general-etwan

As the others have said, no debate here. Smile has produced a lot of very bad and scary results, bad pluggy hairlines and butchered donor areas. Even with Eugenix’s least expensive package, you can rest assured that they will take proper care of your donor area and will create a natural looking, soft and mature hairline. The design strategy of Eugenix is one of the best in the industry. You’ll still want to be personally proactive and take an assertive role in directing your own design and outcome. The more knowledgeable you are about how everything works, the better. And do not go to Smile; there is a good chance they’d butcher donor area and produce an unnatural looking hairline.

About having a HT? What’s your situation?

I see what you mean. Dr. Vinita is very nice and keeps it very simple, but if you were to go there I’d say you need to be very knowledgeable and assertive about exactly what you want. They’ll do what you want if you are assertive and dictate it exactly. The doctor only makes the slits at Eugenix; extraction and implantation is done by techs. But good luck whatever you decide on. Yeah, I’ll be looking to get SMP only on my recipient area too and figured it’d be okay to do a few months after HT. Thanks!

Great surgeons might not need this precise quantitative analysis, but it definitely gives anyone who uses it an edge. Just like no one really needs to own a cell phone to live but most people would agree it gives you an edge in life. Tech/AI/robotics will inevitably continue to improve many fields.

Eugenix does great frontal/hairline work; they are very good at artistic design and looking natural with good density. Just one of a handful of good options I'm sure you have. How soon after your first HT did you get SMP done? Curious how soon it can be done after a HT.

Well, 2 weeks after the 3rd HT and I have to say my donor area is still looking a little too immaculate for my liking. My biggest worry is that still not enough has been used from my donor area. I know that sounds crazy, but my donor has recovered very well after each procedure and it seems that I had far more strong and healthy grafts there than anyone could have initially imagined. I think, though, that my next project in line will probably be a light SMP all over the recipient area. I have seen some good cases of this online recently where SMP was combined with HT results and the visual illusion of density looks very good and is completely undetectable from a distance. Getting the appearance of good thickness on top is very important to me with the types of haircuts I want to be able to sport, so I think a light SMP across the whole top will be a good tool to utilize.

This is a good one!

Looking very good!

Yeah I understand what you are saying. Good link to reference, I'll bookmark it. I still think after reading it that the main point against taking 1 mg 7 days a week is that doing so will lead to a complete saturation level and further buildup in the body that is unnecessary; at least that's the way I understand it. This is likely what happens in people who complain of side effects months after starting, or after stopping and calling it "post-finasteride syndrome." Taking 0.2 mg 7 days a week reduces DHT by 69%; taking 1 mg 7 days a week reduces DHT by 71%. Or, converted to weekly amounts, 1.4 mg reduces DHT by 69% and 7 mg reduces DHT by 71%. That's so close it's pretty much insignificant. So it seems to me that keeping the weekly total to 3-5 mg avoids that oversaturation while still essentially reaching very close to the peak of DHT-blocking benefit from the finasteride response curve. In the end, I highly doubt that 3 or 4 days a week vs. 7 makes any substantial difference in how significant of positive results one sees from taking finasteride. I think if you get at least 3 or 4 mg a week, that's essentially pretty good.

These doctors feel that based on the finasteride dose response curve, which flattens off at about 0.8 mg, 3-5 mg per week is all that is necessary to get maximum effect without letting finasteride over-accumulate in the body, which is likely what happens in many patients who complain of side effects. Personally, I’m going to see if I can add dutasteride Saturday and Sunday, as others have done, and keep finasteride at MWF or maybe Monday through Friday at the most.

Willing to take it only if 1) body hair growth increase can be kept to a very minimum (not a fan) and 2) I can be convinced that it’s safe for heart. My family has suffered a lot of heart failure/blocked arteries/atrial fibrillation so I need be extra careful about how I treat my heart in my life.

Correct. What do you mean by UFs? They haven’t officially estimated future availability of anything. But I think my donor can have another few thousand taken. The donor area is still physically darker in color due to still being more dense with thicker, darker hairs. First two were the exclusive package; third was the simplest comprehensive package as I wanted to save money by booking hotel and transportation on my own.

Didn’t want to pay that price tag.

A few more official pics from after part 2 where you can better see the additional lateral hump and behind-the-temple grafts added. Also, they sent me official grafts counts and I made a slight correction to overall beard graft count vs. scalp: I'm still at about 11,102 total; 9,246 scalp vs 1,856 beard.

They just ask me if I'm on the same regimen as before. I take finasteride 3 days a week and use minoxidil a few times a week when my hair is shorter. (Why only 3?...because more in-depth research has shown that the maximum hair-saving effects from finasteride max out around 3-4 mg/week, and higher doses beyond that don't seem to show significant benefit). They did however recommend I try adding Dutasteride 2 days a week Saturday and Sunday. My dermatologists at home won't prescribe Dutasteride for hair loss, however, so I'll have to order through some online platform if I decide to add it. @Shadman They also recommend oral minoxidil to me but I’m not sure that I want to go on it yet. I’m turned off by the increase in body hair all over as opposed to just the scalp. Also not convinced it has no effects on the heart.