recedingboy

You had aggressive hairloss and should have been on finasteride and should not have risked it. I agree that if someone has aggressive hairloss they should be able to commit to finasteride if they wish to slow it down or stop it. Hair transplants help but should be combo'd with the meds. For someone that does not want to be on meds for ever and wish to keep their doors open, they should consider FUE transplants so that they can buzz their hair down in the future thereby reducing the difference between bald and non bald areas which minimizes the appearance of hairloss. Now you are on 2 mg of finasteride daily - TOO MUCH. You either take no finasteride or go overboard? Take 1mg or less per day. Most studies have shown .5 mg to be about 80% as effective as 1mg finasteride (which was tested and showed 83% or so success). good luck

Questionmark, Hope everything is going well. I did see your pictures from September. The density looks really good, you have quite a bush growing there! You still have another 5 months of potential growth so that is pretty amazing considering. When you get a chance, if you could take some closeups. Based on my previous response you know I probably over analyze things but the reality is 99% of the population does not. At some point there can be those that sit and do nothing that continue to obsess looking for the "perfect" solution (like me) and then those that go and do it and even if not 100% perfect, they are 99% and at least those get it done, and move on in life and - as you said, stopped obsessing over their receding hairline. It is sad on one hand that such high economic burdens are attached to hair transplantation at the same time heartwarming to hear of doctors such as Dr. Bhatti who still keep it reasonable. That actually gets "brownie points" from me. To compare anyone's hairlines to those of Dr. Konior (who charges at least 12x as much as Dr. B.) is illogical. I do hope those that run this site consider recommending Dr. B. and give him a fair price considering he does for so many.

the work looks like it will turn out well, but man a lot of hair has been shaved considering its a strip procedure. That will be impossible to conceal without looking strange. I though with FUT's, minimal shaving is required?

I know associations with the various organizations (I believe this website too) carries with it what can be a hefty price tag in terms of membership or affiliation fees. I sincerely hope that some of these organizations will give Dr. Bhatti's clinic some consideration that he charges such reasonable rates. It would be disadvantageous to many users who cannot afford higher priced tag clinics to have to pay more due to Dr. Bhatti having to recoup his affiliation/membership fees from patients. I hope he is able to maintain a lower cost structure.

Looking at immediate post op photos, it looks like few, if any grafts were placed at the vertex. Your situation seems complicated as you appear to be a diffuse thinner. Based on 6 months and the location of the grafts, you are probably in line with what is expected. More and more hairs will grow as time continues. For your situation I think you would look best buzzing your hair down to like a number 1 or something

pm me if you need any advice traveling in India.

Hey Denny, Found the thread. Thanks for the detailed post. Very useful info for many of us. Your question re: reimbursement of travel costs, is that a yes or no, and if so, what portion of travel costs are reimbursed? Also, where can i learn more about his one step process. And do you think he is steadfast about the bank transfer/credit card accruing 18-20% tax? I can't imagine people carrying cash of more than $10k around. Also, how did the political situation seem? I'm thinking of going nov./dec. possibly... thoughts?

I want to clarify I think you have misunderstood. I think Dr. B offers tremendous value in terms of cost to density. I do not think he is a "home run" for receded hairlines. I think his hairlines require a bit more artistry, thought and close examination of how hairlines actually look on guys with no hairloss. That being said, I believe Dr. B is a standup guy (ANYONE with those kind of rates for FUE must not be greedy), and his density looks, to me, as good as the best from Europe. Artistry, softness of hairline, not so much. Regarding the poster stating it is rude to talk in 3rd person, I certainly did not intend it that way. I don't think most Westerners would either. Sorry if you felt that way anyways. Thanks for the posting, and please keep the progress coming. The more information and options for all of us, whether we be Eastern or Western, wealthy or cash strapped, whatever or wherever we may come from, the better. No one surgeon is the right choice for EVERYONE.

I think he will have noticeably more density in the next 8 months. This is usually the case. Even if you look at guys 10 months post op, then 24 months post op, their hair looks to get better and better.

I completely agree with you on this thought. And Konior is at least 9x as much per graft FUE btw, I spoke with him! The fact that your growth rate is good is what is most important imo, because donor supply is limited it is a tragedy to lose that! Even though the pics are not ideal, some of your earlier pics did not indicate a pluggy hairline. Just not as soft or irregular imo as it could be. If I went with Bhatti I would probably ask for a conservative hairline, fill in the density, then later on go to a [high priced] euro clinic for fine tuning the hairline. Like I said, best value approach. The reality is I have seen guys who have had FUT procedures from "average" clinics and could not tell they had work done, so I doubt anyone can tell you did.

This is consistent with my impressions, great density, but so so hairlines. It would not be inconceivable to have the majority of the hair transplanted with Dr. B, then go on a later date to get a fine tuning of the hairline from a small, higher cost per graft, hairline specialist. This is the best of both worlds approach. Questionmark: it does not look bad though, please take my comments with a grain of salt and someone obsessed with hairloss. Your average joe wouldn't notice anything.

HI, Have not done it yet, so bump for those that have.... is continually shaving/buzzing super low until MONTH4/5 the best way to visually conceal you had hairloss?

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my take on Dr. Bhatti: Fair. Everyone knows FUE procedures are more time consuming (even with motorized) and require more careful handling than FUT procedures, yet he still charges a bit over $1USD per graft. That is amazing. He uses the motorized SAFE tool, that FUE masters in Europe do not use (they use manual). At the end of the day, though, the results I have seen and growth yields have been impressive (i'd eyeball them at an easy 90% plus from what I have seen). Hairlines are not as soft as they could be. In terms of getting that poor bald chap into a new look with hair at the lowest cost and still able to shave/buzz down your hair and have no scar, there is perhaps no better bargain from my research. Are there more artistic surgeons out there that can produce more natural or appealing hairlines? Yes. But be prepared to spend 5x as much. He serves the market of the 99%, which I respect him for doing.

I spoke with Dr. Radha before. Knowledgeable, pleasant. She probably gets many calls a day from people like us that think we know everything about hair transplants. ALL doctors I have spoken with have some degree of confidence/arrogance (imho, Radha was confident though, and did not cross that line into arrogance). The only fault I could find in my communications with her, if any, was that she is pro strip by far. Kind of like Hasson and Wong. Does that make them any less than a world class clinic? no. This is something that a lot of clinics push (strip) including Feller, who performs both.

I think the hairline design is good, but I find Bhatti's hairlines to sometimes not be as soft or feathered as they could be. That being said, I'm being picky and the value certainly cannot be beat. "normal" i.e. non hairloss obsessed individuals of the general public won't look as closely as we lot would.

the only one people talk about on here is Dr. A's clinic. Between the two, if I was okay with having strip, I'd probably lean towards Dr. Radha.

Dr. Radha has a good rep in India and abroad. She does strip procedures though. Presuming you are okay with that I think the results posted on here speak for themselves. Very small scar, very clean work, and I read patients writing how she has a "team huddle' and strategy drawn up on the chalkboard. Seems to be a professional approach. Price can't be beat of course either, but in addition results seem good. One patient per day. Personally involved, these are what I have read.

The intent of not shaving is obviously about keeping one's hair as similar as possible post HT. Even if the doctors perform a smaller session and strategically trim hair, will it matter if we are bound to lose hair anyways due to shockloss? In other words, is the limiting factor in maintaining similar hair post op the shockloss "wild card" - is shockloss guaranteed to occur? If one does not experience shockloss and they go for a smaller session, I would think the chances of them preserving largely the same look pre op and post op is doable. Thought?

Great thread Mickey. Which, if any, doctors are able to do an fue procedure of say 1,000+ grafts with minimal shaving of donor and no shaving of recipient areas?

Of the following docs who do you think is best for providing an attractive looking (good aesthetics) and dense hairline: Bisanga, Feriduni, Koray Erdogan, Keser? Thank you

I will email Stephen directly. I have brought this issue up with him before, but feel further discussion on this public forum will only serve to leave negative impressions of how communication is with their clinic and that is certainly not my intent. Thanks

I wasn't aware he was in the U.S. often. In fact from the impression given, i gathered only 2-3 times per year (even though I understand his family lives in the DC area). I feel a lot of traction as far as my direction of hair transplantation was lost in not being able to meet a top fue surgeon (apparently none in the U.S.). I have already had a meeting with a top FUT surgeon.

The communication with them has been pretty good, but one time I requested to be informed of an upcoming consultation but somehow it did not happen. I lost some time on that as far as getting my HT performed. Otherwise the communication has been fast.

Holy crap bro. 5mg Avodart... isn't that quite strong? Many people say that .83 or otherwise 1 mg reduced finasteride performs almost as well as 1mg. Youre on 5 mg of dutasteride...