Regular Member hairback423 Posted December 9, 2021 Regular Member Share Posted December 9, 2021 I had a hair transplant in (FUT) 2000 grafts in April of 2015 from Dr. Scott Alexander. It seems to be thinning behind the transplanted area in front hairline contributing to the appearance that the transplanted hair is falling out. As I'm sure you are all aware hair transplants aren't cheap and I don't have another 8-10k to drop on another transplant. I was thinking about SMP where my first transplant was on my front hairline and behind it to give the appearance of a fuller head of hair and on the scar? Does anyone think that is a good idea? Also I live in Scottsdale, AZ I wanted to see if anyone had any recommendations of where I could go for SMP. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Valued Contributor Gatsby Posted December 9, 2021 Valued Contributor Share Posted December 9, 2021 Fly to Adelaide, Australia and have Caitlin James do it! 😉 GATSBY 'UNPLUGGED!' 15,671 (3 surgeries) Grafts FUE+BHT Dr. Sethi Eugenix Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Regular Member hairback423 Posted December 9, 2021 Author Regular Member Share Posted December 9, 2021 Looking for a place in AZ. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Administrators Melvin- Admin Posted December 9, 2021 Administrators Share Posted December 9, 2021 1 minute ago, hairback423 said: Looking for a place in AZ. I don’t know of anyone in AZ but Umar does good smp in California and so does Mohebi. I’m a paid admin for Hair Transplant Network. I do not receive any compensation from any clinic. My comments are not medical advice. Check out my final hair transplant and topical dutasteride journey: View my thread Topical dutasteride journey Melvin- Managing Publisher and Forum Moderator for the Hair Transplant Network, the Coalition Hair Loss Learning Center, and the Hair Loss Q&A Blog. Follow our Social Media: Facebook, Instagram, Linkedin, and YouTube. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Senior Member hairthere Posted December 9, 2021 Senior Member Share Posted December 9, 2021 (edited) I recommend posting some pictures to get a better idea of your situation. Edited December 10, 2021 by hairthere I am the owner/operator of AHEAD INK a Scalp Micropigmentation Company in Fort Lee, New Jersey. www.aheadink.com Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Senior Member ciaus Posted December 9, 2021 Senior Member Share Posted December 9, 2021 About the hair transplant, did you ever get on finasteride before or after the transplant to get your overall hairloss under control? Finasteride prescriptions are pretty cheap, whether it be $20-25 a month for 1mg pills or as low as $15 a year if you get 5mg pills and quarter them. Just be careful about reading up on the possible side effects online especially, alot of fear mongering and guys psyching themselves out into having sexual performance issues. Only a small % of people actually get them and you can start with doses even less than 1mg and get results. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Regular Member hairback423 Posted December 9, 2021 Author Regular Member Share Posted December 9, 2021 Thank you. Yeah I was on it like 6 months before and have been on sense. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Regular Member hairback423 Posted December 9, 2021 Author Regular Member Share Posted December 9, 2021 Finasteride I’m on has anyone tried dutasteride? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Regular Member hairback423 Posted December 20, 2021 Author Regular Member Share Posted December 20, 2021 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Senior Member ciaus Posted December 20, 2021 Senior Member Share Posted December 20, 2021 (edited) On 12/8/2021 at 9:17 PM, hairback423 said: I was thinking about SMP where my first transplant was on my front hairline and behind it to give the appearance of a fuller head of hair and on the scar? Usually SMP is used to achieve an overall 'shaved' or 'buzz' look, but it sounds like your goal is to keep growing your hair out and use SMP to add a density effect like a permanent concealer? It can be done, @EvoXOhiohad some great work done earlier this year to do that. You can see the details in his thread below. But if you are going to do that its important to have a long term plan to keep enough hair on your head to maintain the proper effect. If you continue to lose hair there will be a tipping point where it will stop looking natural. In your original post you indicate that additional hair transplants are not in your plan. -Edit - see your previous reply that you are taking Finasteride, so that's good. If you are taking that and still losing at an unacceptable rate some guys do have some success by switching to dutasteride. Edited December 20, 2021 by ciaus 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Regular Member hairback423 Posted December 21, 2021 Author Regular Member Share Posted December 21, 2021 Thank you so much! Has anyone ever heard of Looking Good Inc.? I am a little skeptical because while the reviews I read online from what I could find were good, but when I talked to Bosley (just for a second opinion) They said they wouldn't do the entire top scalp, bc if I did lose more it would look unnatural (which I agree). The guy from Looking Good Inc said I was a great candidate for it to make look thicker with out having to drop another 9k. I'm not against another transplant, but just money is tight right now and I figured SMP might be something to looking to, to create the illusion of thicker hair. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Regular Member hairback423 Posted December 21, 2021 Author Regular Member Share Posted December 21, 2021 This was my before and after of FUT 2000 grafts from 4/2/2015. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Regular Member hairback423 Posted December 21, 2021 Author Regular Member Share Posted December 21, 2021 This was a little over a year ago and it my hair got super thin and I really don't know why it was a little wet, but its not even like that now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Regular Member hairback423 Posted December 21, 2021 Author Regular Member Share Posted December 21, 2021 This was yesterday. Do you think I would be a good candidate for SMP for density or should I hold off and save for another transplant hopefully? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Senior Member hairthere Posted December 21, 2021 Senior Member Share Posted December 21, 2021 Your hair looks great in my opinion. I don't think SMP will make that big a difference. I'd hold off and save money for future HT work. 1 1 I am the owner/operator of AHEAD INK a Scalp Micropigmentation Company in Fort Lee, New Jersey. www.aheadink.com Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Senior Member hairman22 Posted December 21, 2021 Senior Member Share Posted December 21, 2021 19 hours ago, ciaus said: Usually SMP is used to achieve an overall 'shaved' or 'buzz' look, but it sounds like your goal is to keep growing your hair out and use SMP to add a density effect like a permanent concealer? It can be done, @EvoXOhiohad some great work done earlier this year to do that. You can see the details in his thread below. But if you are going to do that its important to have a long term plan to keep enough hair on your head to maintain the proper effect. If you continue to lose hair there will be a tipping point where it will stop looking natural. In your original post you indicate that additional hair transplants are not in your plan. -Edit - see your previous reply that you are taking Finasteride, so that's good. If you are taking that and still losing at an unacceptable rate some guys do have some success by switching to dutasteride. that can easily be covered though when you go back. And it will probably fade as well. Juts had my 2nd session. It looked great but it fades so quickly with me. Ill have to wait after the 3rd to see how it is. It is important not to go too dark though then you will be in trouble later on possibly. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Senior Member EvoXOhio Posted December 22, 2021 Senior Member Share Posted December 22, 2021 (edited) 17 hours ago, hairthere said: Your hair looks great in my opinion. I don't think SMP will make that big a difference. I'd hold off and save money for future HT work. I’m going to second this. As someone who has had SMP for density (and thrilled with the results), I don’t think you need it at all. Edited December 22, 2021 by EvoXOhio 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Senior Member EvoXOhio Posted December 22, 2021 Senior Member Share Posted December 22, 2021 15 hours ago, hairman22 said: Juts had my 2nd session. It looked great but it fades so quickly with me. Ill have to wait after the 3rd to see how it is. It is important not to go too dark though then you will be in trouble later on possibly. SMP should not fade quickly at all if you’re taking care of it. It’s been 8 months for me and it looks exactly the same. the only discernible difference is from immediately post SMP when there’s extra ink on your scalp, versus a week later when it’s all healed. Then from there it should be heard before you ever notice a difference 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Regular Member hairback423 Posted December 22, 2021 Author Regular Member Share Posted December 22, 2021 Thank you all for your advice. I really appreciate it. Maybe I'll hold off on the SMP for now. What about if I just did the scar? Mine actually isn't that bad, but if go lower than a 3 on the sides the scar will show. I'd do a one if I could. Also, what is better dutasteride or finasteride? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Senior Member hairman22 Posted December 22, 2021 Senior Member Share Posted December 22, 2021 6 hours ago, EvoXOhio said: SMP should not fade quickly at all if you’re taking care of it. It’s been 8 months for me and it looks exactly the same. the only discernible difference is from immediately post SMP when there’s extra ink on your scalp, versus a week later when it’s all healed. Then from there it should be heard before you ever notice a difference i juts had the 2nd session. Im doing 3 overall. It looks very good but ill see if it fades again. If it does then its not looking good. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Senior Member ciaus Posted December 22, 2021 Senior Member Share Posted December 22, 2021 (edited) 8 hours ago, hairback423 said: Thank you all for your advice. I really appreciate it. Maybe I'll hold off on the SMP for now. What about if I just did the scar? Mine actually isn't that bad, but if go lower than a 3 on the sides the scar will show. I'd do a one if I could. Also, what is better dutasteride or finasteride? If you cut your hair shorter and it looks better that way, may be worth it even though money is tight. That comes down to your personal preferences ultimately. It does take some extra skill to get the ink to deposit correctly into the scar tissue for long term retention, so I wouldn't let any rookie get some of their practice on you. Make sure they show you other scar work they've done. Your pic where you move your hair around to show your scar in the back, its hard to see the actual scar from that but the extra visible skin is clear enough. That's another thing, you want to have your scar flattened out as much as possible, and looks like that's the case with you. On finasteride and dutasteride, dutasteride is the more powerful of the two. Finasteride suppresses up to 70% of DHT while dutasteride is up in the 90s% range. But its not nearly as widely used for hair loss as finasteride, which is enough for most guys. Dutasteride is less studied, less used, so long term safety is more of an open question. Side effect rates are about the same, low single digits, so if you didn't get any side effects on finasteride you probably won't get them on dutasteride. And when you stop finasteride its out of your system within about a week, whereas dutasteride takes months. Some parts of the world, like Japan, have approved it officially for hair loss so its straightforward for guys over there to get prescriptions from their doctors. Here in the USA its approved for just treating enlarged prostrate. But you can get some doctors to approve it for off-label use like hairloss, just don't know how much searching you'd have to do to find one that will. You can price check compare for pharmacies near you at the links below to see if it fits into your budget. https://www.goodrx.com/finasteride https://www.goodrx.com/dutasteride Edited December 22, 2021 by ciaus 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Regular Member hairback423 Posted December 23, 2021 Author Regular Member Share Posted December 23, 2021 The extra visible skin? Do you mean on my front like where I had the transplant and behind a little. Honestly the recent picture I posted actually looks better than it is. Haha I’m prob my own worst critic tho. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Senior Member ciaus Posted December 23, 2021 Senior Member Share Posted December 23, 2021 (edited) 11 hours ago, hairback423 said: The extra visible skin? Do you mean on my front like where I had the transplant and behind a little. Honestly the recent picture I posted actually looks better than it is. Haha I’m prob my own worst critic tho. I was going by this picture that you posted. You said in your original post that you had an FUT procedure back in 2015. Looking at the pic again here I'm not really seeing any clear FUT scar line . The 'extra visible skin' as I put it, looks to be caused more by your fingers parting the hair. Are you pointing at it with the finger at the bottom of the pic or is it higher up? These question marks I put on the pic are my guesses. Edited December 23, 2021 by ciaus Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Senior Member ciaus Posted December 23, 2021 Senior Member Share Posted December 23, 2021 (edited) Looking again after posting the above, I think I see the scar right here. How far around does this wrap around your head? Edited December 23, 2021 by ciaus Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Regular Member hairback423 Posted December 24, 2021 Author Regular Member Share Posted December 24, 2021 This was 2019 but that was a 2 on the side. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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