albertino

Cant decide, Thank you for the response. I guess the choice is a decent coverage on the front third with a sizeable thin or bald crown or a strong crown/middle and a thin/bald front.. I think it make a huge difference depending on how large the bald/thin crown area is (NW4/5 or NW6/7). A strong front with very little behind can look less natural than a strong back with a very little in front. I guess the next question is who is strong at doing crown FUE work? Thank you again, A

Is there any reason why transplants are done front to back? I have thinning hair NW4 or so and would rather not transplant into currently thinning area. The crown is the weakest area at this point. I do not and will not take any meds. I believe that aesthetically a strong crown and weak front looks better than a weak front/crown and a bald crown. I was wondering if anyone has ever started with FUE to the crown to see if - I will respond well to hair transplants at the most difficult spot. - Can someone explain why the crown is the toughest area to have a successful transplant. - Which doctor would patients recommend for FUE to the crown. Thank you in advance, A

I guess my question is not the first Feller strip but the second one that you are doing next year. I assume that instead of doing the FUE (HT #3) you could have done another strip directly (doing both the temples and filling in vertex/crown etc) at the same time. Was the plan always to follow up the FUE with the strip? I guess I did not mention option 4 for me. I.e. potentially looking at FUE first to the temples (as you have done) - which is a low risk scenario (no scar) and then see what happens and fill in vertex/crown with a potentialy strip down the road as it slowly thins.. The funny thing is that the temples do not bother me, however having the temples filled gives the opportunity to change the hairstyle and hence improve the illusion. All the best and Merry Christmas! A

Hairthere, Thank you for your response. The 'It is very hard to predict if you will experience shockloss. It generally happens to hairs that are weak and on their way out anyway' is a line I have heard frequently and hence the discussion above. I saw on your profile that you did both the Feller 3k and the FUE into the temples. I would appreciate if you could elaborate on your thinking process to do that and the results that you gained. Was the FUE not really worth it and hence your preference for the megasessions? I wish you all the best with the next Feller strip. A

Maybe my post below was not specific enough. I guess I have 2 questions. 1) For a diffuse thinner, with no Propecia etc, is it better to have multiple smaller procedures or fewer larger procedures to minimize shock loss to the native hair? 2) What is the experience of the board members on transplants into diffuse hair. Is it possible to get decent results with 'filling in' around the current diffuse hair or is this looking for trouble? Thank you again, A

First of all I would like to thank everyone on this forum. It is an invaluable source of information. I am a first time poster. Sorry for the long post. I am in my early 40s, slow development nw4/5 diffuse thinner, with a decent hairline and receding temples. A sprinkling of toppik tends to provide great results removing the 'see-through' effect. I have never been told the current density but not far from what you see with some NW7 transplants (I assume 20-30 grafts/cm2). I realize that Propecia would probably 'solve' my situation however I do not believe that it is safe especially since the trials have only been done for those 21-40. Frankly I don't believe in the tradeoff. I have spent some time reading through the forums and have visited both Feller and H&W. Their summary was that I had good laxity, average density with Feller suggesting 3000 strip (the Feller front half), and H&W suggesting 5000 strip (all the way back to the crown). The issue I have is that I am lucky enough to still have decent coverage and I get the impression from both docs that they would say the same thing if I had minimal coverage on top. I see as there are 3 options available to me. 1) a FUE of 1500 grafts to keep the current hairline but merely fill in behind increasing density, leaving all options open for the future and buying me a few years hopefully, with little downtime, and minimal (hopefully) shock to the current hair that I have. In addition I would get a feeling of how the current hairs would hold up to the transplant shock. Hopefully there would be some developments down the road and my options would be left open. 2) Feller 3000, with a guaranteed need to go back for #2 for the crown and the potential for the dreaded crown thinning expansion due to the strip. Advantage is better coverage of the temples and the option for better illusion hairstyles. 3) The full H&W 5000. Ideally this would be the 1 shot pain and hopefully only go through the ugly duckling stage in a major way once and probably go back for a smaller touch up down the road. The downside is with substantial trauma to the current hairs and hence a case of 2 steps forward 1 step back and much higher risk of the dreaded crown area expansion due to such a large strip. I would appreciate the wisdom of the contributors on the tradeoff of the above 3 options. My goal is to reduce the 'thinning' look and reduce or take away the use of concealers. The receding temples do not bother me. Thank you again. A