Bill_the_bald

Dr. Cooley has been involved with hair cloning research as a consultant of InterCytex. During my HT with him less than 2 months ago, I specifically asked him quite a bit of questions on this. Below is a summary of what he told me: First of all, he believes that this technology should be available to public in about 10 years. Initially the price will be very high, due to the need to recuperate the enormous amount of R&D costs. However, he is also pretty certain there are people willing to pay for it (you know, those NW6s and NW7s with a lot of money ). With this technology, you essentially get unlimited amount of donor hair in the form of stem cells, so there is no longer the need to tap into your conventional donor area. Also, treatment should be effective for everybody. In other words, even those who have been NW7 for the last 30 years can restore their original high school hair density, even exceeding it. I guess that means once this technology is available, I can walk into the clinic, demanding 200 fu/cm2 should I wish Originally I thought this involves growing all the grafts you need in a dish, then have the HT surgeon doing mega-mega-mega sessions of 20,000 or 30,000 grafts in one pass. However, Dr. Cooley said that is not the case, and it's actually more like injecting hair follicle stem cells into your scalp and let them grow. Once we do see this becoming a reality, I think it will truly change some of our current perceptions: 1. The term "finite donor supply" will no longer exist 2. No HT patient will ever have to live with a donor scar again 3. You don't need to receive lower density grafts like 50 fu/cm2 to achieve the "illusion of full density." You can have the original density, even exceeding it. 4. Scalp exercise will be a thing of the past 5. Finasteride and minoxidil will become ancient history: just let all the DHT-sensitive hair fall out and play catching up with unlimited supply of DHT-impervious hair. We no longer have to depend on these current medications for life. 6. Cost: I believe the reason why current HT is so expensive is because it consumes an inredible amount of time on the part of the surgeon and his entire staff. Once this technology is available in mass volume, I think the price should become much more affordable, simply because the HT doctor can now see many patients per day. 7. We probably won't experience any new graft shedding anymore. 8. I wonder if the surgeon's skill still comes into play, if the main thing he has to do now is injecting stem cells into patients scalps. Do we still need a list of Coalition Doctors for this? So these are my two cents. Hope it helps.

Well, I am using Finasteride + minoxidil myself, and I certainly don't expect to get this type of fantastic results. However, the original question asked was if applying minoxidil to other, non-crown, balding areas would make any difference. The answer is then: "Yes, but depends on the individual." So the point is, you will never find out if minoxidil can help in other areas if you don't even bother to try it in the first place.

Yeah, I was wondering about the same thing too the moment I saw the age "23". I would think by the time Jase reaches 33, all the hair on his frontal 1/3 and midscalp would be gone! Of course, by then Hair Multiplication will probably become a reality so he can get back his original mop of hair, provided he has a big enough checkbook.

si, Look at how much propecia+minoxidil can achieve on this guy (http://www.hairrestorationnetwork.com/eve/showthread.php?t=156138)! Granted this is a BEST case scenario that probably happens in less than 1 out of 100,but it shows that minoxidil can grow hair in areas other than the crown. I have been using minoxidil for about 2 months, though my results definitely can't compare to this guy, I do see some regrowth in the midscalp area.

On the subject of shock loss, the consensus seems to be that the only hair that will experience permanent shock loss are those that are destined to fall out anyway. However,is it possible for native hair that grow back (thus surviving temporary shock loss) still fall out permanently in the future? The way I am thinking is that,if this native hair originally was going to fall out in 10 years,HT surgery shortens its life dramatically,so even though it does grow back this time,but now will fall off permanently in 2 years.

OK, I have read from many threads that when you first start using products such as Finasteride or Minoxidil, you can experience quite a bit of shedding and temporarily look even balder than before. So here is my question: Is it possible, through visual inspection of the fallen hair shaft, to tell whether it falls off because of shedding or hairloss? I am thinking maybe you will see a gel-like bulb at the base of the shaft in one case but not the other.

OK, I have read from many threads that when you first start using products such as Finasteride or Minoxidil, you can experience quite a bit of shedding and temporarily look even balder than before. So here is my question: Is it possible, through visual inspection of the fallen hair shaft, to tell whether it falls off because of shedding or hairloss? I am thinking maybe you will see a gel-like bulb at the base of the shaft in one case but not the other.

None of my grafts shed for the first two weeks. However, as soon as I started washing my hair normally at day 14 (in accordance with my post-op instructions), the scabs were falling out like crazy with a small hair shaft within. I am now 6 full weeks after my HT, and I would say I still retain about 10%-15% of the transplanted hair that are now actually growing longer. During my HT with Dr. Cooley, I specifically asked him about graft shedding. Believe it or not, he said there is actually a very small percentage of his HT patients who held onto ALL their transplated grafts that just kept growing. If he was to put it in numbers, he would say about 1 out of 20. He also said he wished he knew why, so he could make it happen every time ......

Goldstar, These guys are right: it's probably best to get a precription and buy it from local pharmacy. In my case,I got prescription for 5 mg Finasteride tablet (the so-called generic Proscar). With insurance coverage,I only had to pay $5 for 30 pills (4 month supply),so even if my doctor charges me a little money for the prescription (which he didn't),it's still cheaper. As you can see from the attached photo,the generic pill is perfectly round,so very easy to cut. I take half pill (2.5 mg) every other day.

In my case, I went to the extreme: got my HT on Monday, drove back home on Tuesday afternoon (it was a 170-mile drive), and went back to work Wednesday morning. In other words, I didn't take ANY day off. I can do so for few reasons: 1. I was a NW 5A with a completely bald front but a full crown. In other words, there was nothing left on the recipient area to shave. So when I went back to work immediattely, I actually had more hair than before the surgery 2. Thanks to my HT doctor's skill, there was so little dry blood on my scalp, by Wednesday morning, you could barely see any trace of blood. 3. I work in a large facility with over 10,000 employees, and there are so many NW6 and NW7 walking around nobody even cared. I work in engineering department, and let me just say appearance is not a priority for us R&D engineers. I mean there are senior engineers in my team who come in to work in shorts and slippers during summer. I think I can come to work with a tattoo on my face and no one in my team would even blink! 4. All my accrued vacation get cashed out, so for every day I DON'T take off, I get few hundred extra dollars, which translates to a lot of Finasteride and minoxidil

When I went in for my initial consultation with Dr. Cooley, his personal assistant Ailene was first answering all my general questions while Dr. Cooley was still busy with other patients. One of things I asked was if I can get prescription for Proscar or generic 5 mg Finasteride to save $$$, and take 1/4 tablet everyday. Ailene told me I might find it difficult to cut the pill into quarters, and it's much easier to take half pill every other day and still have full benefits. I then asked if taking 2.5 mg Finasteride at one time will be too potent. She said no because people with prostate enlargement problems are taking full 5 mg Proscar, and for those who don't have prostate problems, 2.5 mg can actually be helpful in preventing potential prostate enlargement. So I followed her advice and take half pill every other day.

I have come across the above statement several times in different threads. What I am wondering is: is this a scientific fact, or just something subjective you veterans have concluded after seeing so many HT photos? If this is indeed true, does that mean it's better to be completely bald in the frontal area but a full crown then the other way around?

BobbySand, Yeah, my HT doctor had no problem giving me the prescription either. In fact, he prescribed generic 5mg Finasteride which is even cheaper than Proscar. Since I have prescription drug insurnace coverage,my copay delta between the two is 6x. Hairbank, I do have a question for you though. The prescription I currently have is only good for one year,and I was told this is the maximum allowed by the law,which means I need to get a new prescription every year. You said you got yours from HT #1 doctor,which I see is back in 2005. Did you have any trouble getting new prescription from the same doctor every year? If no,did he charge you a fee for new prescription?

I paid cash too for my HT with Dr. Cooley as well (was going to open up a new CD account with that money though, sigh). His clinic quoted me $10,000 for 2500 grafts. Although I have the option of paying it with a credit card, but they offered me 10% discount if I give them a certified bank check. So I ended up paying $9000, I guess the extra $1000 saved is good for a lot of Finasteride and monoxidil I am curious, for those of you who financed through their clinics, what kind of interest rates are being charged? 7%? 10%?

There is also Dr. Bill Rassman in Los Angeles, who is a coalition member

Actually, I am using both Finasteride and minoxidil mostly to maintain my existing crown hair. You probably can't tell from the photos, but I can feel that my crown hair is much softer than the hair in my donor area. When I mentioned this during my initial consultation, I was told that this "softness" is due to miniaturization of the crown area. Maybe it's psychological, but after taking Finasteride for about a month and half, I think my crown hair feels harder and thicker again, still not up to par with my donor hair, but an improvement nevertheless.

Hi its-only-hair, I did not take any Propecia prior to 2007, I wish I started taking them when I first lost my hair at 17, because if I did, I will probably be a NW 3 right now. During my initial consultation with Dr. Cooley on 1/23/2007, he gave me a complimentary bottle of "sample" Propecia with 30 pills, which tied me over for one month. After looking into my insurance coverage for prescription drugs, I found that for 30 pills, my co-pay for Proscar is around $30. However, for generic 5 mg Finasteride, I only have to pay $5, so for me, the price delta between the two is actually 6X. In other words, I can get 90 pills, or one whole year supply of generic Finasteride tablet for just $15, you just can't beat that price!!! Turns out Dr. Cooley didn't have any problem writing me a prescription for generic 5 mg Finasteride during initial consultation. In fact, he wrote me a whole year's worth at a dosage of 1 pill per day, which means I can get a 30-pill refill every month for a total of 360 pills (4 years supply) out of that single prescription! Unfortunately, I was told by his assistant Ailene that Finasteride only has a shelf life of about a year, so it wouldn't do me any good sitting on a pile of cheap Finasteride that I can't possibly consume in one year. So I guess I can just go in for a refill every 4 months or so for $5 I posted a somewhat related question in a different thread, but so far only heard back from Hairbank, and I like to hear more opinions. Apparently most veteran posters are against buying Finasteride-based medication online due to concern about not getting the real McCoy from sources of dubious origin. So the question is: do you guys feel the same about buying minoxidil online? The cheapest generic 5% minoxidil topical solution I found in local CVS or Walgreens pharmacy stores costs about $40 for 3-month supply, over $13 a bottle. But looking online, this website for example http://www.minoxidildirect.com, it's selling the same thing for ~ $6.75 per bottle, about half of what you pay at local pharmacies. So should I also be concerned that they may be selling fake minoxidil? Amazon.com also sells very cheap minoxidil, though the price is slightly higher than this site. Would it be a more reputable place to buy, since it's a well-known online store?

Newbie here and just want to share my experience on this. I've read many, many threads on Propecia vs Proscar vs generic Finasteride. After looking into my insurance coverage for prescription drugs, I found that for 30 pills, my co-pay for Proscar is around $30. However, for generic 5 mg Finasteride, I only have to pay $5, so for me, the price delta between the two is actually 6X. In other words, I can get 90 pills, or one whole year supply of generic Finasteride for just $15, you just can't beat that!!! Fortunately, my HT doctor didn't have any problem writing me a prescription for generic 5 mg Finasteride. In fact, he wrote me a whole year's worth at a dosage of 1 pill per day, which means I can get a 30-pill refill every month for a total of 360 pills (4 year supply) out of that single prescription! Unfortunately, I was told by his assistant that Finasteride only has a shelf life of about a year, so it wouldn't do me any good sitting on a pile of cheap Finasteride that I can't finish in one year. So I guess I can just go in for a refill every 4 months or so for $5. I have attached a photo of a 30-pill, generic 5 mg Finasteride bottle from local CVS pharmacy. As you can see, the white pill is perfectly cylindrical, so very easy to slice it with my $4.99 Walgreens pill cutter. I do have one question for you veterans though. Apparently you guys don't recommend buying medicine online. But what about minoxidil? The cheapest generic 5% minoxidil topical solution I found in local CVS or Walgreens pharmacy stores costs about $40 for 3-month supply, over $13 a bottle. But looking online, this website for example http://www.minoxidildirect.com, it's selling the same thing for ~ $6.75 per bottle, price just seems irresistible. So should I also be concerned that they may be selling fake minoxidil? Amazon.com also sells very cheap minoxidil, though the price is slightly higher than this site. Would it be a more reputable place to buy, since it's a well-known online store?

By the way Hairbank, as for my low follicular density, near the end of surgery I asked Dr. Cooley about the prospect of hair cloning, he said the technology should be available in about 10 years, and not only can anyone restore the original density, but actually exceeding it! I was originally under the impression that hair cloning just means the surgeons can leave your donor area alone, cloning and growing tens of thousand of grafts inside a petri dish, then physically planting each graft onto the recipient area just like today. But no, he said it will be more like injecting hair stem cells onto your scalp and let them grow. So I guess 10 years from now, I will be walking into his office with a checkbook in my pocket, demanding 200 fu/cm2!!!!!!

Thanks for your quick responses Toad_NW3 and hairbank! Actually, I did place high confidence in Dr. Cooley's skills after reading so many positive reviews about him on this forum. Just got a little freaked out when my recipient scalp began to look like the skin of a toad Now I can sleep better at night. Thanks again.

Hi guys, I have been researching this forum for the last three months or so, and this is my first post here. About me: I have been losing hair since 17, and now at 36, I am a NW 5A. I chose Dr. Cooley because he is the closest coalition doctor, about 170 miles from where I live, not exactly local, but 2+ hours drive is nothing compared to flying to another state or Canada. I know you veterans had always emphasized that geographic location should not be a top priority, but if there is one thing I learned from this forum, it's that as far as technical skills and ethics are concerned, I can't really go wrong with any of the coalition doctors, the main difference being their philosophies and approaches. Long story short, I got "Cooleyfied" on my virgin scalp on 2/26/2007, and below is a breakdown of my newly planted grafts: DONOR: Hair texture: coarse Density: 60 FU/cm2 Elasticity: average Trichophytic closure: yes Hair counts: total hairs 1s 737 737 2s 1686 3372 3s 276 828 4s 9 36 total 2708 4973 RECIPIENT: Transplanted area: 60cm2 Recipient density: 35-55 grafts/cm2 (average ~45/cm2) Recipient incisions 0.7-1.0mm I wanted 4000+ grafts to achieve full coverage in one pass. Unfortunately, as you guys could see, I only had a pathetically low donor density of 60 FU/cm2 (sigh). The only comfort I got from Dr. Cooley was that Asians typically have lower hair density compared to Caucasians, but at the same time, their hair are usually thicker and shaped differently. So I am going to have to rely on the saying that "one thick hair is better than two thin hairs" To be honest, I didn't experience too much post-op trauma: the redness was hardly noticeable after 36 hours, only needed to take few Tylenols to control the pain in the donor area the next day after surgery, very slight swelling on the forehead after 24 hours or so, but it was so minimal didn't even bother to use icepack, and it was completely gone in another few days. In fact, I got my HT done on Monday, went back to the clinic for post-op checkup around Tuesday noon time before driving home, and went back to work immediately on Wednesday, without wearing a hat or anything! I figure if anyone asked, I would just say I decided to try a new hairstyle by shaving my forehead hehe ...... In any case, about a week after the surgery, I began to notice a dark-colored, bumpy appearance on my recipient area, especially around the center hairline where Dr. Cooley packed the greatest density. I am posting few before and after photos, and couple questions: 1. Does my recipient area look normal to you guys at this stage? I mean if you look at my pre-op photo, the skin was fairly smooth, albeit without any hair on it. If you do a full-view of Day9 and Day10 photos of my repicient area, I think I'll see what I am talking about. 2. If you compare the photos of my donor area before and after HT, does it seem like it is experiencing some shock loss, specifically at the center region directly underneath the scar line?

HT with Dr. Jerry Cooley on 2/26/2007

HT with Dr. Jerry Cooley on 2/26/2007