NARMAK

The frontalis muscle and donor supply are the biggest limiting factor imo but you also need to take facial aesthetics into account as others have mentioned. Some people can get away with a lower hairline because of their facial features, whilst some it may not suit. So there's quite a few factors to take into account but if unlimited donor grafts were a think, i genuinely think some people would be making some really silly design choices, and ignore doctor input.

Personally and this is just my own subjective opinion, i think Dr De Freitas has hairlines that don't look as great to my eye. Others do praise him, but the results that i came across generally, there was something "off" about the way they looked. They looked more artificial to me and detectable i guess than some of the other top surgeons at times. I don't want to say his hairlines are exactly "pluggy" but i saw one result just from an image and i thought it was genuinely a Turkish hair mill the OP had gone to. Again, this is all my subjective opinion and others probably can show off some great results he has had.

Money no object and could be seen tomorrow, i think Dr Cuoto is probably who i would consider as he'd be near to the UK to travel to and being only a Norwood 2, i think he has amazing lower Norwood transformations. Albeit it does generally seem to be on individuals with slightly thicker hair and density than i was probably blessed with but it is what it is. That said, i don't think it's disparaging against the choice i did make and in the same situation i was, i don't think anybody else would have been the right fit other than Eugenix.

Thanks for sharing and it's looking on track for a solid result. I'm a month behind you atm, so i also hope what you said is similar for myself where we continue to have growth of even some new hairs coming through and adding to things. The framing of the face between the comparisons you did is really good to see the subtle but impactful difference temple points can make.

Thanks Melvin. I'm overall happy that the temple point angles seem to be correct and i definitely think the type of hair used were correct because they do seem to be slower and thinner when growing compared to the main frontal hairline. So over the next 7+ months, i think it should come along nicely and blend well. I definitely think it's a night and day looking difference between the end of the ugly duckling phase around month 3 to now at month 5. I'm just still trusting in the process and taking it day by day as i head towards 12+ months post-op but i think it definitely makes it easier when your growth comes in enough to let you style it out for the public facing.

It's not as straightforward as just measuring donor density. There's actually a lot of other factors such as the size of your head and area to be covered which can influence things alongside other factors if you do have retrograde alopecia etc. It's hard for anybody but professionals to do anything more than take an educated arm chair guess tbh.

5 month-ish Update Sorry for the delay, had a lot of things going on to deal with but wanted to give you all an update. I'm about just over 5 months post-op and generally i feel confident things are heading in the right direction. The hair appears to be getting thicker and darker in some areas whilst some new growth has come and added extra density. There's still definitely weak spots i hope will improve with some further hairs sprouting, getting thicker and darker but i have another 7+ months to go for that and i'm not even at the halfway point. I've included both wet hair pictures and also dry for a comparison. The lighting makes a difference two so i've included 2 wet hair pictures to demonstrate this but in general dim lit lighting, things on the frontal hairline seem to blend well. There's a couple areas on the temple points, both left and right where hair hasn't grown in and creating a slight gap there. Hopefully this is just a hair due to regrow or sprout, but when i pay attention, it's noticeable enough to me.

Unfortunately we do need more studies by it's still considered somewhat more effective than Topical Minoxodil for those that don't see a response topically and i guess worth a go to those people. Again just hammers home why we need actual hair loss treatments, not a "Gold Standard" of accidents turned into so called hair loss treatments.

Personally i feel like the first 7 days post-op, but especially maybe the first 4 days are crucial to ensure you do everything you possibly can to prevent graft damage etc. and that includes watching you don't bump your head getting in and out of cars which is a thing that happened to me once immediately post-op but would be an even greater risk trying to travel around normally too. The next thing is to try and avoid direct sunlight on the recipient area. Although some say you don't need to cover the hair, i personally prefer the privacy of not having it on show, so wore a loose surgical cap and then a loose baseball cap as soon as i could. Turkey is probably a really cheap holiday destination and you can always go back, so i wouldn't risk going out post-op but most try go before.

Conversely they say that the mechanism of action that topical Minoxidil uses doesn't work for everybody as effectively because it can't get the sulfu transfase or whatever its called going, but taking it orally seems to activate it more and allow the Minoxodil to work. Yet its all a mere side affect of the medication and an accidental. It's never been a targeted treatment and then again, neither was Finasteride so, i guess if it works, then i'm on board for both versions.

I'm pretty sure there's videos out there that have already shown he definitely got a HT. He stayed with a conservative design for sure kind of like Chris Martin but definitely a HT imo. I think it goes to show as well though, not everybody can pull of a bald look because he imo didn't look as good bald as he did with hair but that's again, just my opinion.

The works looking super. One thing i guess i never really thought about before but now it makes complete sense to think about is the design and placement of the whorl pattern. Yours has been placed pretty central and nothing wrong with that, but i did read that depending on the position, sometimes people can feel the surrounding hair can make it more or less visible. So i wonder what that limitation may have on being able to position a whorl pattern more say off centre etc. Regardless, i think you're on track for a phenomenal result and can't wait to follow this next part of your journey John!

Personally just touching only on the temple points, perhaps its because i literally had none and they were snatched away by like 17/18, i didn't once feel my hair didn't look natural or it looked like a hair system as a result. That's why i do feel fundamentally if a doctor isn't able to make a hairline look natural with singles and doubles in the correct place and the HT creates an obvious disconnect between the native and transplanted hairs, then it may look like a "lid" or hair system. However i don't think temple points not being done necessarily mean an unnatural looking HT but for a small thing, they can enhance the result so much more so to me, obviously that mattered the most. Otherwise i would have lived with the hair i had and stayed on medication instead tbh till further down the line.

Thanks for sharing this update. Looking great so far Armen and i definitely think now with the post-op 1st headwash all done, it definitely helps properly show the framing to be expected and it looks great. Those temple points are looking great too and donor areas looking well maintained too. Should improve further over time too.

I have come across that, but i couldn't recall any real reason why a shampoo shouldn't be used post-HT once you're saying a month post-op or more. Personally i haven't used it in a while because of me needing to buy more but also i guess lazy with it because its a marginal gain at best for hair.

Nizoral didn't help with my dandruff. Neutrogena T-Gel is what made the most impact. Use it once a week or a every few weeks. Unfortunately i am prone to dry skin, so it probably might work even better for you but also try ensuring you drink about 2 litres of water per day. Dehydration can be a contributing factor as well as low Vitamin D.

There's a full thread about this and study being run by a doctor. My personal feeling is it isn't going to be revolutionary as regrowing all your donor hair or a majority. I would say at best and being optimistic it will regrow probably no more than 15% of hair and the primary benefit will be in scar healing to be less white dots and more pigmented to help blend in. The cost for that will be up in the air but likely not cheap. I think it's going to be useful if it's not too expensive as an add on for HT patients but the limited scope of the study makes it hard to really see how it may benefit most people too. Although it holds some promise.

This lasted long.

Thank you for your view and i appreciate you sharing that information regarding the study. I still personally disagree that Finasteride is a key cause of lowering Testosterone and for my view on it, i feel it marginally can increase it due to DHT conversion being reduced but my main viewpoint on it all just to touch on that a moment is i genuinely think there's so many other factors we can look at that could be an influence that you 100% have to be ruling all sorts out. That said, it is what it is and thank you for your viewpoint that things can get contentious and we can disagree. Myself and you have for example on this very topic, but i do not know why that user said what they said.

I don't believe i came at you but i can understand why you would say that. I simply stated that you said which is right there in the original post that you believed you can definitely say your test levels dropped. My response to that is that without a blood test analysis from before and after to compare, that would be firstly difficult to check and 2nd if you are experiencing side affects negatively affecting you, there's nothing wrong with stepping away from taking the medication, allowing it to clear you system as Finasteride does have what they call a "half life" where it stays in the blood after stopping for a bit of time and can affect blood tests. Once the doctor then gets your true baseline they can check to see if you have low testosterone and help you accordingly whether that's through TRT or other advice. They're the professionals and can given a proper medical evaluation and treatment plan. As an alternative to oral Finasteride, you have topical versions which could also help you if you are experiencing heightened side affects as you detailed in your OP. I'm not trying to come at anybody, but simply respond to you with my view and try to help. If it didn't help you, i'm sorry, but i hope you do find an answer. As much as i'd be interested in this "criminal" investigation that you've found loads of evidence where i'm "attacking" people, i very much doubt most people have taken my posts that way, except you it seems. In fact, wasn't it just you a page ago attacking people with words like "Limp D" when responding to me, yet you want to act like i'm the one who is attacking you. If there's anything i'm "attacking" it's simply your opinions and interpretation which is what happens on a mostly respectful basis everyday on a forum. I also find it ironic how you finished your post, but i digress, if i've crossed the forum rules and deserve a ban, i will let Melvin take the necessary actions to ban me permanently. I actually find the most comical part of your post to be that Melvin actually doesn't say to other people never to take oral Finasteride but says it's worth a go for the majority of people and as an alternative or for those wanting to do so, they can try topical. I hugely respect him for that despite what some could say gives him all the reason in the world to go gung ho againat Finasteride and any support of the medication, he actually advocates for its use as one of the currently most effective and readily available treatments even in oral form. He's looking to use the topical version specifically because of its reduced systemic effects which he got from Oral and because Xyon at least on paper seems to have found a solid balance to deliver this to the scalp. However, i'm sure Melvin will also concede as a forum sponsor now, they're probably willing to allow him free treatments for marketing purposes. If he's paying full price for it, that's fine and i respect him for doing that too if he feels it would dissuade any notion of bias. The fact is, that out of the two of us here, the only one who has so far called for a complete ban on Finasteride is you. Yet comically you're the one who said: When that post you say you completely agree with said most people don't get sides. So i mean, when you cannot even be consistent in your own points, i'm sure you can understand why people may find you lack integrity and perhaps credibility in backing your points up.

Good going man. On a health journey myself, albeit i felt like i needed a hair transplant because they're not magically going to regrow temple points with Finasteride. I just wish i had been as proactive as you at that age myself and not let the fear mongering put me off till 31. Would have saved more hair even though my loss seemed slow.

That's true, you don't. I tried to assist you in some ways but you took an entire post i made responding to another user and just use the word "LOL". I think you should stop the medication and get blood tests to help see if the doctor is willing to prescribe you TRT and then maybe try topical Finasteride to reduce systemic sides. I'm not trying to argue with anybody but that's the way i took the single word reply. Get out. This simplified truth is too much for people to handle. Clearly we want to argue about this ad nauseum

Thank you for quoting me and adding to the knowledge of this forum with that contribution

You're going to get a lot of people saying to you that you don't need a hair transplant. Nobody does need one, it's an aesthetic procedure after all BUT you should be fully informed about the risks and limitations if you decide to go for it. Firstly you have been on medication which is good, not sure about the dosage as you didn't mention but it generally looks like a favourable family history albeit this isn't always a guarantee you won't lose hair. If you want to try and bring the corners more down and add density to the front, i would say anywhere between 1500-2000 grafts dense packed would probably be what Hasson & Wong would do. However, only you can truly know if it would make you feel enough of a difference was achieved and you're going to need to know you risk shock loss in the existing hair, possibly permanent and the density doesn't always match the native hair, so in some lighting conditions it will be not as great. Most may say your age is the biggest factor, but being on medication puts you imo on a more positive note. That said, i would and i say this in the nicest of ways also think about a fitness journey for yourself. You'll probably benefit a lot aesthetically from that too and feeling more confident there could take away focus from the hair a bit.

I think that's an individual thing for you to work through in all honesty. Nobody can say whether it's permanent but it can be due to perhaps how you're viewing things. You already said you been seeing people for 6 months and nobody said anything, so bringing it up now imo is unnecessary and you should simply enjoy the fruits of your transformation and not feel like you have to tell people. If they asked specifically, then that's up to you to decide if you feel comfortable to share or deflect.