Eugenix (Drs. Das/Somesh/Vinita) | 11,102 grafts | NW 6/7 | 28 yrs old | 2022/2023/2024

[Fox243]

52 minutes ago, general-etwan said:

So I did this comparison pic, from before all 3 HTs, to now...just to see if we can determine that the boundary of where my "strong" donor area starts has risen higher on the sides of my head or not (which would be a product of finasteride and/or minoxidil). I can't be 100% certain that these two images were taken at exactly the same angle, but they look very close, and it appears that the boundary of the "dark" hair has gone up slightly, as you can see by the blue line which marks the boundary of where heavily DHT-thinned original hair stops and dark, strong hair begins. Again, not willing to say for sure it has risen, but it appears it may have a little bit, based on these pics. But then again, it's possible my head is looking slightly more left in the picture on the left, which would give the illusion of overrepresenting what I'm saying here. Also my ear seems larger now and I don't understand why, or how, my ear could grow that much in just 2 years. Still interesting though.

 

Additionally, I have received "official" pyrilutamide from Amazon and started using it today, so I will be using that probably once a day over the entire scalp and seeing if it adds any more benefit on top of minoxidil and finasteride.

lmk how the pyrilutamide works. I am doubtful of its efficacy but I at least hope its safe given that its marketed as a cosmetic. Interesting on the side of the head comment. Anything new you've been doing besides fin/min?

[general-etwan]

20 minutes ago, Fox243 said:

lmk how the pyrilutamide works. I am doubtful of its efficacy but I at least hope its safe given that its marketed as a cosmetic. Interesting on the side of the head comment. Anything new you've been doing besides fin/min?

There isn’t any strong evidence that it does much of anything; I think the conclusion of the studies done on it showed “no statistical significance.” Still, there are many anecdotal claims on Reddit that it helps, and since I previously bought it from a “research chemical” website that I can’t be sure what it really was, I’m just going to give this official one a try since it appears to be verified by the manufacturer. It had to pass sufficient safety verification to be sold on Amazon as a cosmetic.

No, I’ve been doing nothing other than daily finasteride and a crapload of daily topical minoxidil.  

[Fox243]

3 minutes ago, general-etwan said:

There isn’t any strong evidence that it does much of anything; I think the conclusion of the studies done on it showed “no statistical significance.” Still, there are many anecdotal claims on Reddit that it helps, and since I previously bought it from a “research chemical” website that I can’t be sure what it really was, I’m just going to give this official one a try since it appears to be verified by the manufacturer. It had to pass sufficient safety verification to be sold on Amazon as a cosmetic.

No, I’ve been doing nothing other than daily finasteride and a crapload of daily topical minoxidil.  

weird, i would've thought it would have been the microneedling that saved your sides, as i've seen that is what has saved us nw6/7s but glad to see that fin/min are doing their job!

[general-etwan]

30 minutes ago, Fox243 said:

weird, i would've thought it would have been the microneedling that saved your sides, as i've seen that is what has saved us nw6/7s but glad to see that fin/min are doing their job!

I tried microneedling briefly but just got too lazy and never kept up with it. Which reminds me maybe I’ll throw that back in twice a week or so. I have a derma stamp tool with adjustable needle length in my cabinet I can bring back out. 👍🏼

Edited August 6 by general-etwan

[general-etwan]

Worked out for the first time hatless in many years today. Crown still a bit bare and still coming in obviously, but finally felt up to doing it. I’ve been taking the hat off a bit more recently away from home. I’ve always been a very detail-focused perfectionist and admittedly very self-conscious about my presentation, to my own detriment, so this is kind of a big deal to have convinced myself I’m at this point now. No fibers, no enhancements; just some leave in conditioner, dry hair powder, and a few sprays of sea salt spray. I’m still trying to figure out the best products to use and in what combination, as I struggle with it looking too flat and wiry. 

 

Edited August 6 by general-etwan

[Gatsby]

@general-etwan your hair mate is looking so full! You can throw those caps in the bin man. You look like a completely different person and a real threat to my bromance with @Bandit90! 😂👌💯

[Bandit90]

For four months post op this is already looking insane. Really pleased you are feeling liberated from being under a cap in the gym! 

For styling, i'd recommend first using salt spray first then blow dry to set. I'd then use the hair styling powder on the areas you want a tad more volume (hairline usually). Id finish with a touch of max hold hair spray to lock in!  

[Approach]

Awesome transformation!  There is a reason this thread is 30+ pages:  You (and the doctor) got this right!  Congrats!

[Al - Moderator]

Looking great!

 

[general-etwan]

The behind-the-temple regions and the donor farming regions above the ears are lagging behind, don’t really seem to have come in yet at 4.5 months. Not sure why but not liking that.  

[Napoli]

Your result looks really good. Thats a massive transformation. It would be good if you could upload a panoramic picture from your top of your head. Btw because i saw that you are working out. Do you take creatine? because some studies tell that creatine cause hair loss..but if you take finasteride it wont be a problem.

Edited August 16 by Napoli

[tyeffe]

On 8/14/2024 at 6:53 AM, general-etwan said:

The behind-the-temple regions and the donor farming regions above the ears are lagging behind, don’t really seem to have come in yet at 4.5 months. Not sure why but not liking that.  

Looking back at your pre-surgery photos, it was already visible in the area above the ears that your hair was thinner. I've seen this in the case of other nw7s, it's the same for me, is it possible that the hair there is also  sensitive to DHT?

regardless, it is an outstanding result

[general-etwan]

2 hours ago, Napoli said:

Your result looks really good. Thats a massive transformation. It would be good if you could upload a panoramic picture from your top of your head. Btw because i saw that you are working out. Do you take creatine? because some studies tell that creatine cause hair loss..but if you take finasteride it wont be a problem.

I have only taken creatine occasionally in the past off and on, while on finasteride. Though I’m off it right now and might not take it anymore honestly because it’s of very small benefit to me. 
 

1 hour ago, tyeffe said:

Looking back at your pre-surgery photos, it was already visible in the area above the ears that your hair was thinner. I've seen this in the case of other nw7s, it's the same for me, is it possible that the hair there is also  sensitive to DHT?

regardless, it is an outstanding result

Yeah, but it doesn’t look to me like the hair put there from HT #3 in March has grown in yet. In fact, inspecting my hairline up close, I see some very short hairs just starting to break through the skin now at almost 5 months. I don’t really think the growth from #3 has come in yet. This time seems slower than my first 2.  Starting to get a bit worried. 

Edited August 16 by general-etwan

[hair_forever]

8 hours ago, general-etwan said:

In passato ho preso la creatina solo occasionalmente, a intermittenza, mentre assumevo finasteride. Anche se ora non la prendo più e potrei non prenderla più, onestamente, perché mi apporta pochissimi benefici. 
 

Sì, ma non mi sembra che i capelli messi lì da HT #3 a marzo siano ancora cresciuti. Infatti, ispezionando da vicino l'attaccatura dei capelli, vedo alcuni peli molto corti che stanno appena iniziando a spuntare dalla pelle ora che ho quasi 5 mesi. Non credo che la crescita da #3 sia ancora arrivata. Questa volta sembra più lenta dei miei primi 2.  Inizio a preoccuparmi un po'. 

Usually regrowth in the parietal area is much faster than other areas.

[general-etwan]

I guess I’m unsure why the results from HT #2 back in June 2023 haven’t seen to show as well as I expected. I can’t even really see that any of the lower crown grafts from that grew fully. A big concern of mine. Could HT #3 have interfered with and blocked the growth from HT #2?

Edited August 17 by general-etwan

[Phillyman1996]

Good progress 

[general-etwan]

Seems to have gotten worse the past several weeks. Around the time I started using the pyrilutamide from Amazon. 

Edited August 17 by general-etwan

[Xanadu]

On 8/16/2024 at 2:13 PM, general-etwan said:

I have only taken creatine occasionally in the past off and on, while on finasteride. Though I’m off it right now and might not take it anymore honestly because it’s of very small benefit to me. 
 

Yeah, but it doesn’t look to me like the hair put there from HT #3 in March has grown in yet. In fact, inspecting my hairline up close, I see some very short hairs just starting to break through the skin now at almost 5 months. I don’t really think the growth from #3 has come in yet. This time seems slower than my first 2.  Starting to get a bit worried. 

There was only one small study years ago that made people think it might affect hairloss. Since then it has been proven that creatine does not cause hairloss. 

[general-etwan]

@GeneralNorwood Interested to hear if you have any advice. I know you had specific disagreements with the design strategy along the way, of which many points were fair. Though, now I have had pretty much all areas covered with grafts, the 3rd procedure of which I designed largely myself or at least insisted on specific things I wanted to make sure I got full coverage. And I'm over 11,100 grafts.

However, it seems that the lower and side crown growth hasn't been good. The upper crown from the 1st procedure grew in quick and strong and has remained so. But the lower and side crown areas from HT #2 didn't seem to grow in as strongly, leading to my early push to have the 3rd 9.5 months after the 2nd, and at 5 months after #3 it still doesn't seem to be coming in very well. I don't understand why.

If you don't want to read past pages for details, I've been steady on finasteride since the 1st HT, 3 days a week up until a few months ago when I started it 6 days a week because I tolerate it well; loads of daily topical minoxidil (and just started oral minoxidil last week actually), and started this market-approved pyrilutamide a few weeks ago.

Edited August 18 by general-etwan

[Fox243]

13 minutes ago, general-etwan said:

@GeneralNorwood Interested to hear if you have any advice. I know you had specific disagreements with the design strategy along the way, of which many points were fair. Though, now I have had pretty much all areas covered with grafts, the 3rd procedure of which I designed largely myself or at least insisted on specific things I wanted to make sure I got full coverage. And I'm over 11,100 grafts.

However, it seems that the lower and side crown growth hasn't been good. The upper crown from the 1st procedure grew in quick and strong and has remained so. But the lower and side crown areas from HT #2 didn't seem to grow in as strongly, leading to my early push to have the 3rd 9.5 months after the 2nd, and at 5 months after #3 it still doesn't seem to be coming in very well. I don't understand why.

If you don't want to read past pages for details, I've been steady on finasteride since the 1st HT, 3 days a week up until a few months ago when I started it 6 days a week because I tolerate it well; loads of daily topical minoxidil (and just started oral minoxidil last week actually), and started this market-approved pyrilutamide a few weeks ago.

I've been thinking about oral minoxidil but have been concerned about long term cardiac sides. Maybe if I had a lot of diffuse hair then I'd consider it, but I'm like a NW6.5 now and not much left to grow. Any reason you changed your mind?

Edited August 18 by Fox243

[general-etwan]

3 minutes ago, Fox243 said:

I've been thinking about oral minoxidil but have been concerned about long term cardiac sides. Maybe if I had a lot of diffuse hair then I'd consider it, but I'm like a NW6.5 now and not much left to grow. Any reason you changed your mind?

I was too...the potential side effects on cardiac system were the reason I held off for so long, but after doing more research, I don't see any strong scientific evidence that it causes any significant risk for young, fit people...of which I am. I saw some reports that, at most, it lowered blood pressure by pretty small amounts at low doses...which, if that's the only effect, then that's a pretty tolerable one. I have always had slightly high blood pressure for my age anyway, so if it lowers it by a little that really should be no problem for me personally. I am desperate to grow my hair at as full strength as I possibly can...that's what changed my mind (and trusting enough in what I've read and heard from some reputable doctors online that's it's generally safe). I'm taking 2.5 mg/day right now, started a week ago.

[Fox243]

4 minutes ago, general-etwan said:

I was too...the potential side effects on cardiac system were the reason I held off for so long, but after doing more research, I don't see any strong scientific evidence that it causes any significant risk for young, fit people...of which I am. I saw some reports that, at most, it lowered blood pressure by pretty small amounts at low doses...which, if that's the only effect, then that's a pretty tolerable one. I have always had slightly high blood pressure for my age anyway, so if it lowers it by a little that really should be no problem for me personally. I am desperate to grow my hair at as full strength as I possibly can...that's what changed my mind (and trusting enough in what I've read and heard from some reputable doctors online that's it's generally safe). I'm taking 2.5 mg/day right now, started a week ago.

Yeah, I'm not concerned by the blood pressure but more by the possible pericardial effusion/angina and what not -- don't really wanna live with that fear for years that one day it randomly hits me. But I'm also a hypochondriac and i agree, the risk is extremely low -- I wish there was just a better way to gauge who would be susceptible to things like that.

Edited August 18 by Fox243

[general-etwan]

5 minutes ago, Fox243 said:

Yeah, I'm not concerned by the blood pressure but more by the possible pericardial effusion/angina and what not -- don't really wanna live with that fear for years. But I agree, the risk is extremely low -- I wish there was just a better way to gauge who would be susceptible to things like that.

Yeah I understand, I don't like these topics either. However, I could only find case reports of very rare instances of this pericardial effusion instance, and at least the one I read was 56 yr old man with chronic hypertension, and who knows what other health problems. In these cases, oral minox has been the suspected cause, but it's short of pure chemical evidence...maybe just a limitation of current scientific study to date. There seems to be a 3% occurrence rate of pericardial effusion at dosages 10mg+, so at 2.5 mg I feel safe trying it for a little to see. Pericardial effusion from minoxidil is also said to be a idiosyncratic drug reaction, meaning no scientific link has really been proven and the cases of it seem to be rare and unpredictable. 

In my case, I just decided to give it a try. If it really strengthens my hair and I have no side effects, great...if it doesn't do much, then I wouldn't keep taking it.

[general-etwan]

So I want to share these comparisons, as I'm a bit confused and bamboozled by the apparent boundary of my "NW" horseshoe line.

Remember a few pages back, after my recent fade haircut, I talked about how it didn't seem that Eugenix extracted all the way "up" to the boundary of my DHT-resistant donor hair? 

Well, based on these comparison pics from immediately before vs. after HT #3, it appears they did go all the way "up" to the sharp edge at the time of the HT. These pics are taken from the same exact angle in the same lighting conditions in their studio. I made the red dots on the left to attempt to match about where they went up to with the extractions, which is pretty much exactly along the sharp boundary.

 

Now, in my pics of my short fade cut from a few weeks ago, you can clearly see the top edge of the extraction scars, yet there is a cm or so above that which now appears to be dark and thick hair. These two pics below aren't at exactly the same angle but they are pretty close. The red circles are my attempt to identify the same exact spot on the scalp. On the left, day of HT #3, that region between the black lines appears to be decently thinned hair, which is why they didn't extract that high. On the right, a few weeks ago, the hair between those black lines looks darker and thicker.

So, either the boundary of the "horseshoe ring" has risen over the past 5 months, or this just an illusion of some sort; or the picture on the left is washed out with white light and appears lighter because of that (?) But the picture on the left was taken with a far more professional camera of Eugenix than the one on the right which is just my iPhone camera, so...it's hard for me to understand how this could be an illusion.

Just found this fascinating and I'm really struggling to understand what's going on here.

[caveman]

Sorry to hear that the crown is lagging a bit but just wanted to give my 2 cents. You did a great job with your comparison pictures so it makes it easy for everyone to see exactly what your concerns are.

in the eugenix picture it does appear they extracted right up to the border, however your hair was shaved down to a 0mm it seems. Whereas in the recent pictures you took with a fade, the hair looks to be 1mm. This could be the reason it seems a bit darker there. Also the border does still still have some hair in preop photos, it just looks miniaturized.

The good news is you’re on oral minoxidil now and I really really think that you’ll see a benefit from it. I’m also going to be starting oral minoxidil in 3 days and have high hopes for it. Now that you have transplanted hair in that region you’ll surely see a boost in growth and density as long as you tolerate the med.

 

And of course as you know already, the crown will lag a bit so the growth at 5 months will def not be indicative of your final crown result.

 

Do you happen to know how many grafts dr vinita placed in the lower crown on this sitting? How about the last? Also any idea on how many doubles/ triples were used there? If multi grafts were used on the last sitting, perhaps the follicle has not yet produced the second, third, or fourth hairs yet at this point.

 

We are all rooting for you bro so hopefully your concerns are alleviated as more growth happens 😊