Spanker

I can see nothing in the photos that makes me think "wig." The only problem I see is that is too long and stylish. I think the key with both transplants and hair systems it to be unremarkable, or ordinary. You hair in these pics looks great, long, and stylish. I would look at your hair if I saw you on the street. This could get you to thinking that people can tell it is a wig, when it reality, they are thinking, wow, dude has great hair. Hair that no one would look at is where it is at.

This is what I mean when I say that the only advantage of fine hair is how natural it looks. You have some dense caliber hair, which is really good. It means it takes less grafts to get denser looking result, but it also makes it hard to make a super soft look. I think the work is fine and you have really thick non miniaturized donor. I would trade you hair caliber any day. I have heard of SMG doing a pass with a laser, just hitting the front line to miniaturize that hair, but I don't know much about it.

This is a bummer to hear but I feel safe in saying that he had an off day. It does sound like he is embarrassed and apologized. I think your procedure is coming along and I do think that the technical aspect is the most important. You still have months of maturation ahead. You had a surgery from someone who is in a top tier tiny class of the cream of the crop IMO, so there should be some solace in that. What exactly, if anything, were you looking for to make this better? I think both his and his manager gave appropriate responses.

Man, at one week post op, that guy shed his grafts super fast. Sure it wasn't one month post op?

No reason to use it every day. I don't use it at all, but a couple days a week is plenty. I think you should work on your mental health regarding hair loss. It's not normal to get on preventive treatment if you really have no hair loss. Also, if you do have hair loss, these treatments alone are pretty ineffective. If you lost hair from niz use, it will grow back.

Zero. Without meds you're likely to continue losing, so the few grafts that you could place now would be inconsequential and cause you to have to chase your loss. You'd be better off waiting until you lose more and gong for a more conservative hairline. You may be able to just do your corners, but I'd wait. Or get on meds.

There is zero chance you would see an increased shed due to finasteride in a day. Zero. Also you are were and are almost certainly losing more than 5 to 10 hairs in the shower if you are showering once a day. 50 to 100 is average loss per day and most of these are lost in the shower, drying, and combing. If you run your fingers through your hair all day, you may shed less in the shower, but no-one only sheds 5 to 10.

Looks good. Guy has a mild case of CVG.

Really awesome case by a great doc. I'd be interested to know what size punch was used. Also, its common that there will be some stragglers left behind. What percent waa left back? I'm sure you'll be very happy with the outcome.

There are no guarantees in hair loss and I would say it's unlikely you won't see changes over the next 30 years.

Since you will already have scarring in the area, I would say start off low at like 800-1000. It could be that they were packed too tight and had vascular issues. You can always beef it up, but my point is that you want every graft to grow.

No, you can't get fin from the forum and I don't advise ordering online.

Plus one on the fin. At your age, or at least in a few years, it isn't unusual at all to be on it for prostate health. I have seen commonly a bounce from it and even more commonly, a 7-10 year stall of loss, or more. Spex got about 15 years on it before he went to duasteride. Saving your hair is so much easier and cheaper than replacing it. Also, while my doc doesn't get on HTN often (he is a busy guy), he did mention your case and my advice to it on this thread. He stated that he would not go as aggressive as I stated because you would surely experience shock loss. He said he would just try to beef up density with a smaller amount of grafts to save as must existing hair and be more conservative than I stated, which is fair and good plan. So, I think you have a lot of options. My comment on the 4k is a go big or go home idea, which isn't always the best. You would look really bald for a few months before your hair started growing back, and any transplant you get will likely shock you some, but the less dense you get on the first pass, the less you will likely shock. You would probably be fine with a 2k to 2.5k beef up and that will save plenty of grafts for later if you needed it. Ultimately, I think any surgery without fin based on your pattern may not be the best idea, and it could be best to not do anything until you lose anymore due to shock and the fact that your hair looks pretty good when dry.

I personally think that you are wasting your time doing anything less that 2500. Time out of body with today's holding solutions and temps are generally not an issue. People do 5000 plus graft procedures all of the time. I think doing 1000 at a time, waiting a year, and doing a 1000, and so on, plus not being on fine, you may lose almost as fast as you gain. 2500 would hep beef your hair up nicely in the frontal 3rd, but if you want to be real about it, and you are planning on getting crown work done too, you could realistically do 4k plus if you were going to go all out...you have the space for that many at least. Also, I have a slight concern that your hair loss actually is not that stable, and that you are just a late balder, since you say this has happened in the last 5 years or so. Chances are that you are losing before then though, but it just wasn't noticeable. You have a NW4 moving to NW5 pattern. That doesn't mean you are or will be slick anytime soon, it just means that is your pattern as you can see easily with your wet hair.. Do you take any type of hormone replacement therapy? Some guys in their mid 40's and on start taking that and that can cause accelerated loss. My advice would be for you to get an in person consultation with a trusted doc and decide what you want. I really don't have a strong opinion about FUE vs FUT except that megasessions are best done with strip IMO. I feel ya on the scars a the gym and I personally would wear a hair system before I shaved because I have such a atrocious head. But that is not true for everyone. I advise everyone to buzz their head first and wear it for 30 days before you pay to have surgery. You may like it. I tried it, and liked it OK, but my head was too jacked up for the professional environment I work it, it is actually distracting to others, haha, so I went for it. There have been a of people bale in treatment. Some of it is that they ran out of donor, some were not realistic on what a transplant could achieve, and if they couldn't have elvis hair they would rather shave it, some went straight NW7 and didn't have a choice, etc. There are a lot of reasons people do that. If you create a good masterplan with a trusted doc, your chances are very hood that you would not have to shave and that you won't be one of those guys.

Keep your grafts for the frontal third for now. You have shock loss now and are at your low point. Stay on fin, wait a year, and reevaluate.

1. Yes 2. I dont know, but does it matter? Your not charged by volume. I think around 20-30 cc but I don't know. 3. Some do once, up to once a year, some do 2 a few months apart and then yearly. Cooley does it once. 4. Around $2500-$3000 I think, but it varies from place to place. It's not cheap to do when done with the angel system because to disposals aren't cheap, but it gives the best results imo. 5. Call Konior's office. He has a doc there that is doing it now with a protocol similar to Cooley's I think. I don't know a lot about yet because it's a new offering and I haven't been there since they started doing it. Some people respond well, some less so, so at this point you kind of have to try it once to see if you're a responder. I have seen results from Cooley that are pretty amazing. He's in Charlotte and highly ethical if your willing to travel...he is a pioneer in PRP and between him and Greko has kind of written the book IMO.

You'd have to consult a doc to see what is reasonable. I imagine that 8000 grafts would cause too much scarring. Doctor Umar probably has the most beard graft cases so I'd start with him to help with a master plan if you intend to go that route. I think a few thousand is the most I've seen taken, maybe 3500, but I could have missed some bigger cases. You have a good beard...better than mine, but its not super exceptional, so 8000 seems a stretch to me.

I feel like Rahal is willing to be more aggressive that Hasson on low Norwoods, so it depends on what your are looking for. I agree that Hasson and Wong's clinic is still the king of Mega/Giga sessions and believe they do great work as well. Both are great and you should continue your research and go with your gut IMO.

Where are you measuring from. It looks higher than 5cm to me...that is 2 inches. As far as master plans go, you have a few choices if you progress to a NW6. 1 is a hair system. For this to work, you need to leave your donor in tact. 2 is to forfeit your crown and only work on the frontal 3rd. This is a pretty common look. 3 is to work on your crown and possibly run out of donor and it will look like cramp. 4 is to wait til you lose a lot more hair and do one more surgery with beard and scalp hair, and complement it with a buzzed look plus SMP. You have some options, and even it if is a hair system, if you can keep pretty good sides, a hair system can be super natural now, so, your life is not over. My suggestion is to forfeit the crown and keep a reasonable frontal 3rd. It looks like 1500 grafts to me and I don't think you can FUE the front out to make much of a difference. Maybe the corners could be recessed a little more with FUE by taking out 100 on both sides. Best bet is to not do anything for now and see how it turns out, and then only consult with the best of the best for any repair work.

No. It doesn't work like that. I only apply once a day.

Nice job

I think PRP is more promising than LLLT, but I think when used properly, they may help. I do have interest in PRP. Dr. Cooley has been one of the biggest surgeons that is posting results that is recommended here. I think that it is best for overall and crown thinning though, and less so for just hairline issues. Do some research on Cooley PRP and check out his photos. I think both of these treatments are a bit of a gamble, but for a few grand, you can see if it works for you. If I were doing it, I would be looking for Cooley, or at least someone that is using his protocol. By far, IMO, finasteride is your best bet if you have not given it a shot.

That guy looks like he has some great caliber hair.

lighting is a game that will always mess with your head. You also did not comb your hair in the most flattering manner. You still have some thickening to do, but your expectations are too high if you think it is going to match your native thick hair. I would comb the hair and take some photos in normal lighting to check it out. Topik may also be something to consider. I take it that you did start finasteride?

Nice Has to be the smallest case I have ever seen posted.