My strategy after a failed HT (repair & 0mm shave)

[Melvin- Admin]

I don't know how the medical system works in Europe, but in the US there is no way an insurance company would cover a hair transplant. That said, I think you have done the right thing taking your time in getting this fixed. Dr. Mwamba is an excellent choice. I have spoken to Dr. Munib a couple of times and he seems to be an up and coming surgeon no doubt.

[SimpleLife]

On 7/21/2022 at 4:05 PM, BaldV said:

I really doubt that Mwamba can extract 2k grafts without scaring, I believe what he meant was that the scaring would be minimal and difficult to see with the naked eye, I still think your best option would be to just do SMP though and extract only what is neccesary to fix the donor

He showed me a part of his hand, saying that it would be scarless like that. I asked again, just to confirm since all other surgeons told me there would be scarring, he confirmed that with stitches hes able to achieve it. Pretty sure I didn't misunderstood him

[SimpleLife]

On 7/22/2022 at 3:03 AM, Melvin- Moderator said:

I don't know how the medical system works in Europe, but in the US there is no way an insurance company would cover a hair transplant. That said, I think you have done the right thing taking your time in getting this fixed. Dr. Mwamba is an excellent choice. I have spoken to Dr. Munib a couple of times and he seems to be an up and coming surgeon no doubt.

Yeh neither in Europe, I'm just going to try it since there was an article I read that some people got it covered. 

When its done for cosmetic reasons there is 0% chance, thats why she gave a letter confirming it was psychological

[SimpleLife]

"
You will receive full reimbursement from the basic insurance for plastic surgery due to a medical necessity if you meet at least one of the following conditions:

 - The condition limits your physical functioning
- Mutilation due to illness, accident or medical procedure
- A congenital malformation
- Sex surgery for proven transsexuality

In principle, hair implantation does not fall under any of these conditions, so you will not receive any reimbursement from the basic insurance.  However, there are known situations in which a hair implant was reimbursed on the basis of mutilation, but in most situations the health insurance will indicate that it concerns a change in appearance rather than a mutilation.  So you can try to get compensation based on mutilation, but the chance that insurers will agree is small.

"

[SimpleLife]

So I gave this a lot of thought and decided to hop on minoxidil again, despite having side effects from using it 3 years ago (mainly irregular heartbeats). 
 

So far I could live with the botched hair transplant by keeping my hairs long & using a hat, but I start to notice the bald area behind the implanted hairs.

Taking into account that my repair might be 1-2 years away, I believe its the most logical thing to do at this point. I will simply accept any side effect and live with it untill my repair

The protocol:

- Minoxidil & Retinoid 0.5% 1x a day at night

- Dermapen (need to play around with the depth and frequency). Also on the donor 

0.25mm (3x weekly) or 1.5mm (1x weekly) seem to be effective

- Baby shampoo with salt (Nizoral gives me bad shedding so dropped that one)

- MCT + Oregano oil couple times a week (helps with dandruff). Might add ACV and other oils like rosemary and peppermint.

 

- Keto + IF (doing this for other reasons, but seems to help with hairloss)

- Massages with fingers and brush

- Headstands for bloodflow🤣

Will do some of these steps for my beard as well, cuz I'm starting to see some patches

Edited July 29, 2022 by SimpleLife

[stephcurry30]

3 hours ago, SimpleLife said:

So I gave this a lot of thought and decided to hop on minoxidil again, despite having side effects from using it 3 years ago (mainly irregular heartbeats). 
 

So far I could live with the botched hair transplant by keeping my hairs long & using a hat, but I start to notice the bald area behind the implanted hairs.

Taking into account that my repair might be 1-2 years away, I believe its the most logical thing to do at this point. I will simply accept any side effect and live with it untill my repair

The protocol:

- Minoxidil & Retinoid 0.5% 1x a day at night

- Dermapen (need to play around with the depth and frequency). Also on the donor 

0.25mm (3x weekly) or 1.5mm (1x weekly) seem to be effective

- Baby shampoo with salt (Nizoral gives me bad shedding so dropped that one)

- MCT + Oregano oil couple times a week (helps with dandruff). Might add ACV and other oils like rosemary and peppermint.

 

- Keto + IF (doing this for other reasons, but seems to help with hairloss)

- Massages with fingers and brush

- Headstands for bloodflow🤣

Will do some of these steps for my beard as well, cuz I'm starting to see some patches

Studies have shown that just derma-rolling/penning once a week is more sufficient and efficient that using it multiple times a week. It gives the skin more time to repair. 

Have you also considered finastiride?

[SimpleLife]

14 minutes ago, stephcurry30 said:

Studies have shown that just derma-rolling/penning once a week is more sufficient and efficient that using it multiple times a week. It gives the skin more time to repair. 

Have you also considered finastiride?

Will probably do that then💪🏼
 

Nah, my goal is to get some coverage,  so I'm not trying to save all my hair. Wont take vitamines etc either, I believe the protocol above will be sufficient, since I responded very well to minoxidil in the past in terms of growth 

[HappyMan2021]

3 hours ago, SimpleLife said:

using a hat

definitely shop around and get some hip fashionable hats. 

if you wear fashionable clothes, a good hat, and good facial hair (facial hair kind of optional), you can definitely conceal any hair issues perfectly. 

I am neck deep in the ugly duckling stage of my HT in June, but have still been going on plenty of dates. I have been doing the fashionable clothes + hat + beard combo and have been getting many 2nd dates with women who have absolutely zero clue what my hair looks like. And honestly probably won't give a sh*t when they do see it because everything else is on fleek. 

Women will not care about your hair is all of your other factors are on fire.

 

TLDR: Focus on other aspects of your appearance and fashion and your hair issues will not affect your life while you wait for sugery

 

[GoliGoliGoli]

5 hours ago, SimpleLife said:

So I gave this a lot of thought and decided to hop on minoxidil again, despite having side effects from using it 3 years ago (mainly irregular heartbeats). 
 

You were using topical I take it? How long after using did you notice the irregular heartbeats? Did you have it checked out or just self diagnosed?

Thanks

[SimpleLife]

13 hours ago, HappyMan2021 said:

definitely shop around and get some hip fashionable hats. 

if you wear fashionable clothes, a good hat, and good facial hair (facial hair kind of optional), you can definitely conceal any hair issues perfectly. 

I am neck deep in the ugly duckling stage of my HT in June, but have still been going on plenty of dates. I have been doing the fashionable clothes + hat + beard combo and have been getting many 2nd dates with women who have absolutely zero clue what my hair looks like. And honestly probably won't give a sh*t when they do see it because everything else is on fleek. 

Women will not care about your hair is all of your other factors are on fire.

 

TLDR: Focus on other aspects of your appearance and fashion and your hair issues will not affect your life while you wait for sugery

 

Dating/sex is boring imo. Maybe boring is not the right word, but with all the experiences Ive had so far its atleast very overhyped, so thats my last concern bro. But what youre saying is 100% true

A bigger reason for me wanting to fix it is that I want to do sports other than fitness, like swimming, mma etc

[SimpleLife]

11 hours ago, GoliGoliGoli said:

You were using topical I take it? How long after using did you notice the irregular heartbeats? Did you have it checked out or just self diagnosed?

Thanks

Yes, used it for ~5 months if I remember correctly. Everytime I would put it on it had the same effect. Self diagnosed

I saw a vid from a guy who used the liquid version for years with no problem and had the exact same side effect when he tried the foam that I used so that convinced me to try it again

[GoliGoliGoli]

8 hours ago, SimpleLife said:

Yes, used it for ~5 months if I remember correctly. Everytime I would put it on it had the same effect. Self diagnosed

I saw a vid from a guy who used the liquid version for years with no problem and had the exact same side effect when he tried the foam that I used so that convinced me to try it again

Wait, so you're saying you and the other guy had the side effect on the foam, but not on the liquid?

[SimpleLife]

1 hour ago, GoliGoliGoli said:

Wait, so you're saying you and the other guy had the side effect on the foam, but not on the liquid?

I havent used the liquid yet, ordered it yesterday

My guess is that it might be the fast absorbtion. From what Ive read the foam takes 15 min and liquid 1/4hours to absorb 

[SimpleLife]

I thought it would be no big deal, but realized that waiting hours just for it to dry out is not doable. Idk how you guys do it

Will order a different foam and try it 

[mrmane85]

Have you tried low dose oral min? 

[GoliGoliGoli]

On 8/10/2022 at 8:46 PM, SimpleLife said:

I thought it would be no big deal, but realized that waiting hours just for it to dry out is not doable. Idk how you guys do it

Will order a different foam and try it 

Ya my job is WFH and cameras are off for every meeting which makes topical Min much easier. Not sure what I'll do if I ever lost this job for some reason and have to go back to the office as I'd rather not try oral Min.