fortune11

I had a hairline transplant done w Dr Shapiro in 2004 - it still looks amazingly natural. Hairstylists get shocked when i tell them its not my original hairline If you are concerned about hairlin, imo Dr Ron Shapiro is probably the only person i would want placing those incisions on my scalp

The drug is VERY effective in stopping hairless, no question . It helped me as well for about 2 years But there is a cost as it affects your endocrine system - most people don't perceive the changes, but for those that do, it can be terrible for them So there is a tradeoff, but more like roulette - if your number is up, then you may suffer. If not, decades may go by and nothing bad happens. I recently got my hormone panel done by an endocrinologist and he recommended I stop taking Propeica. I have stopped for a couple of months now and can already see my hair is less thick than it used to be, Rogaine helps, but not as much. But my transplants are decent enough that I can live with the marginal loss, so no complaints so far in terms of appearance. This is all I have to say. Now people may attack me for "fear mongering" but it does not change the facts of the case for my individual situation.

Bear d hair was used across , especially on the scar . I think it did a good job concealing the wide scar . My biggest problem was w acne that started after the HT was over -- all over the beard area . I have detailed that experience in my other posts this was the single biggest post op complication - which made me take all sorts of anti biotics and even accutane. For me it is a strict no no going forward for beard / body hair - mainly because of this reason. But if you are asking whether beard hair eventually grew and did its job, yes it did. the tradeoff with the acne side effect for me is not worth it going forward but maybe you are not pre disposed to acne as I am so it wouldnt be a problem for you

My HT#4 was a slow growth (see my thread). I think growth is also a function of age and how much trauma the scalp has gone through in the past. I am finally seeing growth at the 13 month mark but it has come in quite nicely all said and done.

your surgeon will give you the best opinion since he is actually seeing your hair in person . very hard to tell from these pics . just follow his post op regimen strictly and then revisit this forum in a month or so when your scabs have all fallen off . as to smoking / nicotine , that is not advisable for any medical procedure (pre and post op), so I would lay off on that as well as far as you can.

thanks for the compliment htsoon I have used toppik and various toppik like concealers but every time I have tried them , I have eventually quit. something just doesn't feel right w them and when I travel it becomes a real hassle to maintain the same regimen

thanks mikeyhwk. Below is another picture, this time of the hairline . And here is where I want to make an important point for anyone undertaking this journey -- especially if you are heading to a NW6 or NW 7 , a position I am in now . Pretty much all the hair you see on top is transplanted hair Very critical to have a solid foundation to build upon. That hairline is from 2004 and still looks natural. I was lucky that I went to Dr Shapiro for my first HT and he designed a hair line knowing well where I was headed. Some one else who might have been more aggressive in order to appease a patient ( I was younger and in a different mindset back then) may have given me a low or aggressive hairline and then left me scrambling afterwards to keep chasing it . And having gone through 4 hair transplants now, I can tell you it gets more and more difficult to get good coverage as time goes on, especially if you have black hair on pale or olive complexioned skin (as opposed to blond hair on pale skin. I changed my hair stylist recently and the new one when I told her all the hair on top was transplanted, could not believe it . her jaw dropped . This result is as natural as anyone or I could hope for . She also had a hard time locating the scar from previous FUT. This is also why HT is as much an art as science . It is more than just getting a whole bunch of grafts and jamming them into the scalp. Having a skilled surgeon who knows how to place each and every follicle to create that irregular , natural look with enough randomness thrown in to create an illusion of denser than it actually should be , helps a lot. I spent some time trying to figure out if I could tell which hair in the frontal third was from beard FUE and which hair was from scalp donor region and I could not . The last leg left for me now is the back of the crown. I will revisit that later maybe next year. But I am now done with the top of the scalp and hoping to maintain it as long as I can with meds like propeica and rogaine.

Here are some post op pictures at the one year mark. these are after a fresh shampoo , with no product or concealers in the hair, taken with my iPhone . All in all, you may recall me mentioning that I had faith in Dr Ron and was willing to be patient , and as you can see from the pics , it turned out to be quite good, even though it took a bit longer this time around. a factor may have been this being the 4th hair transplant. I know I had posted several issues with my progress after HT so let me address these points one by one 1. Shock loss - has completely recovered by now as you can see the hair looks fuller and thicker 2. The big scar is now barely visible at #4 . I am very satisfied with this result 3. The frontal third where I wanted more support behind the hairline has filled in nicely - so that is objective achieved 4. The side channels and the top of the crown where I have marked with a red are still developing I think . I am going to wait some more to see how these look in a few months from now 5. Beard area Acne -- you may recall I was taking accutane for this. It Is effective , but absolutely a horrible medication as far as side effects go ( propecia has nothing on this !) . I stopped it after a month of usage. The acne is still there but a lot less than what it was at the peak of the problem and looks to be gradually improving . 6. One interesting observation is that the hair is a bit more curly now as part of it is coming from the beard area singles. but the placement is so amazing that you cannot tell which is beard hair and which is scalp donor hair - it is this mastery of placement that I think is unique to Dr Ron, in my opinion - making your donor hair give more bang for the buck , so to say. Also I want to emphasize that Dr Ron continued following up with me throughout the year and took a keen interest in every aspect of the case from the medication I was taking for the acne to my dosage of propecia to video chatting with me to understand what the problem areas on the transplanted scalp were. Very happy with the post op care. I will post again as results continue to develop but happy to take any questions

I didn't take fin after my HT#1 or HT #2 but did take it after HT #3 and beyond. It does help with better growth from my experience. I was a lot younger when I got my HT#1 so that could also be a factor - maybe as you age you need all the crutches you can get your hands on.

Here are some photos at #5 cut where you can see the scar but it is a bit faint and only if you know what you are looking for -- so yes, the FUE into scar was effective . The third pic also shows a bit of the side channel thinning that I wanted to fix -- no improvement there yet

I avoided taking propecia for the first 15 years of my hair loss but finally succumbed to it 2.5 years ago after my HT #3 -- It actually helped w regrowth after HT, and also led to generally a fuller appearance. So for me it worked . Side effects - mainly I had issues with brain fog (lack of coherence) once in a while and to combat that , I cut the dosage to 1mg every other day which seemed to alleviate that issue a bit. I switched from oral to topical 10 months ago after my HT#4 and my hair is a lot worse for it . Not sure if the switch itself is the cause but to test that theory I am going back on oral propecia now.

Accutane is serious stuff and I am aware since I took it back in my early 20s (and I thought I was done with it forever ). I have never seen so many warnings on a medication as I have for accurate. I was also asked to sign some sort of generic pledge and my information is in a database for monitoring . Plus regular blood tests needed to monitor liver ! But yes, Dr Ron is aware of accutane. He didn't seem to think it would be a problem with the hair growth per se (there are other side effects of course). ALL -- If you have a prior acne condition from your youth and are thinking about using hair from beard - please be very very careful and give it a serious second thought. I would have never gone through with sourcing beard hair had I foreseen this acne breakout that has become a scourge in my life now , esp given in middle age and my client facing profession. And I agree w you on the micro scarring - I have no idea whether this is a factor or not with the absorption as I only have my personal experience to go by and it didn't work for me . I have also asked Dr Ron whether introducing a different type of hair (beard) which is not native to the scalp has any effect on the more "native type " (if you can call it that) hair that was there before from the previous FUT transplants from original donor, On your last advice . I agree -- Don't change what works .

Thanks Pete-from-Farjo . Hair implanted into scar hair did grow- closer inspection the scar is a bit visible at #5 but it is meaningful improvement from before. Given many of the hairs were from the beard they feel a bit uneven, curly and coarse to the touch I will try to post some pictures tomorrow.

Thanks HTsoon. I am hopeful too. The one thing I will re emphasize is Dr Ron is the ultimate professional and he has shown great degree of personal interest and support for my case. Since he made the incisions himself I am hoping it is not a case of permanent shock loss from inserting new hair into existing transplanted hair and should grow back eventually. mikehwk - re: topical fin., a lot depends on the absorption into the scalp and maybe mine has been so jaded now after 4 HTs that penetration is not as effective , who knows , I am obviously not an expert on this subject. But the fact also remains that I was NOT on propecia after HT#1 and HT#2 and in fact did not start propecia until after HT#3 in Jan 2015. The only way I will know if topical versus oral is the cause is that if my hair comes back fuller as it was before say in the next few months. So this is something definitely worth monitoring.

This is exactly what I had done 10 months ago - you can read up my link