mister_25

Got us a update? Wondering how that bald spot has filled in

Can you share some photos?

part of the reality is that if you aren’t on Finasteride/minoxidil then hair transplantation isn’t suited for you. You need to at least attempt to stop or slow down your hair loss to really get the results from hair transplants.

2 hours ago, Ferris said:

• Should I get a transplant at 25? (As mentioned Fin/Min has stabilised the loss but isn't going repair much more for me)
• How much transplanted hair am I looking at to fix what's in my pictures?
• How much will it cost to get it done at a trustworthy surgeon (I know I could go to Turkey but understand that's a risky choice that's frowned upon on here)
• What are the good surgeons on here people recommend?

• 25 is generally speaking the minimum accepted age that is universally agreed upon. My opinion is a bit different and that the requirement to be a HT candidate is to show that you have stabilized your hair loss on medication in a one year timeframe.
• Somewhere between 2000-3000 grafts. 3000 is extreme but some clinics like to go really dense to match your native hair.
• Cant really say how much it would cost because price varies.
• For your case, I would take a look at Pinto, Bisanga and Ferreira which are all European options.

2 hours ago, Ferris said:

One final question, why do some hair transplants go very well and some end in failure? What determines failure or success? Is it the surgeon or to some degree pure chance based on stuff like genetics? I see some incredible work from what's considered bad places on here and failures from said places too. I don't really get why some fail badly and some succeed and look incredible

There are many reasons that dictate failure and success. Poor work can result in unnatural angles, overharvested donor, unnatural placements, unnatural design, shock loss, cobblestoning/pitting, and poor planning for the future. Outside of Poor work there are things such as undiagnosed scalp conditions and as sad as it is to admit, a element of chance when it comes to genetics. 

The reality is, you are early in your hairloss, even at your worst you are still rather early. The gap between Norwood 3A (which is what you were at your worst) to Norwood 5 is massive. You would need to plan for the worst so something conservative like you drew out is reasonable and a good approach.

If I'm not mistaken I believe I've seen this before. All the information in the thread shows extreme similarities to @wicker on his own thread. 

Wicker from what Melvin said was a previously banned user who has made many accounts and posts criticizing his transplants with Dr Konior, Dr Devroye and now Dr Wong. 

Also the structure of how he presented his reddit post seems very similar to the one that was made on Dr Konior on reddit. You can see someone posting it in the comments.

I'm very conflicted on this, because I believe that we have the right to know whether H&W are using technicians to do the incisions and who are doing them. But the way this poster has done his piece on a fresh account makes it look dishonest and especially the background when it comes to the suspicions that he is the same poster that posted his piece on Dr Konior. Something just doesnt seem right. Won't be able to know for now with the limited information we have.

4 minutes ago, NegativeNorwood said:

I wouldn't go because they present vague before and after pictures. "Good reputation" may have been enough in 2005, but time flies and competition evolves, and doctors like Zarev, Feriduni, Mwamba, Munib Ahmad, Couto, Konior or Bloxham (that's just off the top my head, pretty sure there's more) provide extensive, honest, high resolution before and after pictures to document their cases. Why would you want to risk when safer (and many of them even cheaper) options exist? 

Lack of good, standarized after pictures is a red flag, regardless of reputation. There's no way you can tell this result is good or bad with this pictures:

Meanwhile, this is how a true top tier clinic presents it's work:

That's an entire world of difference, you can clearly tell the work is of great quality, because the pictures are good enough to judge it fairly.

I would stay away not just from Hasson and Wong, but from any clinic without proper before and after pictures, regardless of price and reputation.

 

 

I believe that the presentation of H&W is rather standard and not necessarily vague. But I feel like when you compare to the photos showed by Dr Feriduni they really do need to step up if they want to be regarded as a top tier clinic.

Crazy improvement, really does show that not everyone grows at the same rate and pace

4 Month Update: (122 Days)

Hey everyone, here is my 4 month update. I would also like to state that I feel like I am now returning into baseline when it comes to how it affects my day to day living. No more beard shedding, no donor shedding, scalp feels totally normal now. 

Would also like to say that the road to recovery to get to where I was before baseline was not easy, and it turns out that my midscalp is a bit more miniaturized/bald than I first thought and in certain angles it can look very exposed and very thin. I have not included a photo of this but I might if it becomes a problem in the future. Although I do intend to get a second surgery to address these issues

As shown in my 3.5 Month update, my donor started to make a major turn around and within the span of a month I would say I'm anywhere between 70-80% recovered. If I wanted it to look bad I can but about 70-80% of the time it looks like what it is in these photos.

All of these photos are taken in the same bathroom as last month, and the month before that. So same lighting conditions

Donor:

Left Side Donor:

Right Side Donor:

Now here are some photos of my hairline, midscalp and crown.

Front:

Left Tilt:

Right Tilt:

Frontal Tilt 1:

Frontal Tilt 2:

Top-Down Crown:

Zoomed in Left:

Zoomed in Right:

I feel like I am still worse off than where I was before surgery, but I am starting to really catchup now. My midscalp is much more obvious without the very long length I had to cover it. Also the new growth is very apparent in the bald areas rather than the miniaturized areas and I can really see some big change just around the corner. 

As for the crown, I'm starting to feel short stubby hairs that I didn't have before. So I imagine I'm about a month or two away from having anything visible.

My expectations for next month is that the growth should start to really take shape and I will probably have a semblance of a hairline when looking at me front on. With maybe the beginnings of growth in the crown. Is that a realistic expectation?

Let me know if I'm on track for 4 months, I personally believe that I'm a bit behind the curve when it comes to the average patient but I feel like I am still in the realms of "everything looks fine and as to be expected"

5 hours ago, Melvin- Moderator said:

Medication can help regrow some hair. But it will not change you from a Norwood 6/7 to a Norwood 3V. Your baldness classification is set by your genetics. 

Unfortunately, diffuse hair loss is not in the Norwood classification. I’m sorry if I sound harsh, but I was also in denial for many years. I thought because my hairline was still intact I was a Norwood 3. I thought Norwood 6 means no hair on your head. This is not true. It’s not where you are, its where you’re headed. 

A true Norwood 3 has no diffuse loss, the pattern follows the Norwood scale

 

 

This is a Norwood 5/6, despite having hair, that hair is thinning and will eventually be gone, even with meds.

I feel like the Norwood System isn't on the same page as someone that has little to no information on balding. It can be a bit misleading.

In my case I also believed I was a Norwood 3, maybe a Norwood 4 when I first started trying medication, but after I got very familiar with HTs and the inner workings of hair loss, I realized that I was a Norwood 4 with signs of going into a Norwood 6!

I don't feel like its denial in every case, its more like a lack of information. It doesn't clarify that you can be a Norwood 6 with hair everywhere in the Norwood 3 areas, and it leads no room to labeling diffuse thinners. 

2 hours ago, GeneralNorwood said:

Firstly i had some quick chat with Hariom and he tried to explain why Eugenix graded me 3V. He said that norwood scale doesn't take into account diffuse thining and because of that i have a lot of native hair, they graded me 3V. But i saw many doctors grading cases like mine NW5a or higher. I don't know what is scientific consensus here, but IMO grading case like mine so low, can be misleading.

I don't think any Norwood Classification can be used to accurately label your case. Best way I could describe your case is a Norwood 5A with lateral humps recession. Which is alot more different than just a regular NW5 or a NW6. 

3 hours ago, GeneralNorwood said:

Amandeep and Dr Das joined video meeting. Dr Das presented some hopes with further use of dutasteride, which i do not share, because i am already 2 years on DHT blockers. She said that if she did the operation again, she would do everything the same. According to her, not having the hair implanted on lateral humps area was a conscious choice. She agrees with my idea to wait for 18 months mark before jumping into next procedure. 

I wouldn't count on medication regrowing anything in the future, but rather use as preventative treatment to reduce the odds of things getting worse than they are. 

I also feel like if her idea of not having it addressed in the first procedure was a conscious choice of a multi part plan, it should of been addressed with the patient in detail during the first procedure.

3 hours ago, GeneralNorwood said:

Then Dr Arika Bansal joined us. We talked about height of the hairline, she thinks that higher forehead would look worse for me. We talked about how many grafts were used for the temples and that a lot of them were doubles splitted into singles, so it wasn't like we used 700 grafts on the temples, but around 400 grafts. She mentioned that it would be better to not use all the donor in next procedure, but use part of it and mix it with beard grafts. I told her that i ordered oral minoxidil 5mg and she said that although she isn't big fan of prescribing it, she saw some good effects from it, so i can hope that in 5-6 months of usage i can see some benefits and limit demand for the grafts. She suggested  that till next procedure i can comb back my hair, so it will look better. 

Although the hairline does look really good on you, if Dr Bisangas assessment is true it was indeed not in your best interest if your goal was to get the closest thing possible to a uniform head of hair (which is what I imagine most people want). 

Regarding the temples, I've heard the issue with dividing multis into singles is that multi hair grafts tend to be thicker grafts when in reality for temples you want to use finer hair grafts. Hopefully if I'm incorrect someone can step in here to correct me but I dont think that is adding up. Also do they mean 400 Grafts on each temple or 400 in total? Regardless I honestly you got pretty big graft mileage if each temple was 400 grafts.

I remember you were saying that Dr Bisanga thinks your beard hair is not ideal for hair transplantation. Did he explain why? Because Eugenix here seem to think the opposite and both are highly regarded experts in the field.

Although I do think Eugenix is a great clinic, I personally would lean more into Dr Bisanga as a option. He is known as a much more conservative doctor and he has a bit of a reputation with blonde hair which you have.

You are in safe hands, H&W are a highly regarded clinic and have a long list of amazing results found here and on other forums. Although, the risk of getting a bad result is still there with any surgeon, you are minimizing it by going to one of the most elite surgeons.

Has anyone noticed increased grey hairs after a hair transplant? I had a hair transplant almost four months ago and noticed I have a significant increase of grey hairs in the harvested zones (went from about 2-3 on my scalp to about 25), just a observation and not something that bothers me but wanted to hear if this is a occurrence that’s been seen before?

Big improvements

1 minute ago, Gotitback said:

Excellent density, how do you feel about it now that your close to the finish line?

Got us a update? Your last update was starting to look really good

After reading your thread I do have to agree with Dr Bisanga's assessment. 3200 Grafts isn't enough to get you a full head of hair regarding your midscalp and crown but I still feel like 3200 grafts would make you look somewhat normal with just vertex thinning if executed properly and carefully. I feel like the planning here is most definitely working against you but its not unsalvageable and you can at least get to a point that looks natural and not artificial.

Did Dr Bisanga mention how many grafts you could get outside of the safe zone?

Hey everyone, Wanted to include a small update at 3.5 Months.

Outside of growth/photos. My beard shedding from Oral Minoxidil has finally slowed down. I can also say that I am about 2 months into Oral Minoxidil and havent had anything from what I've seen that are side effects. Redness has gone down further which are shown in these photos. They went from a medium pink to a light pink

Here is a brief update on my donor. Keep in mind in both of these photos I've pushed/brushed my donor hair down with my hands in the same exact way. So this is me actively trying to hide scalp in both photos (without doing a combover). Taken in the same room under the same lighting. (Bathroom Lighting)

Month 3:

Today:

The cameras really do show the damage and discrepancies with hair to scalp way more than in person, to be honest when I took the photo today I was expecting it to look a lot better/fuller than what the photo actually shows, but I would still say these past two or so weeks have been pretty massive for the state of my donor and I can hide it much better, the way the scalp shines under the hair in bright lights/poor angles is much duller and "quieter" than before if that makes any sense. Hopefully this will continue to improve until its not noticeable at all.

I feel like I'm approaching baseline everyday. my frontal forelock feels like its at baseline, but was concealed more with the long hair I had previously. The midscalp still needs a way to go, but it was also somewhat weak and was concealed by my long hair before the operation. The crown still has shown little change but I'm not expecting growth as we all know that crowns take longer to grow in.

Overall, I'm feeling much better about my donor as the improvements have really skyrocketed and are quite evident that things are looking in my favor. But still not that happy yet to go outside without a hat which is doing a majority of the job concealing. I didn't show the left side of my donor here but there have been improvements as well (Although not as significant due to the extent of the shock loss was on my right side)

I will also buzz my donor down at around the 6 month mark or earlier when I believe the donor discrepancies are mostly invisible. Which should be when it grows in some length. That way I can start from zero and grow it out nice and even without there being different groups of length.

Hopefully you have a positive update for us?

1 hour ago, gaz9318054 said:

I think part of the difficulty I'm having with the idea of prioritizing experience and results is that I start to feel like I should be identifying the very best surgeon in the world and spending top dollar, or not bothering at all. But I also know there's no objective measure of surgical skill to compare, and analyzing the tiny percentage of results reported to this forum doesn't seem like a good method of making a subjective determination either.

With very few exceptions, the work reported here by patients is all pretty impressive and I think I'd be happy with nearly any reasonable result I've seen here. So I sort of get stuck in a loop in indecisiveness, if that makes sense.

Very interesting suggestions! Thank you for your comment.

Are you saying to use finasteride for 6-12 months before having my procedure? I've never heard that suggestion before, so if I'm understanding you correctly, can you elaborate a bit? To be clear, I'm not expecting finasteride to do anything more than slow down the hair loss process over time.

Dr. Bisanga is overseas, I believe. I am in the US and am not willing to fly to have the procedure. 😅

It’s to assess whether or not finasteride halts, slows or does not have any affect on your hair. This way you can plan for the future because procedures are rarely one and done for life. Right now you are probably a advanced NW3A or a NW4. You might one day start to thin in the crown or mid scalp if you haven’t already and might be NW5/6/7, reality is that you still have a lot of hair and the goal is to see where you are going to lose and what you will be able to hold on too.

If you are very anxious and want to go in feeling like you’ve done everything you could do, ask a dermatologist if you have any underlying or hidden scalp conditions that may interfere with surgery. Also I would recommend wait to ATLEAST 6 months on finasteride, although I would do one year as that is pretty standard. I wouldn’t expect finasteride to regrow your front but it could strengthen other areas that are prone to miniaturisation.

A doctor that I would recommend for you to research is Dr Bisanga. And Dr Rahals assessment about 3000 grafts needed is right.

5.5 months is still too early to deem failure or not. The full process takes 12 months. 

I can understand redirecting to a public case to provide clarity and information to a prospective patient. But does he have to be so insensitive and describe it as a “large testicle” on your head? What does that add to his overall argument? Nothing other than some below the belt insult and kicking someone when they are already down. 

Update? Should be heading to 6 months or so soon.

That is some clean and fantastic work, I also really like the overall design

I would say that the growth in your hairline and frontal third is most likely transplanted. Areas behind it are probably a fair combination of both.

Looks fantastic

Here are some bonus photos

Left Side Zoomed In

Right Side Zoomed In