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as a 47 year old norwood 6 patient I felt I had no choice but to try and maximise my donor area using strip, if I was was to achieve the results I was hoping for, then after maximising strip turn to fue, I didn't think it possible at my level of loss to for fue only, I have now in the last 12 months had 2 strip surgeries (5800 grafts total), jan2012 and dec2012, in 18 months time I plan to have fue, in my opinion if you are willing to risk the scar and put up with the inconvenience/pain then for a norwood 5/6 this is your best option, yes I am worried about my future scar but the difference in my appearance has for me made it worth the risk and I can always have fue in the scar if it is a problem, after my first ht my scar was almost invisible obviously having it reopened for a second ht may change this but things are healing up well for now, have shock loss though which is a pain, I don't have a clue how many grafts I can get from fue after having 2 strips but do feel in my case I have chosen the best option, I am also on a trial drug called anapril which is normally used for lowering blood pressure and heart problems as it may help with the healing of my scar, only been on it for 3 weeks since my 2nd ht and have to keep the clinic informed of it's results but worth a try as I'm obviously worried about my scar, anything that may help in this area would be beneficial to anyone having strip surgery.

Thanks for your reply, I'm afraid you've got me more worried, it has been just a simple case of a really bad dose of influenza and although never had a thermometer in my mouth I know in my lifetime I have never had a temperature as high as that, it probably happened about 80 hours after my transplant so my grafts had some time to settle, I'm a norwood 6/7 and obviously can't afford to lose my any grafts, damn unlucky for this to happen as it's only the second time in my life I've had influenza, hopefully as you say you've had patients with infections and they've not had problems and that the grafts are fairly resilient so hopefully my worries will prove unfounded, an unexpected and unforseen complication which I could have done without.

Hi everyone, hope maybe someone has had a similar experience and can reassure me with this one, had my 2nd HT 6 days ago with DR Path' in Bangkok like the first time (3650 grafts FUT) had no problems whatsoever 2nd time around, this time tight scalp 2100 FUT and 600 FUE, had two transplants in the one calendar year (norwood 6 ) but 11 months apart anyway came home to UK one day after surgery only to have the worst case of influenza I've ever had shortly afterwards, still suffering, I am worried that my extremely high temperature with the onset of this may somehow have affected my newly placed grafts, I hope not, I hope someone can tell me absolutely nothing to worry about, is worrying me and as holiday time can't email the clinic, hope someone can help me with this? Thanks..

Hi everyone, apologise for asking this as it's already covered on the forum unfortunatley indecisive me can't decide yes or no, I'm 46 year old norwood 6 been losing hair for 27 years, probably lost about 75% of the hair I'm going to lose, I had my first ht 3 months ago (3700 grafts) and will get another approx 2500 grafts in 9 months time, my question is should I be using Finastride? and/or should I be using Rogaine foam? or am I at my age and level of baldness where I'd be wasting my money on these, I initally thought this was the case and haven't tried any of them but the more I read the more I think maybe I have made a mistake, the cost of these is small compared to getting a Ht, any advice would be greatly appreciated....thanks.

thanks bonkerstonker, if there's pictures on the internet of this stuff causing damage then I won't use it, I'll put it away in a cupboard and use it in 6 months, shame, I've just got it and wanted to see what I looked like with hair on top of my head for the first time in many years, just have to be patient, something which you need in this game!!!!

I am 3 and a half weeks post 1st surgery, I am 46 y-o norwood 6, since my transplant I have had no shedding yet and have lots of little hairs growing on top of my head where there hasn't been for years, people are commenting on how better I look already, my question is hair products to hide baldness/thinning hair, am I safe to use these products so soon after my ht?, I have just ordered toppik hair building fibers, toppik hair spray and sammy fat hair creme, I won't use any of them if there's any danger but if they are safe I'd like to try them and see if they work, what I spent on them is very small compared to the cost of my ht, so got nothing to lose by giving it a try, read lots of favourable reviews online before ordering these products but as I said if any of these products can interfere with my newly placed grafts then I won't be putting them anywhere near my head, I realise I am very early to try this but without hair for so long I am curious to see what is achievable once my grafts have fallen out and regrown, be great if someone can advise me on this.

Hi England, Thanks for reply, in answer to your question, I was alwas going to run out of grafts, they worked from the front back the way, there was never going to be enough grafts, that was established before surgery, I would have needed 6000+, they had 3732 to work with, the more I read the more I realise that having all my grafts growing at 3 weeks is fairly normal and that they are due to shed soon.

Can I ask you wokeupto' what were you like after 3 weeks, I'm 3 weeks today, check my pillow every morning, still no grafts shedding, at 3 weeks I have lots of hairs growing, would love them not to fall out, I got a ht believing that they'd definitely fall out, go back to being how I was pre tranplant, people say don't look in the mirror for a good few months, hard when new hair is growing, bit confused of what to expect post transplant, any info from previous patients would be great, I have seen a few people very similar to myself and there grafts have eventually shedded, suppose it's bound to happen soon.

Rod G, your case is so very similar to my own, almost the same number of grafts and hairs transplanted, and very similar level of hair loss, I'm 4 years younger than you, hope you don't mind me asking Rod, you last posted pic's 5 months ago, has there been a further improvement since then, and are you considering/getting another Ht, must be easy to get greedy and want more, I really have no choice if I want the job done properly as I have still a large bald and untouched crown area.

Thanks Rod, first Ht with the clinic, definitely need and want another ht which I will get in 12 months time, your's was one of the cases I read about priot to my ht which helped me decide on the DHT clinic, I am pretty sure I chose well, I will stick with Dr Path' though.

Thank you Dr Pathomvanich for your thorough response and for clearing this matter up, I feel so much more knowledgable now, sometimes it is not possible during consultations to gather and take in all the information given to you, this site is invaluable for educating prospective hair transplant patients, I look forward to meeting you again in 1 years times for hair transplant number 2, no doubt we will discuss in more detail my next procedure, thank you for taking such good care of me when I visited your clinic in Bangkok and for doing such a good job on my head, post op I've had absolutely no problems whatsoever, as you know I wasn't even at my hotel when you called on the evening of my surgery to check on my wellbeing, I felt ok then to go out that evening and it's been a steady improvement since, all my grafted hairs are growing well and none have shedded yet, couldn't be happier, thank you.

Rod G, Thanks for the reply, no I didn't get to meet Dr Kulukarn or if I did I wasn't aware of it as you know you're eyes are covered for a lot of time and I slept a lot, they're a good team in Bangkok, I was very impressed and happy with them, my new hairs are growing really well (shame they're going to fall out) and my scar's not giving me much bother, post op' has been absolutely no problems for me, I think I will start light exercise today, keep out of the pool for a little longer.

Thanks bigcow, Good to hear the other side of the argument, when I had a consultation with a uk clinic in October, the guy from that clinic had 2 ht scars, I asked to see them, they were both slim and you had to look for them, if in one years time before my next surgery, my first scar is undetectable and the likeliehood was that a 2nd scar would be simarily undetectable but produce a good deal more grafts then maybe it's not such a bad proposition, I would be in the same positon regarding scarring as I was in a year earlier, ie one undetectable scar with a new surgery to come as opposed to no scarring but about to have my first surgery, the fact is though there are very knowledgable people on this forum even Bill the managing publisher suggested I may have misunderstood Dr Path' as the idea seems so against normal practice. this forum is where I learn about Ht's but I'd be surprised if anyone on this forum is as experienced as Dr Path', for me I done the correct thing by raising this issue, I'd love to hear from anyone else whose had a 2nd scar and think it's a good idea.

don't know dingdong, maybe one of the more experienced members can answer that

yeh, newhairplease, I agree with you, got to be sensible, I won't do anything for a month and then take it slow, can't do anything which will jeopardise my new hair/scar tissue, hate not being able to exercise but I knew this would happen when I decided to go down this road.