NARMAK

Firstly really sorry this happened to you. The clinic are definitely not being honest it seems in some ways. DHI and FUE are basically just the same sort of thing. It's a modified version of FUE so them saying "We would have used FUE instead" is pure BS and feel free to set them on fire with gasoline, and run them over as many times as you want metaphorically because they are a disgsuting Horror Mill and not taking any responsibility at all. It will help other users avoid the same clinic and similar gaslighting Personally i am not sure how your beard is, but from the small glimpse it looks like it could be used to help alongside some smart use of SMP in the donor area etc. Beard and chest hair usually is turned to as a source of hair to assist when these sorts of things happen and Eugenix and a few others have showcased cases on here that use that combination. Ultimately i think you should not hyper focus on this and make yourself more upset at the situation. Try to use concealers for now to help. Regarding medication, have you ever take Finasteride etc.?

Just keep doing your research and hopefully if you can save up, the world can be your oyster and you will hopefully be happier with the outcome. Regarding myself, i have been quoted 2200 grafts required approximately so my costs may not be as much as somebody that say needs 3000+ but i am still on a budget and my primary goal is to restore my temple points, so i have chosen Eugenix in India. They appear to have the necessary skill and are within my budget at the Exclusive Package pricing so i'm due to go hopefully in May. I delayed it because of Visa issues and not being given one in time for originally March when i wanted to go. Fingers crossed it will be resolved and i will document my journey on here once that Visa is confirmed.

Ultimately each doctor gives you a graft count based on what they envision is required for your particular hair loss objectives and can be achieved with their own methodology. I think you do seem pretty set on Dr De Freitas and that's fine and all, but properly sit down, look at all the one's you consulted with and start eliminating the one's you think aren't as good till you have 2-3 and then do the same again with any others you consult with. Ultimately the results they showcase are always cherry picked on their own sites so scrape through here for real patient reviews and testimonials to find cases similar to you and who maybe better fits too.

Hell, give me something with a 90% chance of success and show me a statistic that says most wouldn't go for it lol. I do know it's probably one of the few options though that anybody really has and had until we get new FDA or similar approved treatments. Well, at least we know we're always 5 years out from the next miracle, and then another 5 years on review 😂

To add to this, it might be a good idea if you can to try drawing it out and taking pictures to get an idea. I tried to make a photoshop thread where people could try and maybe get an idea of what they'd look like but i don't know if there's many users here able to do it or have the time.

Hey bud, glad to hear you were able to start medication and going 1 month strong with Finasteride. I personally think you should wait a full 12 months on the Finasteride to get a better idea of how it can help with your hair loss and in the meantime, save up and pick the best surgeon you feel is able to deliver your hair transplant objectives. If you do need to, get on the wait lists of the people you feel are the one and just educate yourself on hair transplants in general and set out what you would like in terms of the hairline design, density etc.

Picture in video is probably a hair system for a movie role, but apparently there's a good chance he had a hairline lowering done surgically. Apparently there's a very fine linear scar that runs across the very top edge of his frontal hairline. I think Matt Dominance did a follow up video where initially he said it was a hair transplant. With all the nip/tuck procedures Stallone has had, forehead reduction surgically and a hair transplant combination are the two most likely things imo.

I think it's a small red flag where previous results are showcased over current results but the NDA thing and inability to share my true patient review with images anywhere is what would concern me. If any place offered me a discount and then told me i'd have to sign an NDA or something that violated my right to share my true patient experience i would definitely not be signing that and be thinking twice about going through with the procedure.

Hi piruka, Can you please share your budget and where you are from which could help people maybe guide you to other options that might be suitable. Also, are you willing to potentially wait a bit longer and save up more if this can increase your options? The hair transplant industry and probably cosmetic procedures in general to the face, body and head are probably not a good idea to try restrict yourself with a specific budget because the results could be catastrophic and had you waited a little bit longer, then maybe you could avoid some of the issues. Generally, the forum knows everybody has a budget. Heck, i know that probably better than most but i have decided to save up and researched the place i thought best fit my budget too and hair restoration goals. You're on a good forum and hopefully we can get you to select the right place and have price of mind.

There's topical Finasteride and Minoxidil available in the US which could address some of your concerns about side affects whilst you get the benefits if you're concerned about the oral Finasteride increasing the risks. Ultimately you can only decide for yourself but hair loss is progressive and at only 24, i think your hair loss is around Norwood 3/4, so it's a bit more on the aggressive side. Medication usually is the much wiser course for 12-24 months at least. Realistically without medication, i think you might want to wait another 4 years or till your 30s to ride it out and have it slow down if you want to try have the best chance of preserving your donor area and not blow it all on a lowered hairline.

The UK has very few reputable clinics that people can recommend. Spain and Belgium usually seem to have more options like Dr Couto, De Freitas, Bisanga, Mwamba etc. based on the patient results around here. Honestly, i get your friend had side affects, but that should not be a reason for you not to try yourself. I have a friend who also claimed he got sides on Finasteride but just because somebody else did, doesn't mean you will and usually the more people focus on getting side affects as a given, the Nocebo affect takes over imo and a lot of things that might get ignored elsewhere are then dumped as being the fault of medication. It's up to you, but from personal experience i wish i had hopped on Finasteride 10+ years ago around 21.

You say you're not focusing on money and then go back immediately to talking about a "minimum cost". If i turn around and say €7-10k is that going to change everything you keep saying? Regarding Eugenix, every package they have even at 75 RS involves doctors. The cheapest package they have is with their junior technicians and doctors who are trained to a certain level and then allowed to operate it seems and the doctors/techs after they have proven themselves over multiple years and patients will become senior and be advanced to the Exclusive Package. The doctor is responsible for the hairline designs and 100% of the slit making. With some negotiating maybe even some crucial extractions could be agreed. However, the technicians will do the majority of the implantation and extraction and what usually separates good technicians is in their training and not just how many patients they worked on. A hair mill for example could have a tech working on hundreds of patients per year but they have little training and tools to be able to properly dissect hair grafts, know to place singles etc. and just mess things up. I don't even know where you got your information from that Eugenix have a technician only package.

I'm not going to judge anybody that has chosen not to get vaccinated but the nail was hit on the head when you said how difficult they have made international travel if you didn't get it. Your options potentially are to wait and see how countries choose to open up their rules in the next 12-24 months and save up. You're also on the younger side and you haven't said whether you are on medication like Finasteride and shared any pics of your current hair loss and donor area. It makes it harder to see what clinics might be more suited to you. If you are waiting things out, and save up whilst taking medication with stable hair loss you could actually show yourself to be a better candidate to more clinics at only even 25.

The "minimum" amount isn't the only criteria you need to be using. You need to check what the Dr involvement is, their experience and previous as well as recent results etc. I'll repeat again that you need to realise that going "cheap" or for the "minimum to get a good result" usually is going give you more bad options than good. I've personally chosen Eugenix because they are usually very good with temple points and i need mine entirely reconstructed. However if i only needed the frontal hairline, there's significantly more reputable clinics i could have considered. Who you look for is more than just about budget, but their ability to best meet your specific hair transplant objectives. You tried cheap, it didn't work out great and others have already said to you that if you just are going to insist on the money you'll more than likely get the same result. We are here to try and help people, but you need to be willing to maybe accept that your current outlook is wrong in regards to pricing. I personally would rather save up for an extra 12-24 months to get a better outcome for the next 25+ years and stick to medication like Finasteride etc. than go to a cheaper place, wreck my donor and get screwed for life. I've also been wanting a hair transplant since my early 20s and only now in my early 30s do i actually feel like i've scraped enough knowledge together to try educate myself about hair loss and hair transplants and even then, i still feel like there's so much more to know. However, i would still rather be in my position than somebody who has been for multiple procedures and not learned their lessons.

Firstly, there's no minimum budget for a "good transplant" and you could end up spending $100k or whatever your currency is going to "The best" and get a very poor result because there's no guarantee in hair transplants. Period. Good value is in the eye of the beholder and some might think you getting 4k grafts for circa €7K is actually good value when the same procedure for that many grafts might cost 2x as much in the USA. Ultimately everybody does work to a budget, but if the places that are recommended and good for your circumstances all seem expensive, perhaps the issue maybe is more to do with your expectations of pricing. The market charges what the demand creates and reputable clinics are aware their services will be paid for. So the question comes down to whether you feel like paying that money is worth it to you. At the end of the day, 4k grafts is not a small amount and messing that up by going to somewhere cheaper with sub standard outcomes will leave you behind a rock and a hard place wishing you had just bothered to save up more and go to somewhere better.

Which package was that? The Exclusive Package? That usually involves their senior doctors and technicians, so it is more than their basic 75 RS package but their top package then doubles the cost. Ultimately you can try work to a budget but there's no miracle hair loss cure yet and you have a finite donor supply so the option is to save up and wait to go with a quality clinic or go cheap and end up in the same position as before and more than likely be much worse off down the line. Personally if you are coming from a really bad first procedure with huge issues, you might have been not even able to consider a future procedure and need repair work which costs even more. Don't rush to a decision that's going to impact the next 30+ years worth of your life and haunt you looking in the mirror.

They're always going to cherry pick the good results to show off on their websites and sometimes people don't know what a "good" result is either. That said, ALL clinics cherry pick their results and even on here the results that had bad bits from user reviews will never be shown off. Caveat Emptor is ALWAYS in effect for anybody.

No, i understand. I just meant in terms of what you personally had happen in the consultation because you said it was in London, not in Belgium and was curious whether it was involving something in particular other than an in depth talk, like was there tools used etc.

Okay, can you tell us what the consultation involved? I know in his clinic he uses the Trichoscopic devices to properly see hair quality, miniturisation and donor density etc. That's the type of consultation i thought you had tbh.

We're a bit further out but depending on how prices shake out it might be something we do. Flights usually can be quicker and i think Jet2 etc. fly from a local airport more readily but the Eurostar could be a scenic way of going too.

I didn't know Dr Bisanga did free consultations tbh. I have a friend who is looking like he will have a more generous budget than myself and I was considering going with him to see Dr Bisanga. Even if it's just a flight away from the UK we would be willing to see Dr Bisanga.

Do NOT go for a hair transplant yet. You have underlying issues you need to address and you seriously need to imo re-assess and think about starting Finasteride. It's the main defence against male pattern hair loss by blocking the DHT component which is the most damaging. I also wouldn't hop straight to Minoxodil just yet but give Finasteride a go first. I'm just a smidge younger than you and began Dutasteride (stronger than Finasteride) at 31 after years of avoiding it because of online horror stories and crap people would say to scare you away. Happily on it for 10 months now and hoping for many more years of effect. You are also diffuse thinning which means that there's a good chance Finasteride could work well on you to help regrow those areas. However you need to see a dermatologist and find a way to keep the scalp psoriasis at bay, maybe using something like T-Gel or something similar and then keep using it 1x a week or so even after the recommended period. I do this myself for the dandruff issues i have. You can also try Nizoral which contains a 2% ketoconazole which has mild Anti-Androgen properties that can help a little. Ultimately you look like you have a good hairline already and once you get your scalp condition addressed and hopefully can be on medication, you may realise you don't need a significant amount of hair grafts at all and with the potential budget cited as $25k USD, you literally could have the world as your oyster if you did go ahead with it.

Thanks for sharing. We usually get guys and bald heads, so you can imagine your hair looks great in comparison lol. I do see what you want to achieve and hopefully your pictures can help a few other members chime in with reputable clinic but what might help is posting the country you are from as well and the sort of budget you are working towards. Ultimately whether male or female, the basics of the procedure and post-op care are the same and it will take circa 12 months for results. Having the fringe there could definitely help you but it's best to do your research.

I would say i actually have had a good response to Dutasteride helping me keep my hair so far and i've seen some regrowth but i don't want to just say that's from Dutasteride because i was using Vitamin D to sort out the low levels, Nizoral shampoo with 2% ketoconazole and some Microneedling for a few months before i stopped and recently added some T-Gel to help clear up more of my dandruff and itchy, inflamed scalp issues i had. I did experience sides from Dutasteride initially which i think also were impacted by stress and stuff. Lower libido, mood swings and brain fog. My libido was imo improved again after my body adjusted. Its not 100% the same and that's normal imo on the medication as a common but tolerable side affect to me. I'd say it's a solid 85% of what it was. Morning erections are usually where you may notice a difference but again, from a functional point of view, it has not impacted my ability there. Brain fog is imo more or less gone. My mood swings were possibly more linked to the stress i also had at that sort of time but they seem to have gone. By rebounded i meant the side affects greatly reduced or disappeared to a point they didn't bother me or come into my mind. My age is 32 atm and hair loss can probably be described as slow up until i started the medication and it's probably very stable since then too. I'm considered a Norwood 2 but my temple points, the side triangles you see were completely gone or washed out by my mid to late teens. So they are what makes my hair loss look worse too. I'm estimated for around 2200 grafts but this will probably be reviewed on the day of surgery or day before depending on the planning. So i'm prepared for it also to be a bit higher. The prices for Eugenix depend on what package you go for and also i'm not from India. I live in the UK so i would be travelling but the package i have chosen is the Exclusive Package for 120 RS + 18% sales tax.

Hey Luna, Whilst as a male i don't regularly focus on female hair transplant results, the ones i have come across do tend to leave the hair longer and use a more partial unsaved method to do the hair transplant. This method is where it should be much easier to maintain your privacy with the longer hair, but also sometimes more expensive per graft at some places. Can you share any pictures of your current hair and maybe an example of what outcome you are looking for? You can blur/block the face out for privacy if needed.