Dr Pitella impossible hair transplant

[Al - Moderator]

12 hours ago, Carson85 said:

Did your thinning body hair come back after discontinuing finasteride?

Yes. It all came back and I’m still gaining more body hair. I currently have less only because I used a lot to transplant to my scalp, but I’m still growing more body hair. 

[Shesayshesay]

How much is dr pitella charging per graft, in USD? Anyone know?

[Carson85]

On 3/4/2024 at 4:51 PM, Gatsby said:

Dr Pittella showed me the graft breakdown last night (without the patient’s name). It’s pretty much all beard grafts and it is impressive! Over 11k of beard!!!!

Wow, 11k from just the beard shown below? do you know if grafts from other places were used too and are you sure you’re not mistaking it with this other case from Dr. Pittella with 11k grafts? If so, that is insane.

 

[Carson85]

@Melvin- Admin I was going to post this comment in the verteporfin thread, but I feel like it ties well into this specific case. Obviously the main interest with verteporfin is seeing if it is able to significantly regenerate follicles in the donor region of the scalp, which although seems promising, requires a lot more research. If things turn out the way we hope they do, is it worth exploring if verteporfin can be used to regenerate follicles in other areas, like the beard? Let’s use this case as an example, where there is literally no scalp donor at all (or it has been severly thinned out as well), and only beard and body grafts can be used for a transplant. Regeneration of beard follicles would definitely be a subject of interest in a case like this and maybe verteporfin can help regenerate beard follicles to a certain extent, if it is able to regenerate scalp follicles like we hope. Can anyone think of a reason as to why it may not work as well in the beard area? Obviously this is all very hypothetical, and there is a long way to go before this is even considered. Hopefully Dr. Bargouthi’s current trial can give us some positive results soon.

[Melvin- Admin]

5 hours ago, Carson85 said:

@Melvin- Admin I was going to post this comment in the verteporfin thread, but I feel like it ties well into this specific case. Obviously the main interest with verteporfin is seeing if it is able to significantly regenerate follicles in the donor region of the scalp, which although seems promising, requires a lot more research. If things turn out the way we hope they do, is it worth exploring if verteporfin can be used to regenerate follicles in other areas, like the beard? Let’s use this case as an example, where there is literally no scalp donor at all (or it has been severly thinned out as well), and only beard and body grafts can be used for a transplant. Regeneration of beard follicles would definitely be a subject of interest in a case like this and maybe verteporfin can help regenerate beard follicles to a certain extent, if it is able to regenerate scalp follicles like we hope. Can anyone think of a reason as to why it may not work as well in the beard area? Obviously this is all very hypothetical, and there is a long way to go before this is even considered. Hopefully Dr. Bargouthi’s current trial can give us some positive results soon.

I don’t think anyone is using beard on the large scale except Pittella. Most surgeons use maybe 500. Also, scalp hair is the best donor source. The goal is to regenerate scalp hair so you can use it infinitely. Beard hair is only used when there is no scalp, so to answer your question. No, its not worth exploring. Best to keep researching it for scalp hair. 

[Carson85]

Hi @Dr. Felipe Pittella , when u get the chance, would u mind showing the results in the crown area as well? I believe we are all curious to see how it turns out. This is obviously only if the patient is fine with you sharing the results. I understand if this takes a few more months, since the crown can take longer to fill in and show results. Thanks.

[Dr. Felipe Pittella]

On 7/17/2024 at 12:14 PM, Carson85 said:

 

Hi @Dr. Felipe Pittella , when u get the chance, would u mind showing the results in the crown area as well? I believe we are all curious to see how it turns out. This is obviously only if the patient is fine with you sharing the results. I understand if this takes a few more months, since the crown can take longer to fill in and show results. Thanks.

I will ask him and send melvin. 👍

[Fox243]

On 7/18/2024 at 4:53 PM, Dr. Felipe Pittella said:

I will ask him and send melvin. 👍

Would love to see an update, thank you Dr!

[Carson85]

Hi @Dr. Felipe Pittella , did you only use beard grafts for this transplant or did you use grafts from other areas as well? How many grafts were used in total? Can I find this information on your instagram? (I tried looking but the graft numbers do not seem to be there). Thank you.

[Melvin- Admin]

Alright guys,

On 3/3/2024 at 8:45 AM, Melvin- Admin said:

These cases are super risky for the surgeon. I feel like maybe he should’ve been turned away. I’ve seen cases like this with Dr. Sethi and despite the best efforts, it’s impossible to achieve a super meaningful.

I am officially eating my words. I was wrong. @Dr. Felipe Pittella you proved me wrong. 
 

At 5 months this is looking INSANE! I thought this was impossible, but it was not. 

 

Comparisons

 

 

[mr_peanutbutter]

 

 

i dont see a visible difference the transplanted beard hair texture wise compared to the native scalp hair at the side.

 

how is that even possible 

[Melvin- Admin]

4 minutes ago, mr_peanutbutter said:

 

 

i dont see a visible difference the transplanted beard hair texture wise compared to the native scalp hair at the side.

 

how is that even possible 

He probably has a relatively straight beard. My beard is straight. Beard characteristics vary from person to person. At this time, I combed my beard like my hair, others may need a brush because its to curly.  This comes down to your own beard and scalp characteristics.

[Stewie]

So it raises the question in my mind of why this is looking like a success already and why other attempts by other leading surgeons in similar cases has fell very flat?

Edited August 2 by Stewie

[Fox243]

43 minutes ago, Melvin- Admin said:

Alright guys,

I am officially eating my words. I was wrong. @Dr. Felipe Pittella you proved me wrong. 
 

At 5 months this is looking INSANE! I thought this was impossible, but it was not. 

 

Comparisons

 

 

yo wtf --this guy has full coverage too??? I barely see his scalp and this is only 5 months. This has to be photoshopped 🤣

Edited August 2 by Fox243

[Approach]

On 7/12/2024 at 2:22 AM, Al - Moderator said:

I have been saying for several years that I am a big believer in using body hair, mainly beard and chest, for hair transplants. If I was 22 again and starting over today I would use as much beard hair as I could right from the start. Why use all scalp hair and then do the hair transplant all over again using body hair when it starts to thin out over the years as you get older? Just use body hair from the start so you don't have to worry about it thinning out. Beard hair grows forever. There are plenty of old bald guys who grow beards.

Related to that is why I'm not a fan of purposely depleting your scalp donor using as much of it as you can in the recipient area and then using beard hair to restock the donor area. Why do that? You are transplanting twice. Just use the beard hair in the recipient area. Why use scalp donor which is going to thin out as you age for areas where you want hair to grow for the rest of our life, while using the beard hair that actually will grow for the rest of your life in areas on the back and sides that you will buzz or shave down or cut very short? That seems like it's the opposite that you would want.

 

I see your point.

Actually, I never factored in your following point:  "Why use all scalp hair ......it starts to thin out over the years as you get older."  My understanding is: Assuming it's removed from the correct area of donor region, then theoretically, there is no reason to believe it will thin/fall out.

For purposes of this discussion, pls assume the newly transplanted hairs do Not thin out."  Under that logic:  If one is born with scalp hairs on his head.....why wouldn't he want to Restore his head with tons more scalp hairs (since they won't thin/fall out)? (My above point)

On-the-other-hand, "if" indeed a moderate amount of transplanted scalp hairs do thin/fall out, I totally see your point.  In this case by the surgeon depleting all Beard hair before harvesting scalp hairs.

If one had to choose:  Would most guys want a HT that covers 90% of his baldness using scalp hairs only?  Or, would most guys want 100% coverage by including body hairs?  In the past, I would want scalp hair only-  but, to your credit-  surgeons are doing a stellar job using body hair these days-  thus I now prefer the 100% combination of scalp & body hair approach.

I may be totally wrong on this.  I'm not educated enough on this topic.

 

 

 

I really think it's healthy though how HRN members can respectfully/constructively disagree at times- and not take things personally.

Edited August 2 by Approach

[Carson85]

A lot of the results depend on how good the patient’s beard donor hair is, but either way, a mind-blowing result. Pretty much full coverage everywhere, even the crown too. Obviously he probably has to keep his hair short, but I don’t think most of us would mind if we were in the same situation. The important thing is that there is almost no sign that he was once bald.

[Shesayshesay]

2 hours ago, Carson85 said:

A lot of the results depend on how good the patient’s beard donor hair is, but either way, a mind-blowing result. Pretty much full coverage everywhere, even the crown too. Obviously he probably has to keep his hair short, but I don’t think most of us would mind if we were in the same situation. The important thing is that there is almost no sign that he was once bald.

Yep. And if someone doesn’t have great beard growth they could always try applying minoxidil and derma rolling to the beard area of the face to try bring in more hairs. I plan to do this a few years before I get a hair transplant.

[shanek]

Do you notice any scaring on the face where beard grafts were taken ?

[Fox243]

@avisaxena33 btw, I would recommend you look at this case to see how length can really help. This guy's donor was way worse than yours yet growing out the hair definitely helps.

[JoeD]

Agreed this is very impressive no matter how you slice it…. But I think the look of fairly full scalp coverage is further aided by the light colored hair over the light skin vs dark hair on light skin. 

Edited August 3 by JoeD

[wprevil]

I wouldnt trust Dr Pitella. 

[Fox243]

1 hour ago, wprevil said:

I wouldnt trust Dr Pitella. 

why lol? who could've even done better for this guy?

[TheGreatPretender]

He literally brought him back from the deepest of AGA's graves. Impressive work, absolutely mind blown. 

[Antonfarat]

On 8/4/2024 at 1:20 AM, wprevil said:

I wouldnt trust Dr Pitella. 

Me neither. He’s clearly using dark magic to bring people back from the dead. 

[wickettz]

On 7/14/2024 at 2:10 AM, Shesayshesay said:

How much is dr pitella charging per graft, in USD? Anyone know?

As of a month ago it was USD

$4/graft junior dr

$5/graft majority pittella