Al - Moderator

Are you just trying to fill in a FUT scar? If you're only using a small amount of body hair then it's probably better to continue with finisteride if it was working for you. The more body hair grafts you use then it starts becoming counter productive at some point.

To try to answer the original question, I was on finisteride for about 11 years from roughly 1998 to 2009. I had some side effects, but was able to manage it, but after some years went by, the side effects were getting worse and my hair was once again noticeably falling out, so for me it made no sense to continue staying on finisteride. Once I stopped the side effects went away. My hair probably started falling out faster afterwards, so technically the finsiteride was still working, but it didn't matter to me as I was a NW 7 either way, just a bit more of a NW 7 after I stopped using it. To me it was more important to have good erections and increase my body hair in order to use beard and chest hair.

Sexual side effects probably don't happen suddenly, but as you get older the minor effects that you didn't even notice when you were young and always horny start to make a noticeable difference 15 or 20 years later. Some guys may feel like it happened suddenly because you don't notice until you really need it to work.

Do you have any pictures you can show? 1000 grafts isn't very many grafts. I'd say wait until at least the 10 month mark to get consultations for what to do next as it should still thicken up a bit over the next few months and give you a better idea of what is needed.

My brother was a NW 1 or 2 at age 40 and is now a NW 6 in his mid 50s.

Let your beard hair grow a few days at least, so the Dr can see what it looks like and give you an estimate of how many grafts he can get.

If you use the entire donor area on the first hair transplant, you have hairs missing from all over. Now you go for a second transplant and it gets much harder for the Dr to properly space out all the grafts without taking some from directly next to (or above or below) where another graft was taken earlier which could create small spots with no hair and look moth-eaten/depleted in those spots. Using one half of the head first allows the Dr to use a full, untouched area on the second transplant and thus reducing the chance of it looking depleted. It also can be easier to extract grafts from an unscarred area rather than from an area where grafts were already taken because there can be some scarring underneath the skin from pulling the grafts out. That scarring can be a lot wider than the small dot punch mark on the surface. I'm not saying this should always be done. I'm just trying to give you the answer you seek.

It usually takes about 18 months for the wiry, kinky, curliness to soften and straighten out. Give it some more time and see if it improves.

You said you are in the New York area, so if I were you I would check out Dr Bloxham (Feller and Bloxham) for a possible scar reduction. Dr Bloxham has been doing some excellent FUT work and has been getting some very good, barely noticeable FUT scars. There are also several other Drs in NY who do FUT work and should be able to do FUT scar reductions as well if you want to check them out including Dr Robert Dorin, Dr Carols Wesley, and Dr Robert Bernstein

How many days did you have the staples in? If you have them removed too soon it can cause some stretch along the scar line. Even if the scar is healed enough where it won't open up, if you still have a lot of tightness then that's the first place that will stretch back as that's where the scalp is being pulled from both above and below the scar. I would do another FUT along the scar to remove it and get a few extra grafts to add density in other places where you need it with the following protocol: 1. Do some scalp stretching exercises every day for a few weeks before the procedure to create some laxity. 2. Do an FUT to remove the scar and get some extra grafts to fill in some other areas that you wanted filled. 3. Keep the staples in for at least a few days longer than you did the first time, so the stretch back will be forced to happen throughout the rest of the scalp and not along the scar. The downsides to this is that you may not get very many additional grafts for filling in other areas. That really depends on how wide the scar is and how much laxity you have. You don't want to try to go too wide and have too much tightness because you don't want to risk the scar stretching again.

Wow. Why would they even want to post that video. His hair looks terrible. How can he honestly say he is happy with that result?

There are a number of very good Drs on the US East coast that you can look into if you don't really want to fly. https://www.hairtransplantnetwork.com/Consult-a-Physician/hair-transplant-surgeons.asp?sr=HRN

That comes to $4.57 per graft which is a proper price in the USA for FUT.

I'm not the only one who has said this about their BHT. It's been mentioned by several people here who used beard grafts. I can tell you for me personally, the hair grows longer and faster than my scalp hair. I've let it grow more than 3 inches before I cut it, but it will probably grow longer than that. It first starts out very kinky and rough, but it eventually softens up after a few hair cuts. It takes between 2 to 3 years to really soften up fully to match my scalp hair. This is why on @mustang's thread where he discusses purposely depleting the scalp donor and replacing it with body hair, I say it's not the best idea because you are transplanting twice, once taking from the scalp and then taking it from the beard to place it in the original scalp donor area. You can simply take it from the beard in the first place. There are lots of "after" photos of men who had a lot of body hair and it usually does not look great as you can see it's very kinky and wiry, but you have to understand that the "after" photos are usually taken in the 10 to 12 month post transplant range while it takes another year longer than that to fully straighten and soften, so you don't get the real picture of what it will look like long term. Also if you are using it mixed with scalp hair it will not look anywhere near as bad as only using body hair even after only 10 months.

I don't know anything about this Blue Magic clinic that is mentioned here, but there have been numerous cases pointed out in these forums of clinics showing photos from other clinics and trying to pass them off as their own work, so yes the photos and videos can be fake.

From your latest pictures it looks really good right now and you don't need anything more done. You need to remind yourself what you looked like before the HT and enjoy all the hair you have there now.

It looks good. I'm not a big fan of SMP, but I imagine it works pretty good on you because you do have some hair scattered all over your scalp from the hair transplants which should give it the 3-D effect when light is shining on it along with a stubble feel if someone touches it. It certainly looks better than it did. You mentioned possibly some further FUE at some point. If you are going to do that, I suggest spending some time looking over your entire head and figure out what areas could use a bit more hair to get a better 3-D / stubble effect and concentrate on touching up those areas with a small amount of FUE. The combination of some buzzed hair with the added SMP for a full coverage look can work very well.

You probably have some shock loss. If so, then it will improve over the next few months. How much it improves you won't know until the time passes and you can see what it looks like. Right now you are less than one month out, so you just have to wait it out and hope for the best.

Melvin, put about 200 grafts in the center behind the hairline to create somewhat of a center tuft. You don't want to mess with the very frontal hairline as that looks so good right now. You don't want to risk ruining the naturalness of it. Using just 200 grafts behind the hairline won't really take away from what you are getting done in the crown and it will make you feel like you improved the front and I'm sure you will notice a difference when it grows out. A lot of this stuff is psychological. If you don't put any in the front then you will always be thinking to yourself that you should have done that. If you don't actually touch the hairline and stay just behind it then you can use beard grafts. I wouldn't want to use any more scalp grafts as it looks like you are already getting a bit thin from all the grafts taken previously. I wouldn't want to thin out the sides and back any further. Besides, your beard hair seems to grow pretty straight and doesn't look too rough, so it should blend in very well.

I'm pretty sure I will soon. I need to go for a follow up and see what to do next. I need to concentrate on the front and midscalp for my next procedure. I think I will start a thread with that one.

For myself I'm kind of torn on which way to go. I want the hairline a bit lower, but the crown really bothers me the most. I think it's because my hair loss started in the crown and I can still remember being 18 or 19 years old and frantically trying to comb my hair to cover my crown (which I couldn't do) for a date with a girl I hadn't seen in a while.

Hey @Portugal25, You created and have been maintaining this list for a while now. I know it takes some time to keep updating. Nice job on doing it.

It looks like a lot of them didn't grow. You have complete empty space behind the hairline where a lot of grafts were placed. I wouldn't go back to the same clinic.

Looks awesome compared to where you started.

excellent end result.