Ahairdown

Hey Aaron, you were far better off than I am when you went in for your last HT. No doubt that if you hadn't shaved down you would have been able to comb your hair forward and be under the radar quickly. On my profile I attached a pic at day 5. One thing I'd recommend to people though, and luckliy I thought about this some... is to change your hairstyle to comb forward BEFORE the HT so that after the procedure it doesn't draw attention to your hair because it 'looks different' (i.e. styled differently) Aaron, question... I was under the impression that Shapiro didn't require shaving the recipient - was this your choice or do they charge more if you don't?

Looks great David you've come a long way - congrats! Does the wax make the hair look fuller?

Thanks for the update Bill! I think we all know that not every transplant is going to be homerun even by the best docs... what's very important to me though is how they handle the situations where something obviously didn't go right, and resulted in a sub-par HT like this one. Hopefully the doc will come here and clarify the sitation, what bothers me the most is that the doc has called this a success to the patient. I really hope I've misunderstood something with how I've interpreted this thread - there is just noway... In fairness to this doc, they haven't come here themselves (or their damage control personel) and attacked the patient like I've seen from other clinics on here lately which is a good thing. Hope this situation is resolved for all involved!!

Jessie, not sure how old you are but I wouldn't bother with another HT at this point -your hair looks good. As far as your results, it's hard to tell but it looks like transplanted hair grew to me. I'm kind of confused though and maybe you can answer the following questions: 1) In the Doc's after photos, it looks like one is taken in a vehicle. I see hairs on the edge of hte hairline that look like they are just coming in. Are you sure that your planted hairs have grown out - you may still have more to go? 2) I see some greyish hairs in the forelock in the before photos but none in the after. Were these transplanted hairs from the strip procedure, or existing, or have you dyed your hair? The reason I ask is because for me, the hair I've lost up front has lost it's pigment when it was on the way out - you could have experienced the same thing (i.e. you have indeed lost some hair up front in the last year or so). They could have also been shocked out after the HT. Either way man, your hair looks good. I feel like I'm pretty objective on forums and call it like I see it. To me it looks like the HT'd hair grew in. I wouldn't mess with another HT if I were you.... deal with it down the road if your hair thins out more and get it all filled in at once. Good luck!

Albion, good luck. No way you should be happy with the results. Even more alarming to this community should be the fact that this RECOMMENDED doctor considered this HT a 'success'. Wow!!!!!! Buyer beware!!! Hopefully prospective patients of this doctor run across this thread and go elsewhere!

Great pics salami - I can't tell you had anything done and I'm looking for it! Your hair and skin tone are somewhat similar to OP's too so it's an awesome example

Thanks for the good luck wishes. The Topikk I use isn't actually a spray. It's hard to descibe the consistency of the product. You can go to toppik dot com if you're interested in checking it out. They have instructional information on the site as well. Agree though that with gel it most likely wouldn't work well. I've never that combination though since gel will generally make thinning hair look even thinner in my experience. Good luck with getting your situation resolved - keep us updated!

"I was under the assumption that not shaving the recipient area made the job a lot more difficult for the surgeon as they have to keep move back the native hair or work through it." You hit the nail on head right here. But here is the bottom line, most top docs don't insist on shaving your head. This was one of my requirements also and I've asked two docs including the one I went with why they don't during consultations. They answered because it prolongs the patient getting back to their normal routines without the HT being noticed. Yes, it is more difficult and more time consuming - but a lot of these docs are here for YOU versus trying to churn out multiple procedures or making their jobs easier. Gee, what a concept. Here are some of the docs that I remember considering during my research that don't require shaving down. They all repeatedely turn out awesome work too - use the search feature for their names and looks at some of the results. many of worse off than you also. Shapiro, Dorin, True, Arocha, Panine, Konior, Cooley Again, these are the docs I was personally considering - there are many others also but you may have to call them to ask since many don't show photos of the work directly post op. I had taken off work where I could have been out of the office for almost two weeks, and at day five was presentable enough to walk into the office and save some of my vacation time for a real vacation..... The pic in my profile with the head on shot is a pic I took the morning on day five. Good luck and hope this helps

"Should I have felt let down by the detection? Perhaps my transplant is not as good as I had thought itwas? Could it simply be a matter of the detector being highly informed or on high alert as he looked out for good and bad transplants? Is it reasonable to believe that no one will ever detect your transplant?" -------------------------------------------- I'd have to say 'yes', because most of the good work I've seen put on display here repeatedely by a lot of these docs isn't detectable even if you're looking for a HT. But really, you need to post up some pictures so we can give you honest feedback. Only takes a minute to crop out the face. Would be nice to drop the doc's name also as to help others doing research on which doc to select, otherwise the value of this forum drops in my eyes if folks are afraid to give honest feedback. If you can't do that, I'd just be curious as to if your doc addressed your temporal/temporal points area? Some of the 'top docs' that are recommended by this board don't hit this area even when dropping in 4000-5000 fu's on a guy that doesn't already have any hair in these areas. In the before/after pics the hair looks unnatural and rightfully so as low hairlines with temp points isn't typical in people and the distribution of the person's hair looks unbalanced because it's top heavy. That being said, even though it's a dead give away for me - they be plenty of people posting how great they think the doc's work turned out. Does the guy look a ton better? Yep. Does it look natual - not really... and even if I knew nothing about HT's I might give someone's head a second look with these characteristics Anyways, if you put up pics you'll most likely get some valuable feedback - including on what you might want to address going foward (if you even need to - hopefully you don't).

Hey London, yeah I think you understand what I'm saying. And you have every right to not be happy with what your looking at every day in the mirror. What's your age? Bottom line is that a higher hairline in the temporal areas aren't going to get a second look from anyone and is going to look good as long as it looks natural. It's hard to tell without seeing your entire face (I missed see the non censored photos of you) but it looks pretty low to me considering where you started from the previous procedure. That, or like you said - put in more grafts. When drawing out my hairline, I wanted a low hairline too and Dr Arocha flat out told me he couldn't make it look good and I didn't want that..... And my procedure was 3500+ fu's with a starting point somewhat similar to yours. You can go check out a couple of pics on profile of when I went back to work on day 5 after the procedure if you're interested Sounds like you and Feller had somewhat of a conversation along these lines also but maybe the doc wasn't firm enough with you, who knows it happened a long time ago. If money is no object I'd find one of the top docs over there and get it thickened up in the front. Although you'll see a lot people state that location shouldn't be a factor when getting an HT, I find this reason ridiculous for multiple reasons - your situation being a pretty good example of that. I'd try and find someone within 2-3 hours by car or plane ride so you can do follow ups. If you can't take a lot of time off of work, find a recommended doc that doesn't insist on shaving the recipient area, it's going to reduce your downtime significantly If money is a consideration then hopefully you can work out a good deal with Feller to finish it off. Keep researching. I researched for a couple of years off and on before my procedure and still continue to learn things crusing the message boards. (Edited by moderators). From what I gather you're still uninformed somewhat and these procedures aren't cheap and they throw your life out of whack for a few weeks. In the meantime, buy some Toppik along with one of their spray applicators. They have a medium brown color that would probably work well for you. Put it slightly behind where the hairline starts though - keep it away from the front. It will darken up your scalp some and take away alot of the contrast you have going on making your hair look a lot thicker. Play around with the amount, but less will usually look better. Good luck man and take care

Looks great soc! Love that he worked on the temporal points! Can't quite tell from the before pics, did he shave the recipient area? I'd call your doc up and see if you can get more accurate statistics. The area covered looks way over 2k in grafts. Also, a 1x10 cm donor strip would only yield about 1k in grafts assuming you had above average donor densitiy. You may want this info going forward if you have another procedure and he is no longer practicing which results in you going to another doc. Thank you for posting!

Wow! Shapiro does great work - looks awesome dazza congrats!

How often do H&W travel to LA to do procedures and follow ups?

Hey Jay, looks like you've got a lot of body in your hair and it's not fine - your results from a top doc should look solid from the research I've done I'd find a doc closer to where you live and would not travel over here, but that's me. Don't let the doctor respresentatives that post here relentlessly talk you into thinking that location shouldn't matter - logically it does. You want to be close enough for follow ups in case there are complications directly after surgery, or you have issues with your final results so they can examine you in person. I'd recommend searching for a recent post by LondonHT for an example of this since he from your neck of the woods. The guy was obviously a little concerned from his results and there was a comment from the clinic at one point in the thread that they hadn't even had a chance to examine him in person. Um yeah.... I wonder why? Budget wise, which in your case sounds like that is a factor - domestic travel is generally much cheaper even if you do need to get on a plane for both the procedures and follow ups. I'd travel back the day after the procedure in case facial swelling kicks in from the numbing injections they will need to use at your hairline. Couple of docs which I believe both are in Europe are Bisagna and Farjo. That's where I'd start if I were you anyway, their results that I've seen posted look great on the various HT websites that are out there. Good luck

I would recommend using the search feature. Lot's of information on most of the questions that you've been posting up

You'll need to post up pics - before, right after (so the area HT'd can be seen) and current pictures before you'll get much feedback that's valuable

London, I really want to thank you for coming on here and sharing your results. They aren't good, but this could be a learning experience for newbies doing their research in that the placement of the hairline is critical if they happen to run into this thread. I've sure learned a lot I hope you get resolution promptly on this and good luck. Hopefully you'll come back here and share your follow up results.

Dr Cooley is all over this. Go over to the The Bald Truth forum and look for the thread in the cutting edge treatments section. He even came into at one point and responded personally a few times during the convo Apparently there is a yearly convention of some sort each year in the fall and they plan showing the results from their ongoing studies this year in a few months.

Wow - looks like you guys had some fun!!! and your buddy might be on the ATF watch list with equipment like that! lol! Will definitely keep my site up to date. Not really a whole lot to report at this point so haven't bothered with any more pics. No redness which I'm going to attribute to the graftcyte spray that I used the hell out of the first five days.... he doesn't shave the repient and I'm able to easily comb it forward and hide anything that may look a little off. This site definitely helped me make my decision so I plan on returning the favor by giving a candid and honest opinion of the results to help others going forward. I was back at work on the Wednesday after the 4th of July having the procedure done the Thursday before. No one has even taken a second glance at my hair. Girl I've been dating did ask if my hair is longer (which I grew out leading up to in case it helped me hide anything), but besides that I've had no comments or looks. Went to a number 4 guard on the sides and back last Friday and the only two spots that looked a little less dense were directly above the ears where the donor site ends and the disolvable stitching is tied. Not sure if it's from when the shaved the donor before taking it, or it's a little shock loss but will keep the board up to date. It's not noticeable unless you're looking for it, even with teh hair wet out of the shower. Anyways, for those with the concern of needing to get back to work promptly and being able to fly under the radar - this info may help you. Only had consultations with two docs (both virtual consults), but had it narrowed down to Cooley, Arocha, Konior, Panine, Doring/True and Shapiro Bros since they crank out quality stuff from what I've seen and don't require you to shave down which is going to let you go undetected much earlier IMO. Although was looking at Aaron's site which his was from Shapiro and it looked like he shaved for it so don't hold it against me if I'm not accurate regarding their clinic..... Felt comfortable after having talk to both docs, no doubt the others on this list you'd get the same vibe I'm sure - they are known for a reason. Picked Arocha basically because I thought on average these guys generate solid results and he was a two hour drive. I've seen many posts stating don't let location determine your doc. I disagree for what I believe is a very important factor. If I have a complication post op, or end up having concerns with my result - I'd like to be able to drive over and speak to them in person, where they can also examine me. That being said, if my results end up sucking I'll be on a plane to somewhere else next time Good luck all, hope this helps

Thanks Corv! Yep, used to only do Nizoral 1% a few times per week (have bad dandruff) but this is my current regimine since the procedure: - Rogaine 5% 1x per day - Prop (3x's per week at .5 mgs) - Nizoral 2% 2x per week - Biotin 1200mgs per day - Just ordered some Spiro 5% a couple of days ago, going to add that in also when it comes in Arocha recommended all of them except for the spiro. Doesn't get much attention on this message board, but on one of the others some of the people have had good stand alone (i.e. without propecia) with it so figured I'd give it a shot on the crown area. I looked at Dorin also, love his results. Yours is already solid and will only get better over the coming months. Love that a lot of these docs like Dorin and Arocha push addressing the temporal points. Some of the finished HT's I've seen otherwise just doesn't look quite right if the patient doesn't already have them.

IMO, makes more sense that as a standard, if you are posting pictures of another person you block out at least their orbital area as to preserve anonymity regardless if the patient disclosure form was signed. That’s what I would do anyways. If it wasn’t signed however, it’s unacceptable to not do this. Period, end of story. Baldecristo made valid points that should not have been dismissed as good riddance. What bothers me the most about this thread though are the valid questions that Corv asked - and neither the doc, rep, or patient (most likely because he doesn't have the info) answered. Let me restate two of the more important ones: 1) How many TOTAL grafts were used between the two procedures, 2000 or 3250? 2) What were the graft breakdowns? Was this guy all ones and twos, or were there a lot of 3’s and 4’s which are normal for a donor type that has fine hair? The guy obviously has very fine hair which didn’t help his result, but clarification on these items may help resolve a lot of the confusion that’s apparent in this thread.

Corvette... glad you are part of this community - you do a good job of 'keeping things real'... Also, I disagree with the comparisons between you and the OP's density. Your's is already more dense at only 8 months, and has just started the maturation phase. OP is years out from his procedure.

Good points Corv! Spex, I'm no HT expert by any means - but expecting to see someone in person that lives overseas isn't reasonable IMO. The pictures clearly show a poor result. That being said, it was nice of the doc to offer up a steep discount for the additional procedure.

How many grafts were used in the 1st procedure? Hope you get some resolution because yeah, it looks way too see through.

Sweet - thanks for the feedback!!