mister_25

I will be following this, good luck!

Incredibly natural, can't even tell that it was a transplanted hairline in the slightest.

Drink it with water? I'm pretty sure a few people on this forum get 5mg Oral Minoxidil and then cut it into halves or quaters whatever they need. Pretty sure you would be able to do the same with Finasteride

Generally speaking, I don't think a blood test is a necessity. Scalp biopsy would be more effective if anything but not necessarily required

Medication was such a improvement on my life to be honest. I was getting insulted every day of my life over hair loss. The one in particular was on my 21st birthday my hair was "when you drop a lollypop on the carpet, and the threads stick on it" that one stung for days, albeit quite funny. After about 8 months on medication my hair improved by a drastic amount. I almost went down 2 Norwoods and felt somewhat more "acceptable" I personally believe that hair loss can ruin peoples lives. I was being treated differently, less productive at work, feeling all around like my best years were behind me at the age of 21, we live in a very image based society today and hairloss generally speaking is more impactful than ever before. For me this is easier said than done. People treat others differently based on standards. I lost my hair very early on and was repeatedly judged and isolated for it. Its easy to say its a mental image issue which in most cases when your older is. But in some cases it actually leaks into your everyday life, where it becomes a actual issue. There is a very well known case of a models life being damaged because he underwent rapid hair loss. I do agree that hair transplants shouldn't dictate someone's self worth, although it most certainly helps if your result is successful.

A lot can change in the following months. There was a recent case of a patient having a small thin spot on his crown for a few months after all the hairs grew in. But then the maturing of the hairs came in and reinforced the patch. the shock loss doesn’t look overly bad in those pictures, I know you said that you are styling them but it honestly makes it look like you have mild retrograde alopecia which in my opinion is a supply issue, not a aesthetic issue. You would probably only need a small touch up if these are your final results

Very impressive. Great job Eugenix

Hattingen has a good rep here for FUT

Out of the ones you listed, I would look into Dr Turan more, although I wouldn't go to any of them. This is surgery at the end of the day, and I would want someone with a good track record to perform a surgery. And to get someone with a good track record your going to need to amp up your budget. You are a Norwood 4 right now, you can get a good result and get to a good position but you have to do this right the first time because I'm seeing signs of retrograde alopecia. Retrograde Alopecia is where you thin above your ears and at the nape. These hairs will become "unsafe" for transplant, meaning that they wont be transplanted well with good survival rate and are prone to thinning. You probably have enough donor to get you something really strong but you have to do it right from the beginning. Otherwise you might need to settle for something a bit less. Are you on medication? Your first step is you will need to stabilize your hair loss. Fortunately I don't see any signs of additional thinning other than the midscalp. This means that there are no clear signs pointing that you will bald into a Norwood 5. Although its always a possibility as hair loss is unpredictable. You should be on hair loss medications for around a year before you have a transplant. I would advise using this year if you are serious about getting a transplant to amp up your budget and go to someone that skill falls into your range. I would recommend Bisanga or Freitas for your case.

It would be helpful if you could provide before photos of each of your transplants. I'm a bit surprised that you underwent 3 transplants regarding your first two being failures. Which surgeons did you previously go to?

Insecurity breeds negativity. Most people that made negative remarks about my hair loss have serious issues that they themselves need to work on. I also had comments about my hair loss but was fortunate it was not in a work place. I've had it in various other situations where its also inappropriate although making fun of someone's hair loss shouldn't be acceptable to begin with. People like to think that times are changing and people don't care about your looks, but from my experience a large portion of people that I interacted with are shallow and they treated me different when I started to lose my hair. Maybe its my age demographic.

Captain Calico's crown dips into the Norwood 5 level, you can take a look at his pre-op and you will see what i mean, he also has curly hair which is desirable for HTs and he had ridiculously high survival rate. Also BHT isnt the only solution, I'm saying that if you add BHT it will greatly increase your chances. This is all for discussions with top surgeons that do BHT. Keep in mind that he had 7000 grafts which is a large amount and more so than the 5500-6500 range mentioned earlier in my case.

Micro irregularities.

The lower/straighter hairline requires more grafts which can be detrimental to a final result. You might need to sacrifice more into your crown or you might need to dip into reserves that you would have saved up if your thinning progressed. Higher Hairline = More grafts saved for elsewhere. Looks about average-average+ in terms of general beards I've seen out there. Not entirely sure if thats good or not for a transplanted. You have it well groomed under the jaw so I cant tell you how deep it goes or anything like that. Zoomster is a good example of how far beard grafts can take you. I'm not entirely sure if this is true but I would consider you are going into Norwood 7. You can clearly see where the heavily miniturized spots are on this red lines but there is also further miniaturization happening on the blue line. That indicates to me that Norwood 7 is a possibility.

First off, transplants are a illusion of density. Recreating native density is not smart or possible as it requires a lot of grafts. Density is subjective in my opinion and its different for everyone. Its also good that your willing to travel and space it across multiple transplants, be advised that you generally wait a year between transplants. You might need to curb your expectations a bit, don't expect when its wet that its light proof. Its also a really good thing that you are open for travel, spending the necessary money. If you go to the right surgeon you will probably not need to do any work in your donor. I've seen worse case scenarios get really good results but they all had really spectacular donors. Your donor reminds me of mine. With retrograde its reduced surface area but the area where it counts as crazy thick. You might need to curb your expectations based on how dense you want to achieve, also you have quite a bit of native hair on your frontal-third which can work for you so out of all the Norwood 6s I've seen that want a result your asking for, i think you are one of closer ones that are able to achieve it your goals, given you stabilize and don't lose any more hair. Here are some photos of mine for comparison although keep in mind we might have different hair characteristics so you might need more/less grafts/cm2 Now when I asked based on the photos I provided with the clinic I chose. They said that I would 7000-8000. If retrograde affected 20% of my donor then it would be around 5500-6500. These are not necessarily accurate because I havent had them examine me. Some doctors can get more out of it like Dr Zarev who purposefully overharvest a donor but does it in a homogenous extraction patterns. You should do your research on that cause it might be useful in your case. You are most likely going to need to use beard hair or body hair. How is your beard? and also is your hair fine/medium/coarse? The way that your hair loss pattern is, you are destined to be Norwood 7. You can clearly see where the thinning ends on your donor and with retrograde its looking like you will be a tough case if you are unable to stabilize. If you stabilize your hair loss you could get full coverage if you maintain your native/existing hair with transplanted hair to add to it. My Recommendations: I think you should go to someone that is known for handling Norwood 6/7s with low donor area. You have really thick where it matters but with retrograde its reduced area so donor management will be key in your case. Freitas is good and has a really good portfolio and is one of the only ones I would let touch my head, but there are other doctors out there that skills fit your situation. I would advise you take a look on this forum and have look at Zarev, Eugenix (Dr Sethi) and Pitella. There are other doctors on this forum that have great success in Norwood 6/7 ranges but the big results like HugoX and Zoomster are the most known Norwood 6/7 recoveries.

I am very curious about this. Does this mean that if you have straight hair and a curly beard your beard hairs that are transplanted on top will eventually adapt and become straight hairs? I think there was a video of Dr Mwamba explaining this. I cant remember when/where I saw it.

After seeing all these posts about Finasteride I thought I would chime in with my experience on using it and Minoxidil. Quick Brief Hair Loss background: Started losing my hair at about 16 or 17. My temples were gone at that age so it was visibly noticeable. They have remained the same. When I was 18 I was a norwood 2, when I was 19 I was a norwood 3. And when I was 20 I went from Norwood 3 to Norwood 5 in a span of 6 months. My family history has indications of hair loss with my mothers side generally progressing to Norwood 4s at around 40-60. And my fathers side generally progress to Norwood 5s anywhere between 30-50. Nearing the age of 21, I decided to see if there was anything I could do about it. I have never heard of hair loss medication before this and frantically researched and that's when I read about Finasteride and Minoxidil. In February of 2021 shortly before I turned 21 I started medications of Finasteride and Saw Palmetto, starting minoxidil a month later due to delivery issues. After being on Finasteride/Saw Palmetto for two weeks, I started to get what I believed were side effects. Sex Drive was inconsistent, either higher than before or lower. After about a month on being on those medications those side effects subsided and back to normal. Same thing with Minoxidil, the first month though I had what I believed were side effects. Very itchy scalp, would go a bit red after application. Had heart palpitations when trying to sleep 2-3 times but those eventually subsided and have been without side effects for over a year on all medications. Here are the baseline images before medication. This is me at 20 (almost 21), I was a Norwood 5 going on slick bald. There is no indication of me going into a Norwood 6. The photos do not show this but I believe I had retrograde alopecia that would eventually thicken due to my usage of medication. These were taken my dermatologist so I cannot replicate the lighting as well in other photos. I should mention that my hair was long as I was experimenting growing it out and then went from Norwood 3 to Norwood 5 in 6 months. This is my hair grown out long for around a year. Sorry for the poor cropping, I read that you want to include the eyebrows to determine hairline height and such so I tried to crop what was needed while maintaining the eyebrows for this reason. Below are my 13 month results on Finasteride and 12 Months on Minoxidil. The lighting/camera isn't perfect. These were taken on a lower quality lens on my phone. The lighting is quite harsh and has overheard bathroom lighting on it. These photos were used when I consulted with my surgeon and they believed I was a good candidate after sending them. I will also state that I was at the peak of a shedding phase due to reasons that are elaborated below in may pictures. Same situation Here are some photos taken in May, in a much less harsh lighting. One of them was facing a window with morning lighting, the one was facing away from that window. And here are some photos taken in July. Please note that after May (two days after the photos above) I broke the tool I use for applying minoxidil and started to use a makeshift substitute. I was not able to get correct dosages or apply it directly the scalp so it would stick on hair and was eventually be combed off my head. I then shedded a bit and am still recovering (This isn't the first time its happened). It has improved a bit from the photos below. If you would look like examples photos showing my hair shedding then regrowing I can provide them if requested. These were taken on a better quality camera. If anyone has any questions or input on these. Let me know, I am quite happy about the Finasteride/Minoxidil results but am still not overall satisfied with my hair. I am getting a Hair Transplant with Dr Hasson nearing the end of the year. 4000-4500 Grafts for the Hairline, Front working back into the midscalp if necessary. I will also be updating this thread because I will need to discontinue minoxidil for 6 weeks before the surgery to undergo the hair transplant, I will document and show the shedding to determine what is doing the most heavy lifting Finasteride or Minoxidil?

Absolutely incredible, thank you for sharing. I can't stop looking your hair looks amazing when wet. Your results really do give me faith for my own situation as I am undergoing a procedure with Dr Hasson at the end of the year with a similar situation as yours. You must be thrilled, enjoy your hair!

Im pretty sure it was answered in this video:

It might be saying that the period that you will be experiencing regrowth lasts for 48 weeks. Its not like your going to lose your gains after 48 weeks.

I can't really tell you if they are 10 years but the two top doctors in the US in my opinion as Dr Konior and Dr Cooley. If you wanted to expand your reach to north america as a whole. Take at look at Hasson, Wong and Rahal in Canada and Nader in Mexico. I consider Dr Konior to be the safest bet in the US.

Melvin I wanted to ask have you been able to detect any difference with the beard hair compared to native/donor transplanted hair on your scalp? I know for most people that their beard hair often have very different characteristics than their scalp hair and I wanted to ask how does that factor in to your overall result? Is the beard hair "misbehaving" when it comes to styling or combing or just the general look? I also vaguely remember reading a thread on this forum of a doctor saying that when you transplant a beard/body hair . It will behave more like a scalp hair when it fully matures and grows in due to the adjustment in the bloodflow or something like that. If anyone remembers this can you share? I think it might of been Dr Mwamba.

I started Finasteride at the beginning of last year. I was getting what I believed were placebo side effects for the first two-three weeks then they went away and I've been normal since. I got more side effects from Minoxidil if I'm being honest.

As mentioned before its really hard to notice but I can definitely see signs of extraction If I looked hard enough. No one would notice unless they are in the know on hair transplants

Your crown has improved tremendously, excited to see the progress