BackFromTheBrink

You must have studied more biology than I did (and my Dr partner sat next to me). I thought DHT bound to the SHBG protein and the target organs have receptors which control whether or not they're 'consumed'. For receptive organs, constriction of veins control the amount of exposure. Vascularity is high in the scalp, with the veins not having significantly different diameters between the side, back and top of the head. Am I understanding the basics, and if so, what mechanism controls the amount of DHT that follicles are exposed to?

Interesting. Could you explain how that could be the case?

It sounded like what you were saying was more DHT was carried in the blood in areas that are affected MPB. I think it's easier to disprove that. The scalp is highly vascularised. There isn't less blood carried to the MPB areas. Similarly, DHT is carried in the blood. Not sure how you were suggesting different concentrations could be carried in different parts of the body, and in this case, areas of the scalp that are in close proximity to each other?

I was thinking about this. Could be possibly get his patents and then license them under a franschise agreement? Then you could have Zarev's all over the world and eliminate the bottleneck/excessive waits while making a fortune..

Here's me 10 days after partial shave FUE... As you can see, it's hard to detect the implanted follicles in the hairline. The donor is still pretty short so looked like a terrible hair cut 😞

Now look at the results. Do you think the Zarev mega sessions (5000 grafts plus per day) result in lower yield than Dr Ferreira? It seems Zarev does up to 5k a day and usually up to 8-9k over a few days. From my observations, his growth rates and as good as anyone, if not the highest. There are other surgeons (such as Dr Bisanga) who work much more slowly. I'd argue he is likely to use more anaesthetic and risk more tireness in his patients even though the graft per day total is much lower. As was said at the start of this thread, it appears Zarev uses his own bespoke technique for FUE which yields fantastic results.

If you Google 'zarev Ava fue technique' it gives some insight into his approach. I would guess it's a combination of small punches and extraction using vacuum that results in less trauma, combined with a lot of surgical skill. Edited to add: his work is really refined, but I have seen patients with more bleeding, in a way that looks more typical of transplant patients.

I'm not sure I said there was anything wrong with a government supporting an industry, I was merely answering the question asked. Fundamentally we are collectively trying to help you make your own decision. If blue magic meets your needs, then by all means book a surgery with them.

He's not yet on the recommended list on this site. I don't think that's a reflection on your quality of his work.

Yes, probably mandated for any kind of cosmetic procedure. There's no guaranteed outcome for any hair transplant so I believe all surgeons will ask you to sign a disclaimer to prevent any legal challenges from patient.

Clearly the discomfort of lying there for so long was fresh in your memory 😀

Erm, the chin will be operated on 2 months after his hair.

If you Google 'turkey incentivises medical tourism' you will see what they provide (and it ranges from grants to pay for premises to subsidising attending conferences and marketing).

There aren't many or their patients on this site since most people learn there are better options than hair mills. While I agree all clinics have surgeries that don't go to plan, what is more important is how they respond to help their patients. It doesn't sound like their after care was great in this case. Have you determined - how many patients they treat a day, the involvement of a doctor in the procedure, the experience of their staff, their experience and results of dealing with hair loss situations similar to your own? Edited to add: I've just looked at the YouTube site you mentioned. They talk about giving 6000 grafts in one procedure to someone 26 years old. To me, that's a red flag in itself and very questionable ethics.

You read the account above where surgery resulted in a trip to the hospital. They're a hair mill and not on the recommended list. Ultimately it's your choice, but I'd choose a doctor involved procedure at a different clinic personally I'm sure the YouTube testimonials are true. However, a broken clock is right twice a day, and hair mills do have high patient volumes.

Extractions or punches, or both?

Sometimes (most times) they don't. Zarev would absolutely be my choice for surgery if I had an unlimited budget. However, he will have some misses, at some point. He's an elite surgeon do I doubt there will be many. His approach is (by all accounts) fundamentally different. Asking others to step-up is fine, but IMHO many just repeat what they've been taught and make minor modifications as they learn over time. Zarev is a pioneer. I've no doubt his methods will be replicated but at that's easier said than done. It isn't like you can reverse engineer a product - you need someone very familiar with the methods and technology he's invented to minic him. At some point he will train others. They will eventually leave and his methods will be better known and replicable. Until then I say bravo - he's earned the popularity and income.

Hair looks better now - at 4 days it was remarkably well recovered though. I decided to go abroad because of the particular surgeon. He only performs shaveless FUE, generally goes for high density in the hairline and uses manual punches. I believe that helps with recovery and it's certainly proved the case with me. I wanted to be back on video calls the next week without looking odd (apart from the haircut). I was operated on by Dr Michalis Georgiou. I think it was €1.90 per graft (including flights, hotel and transport) but I may be misremembering.

I did. It was a good experience - I got good growth and efficient use of grafts. They were good to deal with and always available for queries/aftercare. For my surgery the punches were made by a combination of the two doctors (I believe they now work at different sites). The grafts were extracted and sorted by technicians. The slits were made by Dr Arshad and implantation by a team of 4 technicians (with some implantation by the Dr). Every surgeon relies on technicians. Asking how long they're worked with the Dr is worthwhile wherever you go - you want an experienced team. I was Norwood 5 so always realistically needed 2 procedures. I would have exceeded the maximum amount of anesthesia allowed if it'd have been one day for my entire head, and preferred to see the result so I could 'perfect it' in the second. I'm only 4 weeks post surgery. I had some strengthening of the hairline (though it was fairly good already) but the reason was really to address my crown. In the first surgery we used less grafts there and waited to see how effective finesteride was in thickening it up. The second surgeon said I'd had good growth from my first procedure. If I were to compare, i would say the second was more refined - less scalp trauma and really fast recovery but then it was a smaller surgery. Here's me 4 days after surgery:

That is really great coverage. What was the average hair to graft ratio? Just have been high, surely?

No. Self driving is a very complex problem. I'm sure you're an expert too (please tell me you are since we are looking for engineers). Happy to discuss how far we've both gone if you want, though sadly I'm far from a kid. It was an exaggeration to make a point. If it wasn't clear, the point was you're oversimplifying the research massively, which I found rather arrogant.

Elon Musk: we are the first manufacturer to achieve autonomous driving that is 5 times safer that a human driver GoliGoliGoli: ok, ya, you used maths to predict what stuff is using a camera as input and copied how real drivers react, I thought you'd done something impressive for a second there.

There is certainly people that are more likely to get a good result than others (donor hair characteristics generally determine that). I've had surgery in the UK (Dr Arshad) and in Cyprus. It was cheaper to have surgery abroad but not much when travel, airport parking, food, extra hotel nights were considered. I'm assuming you've been quoted 2k grafts. I would say that you are unlikely to get a doctor driven surgery in the UK for 4k GBP. It'll be possible abroad but if your travel costs 500 GBP then you're looking for a surgeon at under 2 euros per graft. Its possible to get a doctor let surgery for that, but your options will be pretty limited.

I messy, if people look closely will the illusion of hair be maintained convincingly once you’ve removed it all? It would appear you’re pretty set on the idea, so you’re really not asking whether you should, but whether you could. To answer your question, yes, you’ll find surgeons in Turkey willing to move as many as hairs as you want from wherever you want.

I don't think it's the surgical plan that is the main issue here, but the yield from the transplant. I had pretty much exactly the same graft number as you and mine were transplanted across my scalp. I did have less loss in the crown but the frontal 3rd was almost identical. I would be trying to ascertain how much grew and why it wasn't a great yield before proceeding with any more surgery