jfables

I haven't posted in ages but I just had my 6th, yes 6th FUE surgery. I started back in 2004 and this was my second procedure with Dr. Lorenzo, the first one being 3 years ago. The quality of his surgery is night and day. I'll concede that when I started out, the procedure hadn't evolved into what it is now even though the FUE docs were making big claims, but there's no other doctor I would let touch my head. Flew across the Atlantic Ocean both times for the work.

I'm interested in this too.

Is it available to US now from H&W? How can you get it?

Yeah more and more clinics are transitioning to FUE or at least offering it as a service. In fairness the transition was probably pretty slow because it just takes time and data to prove a technique really works consistently - you can't argue FUE was pretty hit and miss for a while, but I think a solid protocol has been developed over the last five years or so and it's now a very effective solution, even sometimes for large procedures.

 

It's very unlikely we'll be seeing any hair multiplication/stem cell based therapies being offered any time soon. There's possibly more chance that novel therapy targeting some other aspect of the balding process may find a way to market in the next few years, so there may be another option or two, but like everything I think it'll take months and years for even approved products to really find their place and the data to accumulate on how well they work clinically and how they fit in and around established treatments.

 

New topical finasteride solutions may make more of a show in the future. Jury is still very much out on how well it works and whether they offer a better chance of lowering the risk of side effects.

 

There's a couple of new-ish surgical techniques like mFUE that are really in their infancy but these aren't really going to shake up the industry dramatically, just offer a few more options. Scalp micropigmentation offers another aesthetic option for adding the illusion of density and can look pretty good if used subtly and intelligently.

 

I don't think anything major will change in the next 5 years. I think the best we can hope for is that one or two adjunct-style treatments may make it to market that could combine with or offer alternatives to finasteride and minoxidil and that may give patients more options or a higher chance of holding on to more hair for longer.

 

It's all likely to be evolution instead of revolution. There's some interesting/exciting cellular based research going on but it's probably at least 10-20 years away from maturing into anything substantial, and that's being optimistic. Same with donor doubling - there's some hope it could work but it needs to be researched, trialled and then proven in the clinic consistently, with established protocols. You saw how long FUE took to become one of the standard practices, and it's just because diligent doctors want to take the time and effort to see data and find a real protocol that produces consistent results - there will always be pioneers and that's good, but moving from research to study to approval to clinical practice is a slow process and it takes time to establish new "gold standards". If a new treatment or technique "hit the shelves tomorrow" it'd probably be 3-5 years away from becoming standard clinical practice. That's just how things work.

Thanks for that info. Unfortunately I was a guinea pig in the early years of FUE, fooled by major clinics (still operating today) that FUE was the new gold standard. In hindsight I would have gotten a couple of strips w Hasson and been better off today. Thankfully Jose Lorenzo was able to fix me up although I need to one more procedure.

No one mentions much how after several thousand fue your sides look thin when cut short making the benefit of keeping your hair short with FUE invalid.

More clinics have actually begun to train in the practices of FUE. ATP and hyaluronic acid have been added to hair transplant procedures. In short, not much has happened.

Right. I figured. And hair multiplication is still 5 years away as it has been for the past 15 years?

Thanks.

Why is that hilarious?

Because they were adamant for over a decade that fue was inferior to strip as recently as a couple of years ago when I was told by their rep (who now works for a fue clinic) that I will never get good growth w FUE. Don't get me wrong, Hasson is probably the most skilled surgeon out there.

I haven't been on the forums in a long time. Hasson & Wong do FUE now?? Hilarious.

Any new treatments out there? Surgical, Medical, topical, stem cell? Or is it still the same old, same old?

So nothing new? I've been hearing 5 more years for the past 15 years. What happened to Aderans?

Hasson is doing FUE now????

Lot of us have flown overseas and to far away places to get the right work done. Going to the wrong doctor can cripple you.

^Ha, good luck in your future surgeries, I got a similar situation in terms of pattern, and may well be following in your footsteps

It always goes, my friend. Guys get the wrong impression that they are holding onto their hair with propecia, rogaine, or various experimental concoctions and they just will need one surgery or they can get some really low hairline but you lose all the hair eventually. I think very few people actually grow some hair on meds. That being said the meds can slow the loss down considerably. I should have been a NW6 by 22 but 14 years later I'm still holding onto some hair.

No worries, I do forgive your poor pictures.

You're a funny guy and I'm not worried. I think the pics are pretty damn excellent. High quality, large size. This site seems to compress them but the originals are 36mp.

Did you start taking meds near surgery time? That's just too much density for 2.6k grafts, even under a great doctor like Lorenzo.

 

Do you have any top down views? It seems you are combing it a little differently and there is shade. In any case, it looks a lot better than before and best of luck!

I've been on meds for 14 years. It has slowed down my hairloss considerably but after 14 years most of it is gone. Just the bottom half of the crown under the whorl is left and that is very slowly going too.

I'm not sure why you think it's too much density. Take a closer look. It's plenty thin. The hair is long and combed together to give myself the best cosmetic look as are the hair styles in just about every result posted by famous clinics such as H&W. A shorter haircut would make it look much thinner.

I took the pictures myself in my home. The pre ops were done by Lorenzo on the day of surgery. Forgive me for not have given enough effort to match his pics.

The thing I liked about him most was that he did all the work himself, and you can tell he has a real passion for what he does.

I agree. When you spend such a huge amount of money it's absurd that the doc typically only comes in to make the slits for the grafts. Generally in a FUE clinic, a tech does the extractions for hours and hours, the doc comes in and makes slits or a half hour, and then more techs place the grafts for hours and hours. With a strip, hopefully the doc is cutting out the strip himself in all cases.

Lorenzo does everything. His implanter pen allows to bypass the slits step. He places the grafts in himself as an incision is made by the pen.

I know clinics go on and on about teamwork and how their techs are so experienced but considering the huge amount of money spent you should get 95% of the work done by the doctor himself.

Amazing! I can see why you're out enjoying your new hair. Thanks for stopping by and filling us in.

Thanks, David.

Anytime my friend. So happy things worked out for you. Those previous two FUE surgeons should be sued into oblivion for their mistreatment of their patients.

Yup. Thanks, man.

Hello folks,

I don't get on the forums so much these days because I'm thankfully not so stressed over my hair anymore. I wanted to share my experience. I've talked about it before but to remind you I had or was led to believe I had thousands and thousands of FUE grafts over the past decade in 4 separate procedures by two separate doctors. The first two were done by a well known doc for being one of the first to perform FUE in the states ( I believe he is not allowed to be mentioned on this site), about 3,000+ total. Looking back now I realize the growth was horrible. Bad angles, placement, poor growth. 1mm scars in the donor.

I then had two with the designer salesman con artist from Toronto who eventually had his medical license taken from him and apparently still runs a clinic in Beverly Hills. He charged me for 4,500 grafts but I had come to realize eventually that he split the grafts and probably only extracted a third of that. More bad angles, too straight of a hairline, poor growth. No donor scars at least.

Slowly my hair continued to thin despite the meds and with the poor planning by myself and these clinics I was left with what you see here in the before pics.

I went to see Dr. Lorenzo in September 2013 with great hesitation. I had almost done a strip convinced for awhile that FUE always leads to poor growth but Dr. Lorenzo proved me wrong. His ability is on an elite level. Not only did I get excellent growth but the actually procedure was so easy. Barely any pain. No swelling. By day 3 post op there was no sign of surgery. The implanter technique makes it so much easier on the patient because you skip the step of having your head stabbed with holes or slits thousands of times. Way less trauma and quicker. 2,600 grafts mostly in the crown, some to touch up the & soften the hairline, some to rebuild the temple points & hide the bad angles, and some in the top middle area/vertex?

I plan to get another 2,000 or more in 2015 but for now want to enjoy what I got. Much thanks to Mickey85 for all the advice.

I've seen great results both FUT and FUE. It all depends what is more important to you. I would rather have FUE because I just can't accept having a piece of my scalp amputated and all the risks associated- nerve damage, numbness, tightness and stretched scar. In the right hands FUT and FUE can produce wonderful results.

Same here. I went to a bad FUE clinic years back and the tech overharvested in a small area. It looks thin when shaved but is still not so bad that anyone notices. I'm sure there are still plenty of negligent FUE clinics out there doing this. You have to be very careful in the doc you choose whether it's FUE or Strip.

I had 2600 FUE with Lorenzo 5 months back and I don't even notice any thinness from that. He spread out the extractions methodically.

Very happy for you buddy!

Thanks Mickey. Still got a long way to go though. I'll post pics when I get close to a full result in a few months.

exactly the same with doganay

Glad to hear. These guys are just on a different level. I feel cheated but best to just look ahead.

I'm at 5 months post op with Lorenzo and have had FUE done several times with notable clinics. The yield is already better than my previous (same amount of grafts more or less). The post op recovery immediately after was a breeze compared to the others. By days 3 or 4 you couldn't tell I had anything done. No pain, no swelling, no scabs or blood.

If you're making a case for FUE over FUT (and I'm not saying you are), I see a lot of FUE surgeons - some of the best actually - take hair well outside of the very narrowly defined 'safe zone.' As these patients age into their 50s and 60s, I imagine a lot of them will lose a noticeable amount of transplanted hairs. That said, who knows what advancements there will be in the next 20 - 30 years, so it may be a non-issue. This is why I believe it's always best to wait until your MPB is fairly predictable to have any kind of hair restoration work done.

If you have typical mpb there's a good chance as you age every part of the donor will thin, even the 'safe zone.' I'm saying the safe zone is not entirely safe. Luckily for many guys this isn't something that will happen until they are in their 60s.

I wouldn't dismiss the thin donor as shock loss. It can very well be just natural thinning of the donor region which happens much more than guys on the forums, especially reps & docs, would have you believe. The 'permanent zone' is not completely permanent. Another reason to avoid strip. As you age, if your donor thins, the scar could be revealed.

I've never had blades but I had my share of needles that most docs use. I had FUE 3 months ago with Lorenzo using the implanter. I never experienced such a clean and barely painful procedure like this. I DID NOT have any scabs and obviously barely any bleeding from Lorenzo! In two days the recipient area looked only pink and the hairs from the grafts protruded out of the scalp looking like normal growing hair.

Also with the implanter, the incision and the insertion of the graft is done at the same time. This skips an entire step that is necessary in other methods (blades or needles). I can't emphasize enough how much is easier this is on the patient. I had 4 separate surgeries with other doctors before this last one. I would no longer ever undergo any other method than the implanter although only if it's in Lorenzo's hands. I can't really say about other surgeons who use implanters.

Size of the punch, extraction tool. 1mm in diameter and larger especially.