Capelli11

I too recommend T&D as I have consulted with them. The only thing that is holding me up at this point is that I think they might be more conservative than other dr's I have spoken to. What I mean is I was told I would pretty much have to go in for a second procedure for added density vs. other dr's that have stated I could get what I need (approx 2,500 give or take to my hairline/temples/corners, etc) in "one pass". I have researched why this occurs and there are just different schools of thought with how much density should be provided in one surgery due to FU survival, neither of which is right or wrong. I think it is just simply the patients goals and/or time frame that determine their decision. So with that said, I would state that Dorin is more on the conservative side and if that is the approach you want to take to be on the safer side then they are your men for the job! I am still on the fence about this as I am weighing which approach would be best for me. You should consider this too because you sound like my case with hairline issues. Again, nothing wrong with that as Dorin's results are great.

Hi Everyone! I have narrowed my choice of doctors to 1 in NYC and have spoken to a few of his patients which was great! But I have also narrowed it down to 2 other doctors- Rahal and Hasson & Wong as I feel I can get 1 pass with these doctors vs. the first doctor as I would only need around 2000 to 2700 total give or take so I figure I would rather have 1 pass instead of 2 if possible. Question....I wanted to speak/email with some patients that have been to either Rahal or H&W...is anyone willing to share their experiences with me?! I am in the process of trying to visit these doctors but can really learn more with speaking to the patients as well. So if you can be so kind and either PM me so we can chat or even better if you live in the NYC area if we could meet that would be great! Also...for patients who traveled...I gather you did a phone consultation...but did you ever have an in person consultation before you booked the surgery? Not sure how this works...thanks!!!

I must agree with aaron1234's comments...ur hair looks pretty good and good coverage as those pics are taken with flash which would show worse case scenario and still it looks good. I can't even see the scar and ur hair is short...nice! It is up to u to do another surgery as only you can make that choice but from an outsider it seems pretty good...do you have any pre-op pics? what NW were u originally?! I am considering Rahal too...how would u rate your experience? Did you travel to him? Any feedback you can give would be great regarding Rahal...you can PM me also...thanks!

I was thinking the same thing...I live near you and want to check out Rahal and H&W...but it sucks they don't live close...have to travel to see them and it is even more difficult to see patients that live near the area. You want to car pool to see Rahal? lol

Lookin good Corv!!! Hairline looks really good and promising! You must be so excited about the donor news...good stuff! I'm curious now that you met with Dr. True...is his approach similar to Dr. Dorin's? I haven't yet met Dr. True but was always curious to see if I should meet with him too to just see any contrasting and/or similar views with Dr. Dorin who I thought was great.

NICE!!! how did you find this out...Dorin told you?! You are like Super Man Corv! lol Good stuff...how are you healing?!

super job and great results...you must be sooo happy! congrats!!! and your only 7 months out...please keep us updated on your amazing progress!!!

nice result...do you have any donor/scar shots?

Hey All, In my extensive journey to research the heck out of a HT...I have and still continue to be on the fence about FUT vs. FUE and which procedure would be ideal for my situation (anyone wanting to see my pics please see my previous postings). The thing about FUT has always been the scar but upon recently consulting with a doctor that is on this site, it has shed some new light on the topic. My constant beef about the scar is not the scar so much itself (i.e. the thin white line) but how it visibly looks when say a patient has their hair on a 3 or 4 guard. I have seen many pics and a few in person while waiting for a consultation in that for some reason, you can see the infamous smiley face as the donor hair somehow almost pushes the scar appearance to the forefront (meaning the hair in the donor area for some reason seems to create a smiley face effect where you see the dark donor hair "smiling" at you but never really seeing the white scar line. Upon consulting with this doctor I mentioned above, I was kind of shocked when I was told that he doesn't use the Trichophytic closure and utilizes mainly the standard closure. I was intrigued as to why he uses this and he seems to indicate it is an overall better suture and he hasn't seen that "smiley face" appearance with it. I mean it seems to make sense that if there are no hairs growing through the scar the above hairs can cover it in their normal pattern instead of the newly growing scar hairs which can be distorted (see below) I began to do some more research on Tricho scars to try to get to the bottom of why this smiley face occurs as it really is detering me from getting FUT and what the cause really could be. I researched Tricho and noted that there is a subtle but definite change in the direction the hair that grows through the scar making the scar line stand out from the surrounding scalp. Also that the hair angle distortion associated with strip harvesting is not negated with tricophytic closure. In fact this may be amplified with the misaligned hairs growing through the scar tissue. With that said, can anyone comment on this? It appears that hairs that grow through the scar appear to grow as outliers thus perhaps creating that "smiley face" push through appearance in the donor area. I hope I got my point across as to how this occurs...the smiley face can also be noted as the look you get when you wear a baseball hat for too long...like that ring around your head. Any feedback will be greatly appreciated in that how you feel about your HT and scar if this smiley face happens to your head. Thanks!!!

Congrats...looks good...ahhh...I pray for a day without concealers...you must have felt so liberated!!! good for u!!! Happy growing!

Would this patient need to come back for another procedure to add density? What was this patient's reasoning behind going for an FUE vs. FUT? Did he have other thinning on top?

Thanks again everyone for your great and honest feedback! Corv: Thanks again as always for providing me with your insight on and off the forums! I am sure I speak for all of us when I say welcome back as you add a lot of value to this forum! Also your HT looks great...can't wait to see the final results!!! To answer your question, judging from those pics which the lighting is pretty bad as it really reveals everything, it does appear that that area is getting a little thin...but in my every day life I haven't really noticed it at least it hasn't come to my attention as a real problem area. On one of my consults the Dr. actually said I could become a NW 5 or 6 judging from my pattern. It scared me so I got on Propecia finally after realizing it was prob my only way to hold onto that hair otherwise lose it forever...so we will see if that works I'm optimistic it will at least hold it. Jessie1: I always was under the impression I had no choice but to do FUT so I didn't really research FUE...once I realized I could potentially get FUE I have recently been doing a ton of research and realized that a good amount of all the top surgeons don't truly "specialize" in FUE. A good amount of them do it but in low doses...not having a huge portfolio of before and afters. I can understand why as it isn't as popular for the many reasons we all know (i.e. cost and potential less yield, etc etc). I have visited with all the top docs and the short term list now would be Dr. Dorin and probably Dr. Rahal although I asked Dr. Rahal what % of his practice was FUE and he said around 10-15% which is low. Pretty much all the docs that are hugely recommended have low percentages like this...again that doesn't mean they don't do it well, but I am realizing FUT is obviously the desired procedure for good reason outside of the scar issue. Dr. Dorin seems to do it well also, but there aren't too many before and after shots on their website and/or on this forum...so it is difficult to decide based on limited info from the actual doctors themselves. Both Dorin and Rahal are great doctors based on their results but it is all about how they extract with FUE that makes all the difference...in regards to planting the grafts and hairline density/design they are hands down great but again FUE is a lot more skill involved and it almost comes down to taking a plunge and going with one as I am in good hands just based on their experiences in HT as a whole. I also have a phone consult coming up with Shapiro who I noticed is pretty good too with FUE. Bisanga actually said I should go with FUT as my hair loss pattern may get worse and he would want to utilize my donor hair as effectively as possible...so that upset me a little to see that a great FUE dr like Bisanga wouldn't really recommend FUE for me...Dr. Lindsey kind of said the same thing that he would reluctantly do the FUE on me if I requested. So that has thrown me for a loop with my decision.

Thanks for your response...like in life you can't have the best of both worlds...even with hair! lol.

Thanks for your comments...they are appreciated! I realize the temple closure could be deemed aggressive but i really lost a lot of my temples/corners and it really frames the face too...the hairline isn't that aggressive from what I have seen and heard though. Any more comments?! I could really use the feedback! Thanks!!!

Great Job...H&W continues to impress me with there ability to dense pack!!!

Hang in there...see how much growth you get in the next few months. Don't be too envious of Joey McHale as I think he wears a piece...one show he has a receding hairnline the next he has this thick frontal 1/3 that is way too dense...something fishy is def going on up there.

I appreciate all of your comments thus far! That hairline/temple drawing was from one of the doctors. I think my temple area really receded pretty badly over the years...so i had asked to have then restored to allowing framing of my face b/c they are just as important as any hairline design...the hairline needs to meet the corners/temple area to finish the frame. Do you think it is too aggressive of a temple? What do you think about the hairline? I think that is good and not too aggressive...perhaps the temple is aggressive? But like I said above it really can create the illusion of a good hairline as it frames the face better. Thanks!

Judging from your pics your hair seems pretty good...granted I'm sure it bothers you but like what was said earlier it may actually hurt you to implant hair in your frontal 1/3 bc it doesn't seem thin enough and potential shock loss can occur. So I would continue on the meds till at least 1 year and continue using Toppik as it can really produce great results. I am a big fan of this as well and it allows you to buy some time while you do your HT research...unfortunately the only thing you can probably do right now is sit and wait it out...but in the interim you should be taking advantage of this down time to research all your options and gain knowledge about HT's bc believe me there is a ton to learn. You already did the right thing in joining this site. Good luck and keep us posted!

Is it true that you can have another FUE procedure in less time than a FUT procedure? I am aware that FUT takes about a good year before one can come back for another procedure but since FUE offers no real scarring...can someone come back for a second procedure in less time? Or is the recipient area the issue also in regards to healing for a year or so?

Hey Everyone, I am getting very close to getting a HT. I am pretty much set on FUE bc I don't want the scar and my donor hair above my ears doesn't seem to grow in nearly as good as my back donor hair. I always have my hair short (i.e. 2 to 3 clip) so FUT scar will prob cover under a 3 I just don't want to have it show if i cut it to a 2.5 or 2 which historically I have had. I am seeking everyone's advice in that I have been to many doctors all highly recommended on this forum and have spoken to a lot of you via email and also on the phone. I was told that I am a Norwood 3 and could potentially be a Norwood 5 ish, however I am on Propecia to try to hold my crown area and so far so good. So I was told by every doc except one that I would need approx. 1,500 to 1,800 FU's. The other dr. told me 2,500. Please note though that the other docs said that I would probably need to come back for density. The other doctor said I can do it in one pass (i.e. 2,500). FUE was spoken with all dr's and I was told I can do it with FUE granted I know the pro's and con's at this point. Also note that I use concealers so that helps out a lot! Please see my pics and let me know your comments on what I have said above in terms of FUE vs. FUT and I have my hairline drawn in...let me know if you agree with that as well...I think it is fairly conservative and I didn't realize but my temple/corners have really eroded and it is my concern to have them brought back in this first procedure which will also give illusion of a better hair line bc framing the face is huge in designing a great hairline (at least cosmetically). Also, would 1,500 to 1,800 provide enough density? Please advise...thanks!!!

If we only all had your problem with holding onto our hair with no meds for 13 years! So kudos to you! lol. In all seriousness...I agree with everything noted in the above replies. 1,500 to 2,000 grafts will suite you well and would really define your hairline. It seems you keep your hair quite long on the sides so based on that you could do FUT and have no real issue with someone spotting it. But some people dont' want the scar and the healing time is a lot more for FUT...so it is up to you and your unique situation. If you were to only need 1,500 grafts and have no real other hair loss you can go with FUE bc you will be able to have one pass with no problem...but keep in mind the yield may not be as great as FUT...but the dr's you chose above all are highly skilled at FUE. You should perhaps take at least Saw Palmetto in holding onto your remaining hair if you don't want to go for Propecia for obvious side effect potential...I mean you don't seem to need it considering you have held your hair for 13 yrs but u never know what the future brings so you always want to stay ahead of the curve! keep us posted on your consults and decision! Good luck!

I have been following this post...any new updates?! Also...upon further inspection I was just curious to see how high the punches went in the donor area...were some of the punches above the "safe" zone? What I mean by "safe" zone was always that bump in the back of your donor area and below which is what I was told by many doctors. Is it possible to go above that as seems to be the case with this patient? I am considering FUE and this is one of my concerns esp if a patient can become a NW 5 or NW 6 where that top donor hair taken can be less permanent. Is there a way the Dr. can see whether the hair is ok to take out perhaps under microscopic lenses?! Please advise...thanks!

What was the FU/sq.cm? Also what is the avg FU/sq.cm when transplanting into the hairline area which say is pretty much bald skin?

Looks good thus far. I have a question however...esp with FUE...why don't doctors take from below the mid permanent area...(i.e. think this may be called the "nape" area...basically the area right above where your donor area ends near your top neck area. Those hairs are permanent perhaps even more permanent than going above the mid permanent zone which could possibly fall out if say the patient becomes a norwood 6 ish. Please advise...and also let me know if anyone has had hair taken from this lower nape zone...thanks!!!