HairSuit

You start with the steroids. Then you need the finasteride to combat the sides from the steroids. Then you need the ED pills to combat the sides from the fin. Then you need the anti-depressants to combat the effects from all of the above. Then the hypertension meds, anti anxiety, etc. It gets worse from here. Is this the path that you want to take?

Ryan Gosling full head of hair: Matinee Idol with steely gaze Ryan Gosling thinning hair: Boring everyman with creepy gaze (probably wouldn't trust this guy alone with children) Christian Bale with full head of hair: Eccentric Hollywood leading man Christian Bale with thinning hair: Euro trash (looks like he has a serious drug problem)

Frankly, I think he looked better bald. Even when he was young and had some hair, he still shaved it all the way down. He looks kind of odd with hair. Everybody knows he was bald, so he now comes across as a bit insecure. I think hair transplants are most effective when nobody knows about them. That, to me, is the whole point. If everyone knows about it, you might as well buy a rug at the store. Anyway, he basically had the good looking bald guy look nailed: In shape with muscles; Nicely shaped head; Good looking symmetrical face; Tall; Good skin tone; Money in the bank; Fame; Women. So he basically had the full package (except for the hair) and he still needed more. Imagine how the average, balding, poor shlub with none of Urlacher's desirable characteristics feels? Today is a sad day for the everyman, balding, poor shlub. My heart goes out to him today. But cases like these should be wake-up calls for the average, balding shlub. Wake up! Urlacher doesn't need an HT. But you do! Wake up...or you're toast!

You should smile. If you smile and laugh, people will think you don't care about your hair. Then they won't care about your hair. If you walk around with a frowny face, people will wonder why you are so upset. Then they may think, "Oh, maybe he is depressed about his hair. Poor guy."

Funny how he leaves his little religious hat on even for hair loss photos. The little hat will come in very handy since his crown is thinning and he received no grafts in that area.

Thanks for inquiring further about this situation, fellas. It has been 5 months and 2 weeks since my procedure. I was really freaking out when I started this thread. But then I really started looking at my hairline, and I did notice some thin, colorless hairs of various lengths coming in. I just had to angle my head the right way to see them. They were hard to detect because of the fact that I do have some hair so they kind of blend in. So I am feeling better about my HT than I was 2 weeks ago. I now feel that my hairline will look pretty good. But there is an area in the mid scalp that is pretty thin where I did not get any grafts. I only received 1200 grafts. I really feel that I should have received at least 1500, but the doc told me that I would be fine with 1200. I guess my hairline and the hair behind the mid scalp will have to disguise that thin area. But eventually, I will have to go back for mid scalp and probably the crown. For now, I hope to see some major progress in next couple months. I will keep this updated and perhaps create a thread on my doc and my complete experience.

Well, I just got e-mail back from the doc's office. Of course, they said that 5 months is still early as expected. It's actually about 5 months and one week at this point. There was nothing abnormal in the first couple weeks. Everything seemed to be fine. The problem is that I can't tell if any transplanted hairs stayed in or have grown or what. This is because I did have hair in the recipient area. The hair was just thinning. So...it makes it difficult to tell what is native hair, what is transplanted hair, what is going on. I can tell you that in looking at the front of my head, I do not see any short hairs. All the hair seems to be about the same length (a couple inches). And, as I stated, the pictues show no difference. It is so disappointing because everybody else seems to have marked improvement at 5 months. A lot of people have something that looks like a final result. I would be happy if I had anything. I do not want to mention the doctor now because I think it would be unfair if I later grow hair and someone sees this thread today and thinks the doctor sucks. I hope to update later. Honestly, I am not optimistic at this point because I have nothing.

34 years old. Health is perfect. I don't smoke. I don't drink alcohol or soda. I exercise every single day. Diet fruits, veggies, no red meat, little processed food. First HT. Occasionally I take minoxidil or saw palmetto. Hair was shaved for surgery. Native hairs seemed strong around recipient area. I had been slowly thinning steadily for approx 10 years. I had 1200 grafts put into hairline. Some grafts were 3 hairs. Some were 1. Most were 2. So around 2500 hairs. There was one area toward the front/middle area which was kind of thin in which no grafts were placed. I thought, "no big deal because the hairline will be nice and thick so I can accomodate this." I had my head shaved for surgery. So the first few weeks after surgery, I was not used to having my hair cut that short, but I thought it looked kinda bad ass. By the second month, I didn't think I looked that good. I felt that this was normal ugly duckling phase or whatever. My hair was at an awkward length and I assumed that the grafts were falling out. By month 3, I felt good because my hair got back to a length that I consider "normal" for me. I felt great going anywhere without a hat. I figured that maybe I had kept some of the grafts and that I would just start growing. My hair was looking pretty good at this time, but I am not sure if it was all native hair or if some of the grafts were growing. I'm still not sure. I got my first haircut around this time. By month 4, I was still questioning whether I had grown any hair. But I just told myself it was still early. My hair looked OK at this point. I actually feel that my hair looked better at month 3-4 than it did at month 5. I got another haircut at month 5. And I started thinking, "hmmm....this haircut looks exactly like it did pre-op." Then I had a picture taken a few days later, and my hair looked very thin up front. Then, I started taking some pictures at home and comparing them to pre-op pictures. They look exactly the same! Actually, pre-op look slightly better. But difference is negligible. So I have been patient all this time. Like I said ealier, I haven't even been thinking about my hair for the past few months...aside from an occasional passing thought. I have not completely given up hope yet as I understand that 5 months+ is still a bit early. But I am just concerned because how can I have NO noticeable growth at this point. None. If I don't see something by month 6, I am hitting the panic button. I can't tell any difference in my hair at all. If this is what 1200 grafts look like, what a huge waste of money!!

Yes...I know this comes up from time to time. I guess I just need some reassurance or something. I had an FUE transplant of 1200 grafts a little over 5 months ago. My hair loss wasn't really that bad. I literally have barely thought about the HT until today. I just didn't even really think about it. I just assumed hairs were growing. Well, I decided to take a picture today. And it looks slightly WORSE than it did just before my HT. I am able to compare two pictures with hair at same length under same exact light. There has literally been no growth. None. I looked in the mirror under a bright light, and I can not see any short hairs. I will post more information (doc, pics) in the future perhaps. But I don't want to talk about that know. Just trust me: hair looks slightly worse. I am not being paranoid. I e-mailed the doc today with pictures. I don't know. It does not look good right now. Is it possible that the hair I see is the transplanted hair and I have shock loss in same area that makes it seem like I have no transplanted hair when in fact I do have transplanted hair? I had a hair cut about a week ago, and all the hair up front seems to be the same length. I don't know what is going on. Just hard to believe I have literally no growth.

If you are looking at FUE in L.A., perhaps you can look into Dr. Umar.

I remember the time when I first realized I was losing my hair. That was 10 years ago. I spent the next couple months reviewing hair loss causes, treatments, etc. I lurked around on forums such as this, but I never really posted. I looked into minoxidil, finasteride, herbal treatments, hair transplantation. I realized that yes I was losing my hair. That was reality. I also realized that my situation was not that bad. A lot of guys had it much worse. I was fortunate to have fairly thick, slightly wavy hair to begin with. But I was losing it in the exact same pattern as the males on one side of my family. So I knew where I would be in the future if I did nothing. At that time, I said NO to finasteride and NO to hair transplantation. I said YES to occasional minoxidil use and YES to occasional herbal or laser stuff that probably doesn't work (aside from possible placebo effect). So I picked a few low risk options, and that was that. I tried to live my life and not worry about my hair. Of course, I still thought about my hair frequently, but I never devoted too much time to it. Fast forward 10 years to the present time. I am a Norwood 3. My temples are fairly receded. The front middle behind my hairline is kind of thin, and there is a bit of thinning on my crown (just a bit). Some people think I have nice hair, and most do not consider me to be balding. But trust me, I AM. My hair looks better when short. I purchased dermmatch several months ago, and I never really used it. But I have used it a few times in the past week. But that is the way I am. I purchased zix a while back, and never used it. I buy minoxidil, and only use it sporadically. I have never used finasteride. Sometimes I take saw palmetto. I once used a laser for a couple months. I am a big fan of hats. I imagine that if I had taken finasteride for the past 10 years, my hair would be pretty full and sweet. But I can't take that stuff. I'm sorry. I would rather be bald than take that chance. I believe the side effects are real, and I don't plan on introducing that drug into my system. I know there are a lot of guys who take fin with no noticeable side effects, but there are also people who smoke cigarettes and don't get lung cancer. Of course, I used to smoke, but whatever. I don't knock other people for taking it as I am quite certain that the drug does work to prevent hair loss. So I think I am just getting to the point where my hair loss is going to start becoming quite noticeable. It takes me a bit longer to style it, and I can see scalp under direct light. I made a decision to drop some money on a fue hair procudure. That simple. Decision made. The way I look at it is, "What would I rather have a new car or hair?' Hair. I take my hair everywhere. I can leave the car in the garage. Strip surgery is out. I understand this may be an option for some guys with advanced loss. Personally, I could never do it. I don't knock others for doing it, and I don't knock doctors for performing it. Just not for me. For the fue, I am taking everything into consideration. Reputation, cost, distance, wait time, etc. I know some of you will probably think cost, distance, wait time should not be dominant factors in the decision-making process, but they are factors for me. But the work of the doctor is, of course, the principle factor. I live in the United States, and I have given some consideration to the doctors in the US. I think that some of the guys here have great reputations and awesome results. Honestly, if money were not a factor, I would just go to one of the USA docs that is recommended on this forum and be done with it. But, money is a factor. I am trying to budget my hair supply AND hair cost for my entire life. I am sticking with my 10 year plan. I am going to spend several thousand dollars on conservative transplant now. In 10 years, I will re-evaluate the situation and, contingent on the latest technology, have another procedure. For now, I think that I'm going to go overseas as I have seen some results abroad that seem just as good to me, and the prices are slightly cheaper. I have researched and contacted at least 7 doctors/clinincs overseas. 6 of the 7 responded back to me, and 5 of the 7 were able to give me an estimate. The estimated graft counts were between approx 1500 and approx 2000-2500. One doc said 1700. A few said approx 2000. Most of the cost estimates sound reasonable to me and are within my price range. I feel that I am a good fue candidate, and the feedback that I have received from the docs seems to reinforce that feeling. My hair loss pattern is slow, but established. And my hair is fairly thick. I feel my donor hair is pretty good, and I still have a hairline to build off of. If a doctor is competent in FUE and we do not try to take my hairline too low, I feel that it should be a good result. I understand that I will almost certainly lose more hair over the coming years (especially if I do not get on finasteride--which I won't). But my hair loss is rather slow and steady. I can use approx 2000 grafts now, and then another 2000 somewhere down the road. I am a big advocate of time management, money management, scar management, and donor management. There is cost to everything. Right now, I am leaning toward the doc who wants to do 1500 grafts as I think he is awesome. But I am intrigued by all the docs that I have contacted, as I have not contacted anyone who does not have a favorable reputation and some fantastic results. I hope to mention doctors' names, but I do not care to do so at this time. I will probably post pictures in the future, but I do not feel comfortable doing so at this time. Sorry that this post is kind of long and rambling. It is 10 years worth. Feel free to provide feedback on anything that I have mentioned. I would appreciate it if anyone from the United States could give me any feedback on traveling overseas for HT. Also, do you guys feel that Americans are better than foreign doctors at FUE? Finally, I am looking for an FUE doc who best fits my specific circumstances. So can anyone answer any of the following questions regarding FUE docs from all over the world, including US: Who is best at preventing shock loss? Whose patients have fastest recovery time? Who gets the best yields? Who has least amount of scarring in donor area? Who is best at for FUE requiring 2000 grafts? Thanks