gmonasco

Ha ha! If I had a transplant, I don't think I'd plan any big social events for the next six months.

Not so: http://tinyurl.com/2g8proy

At this point, the best that one can accurately say is that it's potentially a start. The press release doesn't provide enough information to make any more realistic an assessment.

Unfortunately, this press release isn't all that informative, as the phrase "significant hair growth" is vague and undefined. A five-fold increase in the number of vellus hairs could be considered "significant hair growth," but nobody experiencing MPB would really find that outcome cosmetically appealing.

When people reach middle age, it's normal for them to start developing wrinkles. No one goes around saying, "OMG LOOK AT THE CROW'S FEET ON THAT 45-YEAR-OLD WOMAN! LOL." Yet plenty of middle-aged women still undergo cosmetic surgery for such things nonetheless.

Can you imagine anyone who practices in that field not saying the same thing? What practitioner is going to tell you, "Yeah, I do hair restoration surgery, but my results are typically average at best"? It may not be advisable to transplant hair to the crown before the extent of the hair loss pattern in that area is evident, but it's far from an absolute that hair should never be transplanted into the crown. I would agree that the framing of the face is more aesthetically important than the fullness of the crown, but plenty of people still care about the appearance of the latter. Technically true but misleading. They have proved to work well for some people, but the extent to which they work (and whether they work at all) can vary quite widely from person to person. Why should a 65-year-old person be less concerned about his appearance than anyone else? In general, a 22-year-old is not far enough along developmentally for his future hair loss pattern to be established or predictable, so hair transplantation is not advisable for such a patient. (It would be a case of sacrificing long-term potential for an ephemeral gain.) I would be very, very leery of any doctor who was willing to perform such a procedure on someone that young (barring the most extraordinary of circumstances).

I wouldn't advise anyone, anywhere to drive himself home after a HT. I'm sorry you didn't have anyone to help you out in that regard. :eek:

You didn't have any density added to your forelock, is that correct?

It's wrong. "Shock loss" is used to mean at least three different things: a) Hairs which are accidentally transected during surgery. This phenomenon should really be called "surgeon error" or something similar, because it has nothing to do with a "shock" to the patient's system. b) Miniaturized hairs in the recipient area which fall out due to the trauma of a HT and don't grow back. Such hairs were already on their way out to begin with; so they haven't really been "lost" due to the HT; the surgery has simply hastened something that was going to happen soon enough on its own anyway. c) Hairs in the recipient area which go into a telogen (i.e., resting) phase due to the trauma of a HT. These hairs will grow back on their own after the end of the telogen phase (about 2-4 months). The phrase "shock loss" should most appropriately be used to reference ©, and that type of loss is most definitely reversible.

That looks pretty impressive, especially for the five-month mark. How do you feel? Any pain, scalp tightness, itching, etc.?

Yes, it's always a possibility, but since the patient has so far declined to provide any details or be examined by the doctor who performed the procedure (or any other), one cannot assume any culpability on the part of the doctor -- certainly not to the degree of asserting outright that the doctor should be performing additional work for free or rescinding his fee.

Dr. Timothy Carman is an IAHRS member who is reasonably close to that area: Dr. Timothy Carman – San Diego Hair Transplant MD | IAHRS Member

Those are choices that a doctor might opt to offer out of a sense of compassion or good business relations, but why should any doctor feel obligated to provide them for circumstances beyond his control? That's like saying that if an earthquake levels your new house two weeks after the end of construction, the architect should either design you another house for free or refund half his fee.

I hate to sound like I'm blaming the victim (and it doesn't mitigate the issue of informed consent), but if you didn't know that little or no growth was a possible (even if relatively rare) outcome of a hair transplant, then you didn't research the procedure very thoroughly before agreeing to it. And although it sucks to pay a lot of money and not get even close to the results you wanted, you can't really expect a doctor to be liable for issues completely outside of his control. He performed the procedure you wanted, and unless you can show malpractice, he deserves his fee. In general, anytime you schedule a medical procedure, you should ask the doctor's office to provide you with copies of any attendant paperwork requiring your signature (including waivers) in advance so that you can review them prior to the day of surgery. (This practice also ensures you will have copies of such documents on hand should the need arise.)

Jeremy Piven's Cranial Conundrum | TMZ.com

Maybe, maybe not. Sometimes a HT will cause some existing hairs to go into a telogen (resting) phase and not grow back right away. This is one of the phenomena commonly described as "shock loss." In general, native hairs should start growing back within the period of a normal telogen cycle (i.e., 2-3 months).

There's a big difference between "has no idea of how a result will turn out" and "cannot guarantee a particular result." No doctor, in any field of medicine, can absolutely guarantee a result, and that's especially true in a field where aesthetics, not healing, are the primary issue.

Which place would you rather be in five years from now? a) Debt-free with a lesser hair transplant? b) Still owing money but with a better hair transplant? To me the choice is obvious: money is regainable, but transplanted hair is not.

I don't think so. I'm no endocrinologist, but my understanding is that in terms of hair growth, FSH levels would primarily affect pubic/body hair, not the hair on the top of your head.

You can, however, be sued in civil court for violating a confidentiality agreement.

This Dr. Epstein? Dr. Jeffrey Epstein / 2900 grafts - Bald Truth Talk - Hair Loss, Hair Transplant and Hair Restoration Community That's too bad -- this example looked like good work.

So Far, Allergan’s Baldness Cure Is Better at Growing Its Stock Than Hair | BNET

I consulted with a very highly regarded HT doctor, and he told me my scalp was on the tight side and recommended I begin scalp laxity exercises if I were interested in a transplant. At the same time I consulted with a different HT doctor, who told me that my scalp was of about average laxity and said that he had not seen any convincing evidence that scalp laxity exercises were helpful. So, is there any consensus on whether scalp laxity exercises really are effective for the average prospective HT patient? If they are, can they also help with relieving the feeling of scalp tightness after a HT, or are they only useful prior to an HT?

It seems to me that in quite a few (if not the preponderance) of the post-op photos posted by HT patients here, their scalps still have a pinkish tint from the hairline back, even after several months (or even a year or more) of recovery time. Is this just an illusionary artifact of the photography, or is the coloration as noticeable in real life as well? Does this discoloration completely go away in most cases, or do traces of it typically remain?

At least you didn't drop your pants ...