deitel130

Multiple FUT procedures are certainly possible depending on scalp laxity. My first was 3500 grafts. For my second procedure I was told by some doctors I can get another 2000 to 2200. I was also advised that if I did scalp laxity exercises I can most likely get more and it did turn out to be the case. I ended up with a second procedure for another 3500 grafts. I would have likely got 4000 on the second procedure but was advised that a lot of scar tissue had to be cut out. 

Each time a strip is cut out and stapled or stitched back your scalp gets tighter. At some point after a few procedures you scalp will be too tight to to continue with FUT. But for the first few the laxity exercises do seem to help. 

Very nice strategy of designing a V-shaped hairline and dense packing the frontal third.

Looking good. What a difference between that 3 and 4 month mark to really get things moving. 

All experienced doctors should be able to work around existing native hair. You will most likely be required to shave the recipient area so the surgeon has a clear vision of the area and not damage existing hair. All that being said are you meds to help maintain the native hair? This would be important prior to surgery to help keep them strong enough to grow back post HT.

Just read through your story. I personally don't think you should stay on Finasteride with the amount lost and seems your final pattern established. The other reason is that you got sides. 

Have you tried consulting with Eugenix they are also great at working on high Norwood cases. You may also need some beard or chest grafts and they are great with BHT.

Perhaps another option is shave it and get some SMP. The SMP may help camaoflouge the moles. You may wanna have a SMP consult to have that confirmed. This would give you another option. 

This looks very natural and the density is really good as well.

6 minutes ago, champybaby said:

My understanding is the crown is cursed. And that the best way to encourage growth is to wear garlic and burn some sage during a Full Moon.

Lol, maybe it's time to try and get FDA approval for this treatment. 

This would then answer the question that blood supply has a relationship to when hair moves out of the resting phase. Is it safe to then assume that early growers have a more robust blood supply in their scalps in comparison to late growers?

42 minutes ago, EvoXOhio said:

I’m only at the 6 month mark so I can’t speak for long term. But I was seeing some growth at 3 months. At 4 months I saw noticeable growth. At 5 months my hair line is pretty full, but the crown is lagging. I haven’t seen much of a change between months 5 and 6. I’m actually worried I won’t get any more growth. I hope I’m wrong because I’m not happy with my crown.  
 

Whats weirder about mine is I didn’t get the thing wispy hairs that I read about. My hairs came in normally. The new hairs on my hair line are as thick as my remaining hair in the donor area. 

I think it may be that you noticed the growth when it was thicker but probably did come in thin. I guess that's the thing a lot of people may have early growth but the hairs come in so thin that it's not not noticeable until it thickens.

@Melvin-Moderator and @JohnAC71 when you first noticed growth was it when the hair was thicker and longer or are you referring to the very fine wispy short hairs that first sprout? The latter is difficult to see unless you get someone to check or it was transplanted in a pretty bare spot. The other option to see them is with a very good camera. 

Seems like it's just temporary shock loss. How far out are you? Who was the doctor?

I agree with @TorontoMan. You should definitely go FUT as you will need a large number of grafts. Hasson and Wong are best suited for this and have very consistent results. If you go full coverage on the frontal third I would say 3000 - 3500 grafts and maybe another 1000 - 1500 in the mid scalp since you have some hair there which can thicken up further with meds. I would leave the crown for now.

24 minutes ago, n58 said:

Thank you for the info, I have reached out to Dr.Rahal and will seek his recommendation as well. 

I also learned from a forum member about Dr.Cortez (https://haircentermexico.com/) in Mexico, he seems to have good experience with international patients. Have you heard of him / what are your thoughts of HT in Mexico?

I've never heard of Dr. Cortez. Personally I just feel more comfortable with doctors recommended on this site and a few others which have good reviews by patients on YouTube. Our donors are limited so just gotta make sure you do your due diligence.

1 minute ago, n58 said:

@Suzuki szI have used Rogaine but stopped it because of irritation on my scalp and didn't see any notice in improvements (no consultation with any doctor) 

Having said that H & W did recommend to consult with my family doctor regarding medication or topical finasteride. But I am not sure if that is necessary as hair surgeons are at best position to recommend any medication if required, isn't it?  

When I started Finasteride it was my family doctor who prescribed it. Any ethical surgeon will also discuss meds with you or at least have the discussion that without meds you will continue to lose you natives. If you get on meds you can recover some of the miniturized hairs because based on your pattern you may lose the remaining hair mid scalp. I myself also had very aggressive lose and the meds helped stabilize the loss and I feel my crown and mid scalp has held up ok. For some reason I still thinned in the front.

My first HT I would say 40% of the grafts just grew without shedding. It was stick and place so not sure if that made a difference. I then saw the rest start to grow around 3.5 months. With my second procedure some growth around 9 weeks but most likely return of shock loss.

I was also left wondering why the price was so low but I may have misheard. You can actually get a consult with a Rahal rep via online chat. They call you within minutes. You can confirm and ask prices and they answer all your questions even without having to have a Skype call. 

Shock loss is worrying but it seems it should all grow back. Is it just me or have people been reporting a lot more shock loss with FUE donor area. I also noticed it's in a wider area compared to FUT where it's more localized along the strip line. Wonder if donor shock loss like this is just due to too much anesthetic to put the hairs into a temporary shock.

1 hour ago, deeznuts said:

I'm in Toronto too and I've been thinking of H & W and Rahal too. I'm also in the exact same situation as you - Norwood 2 and in need of hairline/temple restoration.

What made you choose Rahal over H & W? What factors were you considering between the two of them?

I asked their rep fairly recently about acquiring topical fin. I believe he said that legally they could only sell it to me if I had a prescription but maybe he's just saying that so I go to Vancouver to get a HT lol. I got a script for topical fin and he was still like nah... I forgot his reasoning why but I think it had to do with the different types of topical fin? 

 

But yeah, every time I asked he was just like nah you gotta go to Vancouver and get a script from H & W 

I have been on oral Finasteride for almost 10 years with no sides but was thinking of adding topical Dutasteride. I consulted with Rahal but he only does FUE and was quoted only $3 a graft unless I heard wrong. I wanted to go FUT to maximize my donor.

3 minutes ago, TorontoMan said:

I don’t believe customs will be an issue as the rep said they ship globally without a problem. My other bet would be contacting H&W as they sold topical finasteride in the past, and maybe sell a formulation of duta as well. 
 

ive also ordered RU and CB off websites from the states that never got flagged or charged duties. So I’m fairly confident it will come through from Europe. Where are you in Canada? 

I'm also in the GTA. H&W I believe stopped topical Finasteride.

Isn't that in Europe though? I think customs may be an issue. I've been looking to see if there is something within Canada.

5 minutes ago, TorontoMan said:

Hey I’m sorry I missed this. I’m not on Dutasteride, I just wrote that I’m considering adding it once a week to my finasteride protocol, which is 1mg MWFS (4x a week). Currently still looking into adding topical Dutasteride, as I’ve been reading because of its molecule size and weight, it has a more localized effect rather than going completely systemic. Still need to research more about it but there are clinics that offered the topical formulation. 

Where do you plan on getting topical Dutasteride in Canada?

A lot of the surgeons you have listed in Canada do not exclusively perform hair transplants with the exception of Dr. Gupta, Dr Coterill, Dr. Huber and H&W in Vancouver. That is not to say the others are not good. There is a member who recently posted having excellent results with Dr. Gupta. Hasson and Wong are recommended on this site and you will see a lot of results on the forums from other patients. You will see the same on the European forums (pages and pages of results from H&W patients). The other doctor recommended in Canada is Dr. Rahal but he only performs FUE and if you are leaning towards FUE he should definitely be given consideration. H&W and Dr Rahal prices may seem slightly higher than others in Canada but when compared to the US it still much lower. Within Canada there are limited options.

Do your research, make sure you are comfortable with the plan which includes a long term plan before making a selection.

Are you still on Finasteride? 

Curious to know what role Finasteride or Dutasteride plays in terms of non scalp hair since it lowers DHT. 

It seems like with second procedures it takes slightly longer in comparison to the first procedure before growth starts. At how many months after your first procedure did you experience growth?

The hairline and front looks really good. Front the front nobody would guess you have thinning. I wonder if the scalp grafts were used in the front and beard grafts behind it. Is it possible the beard grafts didn't survive? Did you reach out to the clinic again?