UnfinishedSymphony

On a lighter note, I'd like to play a thought experiment with you all... There is a magic genie. You are being offered your dream hair. Full, exactly how you want it, no need for drugs or surgery, just magic. You get it for the rest of your life starting today (or tomorrow). But there's a catch. And its not good. You have to __________________. Fill in the blank. So, what would you put there? Here's a couple I came up with... I have to work at McDonald's until retiring age. No promotions. Just taking orders. But it can be any McDonald's on Earth. Chronic hiccups. For life. You? What would you trade for a full head of hair?

I'm offering some advice, or things to think about, and getting some things off my chest, regarding those who suffer from hair loss and are considering transplants/drugs... Lower Your Expectations I wanted to look like David Boreanaz but in reality I'm closer to Kevin Spacy. Very big difference. When anticipating the consultation my thought bubbles were playing the same images over and over - transforming receding corners into a neat square (or what transplant doctors insist on calling "a female hairline"). I love that square. At the consultation I asked, "Can they fix the hairline?" "Yeah!", he replied. [That's what I remember. This was 2001.] Consultation was done by someone other than the doctor at a different office, in Seattle. Then, at Dr. Wong's, listening to my request, he drew the hairline - the square - and said "Like this?" And I said "Yes". And he said "No." and proceeded to erase the line, then drew the actual line which was BEHIND where my hairline already was. My heart sunk into my ass. In other words, nothing was going to change. We were just going to take what I already had and make it fuller looking. But, this is the way it has to be, at least in some cases. I don't recall anyone telling me what my Norwood is, but when looking at the chart, I'd have to say 5 or 6. That's why I can't look like David Boreanaz. Even when I HAD all my hair, at like 10, I couldn't have looked like him. So, my expectations were really out there. Here's what the hair transplant does: it makes you look better. That's it. You're not necessarily going to look great. You may not even be happy. But you'll be happier than you would have been if you had done nothing. That's what I'd say for my case. More on surgery and drugs: You should feel good that you're doing something about it, that you have some control over your life. Its perfectly fine and natural to have preferences about how you want to look and present yourself to others. And if you get a transplant, and block your DHT, and you're still thinning or the outcome still does not meet your standard, that is also okay. Its okay to be dissatisfied. No one can tell me what looks good or doesn't look good. I know. I know almost everything about what looks good and doesn't look good. If I say something looks good, that means it does. If someone disagrees with my evaluation, its because they are wrong. Think of it this way. A lot of people don't like classical music. I'm fond of Beethoven. If person X disparages Beethoven am I supposed to be offended? No. I'm not offended. X has merely revealed to me that they have bad taste. That's it. We haven't learned anything from X about Beethoven. We've only learned that X can't appreciate finer things because X has a simple mind. So, if someone tries to tell you that you look fine the way you are or you don't, or whatever, it will never matter because that evaluation is not coming from you. You should not care what someone's evaluation is of your hair anymore than I should care that X said Beethoven is boring. Or Bach. Unless their evaluation is in agreement with yours, they are wrong. That's all there is to it. So don't beat yourself up too much about beating yourself up, because that's just unnecessary. You're giving yourself too much to be frustrated about. You're frustrated squared. Just be frustrated about your hair and leave it at that. When people suggest that we accept our hair loss, I try to do that, but also accept my disapproval of it.

Forgive me for not uploading pictures this time (maybe I will later, if it looks like anyone reads this), but I went back to Dr. Wong for scar revision a while ago and its much better now. I want to add, because this is what Dr. Wong told me and I see there has been discussion about this after my original post, that if ACell was allowed in Canada he would use it. He said the wide scar was due to poor skills by the surgeons, not the ACell. Dr. Wong's scar revision was operation number 4 for me. Two good HTs by Dr. Wong, one MISTAKE operation by Hitzig's team, and then a revision by Dr. Wong. Over the span of about 10 years. What I failed to mention in the original post is that Dr. Hitzig immediately suggested I up my dose of Proscar (actually, generic finasteride at that time, more about that further down...) to 1/2 a tablet daily at the consultation. That was part of his trick... These men (Hitzig and Prasad) are swindlers. They are shameless (possibly sociopaths) NYC con-artist garbage scum bags and they deserve to be scalped. :mad: I happened to have a big chunk of money land in my lap before I came across the Hitzig videos on YouTube. When I went in for the consultation with Htizig, instead of asking how much the procedure costs, I stupidly said "Is it less than 20 thousand?" He held back some of his excitement, and had his assistant lady tell me "So, the procedure is 19,000 but Dr. Hitzig would like to offer it for 15,000." I had more than enough, but still, that's awful. I paid 15K for someone to take what was a perfectly fine job by Dr. Wong and totally mutilate my donor area. I had (and sometimes still have) nightmares where I'm looking at the back of my head in a mirror and it looks like raw bacon back there. You know what my scar used to look like? It used to look like nothing! It was like having no scar. Dr. Wong is excellent. I'm telling you, it was like having no scar, you had to really try hard to find it. His revision fixed what Dr. Hitzig did, but its still not what it used to be Now, I'm coming to find out that there may be a problem with generic finasteride. Some time before the Hitzig thing, my pharmacy asked if I'd like to switch to cheaper generic so I said sure. That's what I was using when upping to 1/2 tablet a day. Then after scar revision I went back to a quarter every other day and its looking thinner. I have been advised by Dr. Wong to switch back to Proscar and go back to 1/2 a tablet daily. I want to mention that because this might be useful info. They're (Dr. Wong's office) is telling me that they have had patients switch to generic finasteride and experience loss, then switch back to Proscar and, in many cases, they say, have seen gains. So, I'll have to wait and see! Also, does anyone else here struggle with doubting their own perception? Its crazy. I cut my own hair. Finding out that you're loosing more hair because your DHT drugs aren't strong enough kinda sneaks up on you when you you've already had HTs. Plus, the length and style and product and how the light hits it gives me such different results. Sometimes I think I need another transplant, then I cut it, and its fine! Its really hard to consistently get it just right with all this growing, cutting, over very slow gradual time. - Unfinished Symphony

The posts I found in this category about research done in Japan and another in England look encouraging. One article mentioned cost of human testing being expensive. So I thought... Is there a way to donate to this cause? A quick Google search showed some results that were about donating your actual hair - not what I meant. If everyone with hair loss who suffers and cares about this stem cell regeneration thing donated a few bucks, they should be funded well, right? I just wish there was something I could do.

Okay. I may delete this thread within the next few days because I don't want to take any chances and I feel vulnerable right now. So if this thread disappears within the next few days that will be why. Can I delete my own thread? I guess all I can do is edit the content. Why don't I do that right now... Thanks for the support, though, guys. -M

The first three pictures attached were taken August 10th 2012. Surgery was in November 2011. At the time of writing this I'm at 9 months post op. The next two photos were taken in December, approximately one month or less after surgery. There are two more photos taken August 10th '12 of corners of my hairline where the majority of the transplants were put. Unfortunately I do not have anymore before pictures. Doctors say to wait a full year to see the finished results. I doubt the appearance of the donor area will change between now and then. I've sent some of my photos to another doctor who uses ACell and he has said my images show a scar. I can expect not to see any more new growth in the healed strip harvest area. I'm sharing these photos because I would have liked to have seen more photos from this site myself, particularly of the donor area as I have been worried about it lately. I do not like living with uncertainty. These photos may be of value to anyone considering treatment involving ACell in conjunction with a strip harvest. I am not happy with the results so far and I regret to say that I failed to do adequate research (or any research). I have been viewing the information on this site today to determine which doctor in my area (NYC) should be given the task of making repairs. From what I can tell Dr. Alan Feller appears to be the man. Bernstein and True/Dorin also worth consulting. I plan to consult with all of them. You're more than welcome to give me feedback, vouching for said doctors, if you can. Can anyone give me an idea of how bad this is? In other words, how challenging repairs would be? I fear I've made an irreparable mistake. Thanks so much. By the way, could I get into trouble for sharing this info? Can doctors take legal action against me for providing this post? Sorry, I'm really naive. -Mark