Dewayne

Me too.

My gosh.....

Dr. Cooley for one, along with some others mentioned. In my view, Dr. Cooley is remarkable for his desire to help individual patients improve what they have. What I mean is, sometimes a doc can place the transplant in ways that might not be best for the patient, but would look better in the short run. I'm not accusing any, but figure it's possible. For example, he could've easily convinced me to leave my larger plugs in and added around them and I'd look thicker probably.

I called the Toppik number and they gave me some local places that sold the stuff; because I HATE paying $10 shipping on a $24 order. But, I've tried them both with very little success to be honest. Toppik worked great at a party I went to at night, but I feel conscious of it during the day.

Looks good Five Oaks. How was your experience with Dr. Griffin in comparison? I live just outside of Atlanta and actually visited him in early '05 for a consult. You'll be happy you addressed your crown, imo. A lot of people act like the crown is no big deal, but it is and I wish I would have went for about 1500 in the crown as well.

Honestly, you better consider price as about the third or fourth consideration in all this. My first transplant was only $3000, but I was pretty much in hiding for 17 years. The cheapest thing to do is shave it, but if you want it to be unnoticeable and look good; go to Dr. Cooley, Wong, Feller, Shapiro, Lindsey, etc. and narrow it down based on distance and price from THAT group.

My advice is to wait until you're 42 to have a transplant; and then sex or masturbation will be way on down the list of thing you'll want to do immediately after the procedure ..... especially if you have the same wife for about 15 years!!

I actually did notice an improvement at the 12 - 14 month mark. It might not be typical, or maybe it was just spring approaching that made my hair look better. Whatever, March was one year and it looks better now than then.

does that mean third and final HT is out of the question? looks good but i think 3rd HT (technically 2nd) should finish it off. even 2K as in 800 front 1/3 and 1200 crown. good to see you back online. No, I do plan on going back for another session. Dr. Cooley guesses I have 3000 or so left to harvest. However, I went 17 years between a bad transplant before I got my second, so it might be a few years. Right now I've got a kid approaching college age, just bought him a car, etc. and I'd like to regroup financially after a 2008 that saw my income down 20%. But if some doc on here wants to give me one for free I'll be happy to be a "showcase".

Here are some updates. It's dark here, so these aren't under natural lighting. No need to get on to me about my crappy pic taking skills, because I'm really not thinking about hair nearly as much these days.

Personally, I'm very satisfied with my ht. Although I wish I would have chosen to get 1,000 more or so, but I'm miles ahead of where I was. I would advise giving your transplant time to mature though. For me, I've noticed quite a change even from 12 - 15 months.

Alright, so I finally changed family docs for a couple of reasons: 1) tired of long waits in 12 physician office, and 2) I wanted to try a D.O. because, after much research, I believe they offer some advantages as a primary care doctor. Anyway, he suggested I switch from the Proscar (finasteride) to the Avodart. He said studies have shown an incredible percentage with growth, and this drug has fewer side effects. Anyway, what does it cost? What do you all think?

Alright, so I finally changed family docs for a couple of reasons: 1) tired of long waits in 12 physician office, and 2) I wanted to try a D.O. because, after much research, I believe they offer some advantages as a primary care doctor. Anyway, he suggested I switch from the Proscar (finasteride) to the Avodart. He said studies have shown an incredible percentage with growth, and this drug has fewer side effects. Anyway, what does it cost? What do you all think?

Doc, I haven't read all the posts, but immediately thought of a true story I wanted to share about an old friend and coworker Greg, who had a brain tumor in 1997. At the time, he was the engineer at our manufacturing plant, 29 years old, perfect health, etc. He was also my neighbor. One night in bed he had a severe seizure and was rushed to the hospital. Anyway, he went to three different doctors and decided on one in Jacksonville, Florida. I visited two days after the surgery and was amazed that, even after being cut all the way across his hairline, he could get up and walk to the bathroom. For a year or two, he said the only effects were a little trouble with some math, etc. Now, 12 years later and 40 yrs. old he's got twins and living a perfectly healthy life. The froze his sperm, but I'm not sure if that's what was used or not, but to hear him now - he's just about good as new. God bless your little girl and you all will be in my prayers.

The three best on that list all said >2500. Trust me, you'll wish you went with the larger number.

I plan to get my crown addressed as well, and I figure Cooley is as good as anyone. Have you considered him?

From where you came from, you should forget about a "big forehead". Unless you keep dwelling on it, I doubt many people would notice. I think it looks great. If you're like me, you'll notice more thickening even after 12 months.

I would recommend starting out at 75% or so; and then working your way up. My problem was the donor area felt like it would stretch when working out, especially when laying flat on a bench or something.

Not if you go to a world class doctor. I've got a tricho (don't know how to spell it out) closure of my scar and it's undetectable at a 2 or 3. This summer, before my vacation, I'm going down to a one to see if it's noticeable then.

I looked at the pics again and relized my first post was inaccurate. I looked at the first two pictures, and not three and four. I agree with hopefull that you'll need a mega session or a plan to get a couple large, 2500 sessions. I don't agree with hopefull about the unnatural look of a transplant. Without my transplant, I'd be thinner than you and I don't think anyone can tell I've had a transplant. In fact, Saturday I went back home to a party with people I haven't seen in two, three and even 10 years. Several commented that I hadn't changed much, and one lady remarked how I'd kept my hair or wasn't bald. It still pissed me off that someone actually would say, out of the blue, something about bald even though she meant it as a compliment.

I think, at worse, you might be heading for a Norwood 5. However, I think a 2000 graft session would get you a solid 10 years; and then you'll have another 4,000+ grafts in the vault in case you need them later. Here is the Norwood link. http://www.hairtransplantnetwo...rticle.asp?CopyID=91

That's pretty close I suppose. I was looking to spend $10k or less, and found I could generally get 2500 grafts (paying cash in advance) for anywhere from $8500 to $11,000 - from the top 5 doctors I had narrowed down based on reputation and skill. That group included Charles, Cooley, Feller, Alexander, and the guy from Nashville. H&W recommended 4,000 which of course is a little more. In hindsight though, I wish I'd went with about 3500 grafts.

Giles, I had the same feeling in and around the 5-8 month marks. Some weeks it was like, "man, I've seen a lot of growth since just last week...." And then the next week I'd be thinking "what happened to that thickening I saw last week?". So, like the others said; Hang in there and you might be surprised how things can change from 8 months on.

I'm sure some, or even most, clinics use the 'free travel' card as a sales tactic, but I'm quite sure even Hasson and Wong offer travel discounts; as does Charles in Florida. So, I wouldn't worry that all do it. Those two are pretty great. Cooley offers a two night stay in a hotel that's just apart of the whole transplant experience; and a flight to Charlotte is probably not all that expensive.

latinlotus, I saw more growth between the 7 - 9 month mark, and even noticed quite a bit from 9-12, so you've still got a ways to go. And my scar got better too, around the 6 month mark. I don't know if doctor selection has anything to do with it, but I've followed some Cooley patients who also had more growth in the later stages. Maybe a coincidence, I don't know. Anyhow, hang in there and in about three months you'll wake up like it happened overnight, if you have a similar experience.