azazelgs

Hello everyone, As some of you may know, I've been on this site for over than 2 years now and I thank everyone to give me the knowledge not to go to a local butcher:) I'm in my mandatory military service now and it will end in mid may 2012. After that, there will be no reason for me to not to have a hair transplant so from now on, I'm seriously considering a ht but as many of those I'm confused and need lots of advice! Brief History: I'm 25-26 years old , nw5-6 diffuse thinner. All men in my family(both sides) end up nw5-6 , no case of nw7. I'm using proscar (daily), minoxidil (twice a day only to temples) and nizoral (everyday). Concerns: I buzz my head with lowest clipper. I don't mind buzzing it if I had a good hairline and I think shorter haircuts gives more dense look with diffuse thinners. Plan 1- Max out with FUT first, see where it goes: Although I like buzzing it, as many of you I am dreaming of having my full head of hair again. Not my 16 y/o hairline of course but a result like bobman, london_lad or can't decide would make me incredibly happy. On the other hand, as a supporter of short cut , the scar really scares me. Btw, my doctor choices would be Dr.Rahal or Dr.Hasson. I've never thought of anyone else but them. Plan 2- Max with FUE , support with SMP: First of all, I'm not a very good FUE candidate. My donor is app. 80 fu/cm2 and I'm not gonna end up nw2-3. Also, I'm not a supporter of SMP to a bald head especially to the hairline. However, I know I'll be happy with short , buzzed head with good hairline. For fue, my choices would be Dr.Gho or Dr. Rahal. For SMP , I believe Good Look Ink does the best work in order to create the illusion of buzzed head, not skin head.My favourite results are ; http://www.hairrestorationnetwork.com/eve/157624-my-fue-2-years-after-scars-1-buzz.html Hair Restoration Journal -Latest pics 9 months post-op So here are my pictures; The ones with blue t-shirt were taken in may 2011, other are pre and post shave. I added a short video to see my scalp laxity. And here is my video; Sorry for the long post, all answers are highly appreciated.

1-You are the only one that I've seen to ever use it such professionally, simply the best:) 2-Agreed, speaking of toppik , what do you think of SMP as usage of permanent toppik effect??

Thank you so much everyone!! As right now I'm literally counting time to go there and soo nervous. On the other hand I'm happy that I took this step because it was always an obstacle in "big" decisions in life like marriage (not that I'm planning:)), business calls, settlement and of course.... a ht!! When I come back, I'll seriously consider and plan both financially and mentally about this.

I think you already did:) By the way, it's the very first time I've seen someone using toppik without any suspicious look. Not to encourage you Joe, sorry:)

Tomorrow, I'll be heading to my military service which I'll be there for 6 months. In Turkey, it's mandatory to go to military after you graduate university. If you have lower degree like high school or such, service time is 15 months. I am hoping that I can keep my current medication treatment (proscar everyday, minoxidil twice a day and nizoral everyday) there. I know nothing about military service and I am really in mixed feelings. In Turkey , people believe that men start to loose hair in their military service. I started loong before that but I'm really scared that everything's gonna be worse. So, I guess I won't be allowed to have internet access (cell phones are not allowed also). I created this post to say goodbye to everyone and hope to see you all in May. I'd like to thank all of you Bill, Joe , Spanker , Sean and others I forgot to mention. You guys showed me that there is always a hope out there, even in my most depressed times. Again , thank you and bye!

I love Dr.Mohmand's "less is more" approach.2818 grafts and this result? Simply amazing.

Buzz cut with ht is the best look a person can get in my opinion.

SJones23, Have you every considered micropigmentation? I'm not a big supporter of the procedure however Good Look Ink seem to create the illusion of a buzz cut, not skinhead.

I believe that everyone should change their perspective while thinking about Dr.Umar. I know that many guys in this forum are FUT supporters(I'm one of them) and approach FUE with caution, especially FUE with body hair. That's because many of us seen disaster results with body hair. And FUE with head hair is all by itself risky process than FUT. However, Dr.Umar would be my no:1 choice if I'm nw7 or need a huge repair work. If the guys that Dr.Umar presented had came to forum ,posted his pictures and say "what are my options?", many of us would say "shave your head and move on." We can all discuss Umar's results but I think one thing is certain ; those results are much more better than those guys' before pictures. Also, no one wants to put his business into risk. Dr.Umar is putting himself into great risk by taking those nearly impossible cases turning them into good results. I can criticize Dr. Umar's work but I think in the field of hair restoration , every doctor that we all are fan of has a one skill that is superior than the other. Dr. Umar's is that he takes really risky cases with a very risky approach (BHT,FUE) and I think he is really good at it. You got my vote on him.

This is a great result, body hair has many limitations such as using your hair short but if a patient's needs are towards that direction, Dr.Umar is the best way to go.

For a nw5-6 guy , I think crown is the biggest problem. It needs more grafts to be covered up than the front and requires good skill of a surgeon. If we think that the minimum donor of a person is like 5-6k grafts, that can give an excellent coverage of the front without touching the crown. Ric26, from your avatar it seems like you are buzzing your head. Maybe you use most of the grafts to the front and continue to buzz your head. FUE into scar or micropigmentation can be a good option to hide the scar. Just my 2 cents, by the way who was your doctor?

Joe, Thank you for the answer. Eventhough your famous "law of diminishing harvesting" theory does not apply here, it still does not eliminate the fact the more you get at the first time, more you are going to end up:) Sorry to bother you but one last question; Will there be a difference in your final no of donor supply whether you start with a megasession or just have minor of grafts in each procedure?

I saw it and this is clearly what i want, my dream result.

Thanks for the responses! What about avodart? Can I use it with proscar or use it individually?

sjones23, I think it makes great difference. However, I think your sides are dropping but I'm no expert. Send some pictures to Rahal and H&W, also add some pictures of your back and if you can, squeeze your head with one hand in order to give some estimation about your laxity. This is completely my point of view but don't go anywhere besides Rahal or H&W. They are nothing but the best with dealing with this nw levels.

Joe, I saw you online and I'm asking this again; if a person gets more than 8k grafts in his first procedure, what will be the number in his 2nd or 3rd ?? I mean what's this guys donor capacity??

I believe the thing in AMANINDIA is that he was a diffuse thinner and this will be a completely subjective comment but I've never seen a good result in diffuse thinning cases, even with best docs. Having 6k grafts in multiple sessions may be a option but with good hands I won't say it risky. Just remember londonlad who had more than 7k in one sitting and the result was nothing but amazing:) sjones, as for the 6k ,with great "megasession" docs like Rahal or H&W, it will be great. Check out "can't decide" who had 5k with Rahal and got complete frontal coverage. edit: picture would also would be great to guess.

Thank you for the quick response hairupthere. As I was using 5mg daily for 2 months now, I have not seen any side effects so far. At first I was so afraid of it because I've read a lot of negative things even from the guys who take 0.5 mg, so I guess I'm lucky. The only thing I started using 5mg is that I know I won't have any chance to divide it so 2 months ago i put my self into trial. Luckily , nothing bad happened. After my military service , I'll lower my dose. So you say there won't be a problem in terms of decreasing the effect of the drug, right?

I'll be going to my military service in a week and I don't think I can divide it into 4 there so I started using it 5mg daily about 2 months ago. I'm not seeing any side effects but is it gonna lessen the effect of the drug? Could anyone inform me on that?

I guess the title explains it. What if a guy who is nw5-6 wants to have hair but prefers to have a buzz cut? While I was browsing the "patient results" I happen to see some guys who are at higher nw levels and buzzing their head before ht, but after they grow in order to hide the scar. In my opinion that guy looks way much better and younger with shorter hair. (eventhough he had no hair on top.) Some might say "if a guy buzzes his head he doesnt need a transplant" but I disagree with that. We all know how drastic a hairline can change the apperance of a person, even with the lowest clipper. Also , some might want to hold the option to buzz his head if he doesn't like longer hairstyles. Let me clear myself with these cases I found: Hair Restoration Journal -6.months 1 week http://www.hairrestorationnetwork.com/eve/157624-my-fue-2-years-after-scars-1-buzz.html In Dr.Mohmand's case i really could not get if this guy is using nanogen in all pictures but his buzz looks great exept the scar in my opinion.Second is a guy who had FUE with Armani with success.(lucky guy, ha:) ) And also, he was a good candidate for FUE and I think he looks excellent. I really like to know more about this, are there any guys who wonders this or wants a ht to achieve a good buzz cut look? What are the options for a nw5-6 guy who likes to have this?

I've never had a ht but if I'm gonna do it one day, Rahal will be my first choice. I admire his hairlines.

Wow, it's something that always bugs my mind, thanks for the info Joe! Another thing is when I see this , I thought if someone decides to go with shorter haircuts, SMP can do this affect to create the density. But I'm no supporter of tattooing a pure bald scalp.

Ryan123, Congratulations for your choice. Eventhough I told you my opions in previous replies, I'm sure you will be in good hands with Dr.Umar and your result will turn out great. We are nearly in same ages so I feel you and wish nothing but the best. So, my questions to you is could you please share some photos for your donor?(Leg, chest etc...) I really like to see what kind of hair Dr.Umar will use in your procedure.

As a turkish guy my self, stay out of them execpt Dr.Keser. Seriously, your question is like who to pick in draft, Jordan or some guy in Euroleague.

Joe, As you always said and i think everybody can remember that you have very thin hair and in the harshest lighting conditions that's what we are seeing. I believe anyone with the exact characteristics as you without any hairloss can show some see-through with that angle and lighting. My point is, you are looking great ahahahah!!