-TheHairUpThere-

6 hours ago, Melvin- Admin said:

BIG UPDATE:

I'm on the phone with Bausch + Lomb, the makers of Visudyne. 

I'm trying to get a bottle sent to Dr. Mohebi; he is interested in doing a trial now. I will also contact AmerisourceBergen to try and get this sourced to Dr. Pittella.

This is great. Because if we start seeing results we're also gonna start seeing doctors jump in by the dozens to try it as well. Cause they definitely are not trying to get left behind if this treatment really takes off. The doctors who offer it will have a huge advantage over the competition. 

I'm still gonna keep my expectations in check but it's looking promising so far. Cant wait for the next updates. 

17 minutes ago, colinrob said:

New Dr. Bloxham video just dropped.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NsRP7G_V_jE

The 3 months results still seem promising to me. I hope he's able to take some higher quality pictures of the patients himself later on.

Absolutely insane. There's really thick terminal hairs growing in the middle of the fut scar. Even at the lowest dose. And this is only 3 months. And not just regrowth but the skin itself looks way different. Not shiny and leathery. This is wild. Especially for 3 months. Hopefully it just keeps getting better from here. We may have finally got the cure fellas!

So this first trial essentially showed that maybe more vert=better results?

Because the 0.26 injection looks like it had zero impact on the healing process. The 0.4 definitely looks better. Although hard to tell just how much regrowth there was. But seems that 0.4 should be treated as the new standard. And maybe they could now start experimenting with doses of .5 and up. If more vert caused better healing then maybe it's possible it will also lead to more regrowth. Think it's just about finding the sweet spot at this point.

Even if this only results in zero scarring that's also a victory in itself. But let's be real. We're all hoping for that unlimited donor😂

6 hours ago, takuma said:

Here is the original photos of the patients donor after extraction i believe. Dr Bargouthi has been keeping us updated every step of the way.

Oh I was under the impression these newest photos were from a patient he experimented on only a few months ago. Didn't know the newest photos from from original guy in the first page. Getting the bloxham and barghouthi trials mixed up. But yes I will say this looks encouraging. Mainly the 0.4 doses. Can't really see much of a difference at all in the 0.24. If there is, it's miniscule. So it seems 0.4 and up is gonna be the way to go. 

4 hours ago, takuma said:

He's already shown pictures of before... he's been documenting with pictures since the beginning of the experiment. Dr Bargouthi has been very consistent with updating both with pictures, and data including a lab analysis. 

And what post in this thread has the before pictures of this particular patient?....I can't seem to find them. 

Definitely promising. But is there side by side pre-op and post op pics of the highlighted regions?....I feel like that's the best way to show results. The colored boxes of the treatment area looks similar to the areas outside of the box to me. Which I'm assuming hair was also extracted from.

The treatment box definitely looks better than the control box for sure. But the area above the box looks similar in density to me. Think it would help to see pre op photos of the same green regions. Or maybe I'm just missing something. But thanks anyway. Definitely looking forward to more updates. Think I'm gonna push back my second surgery because of this. 

The only thing I'm confused by as far as hair regeneration. Is how would a new hair form after the follicle was already removed from its root?....so an entirely new root just simply manifests itself?....Is there a scientific explanation for this?....even though I'm excited I know it's probably a long shot. 

Hair cloning is probably our best bet in the future. 

9 hours ago, ITA said:

There are scalp diseases and not just the scalp that are invisible to the naked eye, detectable only with biopsy and specific tests.

If you're paying somebody 20k, maybe a 300 dollar scalp biopsy should be included. I mean, If you're performing actual surgery on somebody's scalp that seems like it should be mandatory right?....At the very least recommended to the patient before they proceed with a surgery date. But then that would eliminate a possible excuse for the doctor if the transplant fails. 

I've seen quite a few docs claim a patient had a scalp issue AFTER the fact and that's just inexcusable. That means you performed surgery on somebody who possibly didn't even need it. Either way you slice it, it's the doctors fault. Either he did a poor job on the surgery or he didn't take the necessary precautions beforehand. Every other type of doctor would eliminate all possible factors before proceeding with surgery. Hair doctors should be held to the same standard. 

On 8/8/2023 at 7:26 AM, superwario said:

I definitely hit a peak around March/April 2023, and now I’m seeing a ton of regression. I’m still on fin and minoxidil, but my scalp is starting to show through again and I’m seeing more hairs falling out in the shower. 
 

I’m  guessing my non-transplanted hair in the area is now starting to go again.  It definitely is concerning that I spent a large chunk of my savings for 4-6 months of satisfaction and now it’s all coming back down again.  
 

I have talked to Shapiro Medical and they said that it might just be a cycle, so hoping that is the case.  Otherwise, it would take me several years of aggressive savings and frugal lifestyle to afford another transplant.

will keep you guys updated.

You didn't even have much native hair in the areas treated so doubt it's that reason. It could very well be a cycle especially if you've been stressing or sleeping poorly. But if it doesn't improve don't let them spin it into being your fault. Docs gotta stand on their work. If you had a scalp issue that should have been checked by the doc when you met him. I would also look into oral minox. Probably the best treatment for growth. 

9 hours ago, mrthirsty said:

So far, so good, to be honest. Albeit a very slow grow in process and seemingly tons of shock loss.  From what it looks like the hair pattern is pretty natural - so the doc did a good job there, still thin but I assume it will get more dense now over the next couple months.  Happy to share more photos soon.

AFAIK, shock loss affects not only implanted hair, but non-implanted hair as well... and unsure if its shock loss or otherwise, but it looks like while the crown is growing in, the mid/front scalp is beginning to thin

Yea I'm at 5.5 months now with Dr Camacho. Also had some shock loss. But around 4 months is when things really started turning around. Most of my native hairs grew back and it keeps getting better every week. So you should be seeing huge progress over the next 3-4 months. 

How many grafts did you have placed in your crown?....that's quite a difference. 

Any updates so far?

Great stuff. I was taking 5 drops(7.5 mg)of Kirkland minox under the tongue and got great gains all over my head. Even my donor area. but also got tiny hairs on my upper cheeks and forehead so I stopped. Then I immediately went through a massive shed over the next couple months.

Think I'm gonna start back with 2 drops this time to reduce side effects. But no question that sublingual minox is the king of hair regrowth. 

So Dr bloxham also did injections on an already healed scar correct?.....that might be the most interesting case of all.

Preventing scarring is one thing. But being able to regrow hair on an already existing scar would be truly mind blowing. Basically gives thousands of guys who exhausted all their donor hair brand new life. 

5 minutes ago, streethawk said:

@HairUpThere well pics can be deceiving as you are no doubt aware. It was 17 years ago, where in a face to face consulation I was told that my donor was  quote 'dying', so I never thought of getting a 2nd opinion until now. I just kept battling on with fin and other meds and hope and pray that something would work out. Yeah techniques have advanced so far in the last decade or so so much more is possible now.

I think possibly the grey shining in the light makes the donor look thinner. I visited a dermatologist and he ruled out DUPA, DPA etc. Maybe I have some retrograde alopecia at the sides but extractions, as you can see were carried out there.

For me non-shave was not an option and I also had to dye the hair as I have a lot of grey

Yea it was a little hard to see if your hair on the side was thinning or just grey hairs blending in with the skin.

But either way it's better to have hair on top than the sides. Think it'll be a big improvement.  Good luck. 

Surprised that clinics rejected you for your donor. Your donor seems perfectly fine. But I think some surgeons are just not confident in their abilities to achieve an optimal result.  Also seems like a lot more surgeons today are more skilled as well. I also got rejected 10 years ago due to diffuse thinning and poor donor. Now I'm 5 months post op.

I'll most likely be having a 2nd HT next year and Dr laorwong may be at the top of my list. He's posting some superb results and he also offers non shave fue which is huge. I think you're gonna have a great result. Did he give you the option of not shaving your recipient area?

Hopefully @Bogota Hairlines will take notice as well. Need more elite surgeons involved. 

Now here is 3 and 4 months. So definitely an improvement. Hairs have gotten darker. But density is still very thin and whispy at moment. Can still see my entire scalp. My hair actually looked better last week but I had a minor shed. But not stressing about it. I know It's still early. For me, 8 months is what I always had my eyes set on. Right now I'm Just trusting the process and trying to enjoy the ride. I'll be back next month for another update. 

3 months

4 months

Ok. Thought I should check in for an update. 4 months 1 week at the moment. I would say growth started kicking in around 3 months. I'll upload each month. 

Below is 11 days. And then 1 month and 2 months. I shed about 90% of my grafts by month 1. I was happy with the density at day 11. But even by then I had lost quite a few hairs while washing off the scabs. 

11 days

1 month

2 months

Your experience was very much in line with mine. I paid extra for Dr Camacho to do everything but Dr.carranza did the majority of the work. There was also very little design beforehand. But Dr Camacho was actually there for the extraction and implantation. But they were seeing another patient that day and I believe he kept going back and forth. He probably did about 30-40% of the implantation and extraction. I was going to say something but I assumed this is just his protocol. And didn't wanna mess with the routine. 

He also left near the end of the implantation. So Dr carranza did the final 800 grafts in my midscalp. So a little worried about that although she was very nice and seemed very capable. And the side of my head that she extracted healed fantastically. Even better than the side Dr Camacho did. So I have no doubt she is very skilled. Their entire staff was very professional and kind. And communication has been been amazing from day 1. No complaints there. But just now waiting for the results. I plan on getting another ht next year so can't say for sure if I would return. That will probably exhaust all my donor and would probably like to go to a clinic with a little more pre surgery detail. But my donor and recipient area both healed great. Almost shockingly great. All redness was completely gone by 2 weeks. So I'm hopeful it'll turn out well. All in all I think their whole team is top class and they all treated me with great care and respect. 

On 5/16/2023 at 10:57 AM, Rahal Hair Transplant said:

@-TheHairUpThere-,

There is a short answer and a long answer. The short answer is yes, the hairs that were restored from all minoxidil reliable for transplant. The longer answer is as follows.

While you can certainly transplant viable, terminal hairs that have fully grown or thickened up from non-surgical solutions such as finasteride or minoxidil, they are only as permanent as your use of the medication. For example, if you begin taking oral minoxidil again and have the same success, you could technically transplant those hairs that grow and are terminal but if you stop taking oral minoxidil, you will likely lose those hairs even after they’re transplanted. Why? Because of a principle known as donor dominance.  Essentially, donor dominance means that each transplanted hair will maintain the characteristics and properties they had when they were in the donor region. Transplanting them does not change their characteristics. This is a good thing in most cases because that’s why hair transplantation works.

If donor dominance did not exist, donor hair moved to the top of the scalp  would simply fall out because they would have changed characteristics and now will be affected by DHT. The reason why hair transplant surgery works is because hairs on the sides and back of the head are not susceptible to DHT for the most part and moving them doesn’t change this.

So long story short, hair loss medication is great for helping individuals maintain their existing natural hair and could even thicken up some of the thinning hairs, although rather on the rarer side.  But planning her transplant surgery around non-surgical solutions can be a bit risky. While most hair transplant clinics including ours certainly recommend considering nonsurgical solutions (disclaimer: Abe sure sure to consult with the doctor before taking any prescription Medication), our clinic is careful to make the best use of available donor hair under the assumption that non-surgical solutions won’t work forever.

I hope this helps.

Rahal Hair Transplant

Thanks a lot doctor. This is exactly the information I was looking for. Really appreciate you taking the time to answer🙏

This is the most exciting thing that's happened in the hair industry in decades. Especially as somebody with a thinner donor area. Gonna wait for these trials before I schedule my next HT. Hoping for the best. Hell if this actually works I might even get me a full beard too😎.....the future is finally looking bright fellas. 

11 hours ago, duckling said:

When doing HT, a good surgeon picks out the most healthy grafts. Those new hair from meds they can easily figure out under magnification. To naked eye it might all look same so i understand the confusion. True that the surgeon might extract some weak hair too (which minoxidil had helped thicken) but there is only so much you can control. But rest assured that majority of grafts will be healthy with a good surgeon.

Oh ok I see. Thanks for the feedback. Just didn't wanna screw up my transplant. But that's good to know. I'm probably gonna start back up on the oral minox soon if that's the case. Plan on getting a 2nd transplant sometime next year. Thanks. 

10 hours ago, A_4_Archan said:

I was thinking same thing and was worried about it but after talking with few good surgeons i came to know as duckling said a good doctor with magnification can find out which hair to pick....they can differentiate those hairs from native healthy hairs...bdw why did you stop it if you got such good results ?

To be honest I stopped for two reasons. One of which being I was concerned with this very problem. I was worried that the doctor might extract a bunch of the non terminal hairs brought on by the oral minox and I would end up with a bad result. So I wanted to ensure everything I had on the day of surgery was 100% strong healthy hair. Just wanted everything to go smoothly. 

The 2nd reason is because I was growing hair on my upper cheeks and even my nose. They were very thin whispy hairs but still. It made my pores look big. It was also making my face puffy and old looking. But I was taking a pretty high dose. 7.5mg. I would take 5 drops of liquid minox under the tongue. I knew that it helped just wasn't aware of how significant it was. So I plan on getting back on at a much lower dose. Probably 1.5mg or 3. To reduce the side effects. But there's no denying that oral minox is the king of hair regrowth. Nothing else worked on that level. 

So here's a question. I used to take oral minox. And I had a substantial amount of hair growth in both the top of my head and also the donor. I didn't realize how much growth I had back there until I stopped oral minox and I noticed I was shedding like 50 hairs a day in my donor area everytime I washed my head. The shedding stopped after a month or two but it made me think.

Would those hairs that grew from oral minox be viable to use in a hair transplant?....cause technically they were only temporary hairs brought in by the oral minox. But if those temporary hairs were extracted by a doctor and placed at the top would they then turn into permanent hairs?....Or would they simply fall right back out?.....maybe a doctor would be better off answering this question. 

Just to take it further. I also got substantial hair growth in my beard, body, and eyebrows with oral minox. Even my upper cheeks and forehead. But after stopping oral, a lot of those hairs fell back out.