Debunking HASCI´s regeneration claim - an open letter.

[Arashi]

For me it had to be now, at any cost. fcuk the future scenario.

Of course, you did the right thing, without a doubt. And I'm sure you're happy with the results too, regrowth or not, it looks SO much better than before ..

[gc83uk]

Maybe it happened in one patient ? I don't know. All we have is your data from your second case. It's good enough for me to plan my future treatments. And since it seems unlikely from your case that a lot of regrowth is happening, I'm holding back on future treatments, until I really need one

I think the paper refers to 5 test cases. There should be a regulatory body that says yes this works or no this does't work. If there is, then they have sanctioned it and if it doesn't work as described then they are equally liable.

Sure it's sensible to wait if you're not confident with it. You're not really in a desperate situation from what I can gather, you're hair looks pretty good to me. If I were in your shoes I'd wouldn't be the guinea pig, no chance, I'd wait for something concrete to come along.

For me it had to be now, at any cost. fcuk the future scenario.

[Arashi]

Perhaps, but you know what they have published a paper which claims it works. And works as it's advertised.

Who is to blame for that? How do you go about getting these results analysed, who over sees it?

Maybe it happened in one patient ? I don't know. All we have is your data from your 3rd case. It's good enough for me to plan my future treatments. And since it seems unlikely from your case that a lot of regrowth is happening, I'm holding back on future treatments, until I really need one

[gc83uk]

Don't get me wrong Gaz, I feel that the fact that HASCI's procedure is scarless is very important ! I just don't think they should advertise with 85% regrowth.

Perhaps, but you know what they have published a paper which claims it works. And works as it's advertised.

Who is to blame for that? How do you go about getting these results analysed, who over sees it?

[Arashi]

Oh and 1 more very important thing. If I had even 2500 grafts extracted with FUE, then how would I cover up those scars. I couldn't have grown my hair out again, there wouldn't be much left. And I couldn't shave, I'd be like a human dot-2-dot lol

I really had no choice here, it was a no brainer.

And it's only cost me £4 per graft, I'm not sure how that compares to European FUE Dr's.

Actually the £4 per graft would have been even cheaper had I opted to have shaved my head earlier, I could have done more grafts in 1 day, thus saving extra days.

Don't get me wrong Gaz, I feel that the fact that HASCI's procedure is scarless is very important ! I just don't think they should advertise with 85% regrowth.

[gc83uk]

Oh and 1 more very important thing. If I had even 2500 grafts extracted with FUE, then how would I cover up those scars. I couldn't have grown my hair out again, there wouldn't be much left. And I couldn't shave, I'd be like a human dot-2-dot lol

I really had no choice here, it was a no brainer.

And it's only cost me £4 per graft, I'm not sure how that compares to European FUE Dr's.

Actually the £4 per graft would have been even cheaper had I opted to have shaved my head earlier, I could have done more grafts in 1 day, thus saving extra days.

[gc83uk]

Ok. Well I don't know Gaz Not sure why they told you that and what they did or did not see. But I do know that your recipient contains no tripples, and mostly singles. So in such case, 5000 grafts sounds a lot more than it actually is.

Of course I'll admit that regeneration for your first surgery might have been better. We simply don't know. And maybe it's also better for other patients. All we know is that in your 3rd procedure, most likely not a lot of regeneration happened based on the data we now have ... All the rest we just don't know and can only speculate on.

Exactly, this brings me back to my first point, there are so many unknown variables. We've done the best with what we had to work with.

It may also be plausible that the avg hair count in the recip maybe higher in the first HST than the subsequent HSTs. Something that Didi noticed. Albeit the latter HST's hadn't had the same amount of time to develop.

I think had I gone for an FUE, two things would have happend (pure speculation of course), my avg hair per graft would have been about 1.8 and I'm not sure the yield of FUE in the recipient vs HST is up to much.

Yes the avg hair maybe 1.3 1.4 1.5, I think its closer to 1.5, but there maybe more 1.5's on my head than had I done a traditional FUE. There maybe a lot to be said for Gho's preservation medium.

Like I said, I'm trying to be positive.

[Arashi]

Perhaps!

But we're talking about 2 Dr's here, both giving the same figures, seems unlikely that they wouldn't try that before suggesting a scalp reduction. It wasn't a 5 minute consultation.

Ok. Well I don't know Gaz Not sure why they told you that and what they did or did not see. But I do know that your recipient contains no tripples, and mostly singles. So in such case, 5000 grafts sounds a lot more than it actually is.

Of course I'll admit that regeneration for your first surgery might have been better. We simply don't know. And maybe it's also better for other patients. All we know is that in your 3rd procedure, most likely not a lot of regeneration happened based on the data we now have ... All the rest we just don't know and can only speculate on.

[gc83uk]

Ok. Maybe another explanation then why that other doctor thought you could only get 2500 is that he didn't recognize the fact that your donor had mostly singles ? Maybe if he had recognized that fact, he would have figured it would have been possible to harvest 5000 singles from your donor ?

Perhaps!

But we're talking about 2 Dr's here, both giving the same figures, seems unlikely that they wouldn't try that before suggesting a scalp reduction. It wasn't a 5 minute consultation.

To be fair I think the HDC doctor was exaggerating slightly, but take it from me as fact I had a larger number of singles in the donor area than the average. I can't say anymore than that. We're going off on a tangent with this anyway.

[Arashi]

Look as unlikely as it sounds it is what it is. When I used to spend like an hour a day doing my hair, with the hair piece, wasting my life away, I would combine it with hair thickener. I always had to spray hair thickener in the back just to make it look as equal as the rest.

The areas near my crown and edges of the scared area was always the thickest as per the image you just linked.

I don't know why, but the area was thinner and seems to have been backed up what the other Dr's had said at the time and the camera thing. I seen it on the big projector.

Ok. Maybe another explanation then why that other doctor thought you could only get 2500 is that he didn't recognize the fact that your donor had mostly singles ? Maybe if he had recognized that fact, he would have figured it would have been possible to harvest 5000 singles from your donor ?

[gc83uk]

Just look at this area, aside of your crown: http://tinypic.com/view.php?pic=1z5h...5#.UjI6F8a1HiQ

You see tons of doubles and tripples and an occasional single. Now look at your recipient. You see mostly singles.

Of course, it might theoretically be possible that somehow in your safe area mostly singles grew, while in other area's doubles and tripples. But does that seem likely ?

We know from analyzing the 2 50 graft tests that HASCI just transplants mainly singles, even if a donor contains enough doubles and tripples. To me that explains why you could get so many grafts.

Look as unlikely as it sounds it is what it is. When I used to spend like an hour a day doing my hair, with the hair piece, wasting my life away, I would combine it with hair thickener. I always had to spray hair thickener in the back just to make it look as equal as the rest.

The areas near my crown and edges of the scared area was always the thickest as per the image you just linked.

I don't know why, but the area was thinner and seems to have been backed up what the other Dr's had said at the time and the camera thing. I seen it on the big projector.

[Arashi]

No mate, this was before I had any transplants. This was about 3 years ago, he used one of those camera things.

I've just checked some picture just now too, if you look for example just below my scar which hasn't been harvested before on the set of photos with the marker pen you can see as many singles as doubles, well I can anyway.

Just look at this area, aside of your crown: http://tinypic.com/view.php?pic=1z5h...5#.UjI6F8a1HiQ

You see tons of doubles and tripples and an occasional single. Now look at your recipient. You see mostly singles.

Of course, it might theoretically be possible that somehow in your safe area mostly singles grew, while in other area's doubles and tripples. But does that seem likely ?

We know from analyzing the 2 50 graft tests that HASCI just transplants mainly singles, even if a donor contains enough doubles and tripples. To me that explains why you could get so many grafts.

[gc83uk]

But isnt that because they harvested that area a lot already ? If I take a look at your non safe area (your side of the crown area for example) I don't see many singles. I see a lot of doubles and even tripples. When I look at your recipient I see mostly singles. So that would explain why you could get so many grafts.

No mate, this was before I had any transplants. This was about 3 years ago, he used one of those camera things.

I've just checked some picture just now too, if you look for example just below my scar which hasn't been harvested before on the set of photos with the marker pen you can see as many singles as doubles, well I can anyway.

[Arashi]

First thing the HDC guy said to me was, "wow you have more singles than doubles in the safe area". My heart sank.

But isnt that because they harvested that area a lot already ? If I take a look at your non safe area (your side of the crown area for example) I don't see many singles. I see a lot of doubles and even tripples. When I look at your recipient I see mostly singles. So that would explain why you could get so many grafts.

[gc83uk]

I'm basing my statement on the fact that the average hair/graft is 2.5 in general and if a hasci result has more singles than doubles, the average at hasci might be about 1.3 (or at least lower than 1.5), so that's about half.

However it might be an interesting thing to analyze a part of unsafe zone on your scalp that was never used, count an average hair/graft number and see if it's any different from recipient.

First thing the HDC guy said to me was, "wow you have more singles than doubles in the safe area". My heart sank.