AB2000

2 hours ago, exswimmerD said:

What makes me a good candidate for HT?

The hair loss progression appears to be limited to up to, with your donor area still looking strong, so there should be adequate supply to backfill your thinning areas.  People who are not good candidates are when the temples are receding back and the loss up top is such that it's thinning out the sides into the typical donor area.  Those who need HT's the most are simultaneously the ones who have the least to work with, and you don't look like that in your photos.  Though if you did buzz down your hair you'd probably find more miniturization up top than you might think.

This forum is a good place to search for clinics.  There are hundreds of posts from patients and doctors alike to give you a good idea of what is possible.

It appears that you are close to being Norwood 4.  Having your hair out longer probably conceals the amount of thinning going on up top.  You are a better candidate for a HT than many of us who have gone ahead anyways.  In your case, since you are continuing to lose while on meds you have to expect that even with surgery you will just be making up ground that you are losing.

I don't watch Dr. Pimple Popper but am aware of it.  For those of you who are into scary scenes like that my surgeon will be appearing for an upcoming episode.  He was brought in to help a patient by removing acne keloidalis nuchae, as Dr. Umar is also a dermatologist.  Some of these cases are really unfortunate as the growths almost look like large tumors growing from the backs of peoples' heads.  Since these show up in the hairline it looks like HT can be done afterwards to help restore the appearance to normal.  I don't know if these types of keloids are genetic, as most of the images I've seen are on people who are African Americans.

https://meaww.com/dr-pimple-popper-dr-sanusi-umar-nigeria-aids-conference-research-geneva-tlc-reality-series-acne-case

Argh!

31 minutes ago, John1991 said:

If the whole point of this is to look good, I honestly think this guys best bet is to shave his head, build some muscle and either rock the beard fully or try the handsome stubbly look. I’m just not sure the amount of hair he’s going to be able to get from surgeries will look better than shaving his head. Especially since he’s actually able to pull off the bald look well - especially for a white dude. 

You'd be surprised what a few of the HT docs who are specialists can get out of limited donor mixed with beard and chest hair.  The OP will never look like a teenager but he can certainly be much less bald, if that's his goal.

If you are planning to use Finasteride then let any surgeon who would to body to head transplantation know about this.  My understanding is that the drug causes body hair to thin and fall out, so there's no point in using both if that is the case.

NW6/7, there's probably not much point to using Fin anyway because there isn't much left to hold onto.

This man has his bases covered.

51 minutes ago, BaldingtimetoLdar said:

I'm looking to make a deposit for a procedure but they don't accept GBP. Can anyone tell me the best method for doing this ? Can you just transfer pounds into a Euro account and they convert it at their rates? Or do I have to manually create a Euro account and exchange my pounds into Euros? 

Thanks in advance.

Maybe they do rubles 😉

Like JAC wrote, you only have so many grafts available.  If they get wasted at a bad clinic you lose both money and the ability to have a future hair transplant.  If I were you, I'd invest money for ten years and see what your options are then.

21 minutes ago, Kashnw7hope said:

I heard that the last resort is chest , although regrowth rate is something like 60- 70 percent . As in with normal scalp is 90-95 percent .  So you have to implant much more and the quality may not ever be the same . But if your preferred hair style is buzzing it with number 2-3 the body hair strategy is a viable one . 

You didn't read the OP's question right.  He isn't asking how effective leg hair is in a normal hair transplant, but in filling the donor area instead.  He must be looking to repair overharvesting.

The slits were made on one day, then the 3550 grafts the next?

It must be great adding real hair over the SMP, so that you can grow your hair longer now.

The cost notwithstanding, hope you get a good result.  Any photos?

I'd wait five years and see how aggressively your hair loss progresses.  If you are on a trajectory to lose most of your hair then transplanting it will not cause it to stay in the recipient area, it will fall out there too.  If you have body and beard hair, a possible solution is to use it and buzz it short all the time, and add some SMP to create the look of coverage.

Here's an example of someone with wide balding and using 2000 FUE's spread out:

Even though it's not a great result, thanks for following up all of this time.  It will help others who are in a similar position to avoid this place.

25 minutes ago, JC71 said:

It’s known to constrict blood vessels, but who knows how much impact it would have had.. pretty impossible to tell. To give yourself a fighting chance next time it’s well worth doing everything you can to maximise the chances of a better result. 

The other candidate for this result is hair transection.  If the doctor/techs extracted the curly hair out improperly that would have killed off some percentage of the FUE grafts.  Either way, it's a very bad idea to go back to the same place.  There are other doctors out there who can give this guy a great outcome.

It looks like you still have a decent amount of donor hair to work with, should you want to use a doctor with a better track record.  Also, your beard looks to be another supply, should you need it.  For some people it's not best to use beard grafts because of the difference in appearance between fine head hair and scraggly beard planted onto the scalp, but in your case they look much the same.  You should be able to correct from this first FUE procedure and get a better result down the line.

2 hours ago, Melvin- Moderator said:

Wow wow wow what else can I say marvelous 🙌🏼

I don't think you've had your last HT yet Melvin 😉

It gets worse after stopping  😉

5 hours ago, SadMan2021 said:

Only put fiber on the crown, never the hairline. 

Fibers can be put wherever there is hair.  Toppik even has a version which has a pump sprayer and a specialized comb to guard the bare skin at the front of the hairline when applying it.

Your best course of action would be to spend time time browsing two of the forums:

Hair Restoration Results Posted by Patients

Results Posted by Leading Hair Restoration Clinics

If you do a keyword search in these by terms such as "NW6" or "Norwood 6" in the thread titles you will come up with various cases with several photos.  The more useful ones are those where the people come back down the line to show the full result.  There are some common similarities in regards to who can produce a good transplant with your level of hair loss.  I'd avoid most of Turkey.  You have to get your HT done right the first time, with so little to work with.  If you use beard grafts that expands how much more you can get done.

It looks like your doc did a great job handling curly hair.

The only time I've seen photos here of people adding body grafts into the donor area are to fill in FUT scars and, occasionally, overharvesting of the donor.  Otherwise it's not a good idea to do it.

Many hair transplants are FUE these days.  Extracting grafts in this manner lowers the density of the donor.  Adding the grafts adds density to the recipient.  The closer the densities of the two areas match, the more your hair will look "full."  But putting beard hairs into the donor will add density to the donor and make the recipient look less thinning.  There's really no point.

He went bald in the '90s like Nic Cage.  Anytime they have a full head of hair in a movie it's artificial.

1 hour ago, Icicle said:

I understand all that but I’ve come to terms with what’s happened and I don’t want any adverse opinions or reactions that might upset me. I just want to share my experience and try to warn others from visiting them. I don’t think they should be making money off people when they are in a vulnerable state especially when they are not providing an adequate level of care and transparency. 

Down the line hopefully you can get back to the forum and let people know how the end result goes.  It can take up to 12 months for all the transplanted hairs to start growing out.  It will be stressful  between now and the six month mark but it's out of your hands.  Hopefully you'll get a decent result at the end of this.