the B spot

Jrsky, welcome and congratulations on a sucessful HT!!!!! I am sure that your results with Dr. Charles will be superb. Thank you for sharing your story, for you are have experienced both the positive and negative side of hairtransplantation surgery, which gives you an interesting perspective, to say the least. I am glad that you found the courage to take the plunge again, and I hope you continue to keep us updated as you continue on journey to hatlessness

embarrased one--- many times those of us who frequent these boards in order to share experiences and offer some advice here and there, revel in some of the magnificent results fellow sufferers have achieved. It is with great regret that I read your post, which I think was quite eloquent, and well written, for you are voicing some of the fears all of us have. Take solace in the fact that you have posted here, and that Pat will in fact, get to the bottom of your situation. For a doctor, being a member of the Coalition is important, simply because it helps many of us make decisions that affect many aspects of our lives, and form opinions that affect doctors as well. I must say that I am surprised/astonished at your experience, but if you are disatisfied, you and all of us have a right to know the details of the situation. I know you are new here, but trust me, I have met Pat, and he takes this site and the Coalition very seriously, so you are in good hands. My advice to you is to take a step back, and wait until Pat contacts you, before you go any further. Take care my friend, we will be watching as your story unfolds.

d--- Your doc should excise the scar tissue when he or she removes the donor strip. The result of this is that you should have and fully expect another thin scar... hope this helps!!!!!

Joe, I see your point from a technical perspective-- yes the techs place grafts everyday, all day, so it would stand to reason that they would become very capable. My interests lie solely as a consumer and patient- I am paying for my hairline, and paying top dollar for a particular doctor, not for his well-qualified assistants, which I fully expect the doctor to have. However, regardless of the orientation of making incisions, placing the grafts is just as paramount. While I completely understand your position, my notion and I think the notion of many others is that a particular doctor should be the best at all aspects of hairtransplantation, and not leave this work simply because it only involves inserting a graft into a hole. Joe the thing is, you may even be correct, that who places the graft doesn't matter, but to patients, those preparing to shell out thousands of dollars, it should. I'm not sure there is a right/wrong answer here, but rather a difference in perspective.

Absolutely Joe! Mine are more of a "head rub" at this point, and I will gradually increase them as time goes on. Thanx for the warning

Go to http://www.hairtransplantmentor.com/ and click on scalp exercises----- They really seem to work for me, so I highly recommend them, especially if you are doing #2...

Looks great for only 4.5 months. Still a little pink, but that's normal. Keep getting the bumps from hairs pushing through the scar itself. As far as scalp elasticty, I do the Jotronics prescribed scalp exercises daily so my scalp is pretty loose. You have to understand that my strip was only 1.25 cm wide (although it was 27 cm long). That is not a wide strip at all, so I was in no danger of tightness. I think I might ask for a bump up to 1.4 or 1.5 this time in order to yield well over 3000 for #2.

Sid, I believe Dr. Sharon Keene operates near you, and would be a fine choice for a HT surgeon. Go to the homepage of the site and go to consult a physician. Then click on find a quality physician and progress from there. Remember deciding on a HT doc should not be limited geographically; you just are lucky to live near a quality clinic. Good Luck and let us know!

J-69, Dr. Shapiro has been using a variation of the "Frechet"/Trico method, which of course is the closure method that allows hair to grow through the scar itself, in essence creating a "scarless" HT. How do I know this you ask? Because I had this method used on me!!!!!! Since I have to have all of the information possible about everything, this closure technique interested me greatly (as it does all of us!). Dr. Shapiro's associate Dr. Rose is also quite well known for the LEDGE closure method as well.

Kansas, much of the information you need to make an informed decision is located on Alvi's website. Since this site is promoting helpful education, doctor bashing or getting into long protracted arguments on this subject is unecessary and counterproductive. You have been armed with all of the info needed, and coupled with the fact that Alvi is not a member of the coalition, you can move forward from there. Pat is unbiased and would only lock a thread if he felt it has run its course. BTW, notice he did not remove the thread entirely. You are on the right path, keep looking around, asking questions and you'll be fine!

59, you are correct that Dr. Shapiro is the standard for hairlines. What I would do is send some clear photos to Matt Zupan at Shapiro Medical so he can take a look. (Being so young maybe some photos of your father if he is bald as well). You will get treated with respect and you will be offered a solution to your hairloss. You do have to understand that you may be told to begin/continue taking Propecia and wait. As far as pricing goes, after researching this, I found Shapiro medical to be very reasonable compared to many other clinics. ps. do NOT take it as an insult if dr.'s or others bring up your age. You are still quite young, so just consider it a safety measure.

You know Kansas, I am not sure that I can truly answer that. Personally, I think Alvi himself does some pretty good work, but founders of other national chains do as well. While I am not necessarily comparing the two, the issue lies in comercialization, which is what Alvi Armani is currently doing. His practice and the photos on his website seem to be geared toward a younger demographic, with a philosophy of aggressive hairline and temple closure. Technically, he has wandered away from the NW scale and claims to able to dense pack at 100 FU's per cm/2, which I find to be a complete waste of time. I have not heard any complaints with regards to his surgical methods, at all. He has 8 locations worldwide and seems to be doing very well. The thing I find disturbing is that Alvi has a reputation for catering to patient demands. If you look closely at his photos you see some of the patients who look completely amazing had significant native hair left. I think if you are an educated patient and get Alvi himself, you should be fine. Just don't feel pressured into using up all of your donor hair lowering you hairline/temples.

Call your doctor and find out his or her opinion Billy. That is the best place to start.

All, the placement of grafts in the hairline should be done only by the dr. Period. I think it is completely fine to have assistants place grafts in the mid-scalp region, but the hairline must be done by the physician. The hairline of a HT is the money shot, the icing that sweetens the entire cake fella's!!! I would NOT go to a HT doc that did not place at the least the entire hairline.

PP thanks for responding... Sounds like a little window dressing, which is a good thing It seems as of you have a good handle on things so congrats and keep us posted...

Welcome SMO77, I think the overall feeling here is that clinics in the UK are not performing the greatest HT's. Of course, that is not a fact, just a simple observation. Perhaps you can PM a member here who goes by the monnicker "hairworthy" who lives in the UK. He is having all of his work done here in the states so it is worth a look. Either way, he may be able to steer you in the right direction. Welcome again, and keep us posted!

Evil, no I just had a HT with Dr. Shapiro 10/7/05, but I still shave down to a #2 every week. I am going to Dr. Shapiro's office for a "checkout" this coming Monday, so I will be in town. Also, my Dad is thinking about doing it, so he'll be along as well. I am truly excited about my results so far, and I can't wait for HT#2.

Laughter- no he just started wearing a hat to cover up, I think he went into denial for a few years. DHuge, most of us look longingly at the future, with the thought of genetics and cloning potentially able to expand the amount of available hair in a donor supply. With that said, what you need to understand is you may not just be covering the top of your head. We are at the golden age of hair transplantation with advances limited to amount of grafts moved and superior closure methods. That's it, we are at the ceiling. Can you imagine 10-12 years ago a 1.5 - 2 mm punch being used, or that the procedure was done without microscopes? At this point Doc's are simply tweaking and refining the process. In addition, some guy's lose the entire temporal region back past their ears. in addition to the enitire male pattern area. This increases your bald area to around 200 to 240 cm/2 needing to be transplanted. Now let's say you have a donor supply of 8000 grafts (alot), with a 220 cm/2 area to cover. What density can you achieve? If you go for complete coverage that averages out to 37 fu's per cm/2. That is not bald, but it is not thick either. Now imagine that you packed 2500-3000 fu's in a 40 or 50 cm/2 area which left you 5000-5500 grafts to cover a 180 cm/2 area. What might happen is an 18 year old hairline, placed low on your forehead, and thin coverage behind that. It can happen, and it does. My best friend is going through this right now, so believe me, this is not a "hypothetical" situation. This is why we ask people to wait, research, and truly understand what they might be facing. Being bald in your 20's is not fun, trust me I know. However, looking terrible for the rest of my life is not something I want to take a chance on. Of course, it is all guesswork in your 20's so some get lucky some don't. I would hope that guys never have to go bald, as I have a 4 year old son.... Hope he never has to face this. Kamin, HT surgeons have a moral obligation to deny patients, period. I could care less what a 22 year old young man wants, come back when your 28-30 with a better grip on what you are facing. I do understand and accept your view, but perhaps you can take a step back and consider another angle. None of this would be such a big deal if we had more than 2 or 3 shots at this. Kansas-look under hairloss photos and scroll down to the B spot HT photos. They are not updated yet but I have some new photos coming soon. Sorry about the diatribe----just think this is important.

Freakin' Sea Bass!!!!!......Are they ill-tempered? Welcome Dr. Evil! You have the privelege of living in the same town as one of the best HT surgeons in the known universe! You are in good hands, so take it easy and enjoy yourself during your consultation. BTW, finally coming face to face with the fact that you are bald is not fun whatsoever. I did that at 25, and just shaved my head to hide it. Anyway, welcome to the forum, and keep us updated as to your progress/treatment program.

Sparky, man that program is pretty cool! You just can't talk super fast, but it is usefull for the hands free approach!

Kamin, You are correct: After a person hits a certain age you should have a pretty good idea of future hairloss. The problem with that is that age is somwhere between 35 and 50!!!! My dad had slight temporal recession until 38, and now at 47 he's a cueball. No one is disputing aggressive hairlines or temporal closure, but we are targeting a specific age group-- perhaps 25 to 35. The greatest fear I have for young patients is that insatiable "instant gratification" drive that will result in taking a huge risk in devining future hairloss. I think we all need to take a breath and look at hairloss from a worst case scenario, period. This immediately rules out closing temples or lowering hairlines for young people. Fifteen years later the doctor performing your HT, will probably be retired by then, leaving you holding the bag. This is a realistic possibility. For people like myself, a NW6+, the point is moot. This entire discussion comes down to ethics.

Thanks Hoping-- I just might do that. All, just looking to keep things educational.... although gentleman like ourselves get steamed as well, from time to time...

Now you are starting to understand the importance of doing real research. What you have to look out for is clinics that advertise moving "hairs" as a basis for cost. If you go with a well known and well documented clinic, you will not be subjected to this type of practice. Should you choose a particular clinic, make sure you negotiate any additional grafts above and beyond your surgery.

All, no need to turn this thread nasty, whatsoever. We all have benefitted from the posts here, period. I think what we need to determine is the difference between aggressive communication and sharing information. I am guilty of this as well. It doesn't help, at all. Each of us has an opinion, we all gave it, and it was received. GREAT! Hoping-- nice to know you are a lawyer, I will be in 2 1/2 more years, hopefully! Great post. Mahair- I certainly believe you have a place here as the voice of reason and proof that all is not as it seems. No one is attacking your integrity, nor should they be, but your lumping in all lawyers/doctors with unethical professionals is a little hard to swallow. I do not presume to understand what you have went through, period, but after reading your posts, you should be able to admit that you wrote them out of anger and frustration, (that you have a right to feel). It just doesn't have to include personal attacks, justified or not. You have a lot of knowledge to share, even if your experience was terrible, for those who may not realize that surgery is still potentially disastrous. Peace!

I would wait a good 2 maybe even 3 weeks. Why? Simply because you just spent thousands of dollars on this!!!!! I have heard of guys washing their hair in the sink for 3 months, and won't hit their scalp with more than lukewarm water out of cup. Listen, the grafts should be seated after a week, but why chance it? Also, give the newly transplanted fella's a chance to breathe I am sure it is ok after a couple of weeks, but why take the chance?