I have been thinking about extreme solutions to deal with advanced hairloss.

I am a NW3-4, 25 yrs old, so there is a high chance I will become a 6 or 7 I believe. There are many in my shoes who would love to have a full illusion of hair regardless of how far they bald. A hair transplant alone will likely not acheive this in advanced hair loss sufferers given that donor hair is limited and often thins as we age.

I have come up with a few potential options, here is my first idea:

Transplant maximum number of grafts that one's donor area will allow.......but do so with uniform density across the balding scalp and use that in conjunction with a product like TOPPIK.

In my case as an example, I have "excellent" donor supply with 8000 strip grafts available and might be able to get 2000 more with FUE. Assuming I become a full blown NW7, I would have 400 cm of scalp to cover with 10K grafts....this would give a uniform density of 25 cm2. Toppik works really well to add density. Since you need some hair for it to work, it could latch onto the 25 cm2 of uniform density.

My issue with this approach is that I have used 2200 grafts already on the frontal 50 cm (41 cm2 density)........so I would have 8000'ish left for the remaining 350 cm (22 cm2 density).

Thoughts on this approach? Could it work? Is 10K grafts too much for a NW7?

My thought would be the following and this came after lots and lots of research consideration.

1- First if you are heading towards a NW6 then just go FUE, for 2 operations first 3000 second 1500 grafts to be planted.
2- You have to accept a thin looking appearance, than chasing after the denisty which will take many operations to achieve more than 3. You don't want to end up going under the knife more than twice in my opinion.
3- A thin result that is layed out uniformly over the scalp, ignoring the very back of the head could result in a good style if cut really short. Toppik will definately come in handy, and will not be difficult to apply since the hair will be there to hold it, so it will just add an illusion effect.

Doctors here should plan out a working strategy for NW6 since those are among the most sufferers and the outcome could just be ridiculous and disappointing. NW6 patients need the artistry of the surgeon to be as creative as possible, I have seen so many results from NW6 where they just dense pack the 1/3 and it looks just bad even with dense packing, and then they start addressing the 2/3 of the scalp,in my opinion an overall thin coverage with a wider distribution should be followed.
4- Since you would accept a thin outcome, then logically you must go for FUE to be able to cut your hair short and you can cut your hair even shorter from the back and sides( above 4mm ).

THats my opionion after looking all over the net not only this forum, NW6 is really different than any other patients.

An exception to the points above would be the following:

1- If the surgeon has the expertise to do huge megassesion of more than 5000 grafts like we see some surgeons achieve that, and there is still reserve to do another operation of 2000 grafts then by all my means go FUT. THis of course means that you will be under the knife only 2 times, and benefit from more density than FUE. But this needs an agressive approach and not many surgeon did I see doing that.[/QUOTE][/QUOTE][/QUOTE]

How do you know you have 8000 (or 10,000 including FUE) grafts to play with?

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I represent Dr Rahal. I can be contacted for advice and to arrange consultations.

Dr. Rahal is a member of the Coalition of Independent Hair Restoration Physicians

yskhleif:
Thanks for your detailed input. You and I are good examples of how different people have different preferences. I am the kind of person who wants to extract the maximum number of grafts possible, even if it means going past 2 surgeries as is your preference.

For me, 4500 grafts is not enough if you have more. I say why stop when you can theoretically get more?


mattj:

Dr. True said I have 8000 and Dr. Rahal said I have good density. Ive heard bspot and Dr. Feller say that once you are stripped out, you can get more from FUE.

So I am assuming 2000 FUE + 8000 strip.