FUE scars can show on a shaved head, especially if you had (1) many FUEs and (2) a large punch used to create the FUEs. If you shave your head you will see the areas where the follicular units were removed. Longer hair can always grow out to cover it. For people who have significant scarring in their donor area, we often do Scalp Micropgimentation (https://scalpmicropigmentation.com/). The people with most detectable scars, when the surgery was performed with small punches, are those people who may have had a lower donor density so that the missing follicular units are more detectable. In people who have higher donor densities, there is enough hair not to notice the missing follicular units.
Finasteride works best on someone of your age. You are not too young. It is best if you can find a doctor with a HAIR CHECK test to get a good baseline for the future.
This man clearly used Toppik powder concealer to make his balding area look fuller in the before picture as flakes of Topppik show up in the photo. After the 7 months, he must have felt good enough about himself to take this photos without any evidence of Toppik on the photo.
As some of you may know, Ashton Kutcher revealed during a talk with Conan O’Brien that he’s taking Avodart, which basically is Dutasteride.
If you now compare his hair situation with the one of his un-identical twin brother, Michael Kutcher, it may be an indicator of Dutasteride working.
Of course they don’t have the exact same DNA but in my opinion this is none the less an okay reference. Also because we know he hasn’t done any hair transplant.
Conan: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Wv9gu1zJdRo
Michael Kutcher: https://marriedbiography.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/Michael-Kutcher.jpg
Of course, in the right person and the right time both finasteride or dutasteride may work for reversing hair loss.
The attachment goes through all of the definitions, common practice and a reasonably complete review of the industries experience with microneedling with minoxidil, PRP and mesotherapy. This is a must read for those of you who want to go through this treatment modality, how to do it and what you can realistically expect. The conclusion from the various references seems to show a uniform benefit from the microneedling.
A Scientific Perspective in Microneedling for Alopecia from tressless
This man had a hair transplant and had holes punched into the front, top and crown of his head. Some young men panic thinking that they are losing hair as their father may have lost it so they might not do their research and think that they need a hair transplant to keep their hair. This patient was probably such a man and I say this because there is hair on his head and it appears to be good quality hair. Maybe he tried to find an inexpensive hair transplant doctor and found a doctor or someone who claimed that they were a doctor who was able to persuade this man to have a hair transplant.
Using holes for recipient grafts (a technique that has been abandoned years ago), this man had a hair transplant and the person doing it was so proud of the work that these pictures were taken and given to the patient. But what is worse than the terrible work, is that this man appears to have a reasonable hair density so it is clear to me that he had an unnecessary surgery. Maybe he felt he was losing hair and some doctor or some non-doctor who maybe acted like a doctor must have talked him into have an this hair transplant surgery. Some young men are very impressionable and can be influenced especially if the person doing the ‘selling’ appears to be a doctor. Some day, this man may lose hair and what he will have left is plugs where all of these holes can now be seen. He will look freaky. Bad, Bad, Bad!!
The Post: After Hair Transplants, many doctors ignore patients’ questions – why? was followed on Reddit where it was posted initially with the following responses. I think that my point was understood.
Comment 1: Yes I totally agree. I had a good transplant so I am ok and don’t had much to complain about (post here if interested), but indeed, the customer care service sucks. Went to Cinik (Istanbul), he is a pretty reliable surgeons nontheless. But the clinic went from super reactive to automated mails, not even translated in the language we used when scheduling the operation.
I think they have a shit tons of clients. They ask you right after the operation to leave comments here and there to boost their ranking. Which is not illegitimate, the hair business in Turkey is highly competitive, but you must be thoughful and update your comment when you can truly assess the success of your operation.
Another behavior I have witnessed through several testimonies is clinics’ tendecy to minimize / wrongly reassure the patients when their result is obv unsatisfactory. Like “It is normal”, “you have to wait 12 full months to assess the result” bla bla bla etc. If you have blank spots or below 40% of your hair grown back at the 5 or 6 month mark it is worrying. After 6 months the result will only get marginally better. All the hair should have popped out by then.
Comment 2: Good idea (i.e. ask to meet his patients one-on-one) but how would you ever get access to patients contacts? Answer: To make the sale, put the burden on the doctor to supply you access to his/her patients. The doctor then will be motivated to do so.
Comment 3: Because they already got paid.
Comment 4: This is exactly my experience. The doctor was very kind and patient and buddy like prior to surgery. A few days after I started to get a spot that looked a bit dark. I came in and saw a “technician” who told me it was nothing to worry about, gave me some product to help the area and sent me home. That spot turned into an area that became a total nightmare with me concerned that my skin was dying (necrotic). I would send photos, they would bring me in to see this “technician” every week or so. Never did I see that doctor again.
Comment 5: This is exactly my case. My Turkish Dr. (Real Dr) is barely responsive since my surgery. I am exploring getting PRP to help regrowth and wanted to know his thoughts. Crickets.
Comment 6: you are right about the fact that one should be evaluated by an expert who specializes in hair transplantation, and is honest and doesn’t do it just for the money he gets from you
Comment 7: I took a really long time to heal. Lots of bleeding and oozing and anxiety about going out in public for a long time.
Comment 8: I am going to do a big write up at the 6 month point about my experience of going to Turkey. I wont deny it was the price point that pushed it into affordability but at the same time, and as of my experience right now, I would consider encouraging someone to spend the money to see a US Dr like Rassman even it it meant doing it sooner rather than later, and by assuming some debt. That says quite a bit coming from a financial planner.
Comment 9: Thank you so much. You just saved me some money. I’m completely serious about possibly visiting you next time I’m in LA. Perhaps even having you touch up whatever does not take with my Turkish hair procedure. Thanks for what you do for the sub.
Comment 10. (12/15) I think it depends on your expectations, how carefully you selected the doctor, and how much you need to interact with the doctor after the surgery. I had FUT x 2 and did interact with the doctor afterwards and felt the interaction was just fine i.e. it was what I needed when I needed it. After FUT #1 I had some questions and was able to reach the doctor by text (during the evening after the procedure) and later on by email, which was fine. The surgeon did call me on my cell the day after surgery to ask how I was feeling which was good as well. After FUT #2 (same doctor) he again called me the day after surgery to see how I was doing. About 10 days after that surgery I had some issues and communicated with him by phone and email and got my issues resolved, so I was happy. I have said in a few posts that you really, REALLY, REALLY need to choose your doctor carefully. If you are not 100% confident in your doctor and the procedure you should not do it. (I AGREE)
You have a significant infection. If I were to see you, I would culture the wounds, drain all of the pustules and put you on an antibiotic immediately, adjusting it based upon the culture report and your response to it. I would also have you use warm wet compresses on it a few times a day to facilitate the pustules to drain.
If you have completely healed, you can have Scalp Micropigmentation to address this problem, see here: https://scalpmicropigmentation.com/scar-covering/. Your problem should be a warning to many men to have their FUE pushed high especially when non-trained people are doing it and don’t understand the math of supply and demand for donor hair nor the necessity to remove the FUE grafts uniformly.
Experience shows that early hair loss responds better to finasteride than people who have waited for years before starting it.
At the age of 18, it is not advisable to do anything surgical (like a hair transplant) to address the uneven hairline. You will not know if you are balding until you are at least 26 years old.
Almost every day I get emails (because of my internet presence) from patients who had surgery and find their doctors don’t seem to answer their concerns and questions. Many of these men see an abrupt change in the doctor when compared to before their surgery. I guess it is like being sold a used car and the salesman is all over you, attentive to your every need, until…. that is, you purchase the car and have problems. As they already got your money they don’t to have to be responsive anymore.
Being a good doctor means taking care of the patient and all of his/her needs before, during and AFTER the hair transplant. I find, however, that I am stepping up to help those whose doctors just don’t seem to care about them after their surgery. This may be more of a problem as Medical Tourism is becoming very common (I get both types of post-surgery emails). If for example, you go to Turkey and have a surgical procedure, then go back to your home country, local doctors will have no interest in you and the doctors in Turkey (assuming that they were doctors – which is often not the case) certainly have no structure put together to help you in your home country.
My advice for anyone reading this post is to meet and speak with patients who had surgery with that ‘doctor’ you are considering before you make the decision to go with that doctor or that clinic. Their patients will always share with you what their experience was, so this way you hear it first hand and will avoid the problems if you listen to what you are told.
Just want to preface this by saying that I’m all for fighting hair loss in any way you want if it’s what you wanna do. I’m genuinely not here trying to sway anyone one way or the other. That’s why I’m not even gonna mention what I’m doing/not doing for my hair loss. Just wanted to comment on how some people in the hair loss community might have a bit of an unhealthy relationship towards balding and I think we all torture ourselves more then we need to.
I had to say that I had a very enlightening talk with my therapist and also spoke with some of the good people on the r/bald sub and it was quite enlightening for me. I’d realized that it was super unhealthy to obsess about image and my hair to the extent that I was doing it (in the back of my head at all times, sucking all joy out of my life at the worst moments)
realized that a key for me was to not catastrophiez hair loss more then it needed to be and to realize that even the one thing I was fearing most in the whole world (being bald) is not something that’s that bad.
If we wake up bald tomorrow our family will still love us, our friends will still be there, we will still enjoy every hobby, tv show, movie, video game, book, interest that we had prior. It will be an adjustment period sure, it’ll be weird to look in the mirror and you’ll have to relearn to like how look the same as when you had hair and also for a little while after our loved ones will have to get used to the new look. But then after a few months at most, life will go on just how it was before. Having that mentality of ‘whatever happens it’ll be ok’ is so important in this situation.
I think most people who lose hair young torture themselves much more then they need to by making the stakes in their head so high. If you think being bald is a death sentence then of course you are going to stress over it 24/7 and drive yourself mad. If you think balding is just a natural part of life that happens to many people, just like wrinkles or skin sagging or any other changes our body goes through over the course of our entire life. If you convince yourself that if it happens to you it won’t be a huge deal, then you will have a much healthier perspective and be much more comfortable, whether you decide to fight your hair loss or accept it. Bring down the stakes a little, it’ll be a weight off your shoulders:).
So yah I think this sub is great and that if you want to fight your hair loss then by all means, more power to you. I just think that some people on here could tone down the animosity and negativity regarding certain topics and I know that if people had a healthier perspective and relationship with their hair loss and overall body changes then they might be a lot happier and more calm with whatever they decided to do. Even the worse case scenario for us would be ok so we don’t need to be as terrified as we think.
Wanted to get this off my chest because I recognize a lot of myself in the people on here with how I see them stressing so much with this all or nothing mentality and making the stakes so high in their heads that they spiral into bouts of depression.
Again nothing wrong with taking finasteride or whatever other method if that’s what you want and you’ve balanced the sacrifice/reward in your head. Just want people to know that they should do this because it’s something they want that would bring them pleasure, not because they should feel like they absolutely have to or else their life will be over because that can lead to being in a bit of an unhealthy place mentally.
This is all, thanks to anyone who read this far, wish you the best
What you said is important for Reddit readers to understand. There is a lot of information on this site and opinions like yours are an important contribution to the readers evolving opinions. Hope spring eternal for those with hair loss and there are many people working to reverse the hair loss with either a simple treatment or a cure. A simple treatment may be closer than you think. We are working on it right now as I write this post. Thanks for sharing your thoughts.
People say that Finasteride loses its effectiveness. Is this actually true, since DHT levels are similar till 40? I don’t see the logic of why it would lose its effectiveness.
Studies comparing two groups (1) people who stay on finasteride vs (2) those that do not take it or stop it show that those on finasateride keep hair counts higher for longer. Some further studies by others seem to show that the spread between the two groups continue past 5 years and from my clinical experience I have seen it extend to 20 years. For those that take it and stop it, they shift to the lower curve fairly fast (3+ months) which I have also seen in my practice.
