the-bald-reality2012

I posted this pictures in a running discussion with another member. I got them off of the Hair Transplant Network. These pictures really show what a scam HT's are. One of the recommended doctors on this website (Carlos Wesley) transplanted 2200 hairs on this 57 year old man. As you can see, the cosmetic result is practically nil. How can anyone look at this and think this is worth so much money and physical scarring? Was this man satisfied after his procedure? If so, then he has got to be delusional. Hair transplant doctors talk about the "illusion" of density when they should refer to it as the "delusion" of density. If these pictures don't make the case against hair transplants then none will. This is what awaits so many of us down the road when we are older and the hairs have all died. So many people here are so screwed and they don't even know it yet. Vanity and insecurity have steered too many of us down an eventual catastrophe. Truly, hair transplants are pure evil and hair transplants are merchants of suffering.

Davis91, I appreciate your contributions to the discussion. Your posts are definitely helpful and informative to others. And thanks for the comment on my writing. I guess I write well on this topic because I really want others to understand what it is all about. Young men really need to know what they are up against. It's a war they are not going to win in the long run, unless they plan on dying young before they get real old. The correct term for what hair transplants provide is not the "illusion" of density but the "delusion" of density. The picture below represents the before and after of 2189 grafts performed on a 57 year old guy that was a 5A. That's about $10,000 to $12,000 worth of implants. And the work was done by Carlos Wesley. You can check the pics out on Hair Transplant Network where he posted them up. Now you tell me. Is that worth it? Look at how little 2200 grafts represents. There is barely any difference between the pictures. What advanced procedures does Carlos Wesley have that is going to make something out of nothing? I wonder how this man felt after seeing these results. Did he feel happy? Satisfied? If he did, then hair transplants are truly for the delusional. There is no real cosmetic difference between the left and the right. Only someone delusional would think there was. Probably, the old man just shrugged his shoulders and said, "Well, it was worth a shot." If Carlos Wesley is proud of work like this and willing to post it up, he too is delusional. I think the correct and ethical thing to do would be to turn this man away and not take his money. Clearly, the cosmetic benefit is practically nil. But as I said, HT doctors prey on men's insecurities and desperation to take action. Wesley needs to keep the staff paid and the lights turned on, and so he gives this man the "delusion" of density and that, as they say, is that. So the answer to your question of how low to shave the hair is simple. At the end of the long struggle with hair loss, Mother Nature is going to give most of us just one choice: shave it down. We can all accept it now without a scar, or deal with it later with a huge scar. FUE can help to a point but to get optimal grafts, you will have to harvest hairs (from the base of the neck and sides) that will eventually die later. In the end, you will end up right where you started. And you will not be able to shave down because of all the little stipled scars. In fact, many of those scars will be visible as they were taken from areas that eventually thin out. In the end, the pictures below speak for themselves. Wesley (like every other HT doctor) offers no miracles, no game changers. Until someone comes up with a way of not only cloning new hairs, but making them young, strong and thick again, this will be the same nightmare repeated in HT patient after HT patient, generation after generation. The pictures below represent the unvarnished truth of what most likely awaits those undergoing these incredibly risky procedures. It is why I say, in the end, most men are going to regret their HT's in the long run.

Stevilkinevil, With respect to your scar, I can speak with confidence. I base this confidence on my own experience with a widened scar. In addition, I have read extensively on scar widening and have spoken with several plastic surgeons and dermatologists on the issue. I have recently done scar revision surgery (with fractal laser and Botox treatment following it) so my knowledge is up to date and first-hand. You have done two surgeries. The width of the scar should hold if you stop here. I was fine on surgery #2. It was only when I proceeded to surgery #3 that the scar started widening (I remember feeling extreme pain for months after surgery #3). Surgery #4 was the breaking point, where it went from somewhere around 6 mm to 2.5 mm (1 inch!). I read extensively on the issue and my experience was pretty common for those that push for the higher ends of the transplant limits (7,000+ grafts). It's only logical. If you keep cutting into the back of the head and scalp laxity disappears, the scar will widen as you move your head and stretch that pliable scar tissue. How HT doctors get us to believe otherwise is a marvel of industry marketing. Your long-term prognosis is like everyone else's prognosis here: you just don't know. In addition to the hair continuing to fall out, your hair will change texture, color, and overall general quality over time. All of this will impact how you choose to comb and style your hair. However, after 2 surgeries, you can still cut your hair quite short and the scar shouldn't be visible. So at least you have that. It seems the most important positive for you is your psychology. You are willing to stop and go no further. That is a huge plus. A lot of people here (like myself) got locked in and couldn't stop. We ended up with huge donor scars or poor results long term. You have a scar back there but it will be small and you will have styling options. You're smart to stop here and go no further. In the end, HT's are a scam because of the triple threat of lies. These are: (1.) Propecia will stop your hair loss (a lie, it won't really work in the long run); (2.) the pictures they show us are actual (a lie, they are shot in controlled lighting and setting); (3.) unrepresentative examples (we are shown a handful of the hundreds of surgeries a doctor does each year and not all of them). It took me years to figure out what a scam HT's are. And not only to figure it out but to accept it. For years, I thought I did something wrong. I blamed myself and refused to blame my doctor or the industry at large for lying to me. You accomplished this realization in one year (You're right. That smoking excuse they gave you is just more BS. And if smoking was a problem, they should have warned you beforehand). I congratulate you on being smarter and more realistic than I was. You've learned to accept. That means you're more than halfway home. You slide and touch home plate when you let go of your insecurities and concentrate on the other areas of self-image (money, intelligence, a good personality). I'm still trying to round third base on that one myself. Good luck to you.

Davis91, Of all the replies to my comments, yours actually comes closest to trying to defend HT's. But you still try to deny the fundamental truth. For example, your comment on NW5/6/7. How many men go NW5/6/7? Go to nearest nursing home and tell me how many don't go NW5/6/7. Come on, man. You're being delusional if you think a study is needed to point out the most obvious fact. Any reasonable person can see the transformation of someone like Bruce Willis over the years to see that the higher reaches of NW scale is in most cases unavoidable. I'm sure Rassman would have told Bruce otherwise back in the 90's when he wanted to slice into his head (and that was in the era before micrografts!). Look, I'm all about free will and choice. But HT doctors and clinics deprive the patients of this choice by not being completely honest with them. I'm sorry, but even the best clinics talk around the isssue. What does this mean? It means they talk about the science hair loss, the science of HT's, and what can be done. They don't paint the situation in the starkest possible terms. Why don't HT doctors just say this before the first procedure? "You suffer from male pattern baldness. In the end, we are trying to take a little strip of hair and cover all of your scalp. The hairs we transplant will age and thin so the cosmetic benefit may be limited. In short, you may be investing in a glorified combover. The donor scar will (not maybe) widen over multiple procedures and leave you feeling uncomfortable in the back of your head. If you go for FUE, you will have much less grafts available. In addition, FUE leaves little white scars so you won't really be able to shave your head (in most cases).Overall, hair transplants are extremely limited as a means of hair restoration. In the end, you may not be satisfied with the results. If you are not, you will spend the rest of your life regretting it and worrying about your future hair loss. We will also not refund you your money. If you just shave your head, you will have to deal with none of this. So would you like to roll the dice on a hair transplant?" If they said something like this, then the true HT patients could be treated and the rest of us could go about our lives in peace and happiness. The HT industry exploits our short-term insecurites and makes no effort to inform us of the long-term risks. That is a fact. A doctor or patient rep can explain to an insecure man the limitations, but it will be "in one ear and out the other" unless that man really knows the dangers and risks of what he is doing. And as for Carlos Wesley? Give me a break with that. I'm not a greenback that knows nothing about HT's. I'm a veteran of this nightmare that can cut straight through all the smoke and mirrors. I went to Wesley's website and checked it out. The guy is offering the same old story. In bold letters: HE IS OFFERING NOTHING NEW! Wesley calls it Scarless Surgery but it's pretty much FUE that he claims is better. There was nothing in his video presentation or the FAQ that said anything new. In fact, in the FAQ it states that Wesley treats men and women as early as 18 years old. We both know that is completely unethical. The guy is a fraud like the others. There is no surgical revolution. There is nothing. So maybe he can take the hairs out a little better. So what? He still has no answer for the limited donor supply. He has no answer for the thinning and whitening of the hair. The long-term reality is still the same. A lot of money, time and energy for a few weeds. I still remember when I used to be such a fool for the smoke and mirrors of these doctors and their presentations. I'd actually look at the donor region and be convinced there was enough hair there to provide real coverage. Misdirection (as in all rackets) is the trick to the HT game. They get you looking at all of this "science" and get you to ignore the fact that it's a tiny strip of hairs (that will eventually age and thin) that they will be placing on top of your head. It is this misdirection that is the source of the fraud. A patient is taking colossal risks and spending a fortune for very limited returns. The way HT doctors present these facts does not let an insecure man see this clearly, thus leading him to choose HT's as opposed to walking away. Like they say in the HT industry, the hardest sale is the first one. Once the first sale is done, the patient is locked in like a junkie and has to keep coming back for more. That's the simple truth. Take it or leave it. I appreciate you agreeing with me on all the major points. And, for the record, I never once accused Jotronic of being deceitful. I simply told TTDS that another member going by the handle "The Emperor" did. If you want to read posts from a dissatisfied "success" story at Hasson and Wong, The Emperor's posts are there for you to read. He was dissatisfied but they told him he was a success story and then cut ties with him. He was the one that was upset. He was the one that made all the comments about Jotronic. Not me. Finally, I do appreciate this website and the freedom of speech it provides. I am simply an extreme for of Devil's advote. The major points of the risks of HT's need to be hammered again and again into the skulls of insecure men BEFORE their first procedure. This way the best candidates can be culled from the rest of the men that should be rejected. At the end of the day, a good HT candidate has to be prepared for the possible (and, in many cases, inevitable) poor cosmetic benefits of HT's as a means of hair restoration.

Stevilkinevil, Welcome to Hair Transplant Hell! The game show where contestants let hacks (masquerading as doctors) slice flesh from the back of their heads in exchange for a short-term relief of their long-term insecurities! Now you too can spend all your future years and money trying to correct a colossal mistake! No doubt about it. You will continue to have procedures and undergo treatments as you try to keep up with your future hair loss. As opposed to just having shaved your balding head and being happy, you will now be constantly obsessed with your hair and, as an added plus, constantly be fretting about the scar in the back of your head. Not just for a month or a year or a decade, but for the rest of your life. It’s just bang for your bucks thrills and chills and excitement! But wait, there’s more! Your hairs are going to go thin and grey. As they do, they will provide less and less coverage to your thinning dome. And there’s even a high likelihood that you thin out in the donor region, making the scar visible to everyone around you. Isn’t that fantastic? You now have the amazing opportunity to regret your hair transplants for the rest of your life. All the while your friendly hair transplant surgeon lounges around his mansion watching the giant flat-screen that you helped pay for. And as you suffer over the years, he won’t care. And even if he does, there will be nothing he can do about it. Isn’t that just super? Thanks for playing the game. Sorry it didn’t work out. And as a parting gift, we’ll give you a bottle of Toppik and a month’s supply of minoxidil. Good luck to ya! But seriously… You screwed up in buying into the lies and deceit of the industry. Welcome to the club! For every hair transplant success story out there, there are ten guys just like us that didn’t get what they signed up for. And the majority of success stories play with camera angles and use concealer to mask the fact that hair transplants really aren’t the answer to the problem. The best cases like Bill and Joetronic have gone in for 9,000 plus grafts. To get all the way out there, you take tremendous risks. Some make it. Most don't. The ones that make it become cheerleaders for the industry. The ones that don't live out their lives in regret. The simple facts: 1. There isn’t enough hair ( maximum 25%-40% of the original density trying to fill in 100%) 2. Transplanting every single one of those hairs is extremely difficult and risky. There is ZERO margin for error. Even one failed or mediocre procedure means the war is pretty much over. And they’ll always give you some reason why it went wrong. (For you, it was smoking. For TTDS, it was his wig.) 3. More procedures means more widening of the donor scar and more pain. This one I have first hand experience with. 4. In the long-run the transplanted hairs are going to go thin and white. In that state, they will not provide adequate coverage. There is nothing you can do to stop them from turning that way. It’s only a matter of time. 5. The combined effect of all of the above points is going to leave you looking like you have a few weeds on the top of your head. You’ll be lucky if : 1. the sides and back don’t drop further down; 2. the entire donor region doesn’t just thin out, making the scar visible. Please read all of my previous posts, if you want to get the complete unvarnished truth about what you are going through. Don’t delude yourself into thinking this had any other outcome than what you are going through now. You just get a chance to deal with it now in your 30’s than later in your 40’s. So another one bites the dust! Welcome to the nightmare! Get ready to waste a lot of money, time, and mental energy on a lost cause.

Davis91, As with everyone else, I appreciate the comments. However, I think for the sake of TTDS, I'm going to stop commenting on his posts. My goal is to get him to see what I saw - that in the vast majority of cases, there is no optimal result for a NW5 based on any reasonable person's expectations. I'll make one last effort to make this 100% clear. But like others I too will get worn down over time repeating myself to you guys. Still, here I go again trying to put forward the perspective that any reasonable person (not part of the HT cult) would have. Thinking that you can fill 100% of an area with 25% of it's original coverage is pure madness. Telling patients that Propecia will stop their hair loss when in many, many cases it will stop working in about 5 years, is purely deceptive. Embarking on a dangerous and expensive goal fraught with risks and unknowns is both insanity and mendacity. And this is the insanity and mendacity that HT doctors like Epstein offer patients like TTDS and myself and pretty much everyone on this site. Any reasonable person, if properly explained what will happen in the long run, will emphatically reject HT's as a solution. And, yes, I am saying that there are a lot of unreasonable people who get HT's (I know because I was one before I came to realize the truth). HT doctors prey on these unreasonable people to get their cash in exchange for hope (Propecia, hair multiplication, etc.) and illusion (the failed illusion of density, manipulated pictures, and unrepresentative cases). The failure of HT's is obvious to a reasonable person that hasn't drunk the Kool-aid. 90% of everyone here is going to eventually go NW5 or 6, including the few select success stories that end up as patient reps and cheerleaders (Jotronic and others). There are a ton of guys deluding themselves thinking they've got hair when it's nothing but a few weeds on their heads. Their apperance is purely embarassing. I've seen the pictures so I know. A life savings in exchange for a crappy combover. Those are success stories that no reasonable person would want to be. Not when you can look as cool as Bruce Willis, Andre Agassi, Jason Statham, Patrick Stewart, etc. by just shaving it down. Imagine those guys with HT's. Where the hell was the hair supposed to come from? How would they look now? Picture them with a long linear scar around their heads. Because that's how most people who get HT's are going to look like in the long run. The expectation that TTDS was going to get more hair than scalp was unrealistic and unreasonable. Epstein should have turned him away knowing the risks of dissatisfaction (and taking into account his poor track record from 2005 onwards). I am honestly trying to help TTDS come to grips with this truth. Yet all I seem to be doing is bringing more attention to myself. You talk about a rearguard action and helping TTDS explore his options. So what do you recommend? More hair transplants? Tatooing his scalp? Tell me what you see as those options you're talking about. I'm at least telling him to consider limited SMP if he wants to feel empowered, even though I honestly tell him it's a waste of time and money. So what do you suggest? What's the solution? It seems to me like all the responses to my post start with TTDS and end up as pro-HT monologues. If you feel that TTDS has good solid hair restoration avenues, then please state them. I don't think he needs to do anything further. I think he looks good enough as it is. So what do you think he should do? Cut into his scalp further? More useless medicines and fraud treatments? Feel free to let us all know. I'm just trying to let TTDS begin to accept what any reasonable person can see: The results posted on this and other websites fall into two categories: 1. falsifed pictures; 2. unrepresentative results. It's so easy to post up a few successful cases and extend that argument to everyone else. The combined risk of short and long-term failure in these surgeries is extremely high in most cases. You can keep glossing over that fact by citing a few success stories but my story and TTDS' story and the stories of countless others argue against it. The actual success stories (based on the perceptions of a reasonable person) are a drop in the bucket compared to the hundreds of thousands of guys walking around with a few weeds on their heads and long linear scars in the back. We can go on about this forever. I'll point out the simple math and science that makes HT's a bad idea. Then you guys will say that there are lots of documented cases of success stories. You'll completely ignore all of the disatisfied patients (The Emperor, Kevchristy, Female Hair Loss, John R, etc. etc.) who poured their life savings into a failed enterprise. Simple fact: THE HT FAILURES STATISTICALLY WAY OUTNUMBER THE SUCCESS STORIES IN THE LONG RUN. AND MOST MEN WILL EVENTUALLY REGRET THEIR HT's. THOSE THAT DON'T WILL MOST LIKELY BE FOOLISH OLD MEN WITH LOW STANDARDS OF SELF-IMAGE WHO LOOK RIDICULOUS TO EVERYONE BUT THEMSELVES. It's just that simple. Any reasonable person can look at the back of a bald person's head and see that. Take it our leave it. Like others, you won't respond to this post. You won't answer the questions: 1. WHAT SHOULD TTDS DO? 2. WHAT OPTIONS ARE TRULY AVAILABLE TO HIM AT THIS POINT? I'm trying to get him to come to the final realization that he's a good person. That he's done enough. That he looks good enough. That if he concentrates on the other aspects of his already successful life, he will be happy. That the mistake was in going for HT's in the first place, but that he has already successfully moved past that mistake. It's just time to move on. That is the advice any reasonable person would give. So what advice do you have...?

TTDS, I think it's a great idea to ditch the wig and just try the natural approach for a while. I know this might be a stretch, but the wig may be getting in the way of your natural hair growth. Why don't you just let your hair grow out and use the Kabooki for the rest of the year just to give it a try? Give your hair 9 months of wig free growth. After about a year, consider limited SMP to the crown region. If after 10 years your head turns blue back there, then you can use a crown hairpiece to cover it up. Of course, I am still opposed to the whole idea of SMP. I think you can pull this off without anything else except what Shapiro gave you (I do give him serious props for giving you the free work) and the cocealers. But you are addicted to HT's (as we all are on this website) so it might help you out. I read your last email carefully and it seems to me like you are slowly reaching the point of complete realization that I did after about 6 years. That realization was that this whole game is a scam. Propecia stops working in most cases after about 5 years. Rogaine barely works at all. In the end, the only thing you are left with is transplants and it's just not enough. Epstein is a fraud. He should have done the right thing and turned you away right then and there. The road from where you were to where you wanted to be was impossible. Your goal as you stated was to have more hair than scalp visible. It was never going to happen even if all the grafts grew in. Honestly, you need to take a lot of the picture you see on this website with a huge grain of salt. There are a lot of these so-called success stories that use concealer (and lots of it!). No one here who has gone full NW5 has more hair than scalp visible. Even The Emperor in his posts was accusing Jotronic of using concealer. Don't believe everything you see posted here. There will come a point, as you keep reading and researching this whole HT thing, when you realize that the addiction is to the feeling of empowerment of doing something. It's the same thing that led Michael Jackson to butcher himself when he was first diagnosed with vitiglio. It is the root of addiction to plastic surgery. Paying for the feeling of control. It's how the HT industry has gotten all our money over the years. You have a good job working in tech and a commercial orange grove (according to your profile). Sounds real cool and interesting. There are other parts to you than all of this HT BS. Concentrate on those other parts of who you are and watch people begin to react to you completely differently. A lot of the changes you are looking for need to come from inside yourself. I know because I need to work on those very same things myself. Everyone on this site does.

Mountainvan, I agree with your comments wholeheartedly. I do ultimately feel it is up to a person to make whatever choice they want to make in life. Provided that they are given fair and unbiased information. That is why I find this website to be an excellent tool for those wishing to learn about HT's. As I said before I'm negative on HT's but I'm definitely positive on the HRN website. Future HT Doc referred to it as "pros" and "cons" like we're talking about buying a laptop and arguing about Gigabytes vs. Internet speed. The correct argument is "risk" vs. "benefit". If you had necrosis on your scalp, you would be feeling quite different about HT's than you do now. If your grafts didn't grow, you would feel different. If your donor scar was large, the same. If you just thinned out in the donor region, you would feel different. If any of your future HT's goes wrong (I hope they all go perfect for you) then you may feel that regret. And you can't argue that it won't happen in the hands of that top 1% of coalition docs. Even in the best hands, there is a risk of something going terribly wrong. Dr. Epstein was once one of those top docs recommended by this site. There were others like Epstein that came and went. As I stated in my previous post, H&W has disatisfied clients (like The Emperor) that have posted on these boards as well. I too am looking forward to that day of limited donor supply being solved. But it is highly unlikely to happen in our lifetimes. I don't even believe doctors even exactly know what causes hair loss (DHT is definitely a big part of the story, but not the only part). And those permanent cosmetic changes you mentioned are posted by these HT doctors cannot be fully trusted. First, because pictures are deceiving. Second, because you can't be sure those changes are truly permanent considering the progressive nature of hair loss. Bruce Willis is a great example. If you go on Balding Blog, William Rassman answers a question someone asked him on Bruce Willis. Rassman said that his daughter met Bruce Willis at a party back in the 90's when Willis started losing his hair. Rassman's daughter mentioned her dad's name. Rassman said that he thought Bruce might call, but that Bruce never did. The arrogance of William Rassman to think Bruce would call him up desperate for a hair transplant is incredible. Anyway, looking at Bruce's head today and how he went from NW3 to NW5/6, it's pretty safe to say that Bruce made the right choice when it came to not electing for the procedure. Do you think Bruce Willis would not have regretted getting hair translants in the mid-90's when he still had plenty of hair all around his head? It would have all gone eventually, but that's not what William Rassman would have told him at the time. Rassman would have given him the full sales pitch and started chopping away at the back of Bruce's head. Bruce would have ended up like Elton John, wearing a wig to cover it up. Instead, he's Bruce Willis. He looks awesome. Why? Because his appeal comes from the inside out. He's not insecure. If he were, he wouldn't be the Bruce Willis we all know and pay to watch blow stuff up. The same goes for Jason Statham. But at the end of the day, you're right. It's up to people to take whatever chances they want to take. Even if it is something extremely risky like a HT. And if they are happy with a few extra weeds on their heads, that's cool too. Because at the end of the day, the vast majority of men are going to go NW5 or 6 (just like Bruce or Jason Statham) and their hairs are going to look thin, grey, and dead. If someone is willing to take that long term risk of looking bizarre and not being able to shave it down, then it's up to them. Here's the Bruce link for those interested: http://www.baldingblog.com/2011/02/10/repost-for-bruce-willis-bald-is-beautiful/

Gettinold, First of all, I'm not a fan of HT's but I do respect this website as a forum. My opinions are an extreme form of devil's advocate. Accept it as that. Besides, I'm just trying to help this one person out. The only comments I've made are to TTDS based on shared experience. I find it very funny that I get tons of responses to my negative comments on HT doctors and HT's in general. However, absolutely no one comments on the advice I'm actually giving TTDS. No one is telling TTDS that SMP is a potentially really bad idea. No one (except me) is telling him that he looks really good (which he does). No one is dissuading from spending further time, money or energy on hair restoration. No one (except me) is telling him that he should just be happy and that there is more to life than getting more and more surgeries, treatments, etc. Because it will never end. It can go on to FUE, body hair, SMP, PRP, A-cell, laser light therapy, and ad nauseum. It's a business of providing hope and illusion. And no one is telling them to stop throwing more money at more hope and illusion when he longer needs it. And just to note, the big irony is that my HT work would actually fall within the top 10-15% of the ones I've seen on this website. If I keep going down this HT road and push to somewhere around 10,000 grafts I'll look like the best ones here (Bill, aaron1234, etc.). The scar was huge but I've dealt with it and I've got it reduced to something manageable. I'm hoping the pain doesn't stay long term. I don't want to be in pain for the rest of my life. But on the cosmetic side, I'm pretty sure Epstein would hold me up as a model of his good work. So I could easily turn around and be a poster boy for HT's. But I would never do that because I know the truth. In the end, the flaw is not the surgeon, it's the entire notion of hair transplants themselves. This is what I mean when I say 99% of HT doctors are frauds. Because the entire idea of covering 100% of an area with about 25-40% of it's original density is flawed. And the way it is marketed and sold is fraudulent. The fundamental issue of not of enough is generally talked around because the patient is desperate and willing to believe anything. Propecia is misrepresented and so is Minoxidil. Neither can really stop the hair loss in the long run. The only weapon you truly have is more HT's and that is just not enough in most cases. In most cases, patients are left playing the Vain Rooney game of using concealers to mask what hair transplants are - a minor short-term fix for a major long-term problem. When I first saw Rooney's HT on TV, I honestly couldn't believe it. I wondered how many grafts it took to make his head so full or who is doctor was. But then later the pictures came out of what he looks like without concealer. And it's the same old story. Small strips of hair covering large swaths of scalp. And he's only 25. Wait till his hair ages, thins, goes gray, and continues to fall out. Rooney is going to regret his hair transplants long term. I'm pretty sure about that. We can play with the camera angles and concealers all day long to mask the truth. Or we can just realize that there is something more to being a man than transplanting weeds to the top of our heads. It's just a call for TTDS (and by proxy myself) to move on. And that's all I'm saying. And if you want love between patient and doctor, you can go read the posts on this website by The Emperor and his back and forth with Jotronic at Hasson and Wong ( one of the darling clinics on this site). He was clearly dissatisfied and expected a lot more. And John R, the necrosis patient? That is just a tragedy. Kevchristy, Female Hair Loss, and so many others have come and gone through the years here. The cheerleaders and patient reps outlast them all though and over time slant the opinions toward the "rewards" side of the equation instead of the "risks" side. The simple truth is this... You can't even approach actualy "objective" coverage (something that can basically stand all lights and angles and not be a matter of opinion) until you hit somewhere around 9,000 to 10,000 grafts. To do that you have to risk so much. FUE won't give you enough grafts so you have to go strip. And if you max out on scalp laxity at about 7,000-8,000 grafts, you'll have to top off with FUE. Only a handful of patients are lucky enough to get 9,000-10,000 grafts. The rest are left playing with the camera angles and using concealers. But the key point here is TTDS. Why doesn't anyone bother to back me up when I tell him he looks fine? Why doesn't anyone second my opinion that SMP looks frought with risk? That if his head turns blue in 5 to 10 years he's really going to regret it? Why? Because I'm down on HT's and hurt people's feelings about the HT doctors they "love so much"? Is that all you guys care about? TTDS looks fine right now. He looks good enough to live a normal and happy life without wearing a wig or feeling like everyone is looking at him (which they aren't). He doesn't need any more surgeries or treatments. If you are going to comment on anything, comment on that.

TTDS, I know this message is long. But if you read through it, you will see why I am writing at length. Thank you for your comment about me being well-spoken. My comments come from the heart. I feel for you and your story and see you are at a fork in the road. Don't worry about that fool Epstein. Like 99% of HT doctors, he is a fraud. When times were darkest for me, he wouldn't even answer my emails. He was always terse (with his "Correct" or "Incorrect" answers to questions that deserved detailed answers) and seemed perpetually like he wanted to be somewhere else. Roxy and "the girls" (as Epstein called them) were nice, but I wouldn't want them to do my laundry let alone place hairs into my head. But this isn't about Epstein. It's just about you finding your way to the light. Take a good look at the pictures you posted up. They look really good. Worlds better than it did before. And that is in brutal bright sunlight. If you can conquer the bright sunlight then you are home free. When you post up at a bar at night, cool as a fan with a drink in your hand, you will look the same as every other 30's-40 something-ish guy there. No worries. As for the pool dilemma... Look at my situation and compare. I have a huge scar in the back of my head (Epstein's little parting gift to me after I deposited a fortune in his bank account). I have had to cope with it and deal with it when I go into the water for years. So I went for scar revision. I'm 4 months out now. Last week I played basketball for one hour on Tuesday and Thursday. For the next 3 days, the back of my head was on fire. It was an incredible pain that kept me from doing anything. I stumbled into my dermatologist's office in tears. It's feeling a little better now. But I just can't touch the back of my head too much. Hopefully, the soreness will go down. But of course I'm worried that it will always be tight and painful for the rest of my life. My point is that I'm beginning to question whether doing the scar revision was worth potential long-term pain I may have to deal with. And why did I do it? So I can have the scar not be visible when I'm in the water. Well, the scar is a little better. But at what cost? I don't want to live in pain and worry indefinitely. It may have been a big mistake. I just don't know yet. I felt forced to gamble yet again. Once more into the breach. Do you see my point relative to your situation? My honest opinion is that you should stop right here. No more touch up surgeries. No more anything. The SMP, in particular, sounds like a potential disaster for you in the future. The danger signals are flashing right at you with every inquiry you make into it. I read all of your posts about Good Look Inc. Your head could end up looking like a Smurf in 5 years. There isn't enough info to warrant the risk. Are you willing to take that chance? If you go through with and in five years it does happen, then you will look and feel like a fool. You will have learned nothing. You will end up in a place worse than you have been before. That blue head won't come out. You'll have to blast it with lasers and lose the precious grafts you have now. It's potential madness. Try to look at it from an objective point of view. It's money, time and a colossal risk you're putting in for a minor reward. A lot of people here are commenting. But no one is telling you the right thing. I feel that I am. No. I absolutely know that I am. The pool? Give me a break, man. Work out, do abs, and get plenty of cardio (no steroids or even creatine or any other crap they sell at GNC!). Because pool and beach time is about looking at people's bodies and not their hairlines. Take a look at Casino Royale. When Daniel Craig comes out of the water, the first thing you look at is his stacked body, not his hair. But if his head were painted blue then maybe one would have to look there. You honestly look fine they way you do now. You have a hair stylist that knows your situation and can help you keep your hair the right length. You have found the right concealer for your hair type. You are not in physical pain (as I am). You have control of the situation. Why would you want to risk losing that? Consider this a warning. This nightmare will never end for you if you keep going. And that's what you keep talking about doing with SMP. Once more into the breach. Just a bad idea all around. Move on with your life. Be happy. Visit this site to warn others or to provide moral support for those going through the same problems. See how people will keep falling or breaking even at this game long-term. You've done the research yourself. Dr. Oz isn't wrong in his book. Long-term everyone here is going to go bald (yes, even the super success stories). Keep visiting this site and watch and wait. You'll see. They'll either disappear or stop posting updated pics. You know the truth. They will end up one day where you are now. Wait and see. But absolutely don't come back here one day with a blue head. Because you're going to find and read this very message I am writing now and feel one overwhelming word... REGRET! Look and think before you leap. 'Nuff said.

TTDS, Based on our shared experiences with that jerk-off Epstein, you know I'm probably the most negative guy around here when it comes to HT's. A lot of other posters can't understand what you've gone through, but I can. So, unlike the cheerleaders and patient reps, you will get 100% unvarnished truth from me. Honestly, you look much better in these pictures you just posted up than the earlier pics. Under most types of lighting, you'll be in really great shape. The work post-Epstein was good enough that you have enough to effectively use a concealer like Cabooki. You're going to have to live with your hair grown out at that length and the Cabooki, but you will be fine. Congratulations on taking a big step forward in moving on from the nightmare. You should feel confident enough when you go out to realize a simple fact.... You look fine!!!!!! No one is looking at your hair!!!!!!!!! To give you a comparison, you responded once to me that you are 6'2". Right now, somewhere in America, some guy of 5'6" is worrying about his height. So what you worry nothing about and take for granted, someone else is constantly fretting about. And somewhere else, a girl is worrying about her breast size. Someone thinks they look too fat, too skinny, to old, too young, too bald, too hairy, and the list goes on and on. Insecurity. It's the disease the MSM (mainstream media) has pumped into our heads. Tools of control used by those in control to make us consumers and debt slaves. Buy this...buy that. Wear this...wear that. Look like this...look like that... Just like the Matrix, we have got to free our minds. The lesson here that you can take is that it never mattered. You could have shaved your head all along and you would have looked fine. I know you don't think that, but it's true. The disease all along was insecurity. With or without hair, confidence and happines come from the inside out and not the outside in. Hopefully, the rollercoaster you've been on will help that sink in. So now you are good. You look fine. You can chill a bit. Try to enjoy life a little bit and learn to relax on this one issue. The insecurity will return and it will be your job to keep it at bay. It will always be lurking around the corner. Trust in that fact. When it does, just keep telling yourself the simple truth: "I look fine. No one is looking at my hair." Finally.... Please become a positive force and try to steer people clear of hair transplants (at least until they've done a major appraisal of the risks involved). The risks for these types of surgeries are huge in comparison to the returns. You've seen first hand what happens when things go wrong. Warn others. Your story, like mine, is invaluable for helping people make the right choice on wether they want to play the odds in Vegas with their scalps. Let's all remember the disease is insecurity. Spread the good words of Morpheus: "Free your mind!!!"

aaron1234, I really appreciated your response to my post. That picture that Jotronic put up with the small strip of hair on a NW7 is a classic. Required viewing for any rookies. If that is the kind of honesty at some of the patient reps at the recommended doctors on this website, then I can only applaud their work. Of course, this honesty should not be reserved solely for this website and those that visit it. Most of us are veterans. I'd like to believe that the same honesty is being given for those that walk in through their doors with no previous knowledge of hair transplants. There should be real compassion for the frail psychological state of those who walk into the door for the first time. They don't know and they have a right to know the WHOLE truth. An interest in making money should not blind either the patient rep or the doctor. They are going to be well compensated regardless, no need being greedy. Saw your pictures up. Your pictures are 100% accurate. I would say my hair looks a lot like yours. In fact, I think our hair transplant experiences are similar in many respects. Having dealt with the large donor scar, I would caution you to be careful going forward. After surgery 3 or 4, it can really widen quickly. It can jump from 1/2 cm to 2+ quite easily. It happened to me. That is why I nixed Epstein's call for yet another strip surgery. I wanted to use the remaining scalp laxity to get the width down with scar revision. I got it down to about 1/2 cm all around so far. But if you can avoid that hassle, I recommend you do. Man, this whole ride has been just too much. I just want to imagine that it will be over soon. I can imagine so many better ways to spend my time, money, and emotions. That picture of the guy John R with necrosis left me with nightmares. I’ve got about two more FUE’s to go before I retire from the game. Two more cookies and you can hang my jersey number from the rafters. I just want to get there drama free. Being that you and I have similar hairlines and experiences, I really hope you get that championship banner, too. This game is way too scary sometimes. As I’ve said before, if I had known it was going to be like this, I never would have suited up and taken the court.

StaggerLee 123, I went back to your first post ever. I saw your pictures. You're right. You did post them up. I find it hard to believe that you actually believe that your image has been improved by hair transplants relative to the money, time, and suffering you put into the process. Your problem wasn't fundamentally one of hair transplants gone wrong. Your problem was the classic one of supply and demand. As I stated earlier, you are the poster child for what I'm talking about. Actually, you would have looked quite awesome with your head shaved down as your head is quite round and your facial features aquline. A lost opportunity. So feel free to keep "eviscerating" me in your world of denial. But I'm sure if you look at yourself in the mirror carefully, you know, in your heart, that you made a mistake. Instead of helping others not repeat your mistake, you choose to provide comfort to those that do. Misery does indeed love company. And no, life at 47 is not a death sentence. But life at 47 posting forever on hair transplant websites might possibly be. Imagine all of the other options you could have with your life if you weren't wasting your time on a lost cause. Kind of like a prison of self-"evisceration" on a daily basis. My message for Time to Do Something was one of hope beyond the mistakes of the past. Maybe you should listen to those words as well. There's a whole world out there, dude. If you look beyond your mistakes you just might find it.

To all here, I appreciate most of your comments. I find them well-balanced and honest. I had no intention of making a problem here. If my posts got combative in any way, it was mostly because of the responses by StaggerLee 123 that I need some kind of mental help just for providing a different point of view. I didn't mean to hijack Time To Do Something's post. In telling my story, I was just trying to make Time To Do Something feel like he's not alone in his experiences with Dr. Epstein. He shouldn't blame himself for what happened. There was a time when I did. I just wanted to try to help him move on from the past. Beyond this, I was also making a call for complete and utter honesty from the members of the hair transplant industry. There are tremendous risks involved in these procedures. I don't know how someone like StaggerLee 123 can view posts by someone like John R, (the man suffering from necrosis following his hair transplant) and not see my point of view at all. I myself was horrified when I saw the pictures of that poor man. It honestly made me fell ill. It also made me feel lucky and grateful that the nightmare has worked out for me in the long run. But that could easily be me with necrosis. And if it was, what would I do? What price for my vanity? Is there something wrong with someone pointing out these risks? Clearly, the doctors and patient reps don't do enough of that. Tao made an excellent and honest post about his hair transplants. I appreciated his well-balanced statements both positive and negative. I looked at his pictures and am happy for him if he is satisfied with that amount of coverage. I, however, would not be. To my standards, it is not a substantial improvement over a shaved head. I think Tao (as indeed any other man) would have looked just as good with his hair shaved as he does with the transplants. In my opinion, it's a really expensive combover (not unlike mine). I know it is not for Tao. I know he is happy with it and that is all that matters. I'm cool with that. But here is my point... Is it not incumbent on the hair transplant surgeon to provide pictures like these so someone like me can make a correct decision and properly weigh the risks and rewards? Because if I had been told before my first surgery that in exchange for a super expensive combover something like necrosis could destroy my scalp, I would not take the risk. I'm quite sure that most men (especially young guys) who end up getting transplants would back out as well if they knew the whole story and could look at completely honest pictures like Tao's. Instead they are told that Propecia and minoxidil will hold their hair (a complete lie as neither work in the long run) and that transplants will fill in the rest. It's not fair to lie to people like that. I'm 100% sure about that. If Wong, Shapiro, and others doctors here are not doing that, then I stand corrected. I just visited Shapiro's website and the patient pictures (with respect to large graft counts) are sometimes honest and sometimes same old story - shot from the manipulated angles, combed in a particular way and under a particular lighting. At the end of the day, I know I have made my point here, even if it is often falling on deaf ears. Patients should be educated about ALL of the risks and ALL of the long-term implications. They should also be made clear as to what they are taking those risks for. They should know ALL of the long-term goals (the so-called master plan). I'm pretty sure most guys would rather look like Bruce Willis, Andre Agassi, Vin Diesel or Jason Statham than have to spend their later years worrying about combing over their hair to hide the large gaps in their hairline. That might explain why among more than a billion hair loss sufferers, so few (several hundred thousand a year?) actually go under the knife. At the end of the day, bald is now in style. And all of us chose a combover instead. For some of us, we would have just like to have been completely informed of the colossal risks and expenses we were taking for such limited returns. I'm quite sure, in his heart, Time To Do Something feels somewhere along those lines as well.

Staggerlee123, I went to your profile to check out your pictures. Of course, you had none up. Few people on these forums (myself included) want to subject themselves to the scrutiny. If hair transplants really worked, we'd all have our pictures up. There's a reason that we don't. It's because most of us are not satisfied. I'm sorry, man. I truly am. I read your profile and your hair loss story and it made me feel bad. You had the hair transplants done in the barbaric age of the 90's and suffered greatly. If things are bad now in the industry, I know that they were much worse back then. Plus you have two scars, which is even worse than the one I have had reduced to something manageable. In your profile, you talk about how you were laughed at behind your back after your transplants. You talk about your limited donor supply and the bumps and irregular shape of your head you got from playing sports. I understand that you come here for support and some hope. Solace in the grief of the mistake you made when you had your hair transplants done. But in the end you are the poster boy for my previous posts against transplants. If anyone can understand the hair transplant nightmare, it should be you. If anyone can understand the physical, financial and emotional toil of all this, it is you. If you had not taken the plunge so long ago, you would not be on this forum for years posting messages, hoping for a miracle when none is available. At your age, you should be the one attempting to dissuade newbies from undergoing this type of treatment. You are a mature man. You can give them the long-term perspective. There is life after shaving one's head. But it is a life neither you nor I will ever know. Why would you not want to dissuade someone else from making the same mistake you did? Do you want others to suffer with you? I can't belive that is true. You had such little work done. I've gone in much farther on transplants than you have. Trust me. The more of them you get, the more of them you want. It will never be satisfying. Again, it's that old issue of not enough hair long-term. Perhaps you know about mental therapy. Perhaps you yourself sought it out. I consider this my therapy right now. If just one person who hasn't had a transplant reads my posts and doesn't undergo this procedure, I will have accomplished my goal. And if I can help someone like Time To Do Something move on with his life, then that would be good, too. I mean well on this forum. I honestly do. My words are not hate and hostility, but rather righteous indignation. We've all been through too much with this industry and we need to stop being so polite about calling them out for the less than satisfactory result we will all get long-term. From one veteran to another, good luck to you. I wish you well in all your hair restoration goals.