gat4

David and Bill, Thanks for your input. I have lost a lot of natural hair a result of my transplant. This is from why observation as I am my best judge and get to see my hair everyday. Let's see what the next 4 to 6 months will do but as I mentioned before I don't feel it would make too much of a difference. However as David mentioned I may be pleasantly surprised by the end of it. Just wondering though David, Bill and anyone else who's reading this and would like to provide their insight; what do you think about the Assistant doctors opinion when I asked him whether I should delay my transplant for a couple of years more and I was told that it would make no difference whether I choose to have my transplant now or later as it would eventually come to the same thing? I would like to know more about this from an educational perspective. Also would be good to get Bill's opinion on my hair transplant in general. Many thanks, Gat4

David, Thank you so much for your feedback. Interesting to know that you too had a transplant without shaving your hair. However 3 months after my transplant I looked up the Hasson and Wong website and there is a question there that reads: " Does my head have to be shaved for surgery? Yes, the recipient area must be shaved. In order to achieve the most natural results, the angle of the new hair must match that of the native hair perfectly. The incisions into the recipient scalp must be made parallel to the direction of native hair growth. Only when the hair is shaved to roughly 2mm is the true direction and angle of hair growth revealed. If the native hair in the recipient hair is not shaved, the doctor must move the hair out of the way to make incisions. When this is done, the visible angles of hair growth are distorted and it become virtually impossible to match the angles, resulting in permanent shock loss of the existing hair." If only had I read this prior to my hair transplant! As you can imagine I was angry that I wasn't told this by Dr. Madhu or Dr Deepak. :mad: Therefore I got on the phone and rang them up to enquire why I hadn't been advised about this. I spoke with Dr. Deepak and he intially tells me that he had advised me about the adverse effects of not shaving my hair and hence the reason why they charge an extra fee which is to discourage patients from not shaving their hair. I then had to remind him of the celebrity client story he told me where various of his clients who are celebrities opt to have a transplant without shaving their hair due to their work constraints. I also reminded him that at no point did he mention any adverse effects of not shaving my hair because if he had I would have shaved my hair and not taken a chance. He then acknowledged this and said that he and Dr. Madhu would have told me to shave my hair but they felt I had good strong natural hair and I would not experience shock loss. I then sent them an email showing them the link of Dr. Hasson's view on this. After all 'Hasson and Wong' are one of the leading hair transplant surgeons and there must be a whole lot of truth to what they have mentioned. Dr Madhu's response to this was "Yes we agree that Hasson and Wong are great surgeons. Always we give two options , not only in crown in other areas also we do with shaving and without shaving on regular basis and getting consistently good results, mostly we can detect who is suitable for with shave and without shave depending upon the recipient area and the existing hair, don't think much about the angulation of the hair, the existing hair helps for better angulation while implantation much better than shaved recipient area, so if we performed a procedure on you means you must be ok even without disturbing your existing hair. Shock loss and permanent hair loss always depends on the quality of your existing hair and other fact you have to accept is that balding is a continuous ongoing process." Yes while I do accept balding is a continuous and ongoing process but I don't accept an accelerated rate of balding due to Dr Madhu's mistake of not advising me to shave my hair. To give an example if there are two 40 year old's who lead completely different lifestyles where one uses harmful drugs, is into heavy drinking etc he is bound to accelerates his aging process regardless of the fact that aging is an ongoing and continuous process when compared to the 40 year old who chooses to stay away from that kind of lifestyle . Also in one of my previous emails to them (prior to my transplant) I had enquired about shock loss and their response was " in our technique of hair transplantation for so many patients shock loss is a minimal concern which is very temporary." Well it's been 8 months and I have less hair now than I had prior to my surgery especially in the mid scalp/crown area. I know there's still another 4 months to make a year but honestly I don't think there's going to be that much of a difference. In hind sight it would have been better had I not had the surgery and I should have waited a couple of years. At the end of the hair transplant I was also told that I have another 1000-1200 grafts left in my donor area and that I could have another surgery in 5 months time should I want to. It's funny how various doctors work as Dr. Pathovanich would advise you to wait for at least a year before undergoing another hair transplant. Anyway thanks for the feedback though David. Much appreciated.

I'd also like to add that before my transplant I had asked Dr Deepak (assistant to Dr. Madhu and the person who I had my first consultation with) whether I should delay my transplant for a few more years. He told me that it would make no difference whether I have a transplant now or in a few years time as it would come to the same thing. Also the fact that Dr.Madhu had seen me too and had not advised me against having a transplant I felt it was okay to have a hair transplant and hence trusted their judgement.

@Grwelshy: Thanks for your feedback. While I am from India I am not from Hyderabad. @Spanker: Thank you, My hair was thicker before my transplant and hopefully I can get to that in the next 6 months or so and also exceed it. @Justone: As I mentioned in my write up, pictures were taken of my surgery a day after my procedure. Unfortunately they (staff at Dr. Madhu's) lost those pics and I didn't take any thinking they would send them to me eventually.

Hello everyone, It's been 8 months since my hair transplant and I thought I should put up my pictures to show everyone where I am at. Also just to let you know that I did not shave my hair prior to my transplant as Dr Madhu who performed my transplant was confident that I could undergo the surgery without shaving. However there was an added cost to this. I haven't uploaded pics of my hair transplant a day after the surgery as the assistant at Dr. Madhu's clinic told me they got lost at their clinic. Unfortunately I didn't take any pics of myself during those days thinking that there were pics already taken and they would eventually be sent to me. Also there are some black marks present in my crown and midscalp area if you look in the "Crown after" and "Top Right Midscalp" pics. I showed them to Dr Madhu through pics but he couldn't detect them very well and suggested I visit a dermatologist which I did in the New Year. I was told it was black heads and was prescribed an ointment but the black marks still seem to be present. Any one experience anything similar? I'm thinking it could be because I didn't shave my hair as I didn't experience anything like it when I had my first transplant with Dr Pathovanich when I had shaved my hair then. I also have Keratosis Pilaris on my arms but the dermatologist ruled out the possibility of experiencing the skin condition on my crown due to the skin condition on my arm. Anyway please provide your feedback, thoughts/opinions on my surgery. The total number of grafts that I had done were 2412 at the front, midscalp and a little bit on the crown. I shall provide a detailed analysis of my hair transplant after your feedback. Many thanks, Gat

By the way there are some black marks present in my crown and midscalp area if you look in the "Crown after" and "Top Right Midscalp" pics. I showed them to Dr Madhu through pics but he couldn't detect them very well and suggested I visit a dermatologist which I did in the New Year. I was told it was black heads and was prescribed an ointment but the black marks still seem to be present. Any one experience anything similar? I'm thinking it could be because I didn't shave my hair as I didn't experience anything like it when I had my first transplant with Dr Pathovanich when I had shaved my hair then. I also have Keratosis Pilaris on my arms but the dermatologist ruled out the possibility of experiencing the skin condition on my crown due to the skin condition on my arm.

Hello everyone, It's been 8 months since my hair transplant and I thought I should put up my pictures to show everyone where I am at. Also just to let you know that I did not shave my hair prior to my transplant as Dr Madhu who performed my transplant was confident that I could undergo the surgery without shaving. However there was an added cost to this. Also I haven't uploaded pics of my hair transplant a day after the surgery as the assistant at Dr. Madhu's clinic told me they got lost at their clinic. Unfortunately I didn't take any pics of myself during those days thinking that there were pics already taken and they would eventually be sent to me. Anyway please provide your feedback, thoughts.opinions on my surgery. The total number of grafts that I had done were 2412 at the front, midscalp and a little bit on the crown. I shall provide a detailed analysis of my hair transplant after your feedback. Many thanks, Gat

Thanks for your feedback Orlhair1.

Thanks for your input Dutch. I totally agree with you that hair transplants have come a long way in providing natural results.However the key is that while one cannot expect a full head of hair a reasonable amount of hair can be expected depending on skill of surgeon etc.

Hey everyone, I read this article on a different site and found it quite interesting. Would be great if some of you could take the time to read this and give your thoughts on the subject. Has the person pretty much summed up on what to expect after a hair transplant even if one visits a good reputable doctor or is his views slightly outdated with how far hair transplantation surgery has advanced over the years? :confused: "There is a small percentage of people who get good results, not a full head of heair by any means but a good result that when combined with concealer can look great unless you look up close. But trust me, they are the minority not the majority. You really have to see a good HT up close to understand what I mean. But when you spend ?12,000 and still have to wear a hat in bright light and people still glance up at your hairline you realise the score. HTs will never ever give a full looking head of hair. There's not enough donor hair to cover the top of your head fully and it not be see-through. If hair multiplication works out, and I'm talking 10-20 years from now, then that could work as there will not be a finate number of follicles. "

Thanks Future_ht_doc and David for your replies. Will consider what you had to mention.

I am 29 years of age and I have already had 2800 grafts in December 2008. I would also like to mention that I am not any finasteride and don't intend to be though I am open to using Rogaine etc in the future. Here's a video of me that shows you the condition of what my hair looks like at present. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z97spzLmU94 On the one hand I have been advised that I should delay my hair transplant as I have a good amount of natural hair and should try and preserve it. On the other I have been advised that with the latest technique hair transplant doctors use this would be of minimal concern. It would be great to get your opinions on it. I thank you for your time with this. Regards, Gat