TommyLucchese

Did a doctor recommend your finasteride dosing? 2mg is double what people would normally take. 

You should take clear photos from every angle and then wait 1 year, then take more pics and evaluate how successful the medication has been. Then when you consult with doctors you will know if your loss is stable. Plus you will hopefully regain some hair which would mean you don't need as many grafts.

I am looking for scars and can't see any. So people who are just going about their today will never notice or suspect either.

You should definitely try to meet a recommended doctor from this forum in person for a consultation. From those bright light pics, the donor does look weak as ASMED pointed out. But who knows maybe that's just the light. An in-person consultation is needed I think.

I noticed his crown thinning 2 or 3 years ago. He broke his foot last July and hasn't been able to kick since, so he got into weightlifting only in the last year. 

Therefore I don't think the two are related. 

I know you saw my post in the long hair thread so I won't go into my background. 

Obviously from my experience it can turn out great but you need to plan for the future - don't go all out for that 16 year old hairline. Be conservative, save your grafts in case fin loses effectiveness and you lose more hair down the line. 

My advice is to make sure the loss is stabilised and then consult with skilled and ethical doctors. Hopefully your donor is good too. I had 2000 grafts over the entire frontal third, it went deep into the midscalp almost on the one side because my left side had more loss. The hairline still looks great when it's grown out and now it's been 10 years without any further loss I can lower it a bit.

I think fixing the hairline in your 20s is fine under the right circumstances but everyone says to avoid anything on the crown until late 30s or 40s. If you have loss there you just have to get by with concealer and styling. 

Good luck! You're one of the few who is going down this road having done their research properly, most people don't find us until they made a bad choice and it went wrong. 

Based on my timeline it was around 2 years post op for chin length hair by the way

In 10 and a half years on the forum I would say the second pic is the type of hairline I've seen 90% of the time. As long as it all goes ok that will look great when it grows in and 'puffs out'. The doctor probably wants to use some of those 2500 grafts to pack the frontal third in behind the hairline too. 

I do understand the appeal of the first though with it being lower and the way the HT would connect with the sides/temple. 

Which doctor do you prefer? If you prefer the one who drew the higher hairline, you could show him the other pic and ask what he thinks and whether he'd consider it.

Age, level of loss, quality of donor, if you're on the meds etc. usually comes into it. 

23 hours ago, StillAlive said:

Well, I'm in a bit of a tough spot, because the only forum/community recommended doctor that I can afford, is Dr. Yaman in Istanbul.

I consulted with both him and Dr. Lorenzo in Spain and Yaman eyeballed me at between 3500-4000 grafts to reconstruct the hairline-frontal area of the head (I'm either a really bad 3V or 'healthy' 4V, never entirely sure). Lorenzo also quoted me 3800-4000 grafts but the cost difference was too much for me (3.2K for Yaman vs about 16K for Lorenzo) so I'm going with Yaman.

I'm 40 now, never taken fin or minox and I do not intend to, I'm a very 'low maintenance' kind of guy if you will, and saw an opportunity to fix something that's been bothering me for the past 12 years. I'm fully aware that I may need another procedure at around 50 to cover the crown and potentially enhance whatever I've lost in the frontal area and I'm cool with that. I'm just sick and tired of looking like a chrome domed, misshapen alien in family photos and goddamn it, I want my kids to go to ball games with a father that doesn't look so much like the baseball  

PS I'm also prepared for the possibility that it all goes sideways and after September I need to roll all Statham like. I'm thinking of this more as a great, gamble of a gift to my mid-life crisis self!

I wouldn't advise a one or the other approach. I admit I don't know anything about Yaman, hopefully they are excellent. But don't rule out travelling.

In 2012 it was all about North America so I flew from UK to New York for Dr Feller...this time around I will fly to Switzerland and go with Hattingen. There are many great options around Europe now so you should try to consider and consult with more doctors in my opinion.

Limiting yourself to surgeons in your region is temping but not advised - especially since you have your heart set on being able to wear your hair a certain way. Trust me you won't want to go Statham after going through the physical, financial and mental ordeal of a HT. in 12 to 18 months after the op you want to be in a place where you forget you even came on this forum because you get so used to having great hair again. 

9 hours ago, NOMORENORWOOD said:

Since your original HT almost ten years ago and it appears being on fin you were very wise back then have you noticed any further loss? So many people say having a HT younger than 25 can be risky due to forelock going or further recession in crown. Basically just curious if fin kept what you already had and the HT was just icing on the cake

No, no further loss. I had crown loss beforehand and am going to have a HT with Hattingen in a couple of years to fix it. It hasn't got any worse since 2012 though. Fin has been a god send....the original HT and my next HT are both for fixing the original loss between 2005 and 2010. 

2 hours ago, StillAlive said:

@TommyLucchese's hair looks pretty damn amazing in those pics, if I met him on the street I would just envy the mane and not even suspect that he ever experienced hair loss. So his regime definitely works out for him
 

thank you! i can't predict the future but all I can say is I am very lucky to be where i am 17 years after first being 'diagnosed' with MPB by a trichologist. 

No problem! The last 2 pics in that thread show what it's like down and long. Because of your age and level of loss, you will probably be able to be more aggressive with grafts and hairline design than I was (the younger you are, the less certain future loss is so you have to be conservative). So with the right doctor and if your donor is good you will probably be able to get a better maine than me. 

Who are you getting your HT with? Have you consulted with anyone?

Me: Always had long hair. receding and started minoxidil age 16. aggressive hairloss by 20. got on propecia and had a HT on frontal third age 23 which was 10 years ago next month.

I've had my long hair back for 8 years now since it all grew in. When it's slicked back it looks thick, and when it's brushed down it covers the conservative hairline and looks normal. Not as thick as my original hair but still pretty awesome. I'm going to have a touch up in the next few years and lower the hairline / thicken up what's there....but that's just me being greedy now after a decade.

So to your question - yes you can grow it long and look good and no-one will know / care!

I think late September / early October because you get to have the full 6 months of darker evenings while things are bad. Then as the days get brighter in March and April, your hair gets better too. 

Looks to me like a H&W or Hattingen megasession of 5k grafts would be best way to go if the donor and budget is there. (plus if you actually care about sorting the crown out).

Why are you so set on Turkey?

Yes, a good doctor will do it but the cirumstances have to be right. Usually you should be on the meds like finasteride and minoxidil and you should not be aggressive with how much work you have done.

I had a HT age 23 on my hairline and frontal third, 2000 grafts was not a big number for the amount of frontal loss I had. I am now going to have a second HT on the crown to fix the loss I experienced there prior to the first HT.

Been on meds since 2010 and haven't lost any more hair in 12 years. 

Most important thing is to consult with elite and ethical doctors who can give you honest advice. I still had lots of hair so needed the meds to keep that hair - but if you're bald as a baby then maybe you can stay off the meds. 

Whatever you do, don't rush into it and don't think this first HT is the one to solve it. My first HT gave me a great result but it was still a conservative hairline that didn't use too many grafts, which means a decade later I still have a lot of grafts left in reserve.

There are 2 variables you need to happen at once for your worst fears to be realised: 

1. stand directly under a bright spotlight

2. Be around people that are 12 foot tall and can look down on you like that

Relax my friend, you're looking good. 

On 5/5/2022 at 5:01 AM, mr_peanutbutter said:

and slick back? in theory possible?

I grew my transplanted hair long and sometimes I slick it back and sometimes I wear it down. Looks good and natural both ways.

On 5/8/2022 at 11:05 AM, Ryan Daniel said:

So for comparison here

 

I highlighted the previous hairline curve going backwards (left and right side),  while his modern hairline goes downwards (also both sides)

 

Hair transplant 

This is the smoking gun. Instagram pics prove the pic on the right is most recent, so it's definitely a HT. 

Congrats on your result Becks. 

I had a HT in July 2012 and look the same as I did in July 2014

If you are able to pull the trigger on the best Eugenix package, I think it's a no brainer. 

Speaking for myself who started receding and using minoxidil at 16, it won't help. My hair loss was bad for the next 4 or 5 years until I got on finasteride. Then it stabilised and I had some regrowth, and then 2 years later I had an excellent hairline HT.

The quality and texture of my hair became very poor in those 4 years but finasteride sorted that out too.

That isn't to say minoxidil is useless though and maybe some people do respond well to that on its own....but the general consensus is finasteride is the main thing and minoxidil is the secondary component. 

I would recommend a topical fin/minoxidil combination, it works well for me. 

i am a few months away from my 10-year anniversary. Here is a thread with some pics I took last year.....everything looks exactly the same now.

I take finasteride and minoxidil on and off that has (i assume) helped me maintain the rest of the hair and keep my donor/transplanted hair in good shape. 

Everyone is different though. Didn't your surgeon analyse your scalp and discuss the potential for future loss with you? This should all be discussed during your consultation when a long-term plan was worked out. 

Hi

That is the traditional way of thinking and it's the route I chose to go down 10 years ago at 23, with 2000 FUT grafts on hairline/frontal third It's all worked out for me so far.

There's a similar thread with more replies discussing whether FUT first is the right way to maximise the number of available grafts over your lifetime. 

Are you on meds? At your age with that high level of loss, you would risk wasting most of your donor hair on fixing today's loss. If it continues to be aggressive, you might not have the donor to fix the next phase of loss. So regardless of the method you should research clinics that are reputable so that they take all this into account when choosing 1) to accept you as a patient) and 2) what plan would be best for you

I had a video call with Dr Muresanu from Hattingen last year and heard some things from him that aren't really "gospel" here. They do FUE but are mostly known for large FUT sessions. 

He shook his head quite dispairingly when I said I'd had a 2000 graft FUT procedure on my frontal third. He felt FUT should only be for large cases of 3500 grafts and upwards because it's not worth wasting your laxity on smaller procedures.

He recommended my next crown procedure be FUE because it's only around 1500 grafts.

When I asked if there was a problem doing FUE after FUT at this point way before FUT is exhausted in my donor - he very very confidently shook his head and said there's no problem at all.

It was a very interesting call that definitely threw in some new opinions that I hadn't really heard here over the last decade.

So to your point - what I took from that video call with Hattigen is that it isn't necessarily as simple as FUT v FUE or maximise FUT then do FUE. It would be your age, level of loss, your goals etc. because maybe you do 2000 FUE on the hairline now and then 3500 FUT behind that in 5 years and maybe then 1,500 FUE in the crown in 10 years. By which case you'd still have good laxity for another larger procedure if you need it and still have the donor. 

*please note that it's my interpretation of what Dr Muresanu said, maybe I'm wrong with that final conclusion*

I'm a long-haired man so I know exactly what you mean with this! 

I had FUT - the strip was at the back. It was completely concealed because it is stitched back up and the long hair in the back completely covered up. The doctor did shave at the front so I had about 6 months where I wasn't confident at all. 

For my next procedure, the doctor said FUE would be best and that the donor / back area would look like an undercut. So the back DOES need to be shaven for FUE but not necessarily on top in the area where the new hair is placed - although I think generally they prefer it to be shaved because it's easier to work with. 

So: for the donor area, FUT is easily concealable with the long hair around it. For FUE, it all has to be shaven.

And you should speak to the doctor about if they are willing to not shave in your recipient area.

21 hours ago, Aslitarcan sucks said:

Can you show an example

Sure.