DoubleTalkinJive

I started Finasteride and Minoxidil a few months before my HT. I was doing a topical solution. I was told by Dr. Hernandez, as well as all the other professionals in the industry that I got consults from, that being on those things is non-negotiable. You will have better success in the long run being on the meds. I switched to oral Fin and Min a few months after the HT and I've had no side effects from any of the meds. I don't love being on meds, but I've accepted that as long as I want to keep the hair I have, I'll be on them for the foreseeable future.

I believe I paid around $4500 last summer with Dr. Hernandez. It's probably slightly higher now. But that's a flat rate regardless of how many grafts they do. I think they cap the number they do in one day. I had close to 3,000 and it was an all-day affair. Like 9:00 am - 6:00 pm or so

I went to Dr. Hernandez at Neopel back in June last year. My results 9 months on are very good IMO, and can't wait to see what they look like after a few more months. She and her husband are awesome (they both do the procedure themselves) and won't BS you when it comes to viability of a transplant. If I were to get a second (I'm not on board yet) I'd go there in a heartbeat. Check out my other posts for a rundown of my experience.

I think you're doing fine for month 3. I had pimples until months 3 to 4 and they eventually subsided. You'll definitely start to notice some results months 4 and 5 and will only get better from there. Best of luck!

Your donor looks awesome, basically untouched. I had SMP as well and I think it has helped with the shadowing a bit with my HT. It's been about 6.5 months since my procedure and it's starting to fill in very nicely. Best of luck!

I had the procedure done about 6.5 months ago, so here's a timeline of pics from before the procedure to as of a couple weeks ago. My hair really took off at month 4 and has been getting thicker it seems every week. I feel like I have really good coverage at this point and can't wait to see what it's like at month 12. My crown is still kinda bald so I'll have to wait and see how I feel after a year. I don't even see it so I don't care all that much, but it might be worth it if I can get away with not too many grafts to get coverage on it. My donor is totally fine and you can't tell anything was done back there. All that being said, my confidence is through the roof now that I've started to see some real results. I walk around now without a hat and just feel so much better in general. I look in the mirror now and see some hair, which is such an awesome feeling, one that I haven't had in a long time. Pre-procedure, day of Month 1 Month 2 Month 3 Month 4 Month 5 Month 6 Front Month 6 side view

Just a quick update, mostly just to show the normal progression of things for anyone that is thinking of a HT. It's been a little over a month, and I've shed a good amount of the transplanted hair. I have a little redness but not too bad, and it's getting slightly better by the day. My donor is looking pretty good, but still itches quite a bit. I've firmly entered the ugly duckling phase, but definitely gonna get a trim soon on the sides and back to make it a little more presentable. I don't feel like wearing a hat everywhere so I'm just kind of owning this in-between look. To be honest, the only person that really cares about your hair is you. No one else notices, or if they do, they really don't care. Donor area is doing pretty well, but I definitely have some zits underneath there that itch Donor doing well on this side, too

I'd agree with your assessment about there being so much variability with post-op recovery. I came to my doctor with a lot of questions when I got my HT, based on what I had read online about recovery. Most of what my docs said lined up with what I read, but some things deviated. I basically just erred on the side of caution with everything, since that really couldn't hurt by waiting a few weeks instead of doing anything too early. My game plan has been to just live a healthy lifestyle, sleep well, make sure I'm getting vitamins, take my meds (fin/min), and don't overexert myself for a few weeks. That's a pretty safe bet, and worrying about anything else is just not worth it. As an aside, I don't know about PRP or laser helmets. My docs were very upfront with me and said they didn't find any overwhelming evidence that either of those things worked. I'm sure some might disagree here though.

Here's a short update from my recovery. All my scabs are gone and my hairline is basically intact, and I really like it. I followed all the doc's instructions closely for aftercare, to include meds, light shampooing, sleeping upright, and no alcohol. My donor area is still a little itchy, but overall has healed very nicely. My wife said she couldn't even tell that something was done on my donor area. As mentioned in my first post, I've been on topical fin/min for 3 months, and started oral fin the day of procedure, and will continue with that. I'm going to start up topical min again, probably in a week or so. I'm taking vitamins and trying to eat healthily. I'm making sure to get Iron and Zinc in vitamins/diet, as I've heard they're good for blood flow. Anyways, here's some pics: Day 8 from the front and scabbing over well Day 8 - Another scabbing view Day 8 - View of side donor area. The light is not great, but donor area is healing nicely and you can't tell much was done there Day 11 - All scabs gone. Area is still pink, which I guess will take some time to go away Day 11 - Another side view of scab-free transplant area Day 11 - Aerial view of transplanted area

Dr. Allessandri (husband of the duo) did the FUE extractions himself for 6 hours or something. It took a while. He had techs helping him handle all the grafts and putting them in whatever solution it is to keep them healthy. Dr. Hernandez (the wife) placed all the grafts in the recipient area herself, and that part was closer to 2.5 - 3 hours I think.

Yeah, that made me a little hesitant, too. I saw they had a bunch of great reviews on Yelp and Google, and I saw a handful of Youtube videos on them. For whatever reason, they aren't huge into before/after pics and doing the social media thing. I wish they would, but they've also said they are often booked out for a while, so I guess word gets out somehow. What sold me was having a really good Zoom call with the docs. I just got a really good feeling from them. I don't live near SD so I had to do it over Zoom.

Good advice from all the others here about doing your due diligence with SMP artists. As much as you might want to get it over with in 1 or 2 sessions, I actually think it's best to go very conservative on the first round and then wait and see results after a few weeks. You'd much rather be in the position of just adding a small amount in subsequent sessions versus it looking unnatural after just one session. I had it done in two sessions and had the artist go very light on me in both, and I'm happy with the result a few years later. It looks pretty natural, although I just got a HT over it, so who knows how much will actually be seen once everything's healed and I start growing hair again.

For what it's worth, I just had my HT last week, and the doctor said I could "buzz" it down after a month. Probably meaning something like a 1 or 2 guard, but to be careful on the recipient area and not go too hard

Hi all, I've been a lurker here for a little bit and just wanted to say thank you for all people who have posted results and all the knowledge and tips you guys have provided. This site is a wealth of info and should be required reading for anyone thinking about a HT. Sorry if I ramble but I have a lot to share! Backstory: I'm 41, and starting showing a slightly receding hairline in my mid-20s. It really kickstarted around 30 and by the time I was 36-37 it was pretty bad. I started just buzzing my head around then, since I figured that was my only option, and it was fine as I have a decent-shaped head. About two years ago I think I had made it to around Norwood V (maybe more, I don't know). I started looking into HTs as the time but just it wasn't for me, but SMP was good since I had been keeping my head buzzed anyway. I liked what I saw from some really good artists where I live in the US, and dove in "headfirst" in spring of 2021. You'll see in my pics, but I had the artist keep it very conservative and light and follow my natural hairline and make me look my age, not 18 again with a ridiculous hairline. I even had multiple people ask why I keep my hair so short and didn't just grow it out. That was cool! I told them I just love the low maintenance lifestyle : ) I actually liked my SMP for ease (I buzzed once or twice a week depending on laziness) and it looked great in certain light, but often times I'd find myself in harsher light and you just can't get away from the glare and head shininess. It's a giveaway that you're still bald. Even in most pictures I could tell there was a slight hint of a shadow but I still looked fairly bald. I eventually got jealous of seeing people with ANY hair whatsoever and missed being able to at least grow it out and style it, and was affecting my self-confidence. One good thing though was that in the last few years I hadn't gotten any balder when comparing pre-SMP pics to now. I seemed to have stabilized a bit. (Minor SMP rant: I'm not sold on getting SMP touch-ups, which I originally had planned after 5 years. Even though it fades over time and doesn't change colors or blur (in the hands of a good artist) I think you may end up with a blob on your head if done too many times incorrectly. SMP really has only become much more widespread in the last 10-15 years and I don't know if the evidence is there for multiple touch-ups looking great, but maybe someone can correct me. Plus, as I mentioned, harsh lighting will always give it away with the shininess. End rant.) Research: The last few months I started considering a HT again and did tons of research. I looked at US clinics but they were insanely expensive. I went to one in my city, which actually has an awesome reputation with lots of before/after pics and testimonials from famous folk, and got a free in-person consultation to get a realistic opinion. They said they could 3500 grafts safely over two days (why two days, I don't know). But the price tag was exorbitant ($21K+, $6/graft). I looked at Turkey and actually got a couple online consults from some clinics, and they basically wanted to do mega-sessions of ~5,000 grafts or two separate HTs. The price was right (~$7K I think) but I honestly didn't feel like traveling that far just for the procedure. I then started looking in Mexico and found some Tijuana-based clinics, and did a Zoom consult with Neopel. I could fly to San Diego easily so I figured I could get the procedure and stay in SD and recover a little. The doctor for the consult at Neopel (Dr. Hernandez) was very up-front after seeing my photos, and was very knowledgable and answered tons of my questions. The clinic is run by her primarily, but it is a husband-wife team with her spouse (Dr. Allessandri (sp?)), and they've been at this for 18+ years. They don't have a huge online presence with before/after results but I read a bunch of reviews and testimonials and they sounded very thorough. I was so confident and comfortable with them that I booked an appt in April but had to wait for an open date in June. Procedure: All of my communication with the clinic was really, really good. Their Admin team was super prompt and answered every question clearly and concisely and put me at ease. I flew to SD two days early to chill, and someone from the clinic picked me up the morning of the procedure. The border crossing was super easy and was at the clinic 5 minutes after crossing. I filled out paperwork, got changed into scrubs, and they examined my donor area. They said I had miniaturization and my donor area was a little thin, but would be able to give me decent coverage in front and middle, but would need to do a second HT if I wanted to cover my crown. What I loved was that they didn't want to put my "unsafe" donor zone in too much jeopardy, but would get as much as they could without harm. After hearing horror stories of over-harvesting and such around here, I was so glad they were up-front with me. I was a bit nervous (first HT obviously!) so they gave me an IV and Xanax to chill. Dr. Hernandez did such a good job putting me at ease. Dr. Allessandri personally did the graft extraction, and took a bit longer than I expected, but was extremely thorough. I was totally numbed up during this part that I fell asleep a few times, plus they had awesome music in the background. The doctors were so kind and caring through each part and made sure I was comfortable. We broke for lunch (most amazing tacos I've ever had!) and then promptly did the graft insertion. This part was shorter and I was numbed again so didn't feel a whole lot. Dr. Hernandez did all of the insertions herself and did an awesome job with making my hairline as natural as possible. She also didn't try to "save" the SMP, if you will. She did the grafts as if there was no SMP, but some SMP will still come through, which will add a nice shadow effect hopefully when everything is said and done. She wasn't a fan of SMP in general, she told me. Makes sense coming from a HT doctor. She said they ended up doing 2,900 grafts, but I didn't get the breakdown on 1-hair, 2-hair, 3-hair grafts. If I had to rate pain (1-10) from the local anesthetic injections I'd say 3. It wasn't too bad. We finished in late afternoon (the whole thing took over 10 hours), went over post-op stuff and answered a million of my questions, and I got a ride back across the border to my AirBnb in SD. The border crossing took under 10 minute since they give you a special "medical pass" to go through the quick crossing lanes. Otherwise, I think it can take much longer normally, FYI. Post-Op: I'm one day out, and my head feels fine. A little numb, but OK. They gave me anti-inflammatories, antibiotics, and painkillers to take for 7 days. Also saline solution to spray every few hours for the next few days. I have to sleep propped up for 7-10 days and not touching my transplant area, which sucks. Maybe I'll get used to it but my sleep wasn't great last night. Cost: $4,500 all in, which came out to $1.55/graft. Meds: I've been on topical Fin/Min for the last 3 months (I should've started much earlier dammit!), but started a regimen of oral Fin (1 mg) today and will stick with that from here on out. I'll get back on topical Min in a couple weeks once scabs are coming out and head is healing. I may do oral Min but I can't find online pharmacies that prescribe it. How does everyone else here get it? I also take tons of vitamins (multi, biotin, iron, zinc, etc.) so hopefully that's helping. As an aside, every single professional in this industry I talked to said Fin/Min is basically non-negotiable. I've accepted that I'll be on them for eternity if I want to keep what I have, and I've had no major side effects at this point. Overall: I'd highly recommend Neopel if you are willing to travel to Tijuana. They were super attentive and skilled, and the price was excellent for the service I received. I obviously just had this procedure yesterday, so who knows how the results will be in 12 months, but I'm very excited to find out and will honestly just be glad to have some hair after all this and not look totally bald. I'm highly realistic about what results can look like. I just want the front and middle to be apparent, since that's what frames your face and everyone sees you from the front. I know my crown will still be sparse, but right now I doubt I'd go do this again just to get my crown done. We'll see though, I could always change my mind. Pics: Attached are before/after procedure pics, and I'll post every month to show progress You can see slight SMP in this before photo. I normally kept my hair much shorter and buzzed and it looked much more natural View from above. You can see SMP here as well. My crown will still have SMP dots but I honestly don't care too much. They are fairly faint and almost like freckles, and should fade within a few years. Side view before procedure. I have OK coverage in area between scalp and mid, and hopefully will continue to strengthen with Fin/Min regimen Post-op. Pretty good coverage I think for 2,900 grafts. I wanted to keep a more mature, natural hairline. Front hairline is 1-hair grafts, middle circle has 3-hair grafts, and 2-hair grafts around that. Kind of like a bullseye. Another close-up of post-op Aerial view of recipient area. I wish they could've gone farther back toward crown but they wanted to keep donor area safe and not over-harvest. Oh well. Notice the middle circle is 3-hair grafts, 2-hairs in ring around that, and 1-hair transplants on front hairline. Donor area (Sorry if lighting is bad, I had to take these pics myself) More donor area More donor area