JohnnyDrama

You've already had a BIG transformation! These extra 600 will just add to that and be the cherry on the cake. Have always liked Dr Maras and HDCs work.

Good to hear Stu. I know what you mean about temple points. I haven't really had very pronounced temples either. Best to get the docs view like you said. You might get away with sprinkling a few grafts there!

It can happen from around day 14 onwards. People tend to shed differently though, and at different post op times. I was a late shedder, and didn't really lose most until post week 5. I can't really say I noticed too many hairs around me at any time or while washing. A few mornings I woke up and noticed a few around the pillow but nothing crazy.

I travelled from Ireland. I was lucky to manage an in-person consultation with 4 docs in one weekend mind! It was St. Patricks Day, and I saw 2 on Saturday and 2 on the bank holiday Monday so it worked out perfectly. There were a lot of planes, trains and automobiles seen that weekend but well and truly worth it. You're going about it the right way though. I spent many months making up my shortlist, then a few months researching those more deeply. Then made my mind up after the in-person consultations. The longest wait I felt was the 5 months from confirming the HT to actually being in the chair! I had been on meds for over 3 years at that stage myself, so had an idea of my pattern of loss!

Hey BT, ya very happy with progress so far, so really looking forward to the Summer months! Even at this early stage, I have a more solid midscalp now than I did 4-5 years ago. You should be also at the fun part now, seeing lots sprouting through each day. Saw your pics and it's beginning to kick in!

4.5 Months Girlfriend wasn't around to take the better shots unfortunately but seeing as these are only a mid-month update, I'll get the better quality pics at the 5 month mark. These should still give an idea of how things are filling in. The last few were with a bit of gel, totally slicked back so that it gives a better impression of yield when spiked. My natural angle of my hair seems to be the spiked look anyway, even when just out of bed with no gel etc.

Best of luck Recluse. You sound like a guy who is taking this as serious as people should and you sound pretty educated. Great shortlist! By the way.......don't apologise for the long-winded post..........these are what make this site worth reading/resaearching. I'd have a lot of apologising to do! If you look at my sig, you will have seen which doc I chose, so there is no need for me to comment further there. Have you had online consultations with each of the 4 clinics? This was my first move once I had my shortlist. After you have got a feel for the grafts suggested......I would genuinely look into trying to book in-person consultations with the docs. This is without doubt the best way for 1.you to get a feel for a clinic and 2. to sense if the doc is confident in your case etc. I know this bit can be tricky, but I did it and visited 4 docs in Belgium over a couple of days and it was genuinely the best thing I could possibly have done!

Any update Stu?

Without shooting the lad down straight away........I think we need to know what the graft breakdown is. I know where you are coming from Spanker, but those 500 could be largely 3 and 4 hair grafts (I would hope so). 1500-1800 hairs CAN make a cosmetic difference to a relatively small area. In saying that, people will need to see much better pics Kieran, to give you better feedback. Pre-op pic would also help.

That's a pretty remarkable transformation for only 2,800 grafts. To think he has the same amount again in the bank if he ever needed further work. Lucky guy........who also has fantastic hair calibre.

Thanks guys. I turn 31 tomorrow and hit the 4.5 month mark. Things have really thickened up again over the past 2-3 weeks. From my research, the mid-scalp can be a notorious 'slow-grower', so I wasn't expecting too much 'fullness' until month 6-7, but I seem to have gotten lucky! I must admit to sticking religiously to my regimen of the big 3 and other supps may have helped here too......I've barely missed an application of Minoxidil for example. The comments are still coming thick and fast. I met a mate for lunch last Friday. This is the friend who I would have spoken openly with about hairloss before (he has lost quite a bit more than me though - but we have only even spoken about medication, no comments about HT). He brought up the whole topic as we were leaving, and to quote him....."Johnny....It's back with a vengeance now!" Uncles and even my grandmother have had their say lately too which was funny. I'll get some better quality pics than my 4 month up shortly.

I fall into that category too. It is pretty rare however.

I got PRP along with my HT over 4 months ago and everything so far is coming along great. It's obviously difficult to see exactly what PRP has done for me seeing as I got it with my ht, but I can't complain. I'm due to go back to the clinic in March and get a 2nd round of PRP too.

Looks like the usual good, clean work from HDC. I'm a fan of Dr Maras. On a somewhat seperate issue.......I think you'd look really good with a shaved look. I think you'd look so much younger than your pre-op pics. I was told the very same myself and I now see it in certain people since. You seem to tick a lot of boxes to pull off the short look......nice shaped head, good skin etc. I'd really recommend you give it a go for the first 3-4 months of post op. It was the best thing I ever did.

You're going to have a lot of explaining to do shortly!

My girlfriend, funnily enough, tried to talk me out of having a HT initially. Then when I shaved down she thought I looked better with short hair. She eventually came round to the idea when she saw how it was beginning to affect me. My point being, what made me go on meds and then subsequently go the HT route was because I was struggling to come to terms with what I was looking at in the mirror. I genuinely didn't care what anyone else thought, male or female. My hairloss was like a metaphor for my confidence.......eroding from inside to out (my loss started in my midscalp and progresses outwards). What's funny is that I'm only 4 months post-op and already so many people are commenting about 'how well I look'. Looking back, the people who commented on my hair loss to me would be people with their own insecurities. Of course, they'd want to appear bullet-proof so would want the attention elsewhere. Looking forward to meeting them again!

4 Months Post OP Things are definitely begin to thicken! Donor looks and feels great, no sense of any work done whatsoever. Getting lots of comments over the last few nights out (all positive). Again, sticking to the whole Roaccutane story. All in all, I'm very happy with how things are coming along. Was having a chat to my dad a few days ago about it, and he couldn't believe that I'm only at around 30-40% growth, and that my full results won't be for another year or so. Really glad with how I scheduled this whole thing too. A lot of effort went in to me getting the OP and 3 weeks downtime in August, as I wanted 4 months growth in time for the xmas period so I could enjoy things, and it has panned out that way. October and November were the tough months without doubt! Really looking forward to 2014 now! The only pics I managed this weekend are from my mobile. Will try to get better ones soon. The last few having a bit of gel in them. A cut is overdue though.....it's getting a bit untidy so will probably get a trim over next few days.

Best of luck mate......you must be getting excited! Out of interest, did you consider putting any grafts into your scar?

Your loss pattern could "possibly" be on the Ludwig scale. The reason I say this is because I have that loss pattern, albeit much more advanced than you. It sounds like you may have FPB, female pattern baldness. If you look at my profile pic, you will see that every graft I received in my HT was planted in my midscalp. 4 months ago I had my first ht, at the age of 30. When I was around 25, I recall my barber telling me I was going thin on top, and reacted the same as you 'wft?'. I visitted 4 top docs for consultation and they confirmed I had Ludwig pattern loss, not the typical Norwood pattern. Each doc said it was rare enough, but they had seen it and treated some men with it before. The HT that I had did not touch my hairline or crown.....it was all midscalp/forelock. I basically have the same hairline I've had for years, I just had everything behind it filled in with 2,200 FUE grafts. If you look at my thread it will explain better! Anyway......I just thought I'd make you aware of the Ludwig pattern, so you can look into it a bit more. No harm in doing research. You do appear to have a great head of hair mind.....but no harm in looking into what pattern you may eventually fall into in years to come.

Hey Stinger, I'm a few days away from 4 months so I'll get more pics up over the weekend. I seem to have early growth which is great......I haven't cut my hair in over a month so it's a bit fuzzy right now, but the sparse areas are definitely thickening up. Last weekend I was on an xmas night out with a big group of mates. Two of them told me my hair was looking 'stronger' than ever, and asked me what the hell I was doing! Before I answered one of them asked "Is it because you're off those tablets?" About 18 months ago I was on Roaccutane (very strong drugs - to help with cystic acne). It can have a bad influence on your hair. I told this to a few of the guys at the time, and I think this is gonna be my excuse if I ever do get asked anything. I'm glad a laid that story in place a year or two ago, because it makes things easier when explaining it. I also mentioned that, because I buzzed my hair, it's so much easier to apply 'the big 3', so that must be helping with things too. Anyway......my confidence is much higher than previous months, and more importanly, is much higher than pre-ht. Couldn't ask for much more seeing as I'm not even at the 4 month mark yet. Will get pics up over the next few days!

Nick, this is awesome. You don't look like the same guy. At 6.5 months this is crazy good.....it looks more like a 16.5 months outcome (and a bloody good one at that). This is what doing your homework/research rewards you with in terms of choosing the right clinic. As you know yourself, you're likely to lose more hair due to your age, but because you went with FUT first (which I think was the correct call btw), you should still have a nice big bank of donor hair to tap into with FUT/FUE combo if you ever feel the need later in your 20s, 30s or 40s. Congrats again!

Looking good mate. You'll have to change your name to HairyBall35 though! Out of interest, have you maxed out FUT now, or could you go again? Did you discuss with the doc about what options are there if you were to ever go for more, eg FUE etc?

This is something I have noticed as well, and it does lead to very impressive results. Maybe KR or a Dr Reddy rep can answer this, but one thing that I couldn't help but think of is what this strategy means from a long-term point of view. What I mean is: Everyone, naturally, has a finite number of multi haired grafts. Does this approach not somewhat exhaust the multi-haired grafts of a patient, in that they will be left with mainly 1 and 2 hair grafts for future work if required? I would have thought for frontal work, that use of several hundred 1-haired grafts would be optimal instead of splitting up 3 and 4 and 5 hair grafts? This would mean that the patient can use their precious 3/4/5 hair grafts for their midscalp and crown if needed down the line. I'm not being critical by the way, I too have been very impressed by Dr Reddys work so far........ I'm just curious as to the clinics strategy in general when it comes to this kind of thing!

Sorry to hear about your troublesome donor CB. I met all 4 docs (Bisanga, Feriduni, Mwamba, De Reys) over a 2 day period back in March for some in-person consultations. One of the many interesting things I got from it was getting the different assessments from each doc. All 4 varied to a degree, Dr Bisanga and Dr Mwambas ideas were quite similar, De Reys estimated 500 grafts fewer, while Feriduni estimated quite a bit more than the others. He also had higher measurements for my donor than the others, so this 'possibly' may happen to you. Granted the signs are not great if Dr Bisanga says things are too thin, but if I were you I would certainly get an in-person meet with both Drs Feriduni and Mwamba, particularly seeing as you live so close!

Chris, this is looking better and better. You've had a huge aesthetic improvement in a relatively short space of time.