Shampoo

Although in some of his pics Tom Brady looks like he could be a Hair Club member, I agree I doubt he could pull that off during a season. I remember when I was wearing a Hair Club system even my baseball cap felt awkward. I can't imagine wearing a super snug tight football helmet with a hair system. Taking off the helmet constantly would be a frightful event! Just goes to show you how much we read in the media is bogus.

I am not sure what that guy has done over the last few years. If you do a Google search "Tom Brady hair" or "Tom Brady bald" and look at the images results the pictures run the full spectrum. Sometimes the guy appears to have a full thick mane of hair, then other times he appears to be really thinning.

Personally I wouldn't use concealers for awhile. But I guess each case may be different. Like if you just get the front transplanted I suppose you could still use concealer on the crown. I may be using too much concealer and towards the end of the day before bed upon very close inspection the concealer can sometimes be just a tad "clumpy" in places and I would not think that would be good for newly transplanted follicles.

That's a very interesting point...that I had never really considered before.

plus does anybody really know if and when this ever happens... what will the costs be when it first comes out? all this medical research isn't free so even after it finally becomes available...cloning and stem cell hair procedures could be very expensive for several years.....sure it may be possible to grow unlimited amounts of donor hair "one day".....but it's not going to be like it's dirt cheap...at least not in the beginning and it will still probably involve surgery and just the surgery in and of itself can be pretty pricey. i am hopeful that new technology enables big leaps in hair transplantation.. guys in their twenties & early thrirties may be able to wait it out..... but for many the waiting game is taking too long and we gotta take the leap now. there are still so many unknowns about cloning and stem cell in regard to hair tranplants that I feel it's not at all irresponsible for folks to be still be advocating FUT procedures it's a proven successful procedure as always 2EachHisOwn

how many grafts do you anticipate getting?

I was at a school reunion once and this girl that is known to be aggressive/pushy/loud came up to me while I was chatting with some people and basically blurted out "so...ummm whats going on under that cap...ya hiding anything?....are you bald now?". Being that she is known as being rude I immediately answered "I guess the same thing that is going on with all that makeup on your face....what are you trying to hide under all that makeup?" She responded "dont be rude"....and I said "oh you can throw punches but nobody can return fire"? She walked off shaking her head. I agree with you guys it seems that joking about balding is A-OK with some people, but fire back about someone else's insecurities and they cry foul!

A hair transplant is just one part of an over-all game plan. One problem after a hair transplant is that the hair that is all around the transplanted hair is still very susceptible to DHT destruction. So if someone gets a transplant and refuses to take the meds, all the hair around the transplanted hair may very well continue to fall out eventually giving the appearance of a balding look again. So hair preservation involves at least two things, #1. getting hair transplanted into already thinning areas and then #2. using meds to greatly slow or prevent all the non-transplanted hair on top from continuing to fall out. By preserving the hair you still have with meds and adding additional non DHT susceptible hair with a transplant a patient can often can get a pretty good "illusion of density" and decent head of hair.

I have seen lots and lots of great results from surgery sessions over 4000 grafts. In fact I had dinner with a patient that had 5300 grafts and he had outstanding results. Many of the top doctors do sessions of 4000 or more and regularly get excellent results. However if a clinic does not have a deep, highly skilled, experienced, full time, staff of technicians....then yes sessions of 4000 or more can be problematic.

Redman I feel for ya and I've thought about the same thing in regard to my upcoming surgery in August. I've already decided that for about 3-4 months post-op the only reason I will take a hat off in public is a close family member or a friend's funeral...and actually I may still leave the hat on even God-forbid in those cases. If I were you I would go purchase a really nice fedora/dress type hat and tell everyone you had a medical procedure done and prefer to conceal the bandages. If it's in a church go see or call the preacher beforehand and explain you mean no disrespect but will be wearing a dress hat inside the church due to medical reasons. Of course if possible sit in the back. I know this way is not for everyone, but it's what I would do and it's what I will do if it becomes necessary.

Agreed. Top doctors make their work undetectable. I had a smaller type transplant over a decade ago and no one could ever tell. You may think "well how do you know that?". I have some brutally honest friends and finally I discussed it with them. Several months ago I met and had dinner with a H/W patient and there was absolutely no way anyone could tell this dude was 2 years post-op from a hair transplant surgery. What is amazing is his hair looked better than most I've seen on the H/W website gallery. I assure you there are tons of guys walking around that have had transplants from the top Docs that you cant tell they've ever had hair transplant surgery.

hbk1984...I have been in the same boat for many years. I am about twenty years older than you and I never saw any hair on the pillow, never saw any hair clogging the drain or in the shower, ect....but I was losing hair from my late twenties forward. I have seen some hair in my brush....but that's about it.

I did not seem to get any noticeable difference, but maybe it will work for you.

All drugs have side effects for a certain percentage of the people taking the drug....propecia is no different. You ever seen those TV commercials for drugs that at the end list all the possible side efffects?...It's like "this drug may cause stroke, heart attack, nausea, kidney failure, blah blah blah" and millions of people take those drugs for the benefits because they tolerate the drug well. The millions that have zero to almost no side effects we rarely hear from; the people that do have some side effects we hear loudly from....making it appear much worse than it really is. Many times the initial side effects greatly decrease after several weeks or by adjusting the dosage. As with all drugs those with serious side effects from propecia sadly will not be able to benefit from the wonderful anti-balding effects of propecia and will most likely bald more and quicker than those on the medication. That's why most of the respected hair transplant surgeons recommend propecia to their patients if they are one of the millions that tolerate it well. Are all these respected hair transplant surgeons "retarded" or reckless? I suppose we can agree on one thing......2EachHisOwn.

Just to play devil's advocate: Me2 Not taking propecia because of some possible side effects will lead to me becoming more bald. In my opinion it's not like taking propecia or other meds is "optional" and you get to keep your hair if you dont take them. You either take the meds or you will eventually go bald or be balder than you would be if you took them. Even after a hair transplant if you dont take the meds you will probably continue to lose native hair all around the transplants. So when I see someone say "oh I've decided i'm not gonna take propecia" that translates in my mind to "oh I've decided i'm gonna be balding". 2EachHisOwn ps: plus his question did not mention side effects, he asked only about whether propecia was worth it since you had to always keep taking it....so my analogy does work for the question he asked.

Profoam.....I also had a 1200 graft surgery over a decade ago and did not know anything about scalp stretching and it went well. I am having a 4500-5300 session in August and I hope my late start with scalp stretching will help some. Good luck with your procedure at SMG. You are in great hands. I am a big fan of Janna at SMG. Regards.....

Profoam....You're welcome. I have started kind of late for my mid-August surgery with Dr. Wong, but have been doing it everyday for a couple of weeks and will right up until my surgery. I wasn't really doing it because I just was unable (due to a bad shoulder) to do what Joe was saying in the video for that amount of time. After seeing the diagram I decided anything is better than nothing. So co-workers walk by and see me thru-out a day with my hands behind my head doing some exercises.

Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gOQX_WyLosA

Diagram: Hair Transplant Prep > Scalp Laxity Exercises - Hasson & Wong

Yes many times it can be a good idea to transplant hair into a crown, but success can depend on lots of things. Depends on your age. Depends on what your over-all hair loss level is. Depends if you are willing to take meds post op. Depends on how much hair loss you have elsewhere. Depends on your donor hair supply. Depends on your budget. Crowns can eat up a lot of limited donor hair, so one must be careful. Each case is different and a proper assessment can be made by a top notch hair surgeon as to whether you are a good candidate for a crown hair transplant. Many of the top notch surgeons achieve great crown results on the right candidates.

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Cashmoney.....I am half joking ...but look at this way. That's like asking...since the results of a proper diet are not permanent and subside if you stop eating a proper diet is there really any value in a proper diet? That's like asking....since the results of exercise are not permanent and subside if you stop exercising is there really any value in exercise? That's like asking.....since the results of blood pressure medicine is not permanent and high blood pressure will probably return if you stop taking the high blood pressure medicine is there really any value in taking blood pressure medicine?

Congrats and good luck. Are you on meds? How many surgeries is Dr. Beehner advising for a NW5A-NW6?

flying home post-op i dont look forward to removing my cap either, but I sort of think going through the long tiring "battle day" of sugery...and the "hell" of the first day or two after surgery at that point you probably have a "I dont really care" attitude. i know after my kidney stone i looked like crap at the pharmacy...but i was like "whatever...got bigger worries right now".