Dewayne

You do see the irony in a post titled "Nervous in New York" by a guy named 'Ringo', right?

Dang, that's a great result! You look like Alex Van Halen in those last couple of shots.

Doc, I had my first prostate exam this past Tuesday, as the local Adventist hospital here offers them up for free once a year. Two urologist were on duty, and I picked the older Italian doctor, because the other one is associated with the doctor's office I'm prospecting for their 401k business. Anyway, the urologist said, in his accent, "Your prostate is very small....", but I felt he was saying it sort of complimentary. I then told him of my proscar use and he said to double my psa that I'll get in the mail. But, a small prostate is pretty good, right? I played in this cool college band in college but I let my baldness (and talent) get the better of me and gave it up. I was singer, and I sort of strummed an acoustic guitar but I hardly knew a note. My claim to fame is, in 1988 or so, when we played fraternity parties or the local small pub / bar, I would get request shouted for the song "Hello, I love you". Our bass player and drummer are still doing it. Matter of fact, in July they played at a luau at our old frat house. I was on vacation so I didn't get to see them but I'm not sure a reunion would've taken place anyway. One of them moonlights as a pharma rep for Norvartis and the other works for AT&T.

That's awesome! I too am experiencing something similar. Although I never swore off social activities, my hairloss and subsequent plug job really affected my social success. I've told it before, but after graduating from college I took a supervisory job in a damn chicken operation mainly b/c I liked the idea of wearing a hardhat everyday. Luckily, I got promoted up and had to deal with it without the hats. However, as the years passed my plugs were becoming more and more noticeable and I would shy away from places where I knew people from long ago would be. I usually had to wash my hair by the afternoon as it would become oily, thin and more noticeable. Now, at almost six months I couldn't be happier (except for maybe wishing I'd got another 1,000 in my crown ). I don't mind being a 'thinning' man at 42, but I'll say that I don't believe anyone could guess I've had a transplant now. And after all these years, that's a great feeling. So, I can say thanks too as I was about to check into going back to Latham's Hair Clinic in Birmingham, Alabama for another 3 or 400 plug session. I can't believe those idiots are still doing it the same way......

That is an amazing result. Congrats.

I found all the docs recommended on here during my research to be pretty close in price, say +/- $1,000 on a 3,000 graft procedure. I would say you should pick out your top two or three based on consistent results, then how you like the doctor in an interview, and use price and location as sort of a tie breaker between a couple of excellent docs. I'm going on six months and I've had two strip surgeries (one with a larger scar), but I could go down to a Army style cut right now. However, my scar only became unnoticeable at around the five month mark.

I would. And if you don't want your normal barber to know drive to another town and do it. I got a haircut around the same time and didn't tell the 'stylist'. I was pretty scared about it, but I don't think there is a reason as everything's pretty set by one-month. She apparantly noticed it and said, "do those hairs actually grow?...." What I think she noticed was the large holes in my crown and hairline where I had the plugs removed.

About half of the barbers I've been to over the last 15 years have said something about my transplant. What pisses me off is a couple of them have talked to me about it while other people were in the shop. Had one of them not been a woman and the other a 60 year old man, somebody's ass would've been whooped! But anyway, after my latest transplant from a good clinic using 21st century techniques, it's virtually undetectable now. This lady said something about it at my first haircut around one month post-op, something like "does that grow out like real hair?..." But now, I'd dare say at least 99 out of 100 barbers wouldn't guess.

I'm sure both of these are excellent surgeons, and truly deserve the awards. I know Cooley is. But, sometimes with the "peer" awards, truly excellent surgeons who probably also deserve the awards don't get nominated because of personality differences. For example, both Epstein and Feller seem to me to be the types who might arouse some form of jelousy / pissed off-ness (is that a word?) and likely wouldn't be contenders for such awards. Just my opinion.....

I think Obama wears Dermmatch or something. Check him out on the O'reilly Factor and he looks like he has black shoe polish on his head. I don't like Edward's hair, as it seems too much for a 50-something year old. thana is right about Romney's though.

I don't know about Williams, but Dr. Charles looks to be in pretty good shape. If this were indeed "round 1" of a real boxing match, my money would be on him. But in a debate, Dr. Feller appears to be a very tough foe so I'd have to go with him on this one.

I think side or back is ok. The worry with sleeping on your stomach is perhaps stretching the donor area.

Looks great. Have any of the 'whisker' hairs fallen out? Mine were mostly gone by a month but yours look like they're still hanging around.

Eman, here's what I did and I didn't have any issues.... 1. I wrapped a piece of saran wrap around my head and covered it with a surgeons hat for the first few nights (5 or 6). 2. I took one of the pain pills and a valium provided by my doctor before I went to sleep for the first 4 or 5 nights. Although it didn't "hurt", the one night I didn't take it I spent half the night awake b/c I was anxious. And, I actually did sleep on my side some. You'll know it if you start irritating the donor area by rolling over.

http://hair-restoration-info.com/eve/forums?a=userposts&sortType=1&u=802102104

for U.S. Pres. and V.P. A black man, An old man, A woman, and A bald man. Odd times, indeed.

I'm very happy with my looks now that those old plugs are gone. But yea, I've got more hair now than I did before and I expect it to get much better, like you said. When he took the old plugs out, I looked considerably balder of course and hairs from the new transplant are growing. I debated about it, but finally told Dr. Cooley my main goals were to: 1. Repair the old ht, 2. Create a natural look, and 3. Fill in my 'diffuse' thinning look. My other option was to densely pack all the grafts into the front 1/3 or opt for a larger session. I don't mind my hair being thin, but I hope to not see any more skin. Having said all that, I thought the pics showed considerable difference b/t months 3 and 5 on the top. And I don't think anyone would know now that I've had a transplant. Before, it was pretty obvious if you pay attention and the pics didn't tell the whole truth. Also, my scar is incredibly unnoticeable already. I hope you update your pics, as I'd like to see some more of Cooley's work......

A couple of funny stories about my kids. My 15 year old son asked my wife why I had these pictures of my head on the computer. She said he then pointed to his own head and said "is dad going to do like the commercials and get hair"? BTW, besides that he has no clue I've gotten a transplant. Like Middleson said, if you can lay low a few days to a week, it'll be hard for them to tell unless they're up there digging around in your hair. #2, my youngest son who is now 11, was very alert as a child. I did the Hair Club "system" for about two weeks. The day I got it, the wife and I drove to the church day care to get the boys and when I picked him up his eyes got real big and he leaned back in my arms looking at my head. He couldn't even talk yet, so he must've been about eight months old. The wife and I still laugh about that one. I swear when I brushed that 'system' you could hear it 50 feet away.

If you want a scar to be undetectable, be sure to ask what kind of donor area closure he will use. The tricho closure is popular, as it allows hairs to grow through which makes the scar hard to detect. Ask him how long the procedure will last. I think some of the follicals can die if out of the head too long, so I wouldn't want a 2,000 graft procedure that's going to take 12 hours as I'd think it would produce a low yield. Ask him / her to give you some referrals, or better yet, try and find some of his patients on your own. What I did was email / pm some of the patients from a couple years ago who don't post much anymore. They were all (3 or 4) very, very helpful.

Your old plugs don't look nearly as bad as mine did, from 1991. You know, I often wonder how many guys are walking around fairly satisfied with an old looking plug job, as I was. Although I was always conscious of it, it started bothering me pretty suddenly just a few months before I had the procedure. Now, after seeing and experiencing todays transplants, I can't believe I was ever satisfied. I think you'd see a big difference with about 3,000 grafts at the front 1/3 and some in the crown.

Check this out: http://www.hairrestorationnetwork.com/eve/showthread.php?t=145176

You are at the most difficult time, my friend. The next couple of months will probably be difficult, if you're normal. I believe most people start seeing a difference at the 7 - 8 month point. I'm at 5.5 months and see some hairs growing out, but apparantly they get to thickening up to about 18 months! Take a look at the "Twins" Spex has posted, and someone 'bumped' up to today. That guy saw a lot of growth after the 8 month point. Of course, some guys are lucky and have a full head of hair after five months!

If you don't have any native hairs to blend in the transplanted hairs, you will have pink looking skin for a few months. When it starts growing, it will be noticeable as it'll be short hairs for a while until it blends in with same length, texture, etc. My advice would be to look above at the "Hair Loss Weblogs" and see some people with your similar pattern and how they progrss at different stages.

If you are thinning, you should be seeing some hairs in the bottom of your shower that have fallen out. At least that was my experience. Mine started with a "diffuse" thinning pattern, where it basically thinned all over at the same time. It started around 21 yrs. but wasn't noticeable to most other people around age 24. Sure, I had the occasional person comment on it but a lot of people didn't notice until then. Once in college, I went on a fraternity trip to a place with an indoor pool and everyone noticed how thin it was while wet. Keep an eye on that, and if you see that evidence I'd get on Rogaine and Proscar immeidiately to start fighting it.

Hello Jeets, I'll give you my opinion, based on what I've learned from two ht's and 10 months of intense, daily research on this and other forums.... 1) Among other things, some clinics just have different philosophies on large sessions. Some think anything more than 3,000 or so grafts in a single session can jeopardize your yield. So, they think, for example, a 2500 session will consistently give you a 99% yield whereas a 4,000 graft session will yield 95%. These numbers were just pulled out of the air to provide an example, but there are some with that opinion. Also, some clinics just aren't setup to do very large sessions. It's not that they aren't good enough, but they just don't do them enough. Think of this: If you were an elite surgeon, at the very top of the game, located in say New Orleans, LA. Most of your clientele will get between 1500 to 2500 grafts in a session, or as a one time transplant. If you agreed to do a 4,000 graft session, you'd need some more help but it takes five years to train someone up. The problem is, also, time does matter. So, it's not possible to do a large session with your normal staff because it might take 13 hours and a lot of the FU's might not survive that length of time. So, you might very well could use 4,000 grafts, but 2500 will make a considerable difference. I had a similar experience, where Cooley and Charles recommended 2,500 - 3,000 but Hasson recommended 4,000. I could have used 4,000 b/c I didn't put many in my crown area. But, for a couple of reasons I chose to go with the 'smaller' recommendation. Comparing the two, the FUE will be much more expensive, and some docs think the mega session FUE's aren't effective. Armani, from my research, used to be great with the strip surgery but he's sort of sold out to FUE. My scar, at 5.5 months, is virtually undetectable so I don't know why you'd want FUE. Check out "Spex's" post of the two twin brothers who had transplants. One got the Tricho closure and the other got the old style closure, and the difference was amazing. 2) I think you'll be ok the day after your transplant to travel. I'd definitely spend the night after, though. 3) "Cosmetic Surgery"? 4) Keep taking for a few months and see if it gets better.