Xanadu

13 minutes ago, caveman said:

Update: today is day 8. I have done 2 head washes using dove soap over the last 2 days. I’ve attached a couple of pictures that show what my head looked like with the scabs and then after I removed them. Have sent eugenix post care team some update pictures as well. They confirmed the scalp looks clean and that everything seems to be healing nicely. Does anyone have any thoughts? 

Looks good

2 minutes ago, Jay said:

hello - The premium package says - planning /design and complete slits by Dr. Arika ?.....i dont think shes involved other than that ..is that correct ?

As far as I understand yes you are correct.

I understand and yes, you are correct.

12 minutes ago, sunsurfhair said:

Hypogonadism is RARE - SIDES are not rare from Fin and don’t direct this at me I didn’t post this thread I just respond with my own take and experiences. Btw the side effect profile percentage you quoted was proved completely inaccurate as Merck use false data in the clinical trials. Reuters out that fact last year when they exposed the sealed court records from the original lawsuit. 

There are many other studies that include sides except the ones Merck submitted and the scie tific papers I know of (several) all mention sides 1-3% with one study mentioning 6% above controls.

Since we can find studies for almost anything I won't ask you to show me a study that found sides to be common (since you say they are not rare), but i wonder how you can say they are not rare (I assume thst means most get them ei above 50%).

There are millions around the world and in here taking fin with no mention able issues and yet you still cola m that sides is the norm or not rare?

I have already linked a video from the heat restoration channel where e he summarizes the research and his own experiences with working with clinics and hairless sufferers all over the world for years and he says that sides are rare. The majority of the research, both Merck and later independent research finds that it's rare. 

I am certainly n ot denying that sides exist. It would be bad to so so because it flies in the face of science. However, it is equally bad and dimisinformstion to claim that it is Not rare when by far the majority of research finds that it is indeed rare (even if we discount the Merck studies).

3 minutes ago, sunsurfhair said:

My friend please read my posts above. I go into great deal on now Fin can temporarily increase T and how that works pharmacologically and from a metabolic standpoint. Fin induced hypogonadism has been shown many times over (it is rare) but it absolutely can and does happen.

4 minutes ago, sunsurfhair said:

My friend please read my posts above. I go into great deal on now Fin can temporarily increase T and how that works pharmacologically and from a metabolic standpoint. Fin induced hypogonadism has been shown many times over (it is rare) but it absolutely can and does happen.

It's rare? That's where the problem is. People say 'Fin gives sides' and then in a separate sentence " but they are rare". No, fin does Not give sides, only to very few who are disposed towards gyno etc. Let's not try to word these things like they are more common than they are. 

Also, do we need another thread about fin and sides in a couple of days? Can pe ple really not see all the threads about it, and the hundreds if not thousa ds of YouTube videos about it, and every single hair clinic has a section about sides and on and on. Anyone seeing the amount of text about the sides can easily get the idea that they have to be lucky to avoid sides because apparently they are super common. Which they are not. 

44 minutes ago, caveman said:

@Xanadu great observation. I watched the video and I guess you are right about his post op recipient area looking similar to mine! His crown is definitely an improvement over what he started with but not a home run with the new growth. We have to keep in mind, though, that the crown is a tough area to target and eats up many grafts and often times will still look sparse. I personally think his crown could be better but is still age appropriate for him. Also, this gentlemen got almost 2X the grafts I got in 1 session haha. Hopefully I have plenty of grafts left over for any touch ups that may be needed after a year. Thanks for checking out my post and I appreciate the feedback 😎

Yeah, the photos of him look decent but when he combs his hair I got goosebumps...and I thought about you. I really hope you won't have such a result on midscalp/crown. And yes, some clinics have trouble with the black hole of the crown, but Eugenixs pride themselves of being one of the clinics who can handle the crown well, so it was sad to see this result.

The recipient area looks a bit like the guy in this vid, but I hope you have much better result in the crown because it looks less than great. We have seen many good results from Eugenix so I'm not sure what went wrong here?

The crown looks diffuse with few coarse beard hairs sticking up.

I hope your result will be better mate.

Research generally has found side effects in 1-3% of individuals (above the control group). 

Meanwhile many mention that there could be a nocepo effect happening in 10-15% in individuals who get scared on the drug.

What does this mean? It means that people who go out of their way to create fear (under the guise of spreading information) are the part of a bigger problem than the actual medical side effect percentage. 

The conclusion from the Hair Transplant Channel (linked above) to these people is: "Shame on you".  He might not be wrong....

Fin gives higher Test because the whole mechanism of fin is that it stops some of the testosteron from being transformed into DHT. If less t is transformed, then there will be more left.

I agree with this guy re finasteride:

5 minutes ago, Westview said:

Even the best clinics will have failed hair transplants

In a way yes, but it's a dangerous argument to make.

If a clinic hears critique they might first think "not good, we need to shape up and tighten the quality".

Then someone says "all clinics have failures".

The clinic reads that answer and thinks "phew, so now we can relax. No need to tighten up quality because all clinics have failures".

I'm not sure that is what we should aim for.

1 hour ago, Calihome1 said:

I honestly think Eugenix is way overrated.  I’ve seen 3-4 cases recently where had they need from a Turkish clinic, I feel many posters here would be all over it with disappointing remarks.

 

Would be good if someone can gather those examples in one post as links,

32 minutes ago, GoliGoliGoli said:

I'm confused, wouldn't donor management be a much bigger concern when doing 3500 than 1700? Just because Eugenix seems to do best on higher Norwoods? 

I'm guessing that higher NWs might be able to stomach a little thin donor better t a lower NWS will accept

On 10/14/2022 at 9:55 AM, Bandit90 said:

Hope these help!

Looks good. Was it Dr Sethi again this time?

2 hours ago, general-etwan said:

Good question. From the original consultation I requested full coverage in one procedure. I personally didn’t want to only do the front half in one procedure in case I can’t ever go back for more work. So full coverage was always the plan from the beginning. When I got there Dr. Das was already on board with that plan; we never discussed splitting the area up into multiple procedures. I’m sure it would have been possible to do it that way as Mr. John Cross (bandit) did; I just preferred to address the whole area at once and even if there’s lower density as a result I still think it’ll be good enough for my expectations.

That's fair and I understand your choice. Not sure if two sessions would have any advantages, but it definitely would have disadvantages - and still most do it that way.

16 hours ago, general-etwan said:

Anyone have advice on whether using a moisturizing lotion on the recipient area daily is a good or bad idea at this point? I tend to have dry skin and have a hyaluronic acid moisturizing lotion that I like to use on my face and hands sometimes and wonder if using that on the recipient area would help create a more positive growing environment or whether it's unnecessary. 

At this point I am washing the whole head with normal Dove shampoo daily in the shower. 

One thing I have been thinking about. And it doesn't only go for Eugenics. Sometimes for high norwoods they go with first the front and in a second session the crown. And sometimes (like for you) they do all at once. Do you have an idea what decides whether they do one or the other? And did they discuss those options with you?

38 minutes ago, mister_25 said:

In my opinion it doesn’t look like there is any signs of retrograde alopecia. Although I could be wrong

I also don't think so.

On 10/7/2022 at 2:25 PM, mountain said:

Hello dear community, after 4 years of research and concern to perform a hair transplant, I have finally chosen the HLC clinic in Ankara. The procedure was carried out on 29.9 and 30.9.

About the procedure: The driver from HLC picked me up at the airport in Ankara. Transportation was smooth and also the booking in the hotel across the street from the HLC clinic was organized in advance.  In general, everything was top organized. The next day we went to the consultation at 9 o'clock in the morning. The head physician and two doctors including hairline specialist spent just over an hour until finally the hairline was exactly defined. Because of this great care I felt in very good hands (I was already satisfied, but the doctors discussed again for half an hour and changed the hairline again and again until finally the planning was complete). The front was transplanted with a 50 graft/cm2 density. In the middle back where there was still residual hair with a 30  graft/cm2 density. My donor is very good. Head donor was estimated at 8500-9000 grafts. That day the first half was implanted and the second day the remaining grafts were implanted. I have a lot of multigrafts which should have a positive effect on my density (even though I have thin hair). Now I am curious how the growth will continue. On October 11, I will be allowed to remove the remaining crusts. I hope it will be a life-changing investment for me.

About possible medications: I am considering minoxidil for the tonsure a month after the hair transplant. This one is a little thinning, but still keeping within limits. In general, my hair loss is very slow. From early 20's to almost 32 very slow hair loss. In general, I find that hair loss is relatively stable in the last 2 years. Attached you will find several pictures before and after the surgery.

I would be very pleased about your opinions and evaluations. I will post monthly updates here. Maybe again after the 11th postoperative day how my head looks without scabs.

Greetings and all the best

mountain

Looks like a great job. Looking forward to see how it turns out.

6 minutes ago, general-etwan said:

Yeah, it wasn't long. I can't put an exact time on it because, as I actually forgot to mention, I was zoned out in my head for much of the procedure (and even dozed off at times), and so I wasn't watching exactly how long the grafts remained outside. But I want to say some of the implantation began as the extraction was still being completed, on certain areas of the head during which I was sitting up more. The whole team was working smooth and so I wouldn't say it was more than 1-3 hours (?) of each graft being outside the skin, maximum. How does that rank up vs other clinics around the world?

I believe I recall reading 0.9 mm for scalp grafts and 0.7 mm for beard grafts.

Some clinics have max time of 1.5 to 2 hours.

16 hours ago, general-etwan said:

Very short period of time. With the DHT strategy, all the slits were made first and ready to go. As the grafts were extracted with the cole punch tool, they were placed into bowls on a table and there were techs in charge of sorting them out (probably to differentiate single grafts vs double grafts vs triple grafts) and then a tech whose job was to load them into the implanter tools and hand each one to the senior techs who did the implantation. It was all a very fast, polished process. I wouldn't say the grafts stayed out of the skin for more than an hour, probably even far less.

Yes, earlier I just saw that they do it like that. Should be good. Good luck, and looking forward to your updates.

12 hours ago, general-etwan said:

Will do for now. I am just going to focus on this recovery now, and there is a chance I may be satisfied enough that I don't have any more done. It just depends. I don't expect amazing perfection. What I desired most of all was a more homogenous distribution of hair across the head, and I'm confident I will achieve that to a great degree.

If the hairline and density is good, and the donor looks good, then next we hope it will actually grow out after the ugly duckling stage. And how long time the grafts were outside the body from extraction to reinserting them again may be very important in determining if the hair will actually grow out again after the initially transplanted grafts fall out. 

That's why I asked you if you remember how long it took, or if they have a fixed max time it should be outside?

3 minutes ago, Berba11 said:

One for @Gatsbyto opine on I reckon, but I think you'll probably be happy with how it looks naturally, especially as you get older and less bothered about it.

I agree. Also, I was not too keen on getting a HT until it was almost so much gone that there was little to lose even if the results were not stellar. And even if all went wrong I could shave it all off and the only downside would hopefully be some small white spots on the back - which I would be fine with. If you think like that then imagine having SMP and shaving. you will have SMP in weird patterns and would have to either get it lasered off or get SMP all over. At least it's something to consider I guess.

4 hours ago, general-etwan said:

Hello everyone,

First I want to thank everyone here who may have played a role in helping me find a clinic I was confident in and helped me achieve this. This will document the journey for me.

Pre-HT Situation
MPB runs very aggressively on my father's side of the family. My grandfather, two uncles, and father have all lost significant amounts of hair by their 20s-30s. In my early teens, I already had thin hair, but didn't recognize it at the time. The aggressive hair loss probably began around age 15. I wasn't into the science of hair loss back then and so I didn't really know what was happening/didn't think about it much. But by the time I was 18-20, I knew I had lost a significant amount, suffered from the mental and social effects of knowing I disliked the look so much, etc. Below is a progression of the situation at different ages.

I remember trying minoxidil very briefly in my early 20s, but quickly "gave up" after it (obviously) didn't regrow all of my hair. I also saw a dermatologist around age 22 who presented the option of finasteride to me, but I chose not to begin taking it at that time for a few reasons: 1) He (correctly) informed me that it would not regrow all of my hair, and 2) I was in a period of being irrationally scared of taking it based on claims I had read online. So I essentially continued to do nothing while still dreaming of the possibility of having a HT somewhere, somehow. At age 24 I had a transplant consultation at a world-renowned doctor in NYC, and was politely turned down for the possibility of a transplant. My hair loss was too aggressive, they said, and a transplant at the time would not yield satisfactory results. They also said they would require finasteride for 1 year first before even considering a procedure.

So, at that point I was discouraged and essentially gave up again, though mentally I never gave up on trying to figure out how to change the situation. When you're still very young and suffer from this amount of hair loss, it makes you feel like you don't belong in many ways. Even though I've always had a fantastic family, great friends, and good people in my life, went to a great school, played sports, attended a great university and had several great involvements, I never felt confident in the look of having such aggressive hair loss and so I wore hats everywhere. The only time I would not wear a hat was when I was alone. I would read about hair cloning all the time, knowing it will probably be available someday, but that day surely won't come for decades yet.

So in early 2021, at age 25, I tried something that I learned my father has done since his 20s: wear hair systems. I actually didn't even know that he wore them until I was in my early 20s; that is how authentic and natural they looked. One of my uncles was also starting to get into the process of wearing them, so they taught me all about them and I decided to try it out. I purchased systems online and took them to HairClub to apply and maintain. I did that for about 8 months in 2021 and sported a bit of a medium-length messy look on top. There are pros and cons to hair systems. The pros were that they looked pretty good and allowed me to go outside without hat wearing which was a whole new feeling of freedom that I appreciated. The cons are that they become very expensive recurring costs, the adhesives break down constantly and require regular maintenance (appointments, scheduling), the daily time commitment of styling and making sure the edges were not coming up, the careful washing in the shower, the occasional irritation. Ultimately, I decided that continuing to wear systems forever was simply not satisfactory enough for me. I am a very active person and while you absolutely can learn to make systems work with an active lifestyle, it certainly is not without irritation and annoyance, and it just wasn't what I wanted to do going forward.

In January 2022 at age 26, after reading a lot of the science behind it, I decided I was going to try finasteride, as I was no longer irrationally afraid of any side effect claims. I did not experience any noticeable negative side effects and within a few months already started to see some improvement around the edge of the pattern of hair loss. I also added minoxidil and microneedling to that strategy; simply a "final stand" attempt at a natural hair recovery.

By spring, I had found Eugenix and had read a lot of the cases posted here. I was highly impressed with what they've done for higher Norwoods, and finding a clinic that was also within my financial means for the number of grafts I would need also felt like a miracle. At first they quoted me for around 5,500 grafts; upon more communication I requested they plan to be as aggressive as possible because I care far less about the back and sides of my head than I do the top. They re-assessed a plan for 6,500 grafts using 4,500 scalp donor + 2,000 beard donor, but I did understand that was a high projection and it would likely end up being around the original estimation. 

First, some pre-HT pictures from the last year or so (age 24-26):

  

  

 

Eugenix Pre-HT Plans
I chose the Exclusive Package at Eugenix, which is 120 INR/graft + 18% tax (so about $1.45 USD/graft right now). The Exclusive Package has the procedure led by a senior doctor; senior doctor performs 100% of slits and then all extraction and implantation is performed by senior technicians. I was informed that Dr. Priyadarshini Das would be doing my HT, and I've seen great work from her in some other cases. I also received complimentary 4 nights in a 5-star hotel, all transportation from New Delhi airport to the hotel and to the clinic, and food included in that package. They scheduled me for September 15-16 and I began my travel planning.

I only told a few people about my plans early on because I wanted to focus on all of the travel planning required without worrying people in addition. Only a few people in my family have traveled very far; certainly never to the other side of the Earth. I was never even on an airplane myself until age 24, but I'm very independently driven and I had no concerns about my ability to travel to India to do this. It was worth it for me. I just didn't want to worry too many people too early, because not everyone understands everything involved, and attempting to explain everything to people who aren't into this topic can be very exhausting.

I am from the eastern USA so I chose a flight from JFK to DEL for around $1,000 round trip. Direct flight from JFK to DEL, but then on the way home, a stop in Doha, Qatar to save money. It would have been $600 more for a direct flight home. I had miles racked up from a credit card, so I actually ended up only paying about $200 out of pocket for my flights. My procedure was scheduled for September 15-16, Thursday and Friday, so I had to leave home on Tuesday evening to arrive in New Delhi Wednesday evening. 

I had to have blood work done a few weeks prior and forward the results to Eugenix for standard inspection: red/white blood cells, Hep, HIV, prothrombin time, etc.

The communication from Eugenix leading up to my travel was excellent. I had members of the Eugenix Concierge team reach out to me consistently every few days to ensure I was prepared, understood the way things would go, etc.

Evening Before HT
After about a 15-hour flight from NYC to DEL, which honestly wasn't too bad because I slept for most of it, I arrived at Indira Gandhi International Airport a little after 9 pm Wednesday night and proceeded through customs and immigration. As for travel documents needed for this journey: passport, India e-visa printout, negative covid test result (if not providing vaccine card), and Air Suvidha declaration form required for all international passengers arriving to India.

I was contacted by the concierge team in the airport and was informed of how to locate my driver who was waiting to take me to the DoubleTree by Hilton hotel. Upon walking outside to the taxi area, I was immediately bombarded with multiple "taxi drivers" asking me where I was going, offering rides, etc. I was prepared for these "scams" ahead of time as I had heard about them. It was a bit chaotic and I was trying to find the gate where my Hilton driver was, but it took me about 5-10 minutes and in that time I was approached by 5-10 taxi drivers offering rides and demanding info on where I was going. You have to just politely say "I already have travel arranged, thank you" and keep walking away. Eventually I found the Hilton representative and my driver, who had his car parked in the parking lot. He went and got his car, pulled up to the curb, took my bags, and we proceeded to the hotel. 

I stayed in the DoubleTree by Hilton in Gurugram (Baani Square) which is only a couple minutes down the street from the Eugenix clinic. All of the attendants at the hotel were fantastic in getting me checked in and settled in my room. By that time it was after midnight and I had been informed of my reporting time at 9 am to Eugenix the next morning.

Day 1
I woke up around 8 am and stuck to my breakfast snacks I had brought with me because I didn't have a lot of time. At 9 am Eugenix called me and said the driver was outside; he picked me up in a very nice luxury SUV and we proceeded to the clinic. I brought my backpack with me with just a few belongings needed and a buttoned shirt which you need to wear after the procedure starts so you're not messing up your head. The roads in Gurgaon/Gurugram are very chaotic. The constant honking, aggressive maneuvers of drivers, but I found it amusing.

There, I checked in with some attendants and they showed me around. Then I was met by some doctors who informed me of how things would go, gave me some medication, etc. Then Dr. Das greeted me. Then I was met by a leading technician (who would take the primary care for me for all 3 days) and he led me into the photo area to take pre-HT photos. Below are some of those.

  

 

Dr. Das was initially stressed at the examination of the situation; I could tell. Her goal was to get 4,000 grafts from scalp donor area but she told me honestly that she was not sure if she could get 4,000. I did seem to experience some thinning in the 2 months leading up to the procedure, which I'm not sure why occurred...I do not know whether finasteride's effects hit a plateau and reversed, or if it was temporary caused by stress or something, or just an illusion. Anyway, Dr. Das then consulted with me for 15-30 minutes on the design of the HT on big screens with these pictures. We agreed on no temple work because it would require too many grafts, and when I grow my hair out, my temples are still acceptable to me anyway. She suggested a pretty conservative hairline, which of course I understood because of the advanced hair loss. She also explained that the plan would be to cover to the upper part of the crown, but not all the way down to the lower donor area, for 2 reasons: 1) Not enough grafts available and 2) that lower crown region is area that can improve with finasteride + minoxidil and be addressed in other ways. So, the plan was to cover approximately the below area (though I drew the hairline inaccurately), utilizing 1,000-2,000 beard grafts as well since I have good facial hair:

Once we agreed to the plan, an assistant sat down with me and went over the pricing and payment, and we took care of that. Then the lead caregiving technician got me ready with a change of clothes and settled me into the room, made sure I was comfortable, and began the preparation.

First I was given the local anesthesia all over the top of the scalp and the donor area. Dr. Das made all of the slits across the entire scalp, which I could feel the sensation of but of course not feel the pain from. That took a while. Then the leading techs began the extractions and implantations; the first day consisted of using scalp donor hair from the sides of the head on the hairline and the middle half of the scalp. I believe 2,400 grafts were implanted the first day according to the whiteboard the next day. Lunch was around 2-3 pm and they order anything you want; I'm a big pizza and fast food guy (bad I know) so they ordered some pepperoni pizzas for me which were very good. They also ask you what kind of music you like and they'll put on a playlist on a big TV in the room. They played some rap/hip-hop, pop, and some relaxing meditation music which was all uniquely enjoyable. After all the slits were made, Dr. Das left but would check in every 30 minutes or so during the extraction and implantation. We finished up around 6-7 pm. I was given full instructions on how to care for my head overnight along with a kit of items; mainly a bottle of saline spray that I was told to spray on the recipient area every hour. Also an absorption cloth to put on the pillow at night to absorb the donor area.

  

 

 

Day 2
The second day again began at 9 am. I was able to wake up earlier and order room service breakfast at the hotel. Chocolate chip pancakes, one of my favorites.

The plan for the second day was to cover the mid-scalp all the way back to the crown. The hair in the middle of the scalp donor area was used for this. I believe around 1,600 were implanted, bringing the 2-day total to 4,000 grafts.

   

  

Note that in the donor area on the back, I have a scar where no hair grows...that is just a scar from a cut in childhood; leaving it alone was absolutely fine with me.

Day 3
The entire area had been covered in the first two days but rather than rush to extract and implant beard grafts for more density Friday night, after an already long day, Dr. Das wanted to take Saturday to finish everything up. 1,300 beard grafts were used I believe in the mid-scalp to crown region. This part of the local anesthesia was the most painful as the jaw area can be very sensitive, but I just had to push through and get it done. A lot of this work was done in a position that allowed me to sit upright leaning over the reclined chair and I was able to use my phone a bit.

  

My head was very sore after these 3 days and I also started experiencing a lot pain in the implantation phase; the anesthesia kept wearing off so the technician had to keep giving me more, which blew my head up like a balloon (not seen here; the worst of it happened later that night and the next day). It was exhausting to say the least, but I felt extremely cared for by the team and they did whatever they had to do to make me as comfortable as possible. 

So the total was 5,300 grafts (4,000 scalp + 1,300 beard). When we finished up, Dr. Das inspected everything and expressed that she was super happy with the density achieved given the situation, and also that she was able to get 4,000 grafts from scalp donor. I was able to go sit in the "chill" room for a while, eat lunch, and relax. Then we took post-HT pictures.

  

  

I had seen Dr. Sethi while walking through the clinic, so after a few minutes I asked an assistant about him and they said "Oh yeah, of course, he's going to be so happy to see you" or something like that. Then I met Dr. Sethi; he has an absolutely elated personality. He examined the work done and then grabbed my hand and said "Come on, let's go!" It was a busy Saturday at the clinic and there were multiple people there for consultations/planning. Dr. Sethi took my hand and led me all around the building, showing my results to people and having me say hello to other technicians and team members I had not met yet. He asked me where I was from, about my family and schooling, etc. It was a SUPER fun time and his care made me feel fantastic after an exhausting procedure. Dr. Arika Bansal also arrived sometime after and I briefly got to say hello to her on the stairs, and she smiled a bunch at me and told me to send her pictures of the results as time went on. I wish I had taken some selfies with them but everything was chaotic and I was just focused on enjoying the moments. 

Then I spent at least a half hour with one of the leading doctors who gave me a kit full of items and explained the post-care to me. This included: saline spray for the recipient area every hour for 7 days, betadine solution and healing ointment for the donor area daily for 7 days, recovery medication to take for 7 days, months supply of hair growth vitamins, a year's worth of finasteride tablets at no cost, more absorption cloths for pillow, many surgical caps to wear gently over the head if desired while out/traveling, a neck pillow to help with sleeping for the first few nights, a letter to TSA instructing permission for me to travel with oversized items if stopped at the airport (I was not), a book by a Yogi, and an absolutely beautiful letter thanking me for entrusting this clinic and promising a lifetime of friendship.

  

Weekend & Travel Home
I extended my hotel reservation by one night, so I stayed 5 nights stay total. Saturday evening and Sunday I simply relaxed and caught up some movies I wanted to watch in my hotel room. My head was blown up from all the fluid in it; I had to keep pressing it to the sides of my forehead and downward to help the body get rid of it more quickly. Sleeping was not too bad at all. I left Monday morning; my driver took me to the airport and I was on my way back home. Well, first to Doha, which was a fun few hours in Hamad Airport, and then the long flight back home to JFK.

I chose to wear my surgical cap and a loose high-crown hat over top of it, just 2 days after the procedure was finished. If you are careful, this is absolutely safe to do, as the top of the hat lays above the head and does not put pressure on the recipient area.

 

I especially want to thank the leading caregiver technician who worked with me for all three days. He led me around, told me what was next, took all of my pictures, took care of my Gatorade and water drinks, phone, made sure my positions in the chair were comfortable, etc. I did not get to learn his name and wish I had, but he treated me like royalty, as did everyone on the team, and I would never expect or ask for so much love. It made my anxiety in a completely unknown place go away and he made me feel great about every step of the procedure.

I will be posting some updates here since it has already been a few weeks, though I don't plan to spend as much time on this forum as maybe some users going forward. But I know there is a lot of interest in Eugenix and cases like mine, so I will be sure to check in. If you desire, you can also follow me on Instagram @ethanlculver (http://instagram.com/ethanlculver) as I enjoy responding to DMs on there, and I may upload some pictures in the future of the results, if you should be interested. Thank you to all here who contributed to me embarking on this journey. See you around!

As many have said this was a great writeup, but one thing I didn't see in there is how long the grafts were outside before being reinserted? Do you have a sense of how long it took from starting the FUE to inserting them into the recipient area?

3 minutes ago, Gramatik said:

He will need fiber product for the midscalp and crown but The main thing here is that his result is related on finasteride, if finasteride in the future loose its effectivenes he will become norwood 7 and he doesnt have enough donor to cover the sides and lower crown and his result will not look good.

There will be a thin rim and I guess if the scalp DHT resistant hairs are grown out they might be able to cover that (maybe with powder). I'm not sure it won't look good even if he gets off fin. 

What would you suggestion be? to 'just shave it bro'?

18 minutes ago, general-etwan said:

My best understanding of finasteride is that yes, it alters your natural hormone math. It decreases your T to DHT production by about 2/3. However, it seems that in the vast majority of men that can be done in adulthood without any significant side effects or harm to the body. I think that’s where a lot of the miscommunication is. Yes it alters your system, but those alterations can usually be made without significant side effects or at least very tolerable, and ultimately sometimes that’s the small sacrifice you might have to make to hold onto hair. I can say that so far a side effect of finasteride for me was it seems to help put to bed adult acne for good. I took accutane 3 times in late teens/early 20s and it worked, but my acne started to come back again last year and since I started finasteride it stopped completely. DHT has certainly unleashed its hell on me.

Yes, it stops some test from getting transformed into DHT. So you will end up with more test as a result of fin. DHT is very necessary in children and teens. However, much research states that it has no clear role in adulthood except give acne, enlarged prostate, and baldness. It seems to be a remnant of evolution like male nipples, appendix etc. It might have some role in regulating some mood in a noticable way in a minority of people. For some the added test will increase libido (I know of some this happened to, and me as well) and we know that for some 0.5 to 1% above the control group incident level feel it has lowered their libido. This is because in some men some of the added test can be transformed into oestrogen through another pathway (but only some, so they still end up with more test than without fin). This however is not a problem for the vast majority. But if someone has a tendencu to gyno for example, then it seems that fin may make that worse (and noticable). In normally healthy males fin is really well tolerated. Despite the fear mongering that makes you think it will have all kinds of sides and will affect most people.