanted. Some cases have shown you can transplant almost 100% of native density and have a higher survival rate, but those are exceptions not the rule imo. I'm a Norwood 2 pre-HT and even then, they didn't pack it at the same native density i had, but that's probably better because it didn't waste grafts, it helped me establish the design of my new hairline and i am now able to go for a 2nd procedure do add density and refinement. Most people think they only need one procedure and that's it, i'm done. They can maybe be happy, but if you're seeking native density, then you are better going for two procedures within 2-3 years than 1 massive dense packing.

I personally feel you can shed up until 3 months post-op. Usually it will have shedded the most within 8-12 weeks and then whatever didn't shed tends to grow but it doesn't guarantee it might not shed a bit later on. The 2nd and 3rd month are affectionately referred to as the "Ugly Duckling Phase" for this very reason where the majority of the hair due to shed will have be.

Honestly, it's good to have options. Personally i didn't feel i had the budget for what i needed doing with a full temple point restoration to go with basically anybody other than Eugenix because of their wealth of experience doing them and quality results, but if your budget van stretch to it, you can always look around and never go wrong with trusted doctors with a long history of results. India was really difficult for me to personally get my Visa and plan proper flights. I genuinely got lucky there was Covid based rules to help me rebook without huge penalty and if i had to do a trip there for the future, although Eugenix were great and went above and beyond in their hospitality, the political issues mean it probably won't be something i'd find going back for a 2nd procedure like Armen or John did. It's unfortunate really because they are a good outfit all around from my experience. Small things here and there i would have changed. Some down to me, some i should have pushed them to make sure they did as agreed to beforehand. Overall though, i would have gone with them again with very slight tweaks.

Honestly, some people just have a certain way of explaining lol. Yeah, i think starting as a Norwood 2, hopefully the Dr nailed the right balance for a first pass. I'm only at 6 months so unfair to judge a final result yet but i generally under most lighting find it looks from a metre or more very natural and dense looking enough to most people. I don't use hair fibres, but i can easily see how they could assist me if needed. Yeah, the care and attention he's shown you is definitely miles above and beyond a hair mill. I suppose on one hand, for the price it's also something you expect to receive. The hair mills though lure people in with flashy bait of cars and hotels looking 5*. I would rather the money on a doctor and tech team paying 5* attention to my hair lol. I do think you'll have a solid result. Just hunker down for the long haul bud, update us with monthly progress pictures and be candid about your experiences. It helps people genuinely get a better idea of how it could feel with them too.

I believe this could be a combination of DHT related affect on the hair loss and the progressive nature of DHT on the follicles despite being on Finasteride. After all, we only ever get told Finasteride slows hair loss down as much as possible, it doesn't stop it except for a very few lucky people. Perhaps switching from oral to topical Finasteride could exacerbate this issue. You may also need to consider that you may be at a point where Minoxodil may become more effective for you to also use. That said, has there been perhaps a general change in your life such as stress, perhaps a change in diet etc. as all these things could combine to impact you as well.

Sorry to hear about the marriage issues but don't let them make you rush into a lifelong decision with consequence. It's better to save up and use medications like Finasteride to preserve what you have in terms of hair but i would recommend also maybe thinking about other areas of your life you do want to make an improvement in because like the gym, it can help in more than just physical appearance but your mental well being. I personally would say your pictures show a more advanced grade of hair loss but not something that can't be overcome with the right plan and right surgeons. However, your donor hair is even more finite and valuable as a result of the greater loss and need to get better framing. So i recommended that you research carefully and realise that although things could be tough, it's better to be slow and steady in this choice. Fast and reckless will lead to more problems.

I honestly do not know, it was never mentioned with a specific number but i did ask Dr Das to try and dense pack a bit more into the areas than the usual 35-40 Eugenix tend to quote. Because they used a bigger punch size of 0.9mm from what i was told, i think that could affect how densely packed they would go and i'm still waiting for things for the next 6 months but the density seems a little lighter depending on the lighting i'm under. So i'm going to try capture that for my 6 months update soon. I think the result at the 12-18 month mark should fingers crossed look solid. I just think again back to when i was going to get it done and people say about how a first HT is about establishing things and usually a smaller second pass is needed for refinement and density. So that's probably what i'm getting a sense of but i won't make a final judgement. The most important thing in the early stages is to trust the process, stay the course and be prepared for the psychological battle in the first 4 months as you go through the Ugly Duckling phase and naturally get doubts about growth too when you look in the mirror etc. At 5-6 months, things should be looking on the upward trend and you could hopefully feel more confident but from personal experience, i also like to stay cautious and manage expectations. I definitely think the framing to my face with the new hairline is night/day and some people have commented i look younger than my age now to them who actually never saw me before my HT, so it gives me confidence that the framing has definitely worked. Temple points apparently take longer because they use thinner slower growing hair that's slightly less pigmented so i'm a few months behind the frontal hairline, but since you only got a smaller top up whereas mine was a full rebuild, yours should blend better a lot earlier.