uselessgomez

30 years old. Been on Finasteride since age 22. Will stay on it until something better comes along. I also use Nizoral shampoo. Here's a bunch of pics from a variety of angles showing what my hair looks like. I was hoping for a small procedure, only in the front while I stay on meds and watch the crown area.

WOW! You must be ecstatic. That's quite an improvement. You look like have a completely full head of hair. Congratulations.

Another thing that I forgot to mention is that FUE is said to be even more traumatic to the scalp. Instead of one excision of hair-bearing skin, you're going to have several hundred to over a thousand little punches made into your scalp that cause bleeding, possible hypopigmentation, and it might compromise how well your scalp bleeds (good blood supply). Just because FUE doesn't LOOK traumatic, on a micro level it actually is, you just can't see it. All of those little wounds have to close up and heal and over time that could become a problem for harvesting more grafts. That's aside from the fact that sometimes it can leave white hairless spots in the donor. So that's one argument why it might not be best to try FUE first and go to strip later if it doesn't work well.

I don't know much about him, but I've seen some of his youtube videos. If I recall correctly, none of the videos show any grown-out matured results. They are all pre-op. Maybe he just hasn't been practicing long enough? I think he does mostly FUE, too. I wouldn't want to spend money on an FUE procedure with a surgeon unless I could see many results, both pre-op and grown out and matured.

You don't agree with it? My taste buds don't agree with it, but a well-planned vegan diet with tons of fruits & vegetables, whole grains and legumes for good health is hard to argue with. Of course exercise has to be thrown into the equation, but diet is at least 50% of it.

True, but I should have used the "wrong" instead of bad. I think he has said that the wrong skin qualities tend to be "mushy" skin that doesn't cleanly take the FUE scoring. Don't take my word for any of this, however. It's importantly to do your own research and come to your own conclusions. Even good surgeons cannot agree on what is right sometimes.

It seems most Docs prefer to do strip because it has more consistent and reliable tested results. With FUE, there's more of a chance for disappointment, and it involves a lot more time and effort in the process. If you have a tight scalp limiting the amount of hair that can be harvested from strip; if you have the need for a relatively small number of grafts (probably less than 1000-ish); if you absolutely have an aversion to a strip scar; if you are willing to risk the high potential for lower yield and inferior results and you are informed of the tradeoff ... Then MAYBE FUE is the way to go. But read some of Dr. Feller's posts on the subject. Some people just have bad skin & hair qualities that make FUE a bad route for some.

I think that knowing your scalp laxity would be really important in long-term planning. I'm not sure how it's determined, or if it can change after a surgery, but I'm guessing that the best way to find out is to have your head examined in person by a good surgeon. It needn't necessarily be Shapiro or H&W. Maybe there's a good surgeon nearby who would be willing to meet with you and give you an opinion? Some doctors will talk about the limits of FUE based on skin/hair qualities. But what about whether a person has enough scalp laxity to harvest the donor area needed for long-term planning? And how can a surgeon comfortably recommend a large number of grafts not knowing if the person has a tight scalp not suitable for multiple excisions if need be? I'm thinking about a lot of these questions myself. I'm considering having a HT in the coming months and I haven't decided on strip or fue yet myself. Both have pros and cons.

I would feel terrible being in that situation. But from what I've seen about BHT, I'm not sure I would do it even if I were desperate. There are some pretty miraculous repair cases on youtube that used BHT. A few lucky people seem to really respond well to it (though IMO it doesn't look very natural). But most doctors say that it's still experimental and too risky. There's also a lot of BHT failures available to read about. If I had to, I would consult with Woods or Umar. I don't think they are recommended by this site, but if it comes to BHT they are probably as capable as anybody. I still would rather not do BHT. I would rather tattoo scars or get a hair system before spending all of that money and perhaps doing more damage to my head.

Do a LOT of research on BHT before making that move. I don't think you'll like what you find. There's quite a few cases available online and though there's some dramatic improvements, most of them are not very good. Even if had exhausted my scalp donor hair, I'm not sure that I would risk BHT. It might not grow and if it does the quality of the hair is not very good. Plus it's EXPENSIVE. And if it doesn't take, your scalp has to absorb that dead graft and it could cause some irritation.

You said that you've been in contact with both offices. Have you had an in-office visit with both of them before? The H&W route is a LOT of grafts for the hairline. Do you know what your scalp laxity is like? Do you know what your donor density is? H&W is a GREAT office so I presume that they wouldn't make a recommendation without this information. Both places are reputable and produce amazing results. But you're making a life-long decision here and you want to examine each option CAREFULLY. It sounds like you know about the risks of FUE and Strip. If FUE doesn't give you the yield and fullness that you desire, you can always go the strip route down the road. And if you do FUE and you still experience hypo-pigmentation, it's a relatively small session that shouldn't leave an unsightly donor area in the hands of a good surgeon with small extractions. If it were me, I'd probably go with Shapiro for an FUE. But some people just can't get any good results from FUE because of their skin & hair characteristics. Are you one of those people? Unfortunately, I still don't think there's a way to figure it out without actually DOING IT.

That makes sense. I guess I was looking at it from the perspective that single hair grafts are smaller and thus require more delicate care.

I agree that it is still not capable of producing the results of strip surgery in most cases. However, in some cases it might be a better option. In my case, I'm requiring a relatively small number of grafts, 1000 or less. Also, those grafts ideally would be single hair units. FUE allows the surgeon to selectively pick which grafts to move whereas strip excises a piece of hair-bearing skin and you have to work with whatever is there. Lastly, I wear my hair pretty short. And although I don't buy into the myth that FUE doesn't leave a flawless donor area, I think it arguably provides a better-looking donor area for short haircuts.

Would be cool if a surgeon could chime in on this one. I'm sure that single hair grafts would look better and more natural in the front, but my concern was whether their transection rate or yield is worse than with bigger grafts. Or maybe there is no relationship. My idea that FUE would be better for me for a couple of reasons is based on 1) I need a small session 2) I need only the hairline done and it's easy for the doctor to selectively choose single hair grafts with FUE

I'm exploring having a HT surgery. I've gotten some opinions, and depending on what surgeon I've talked to, I'll need between 600 - 1200 grafts. All of the grafts would be placed in the temples and to slightly lower the hairline. Since the hairline is the most visible area for a transplant, it seems smart to focus mostly on single hair grafts for a softer look, right? In that case, are some of the challenges with regard to FUE's transection and yeild greater with smaller single hair grafts? Or am I completely wrong and is it possible to get a nice soft look with 2 and 3 hair grafts placed carefully?