NARMAK

Honestly, at a glance. I couldn't even see any scars. It's not fully shaved razor blade down but even then, i don't know if the lines covering it or whether you had SMP, but that looks damn good.

Just wanted to ask. Are you saying at a minimum a patient should be Norwood 3 and above age 24? Or You have to be above age 24? Because obviously people with Norwood 2 also go for a hair transplant all the time.

Honest opinion. Start Finasteride, Minoxidil and add Microneedling into the mix. Your temporal areas where you currently drew the lines look like they could be saved by the above and reduce the amount of grafts you require and after 12 months of consistent ongoing use, it will also give you an idea if you want a HT and what goals you want to achieve. Transplants are and always should be a last resort after hair restoration has run its course and can no longer benefit you. Maybe not the answer you were quite looking for but it's honestly what i would advise.

Hey Sandman, sorry to hear you're dealing with this. Now, i'm no expert by any means and don't have this issue so feel plenty free to ignore my 2 cents. Looking at the images, it appears the temporal hair causing you issues are much closer to the frontal hairline than the actual "points" per se. So, there may be visually looking at it a couple options styling wise to manage it whilst you wait for the HT to potentially fix it. Also, i do agree, your left temporal design looks rounded down. Not to say this shape is necessarily "wrong" as i have seen some well respected docs do that, but to address it might require the temporal points to be worked on and possibly bringing the temporal points down to a more flat angle around the frontal temporal angles. It might also be necessary to extract grafts to "reset" the angle which some skilled doctors have been shown to do. That above is all conjecture and assumption so feel free to ignore. Okay, options that might actually be helpful. Firstly, adjust where you part your hair from. You go right to left from a very close part to the problem grafts. Combing some of the temporal hair that's longer more over the left side and trimming those problem hairs down with a scissor to a more manageable length should help hide them. Then the hair falling over the left side of the rounded temporal corner will hide it being visible as rounded. It's not actually the disaster i thought it could look like because it's on the upper temporal areas, not the temporal points which are significantly harder to hide and manage. Hope you can get it resolved soon, even things that might seem minor to others like this do prey on your mind, so hopefully the above will help and maybe others ideas. Good luck and hope to hear how you get on.

Anybody still doing FUT is usually more skilled at this point and that's why cases going wrong seem to be at an all time low. FUE on the other hand has exploded in the last decade or more and the pop up hair mills around the world including Turkey as a prime mentioned culprit. Therefore all these massive sub par results by these places outstrip FUT issues on average and also, the internet has given a MASSIVE outline to have patients share their poor experiences regardless of what procedure they have. I am genuinely glad there's a great forum like this for real patients, real experiences and feedback to be given. It's actually really helpful and reassuring. It's something that i probably needed to help me make the right decision and talking with some of the great members on here has been great. I am hoping to definitely be able to learn more and follow eagerly to you guys on your journeys.

I think to get those quality of laser caps, they're quite pricey and diodes need to be medical grade to actually be effective. It's why the other hairbrushes and stuff was seen as snake oil for so long imo.

I think that's advice that could include social media in general for a lot of people lol Man, we have a generation growing up on Snapchat/Tik Tok attention spans.

You don't appear to have any signs of balding around the crown like thinning and loss of density but the whorl pattern as mentioned is where it naturally looks like that because of the way the hair is placed. You're also having a direct sunlight smack down on it and this accentuates how it looks and maybe your skin tone to hair contrast may be also making it more visible. Overall, you're 15, enjoy what you have but if you are conscious about your hair. Keep an active eye on your frontal hairline and other areas. If you notice to lose hair, try to figure out if its due to stress as that can cause telogen effluvium or maybe if its the start of hair loss. It's usually easier to start preventative medication and things in your early teens and 20s imo, but you should always try consult with a physician for blood works to identify any changes. Your health is the most important thing. Not making it suffer for vanity. There's always options you can use but you can't always pay for your health to improve.

Like others have said, do your research. Contact a lot of of the recommend people from this forums list and see what they say. If you already have $10k saved up, then that's a healthy amount i think but saving up a bit more could give you even further options. Also, you might in that time see help by using medication and using other treatments to stabilise hair loss. You can share pictures here with your face blurred for some further assistance and post what your goal is.

Honestly, it always comes down to cost. That's why they say prevention ( Finasteride etc. where possible) is better than the cure (Hair Transplant) because even if hair cloning becomes a reality. It's going to be really expensive. Then on top of that it's going to be probably hard to get it transplanted and be expensive too. So unlike the cost of per graft extracted and re-inserted to your head atm, it's probably going to be like one company supplies the Grafts and charges X, HT clinic charge Y to implant. It could potentially double or triple the cost of a HT. The only upside being you could hypothetically have an unlimited supply of hair. I'm curious though as to how clinics would do it. Even if you could do like 100 grafts per CM squared, there's already talk of how there's potential shock loss etc. so i wonder if at first the principle would be to do it the way they do atm. An illusion of density on first pass. Then a 2nd procedure a year later to try add density etc.

I think it's not even about HT doctors now admitting it. Previously you would see doctors have patients start Finasteride and not mention it and thus the results seemed 100% to the transplant outcome rather than a combination of the two. Also, a common misconception is that the Donor area is 100% guaranteed to not be affected by DHT. Its just much more highly resistant compared to the crown, midscalp and frontal areas. Your DHT sensitivity is something that can also change over time. So the hair may do fine and then over a short few years recede rather quickly. I still think its amazing that like even after all this time, Finasteride and Minoxidil are still the two best treatments we can use. Even Dutasteride only blocks scalp DHT by 51% according to one study. It tanks your body serum DHT by almost 100%. I genuinely hope i see in my lifetime even if potentially i cannot use it, a new treatment that's significantly more effective for hair loss prevention and can block significantly more DHT and even maybe see a company or few finally be able to give us cloned hair. Donor area concerns, density issues for "Illusion" placements would become a thing of the past. We could literally recreate hairlines probably better than what some are born with.

Saw your latest quick video on YouTube @Melvin- Moderator. The hairlines looking solid.

I have watched a lot of videos and gone back and forth on whether to go FUT for my first procedure or just stick with FUE. Now whilst Melvin mentioned FUT being more suited long term for a high Norwood case or if you are young, have rapid hair loss and probably projected to go a high Norwood in the future sooner rather than later. For younger guys, hairstyles being fades etc. is why most don't like the linear scar look and the regrown hair hides FUE scars better. That said, i kind of understand the logic of FUT. You take a strip and hopefully are fortunate that you are on the right side for elasticity and healing of the linear scar and over time it actually heals as a thin line. Then due to the FUT you hopefully in the hands of a skilled surgeon have a nice selection of grafts and because the FUT strips taken out, then the two sides closed the "density" i guess doesn't maybe seem as affected because the total size of the linear scar may cover less surface area. Melvin actually has a great video on his YouTube about FUT vs FUE but techniques have been improving a lot in the last decade or so particularly imo. It's just gonna come down to a case by case basis and what you feel comfortable with doing.

Personally i would say it might be a pro-active method to begin medication and if you don't have any side affects, you'll probably be all the better for it with preventing potential further hair loss, delaying it and potentially even a small chance of regrowth. I genuinely wish i could go back in time to when i was about 21 or so and not listened to the fear mongering and used it. I think i would have benefitted from probably keeping the midscalp and crown thicker than it is atm. I still generally have good coverage, and i've been taking Dutasteride for 7+ months. Took the nuclear option but lost ground and time never returns imo. At most you usually hope to maintain and regrowth and gaining ground back on Finasteride/Dutasteride would be exceptions. Personally i'm not probably able to be as committed to a Minoxidil regime but i will probably invest in a derma pen and use that soon.

Done

I definitely think there's become more clinical support for it, but in the effectiveness to price ratio, its quite a steep investment imo to get the right quality of LLLT equipment. The whole hairbrushes and whatnot with LEDs were the real snake oils. I have to say, i don't think it's advisable for a transplant but generally speaking for hair loss restoration methods. Microneedling is definitely one recent thing i came across that's shown to have been quite effective. Especially in conjunction with topical Minoxidil.

I will definitely see if she may be available but currently talking to see what flexibility there might be in this area. Your pictures above look pretty solid for 4 months. Heck, that's growth even people are lucky to see in probably 8 months at times. I feel like the whole density aspect in the frontal hairline and especially temporal is an interesting one. The rep i'm talking with seems to be adamant that Eugenix are fairly set on the 30-35 square CM on temples and behind the hairline and 40-45cm towards the front. I think there's probably scope for a more holistic approach based on the individual to adjust up or down based on the persons hair loss level and perhaps hair calibre. I'm gonna shoot you a PM to discuss some aspects in private if that's okay.

Thanks for sharing. Yeah, i can see you look like you have pretty solid temple points already. Nice and thick on the right side. Little less on the lest, so the corners of the temporal areas are really the focus of what you want to close in and in some cases, without an examination by doctors or maybe a few photos, it's difficult to see how much lower your hairline should be placed. Are you taking any medication and if so what dosage? Also have you noticed a change over the last 8 years in your hairline and if so, how much by comparing pictures. Memory is a bad thing to revert to for that. Pictures are tour friends even if only to be objective to yourself.

OP, your hair does look very good from the back and beautiful. I would say before fully committing down the hair transplant route, there's some great places recommended above to just consult with, see their results and then also maybe see if there's steps you could take that are non-surgical. Eugenix have a great video on Female hair loss and results as well as recommendations on how to navigate further issues. As you said, it was down to fine hair and choice of styling it a certain way. A quite common cause in women who experience this i believe. I would say definitely do your research, don't feel pressured and make your choice when good and ready, as well as when your budget allows to go to the place that best meets your needs

The lighting in that picture makes it appear less affected in some ways but as mentioned above. Search the recommended clinics and ask for a free consultation. In person if possible. I know you've mentioned hairline being high and temples, but if you don't share an image (you can blur/block face) it makes it harder to evaluate the goals and whether potentially 1500 grafts would achieve what you want.

I think OP has gotten himself mentally into that corner where a mole hill seems to become a mountain per se and gnaws away at you till you can unwrap yourself hopefully with a satisfactory amount of information to cool you down and reassure you. Hopefully that's the case and OP will see he's in good hands. Generally speaking, i think this is a good example of why taking your time and not booking until you feel 100%-ish is the right move.

Thanks @MazAB for responding. I've only had a picture evaluated so far, tomorrow i wanted to talk with the Doctor at Eugenix. The link below was just my concern about the temporal points and achieving adequate density and not looking sparse but to recreate them in the first place requires experience. I got in touch with Eugenix, but the Exclusive Package no longer has Dr Arika involved and that was a HUGE motivation for me to go there. Because i trust what i see done in their hands. I am talking to the clinic about this to see if maybe we can do something. Overall, i think mine might have been as a result of a concentrated retrograde alopecia on the temporal points from 15/16 and its more or less remained the same for 10+ years now too even when i wasn't using medication. I have been on Dutasteride though for 7+ months though. Hopefully i can negotiate and arrange something with Eugenix. I think they'll be the right place for me to go

I don't quite know where to post this, but it seems to sorta fit. Where do you guys stand on clinics that appear to use their own employees to pose as a customer. They do get a HT but there's little to no disclosure these are clinic employees. They're presented as independent patients getting their HT and showing off their results. There's one really well known and respected clinic i've now seen do this in their YouTube videos and i like their work, but i found it a little underhand. Thoughts?

Firstly, nobody looking at a picture even a Dr could properly give you information like that. You need to do an in person assessment but your donor area appears healthy in the "Safe Donor Area" some doctors talk about. What's the frontal hair loss look like that you want to address and what have you tried so far to address any hair loss?

Thanks for sharing. It's unfortunate it doesn't help everybody but as a rule of thumb, i think most say it helps slow things down but when you are disposed nobody can predict for how long. Did you think of potentially upgrading to Dutasteride and combine with Minoxidil and Microneedling? Microneedling apparently doesn't have the same commitment and results can last more permanently. It is definitely a bit more hassle for Minoxidil but as they say, you sometimes get results based on being prepared to do the small labour's of applying it consistently.