azn_guy

good point about the "number of procedures" I completely agree..time is against us when it comes to MPB. Eventually (worst-case) we all will be NW7's... ps: I'm probably wrong about Bill, for some reason I remember him mentioning he had a botched job (maybe his first?) Sorry, too many profiles and web-blogs, you lose track eventually Your analogy regarding a stone wall, I think a tad differently (please correct me if i'm off), if you build the bottom correctly, you wont have to touch it again (1st ht), then you work in the middle (possibly 2nd ht), and if possible, you go try to fix the top (3rd ht). So using your analogy, if you mess up the base (1st ht), you'll end up having to fix the base again (2nd ht) using up all the material, notice this example you can't fix the top of the house because all the materials are used up.

Yes I agree it's a dynamic process. But considering people like Bill and jotronic, both had to get "repair" work, I would like to know how much better their hair would be if they didn't have to do repair work, and had gotten good work from the beginning. I really don't see anything revolutionary in the next 10-15 years, I mean there is PRP, FUE, Cloning, but most of those cannot even match the success rate of FUT.

I've been reading these post for a while and I noticed there are several types of people on this site with a wide range of experiences. You have some people that have had 2-3 bad hair-transplants and ended up going to a respectable HT surgeon and getting it all repaired. I am simply using the above as an example. My question/topic of this discussion is simply to ask the question "What do you think your hair would look like if you didnt have 2-3 botched jobs and got a solid 2-3 HT's from a respectable doctor"? I personally have not had a HT, but expectations are extremely high simply because first off it would be my first HT and secondly, I would be getting the "gold-standard" of HT's What I'm imagining is the folks that have received a HT from a Coalition doctor from the very very beginning would be in WONDERFUL shape for the years to come... I'd like to see everyone here that had gotten a solid HT 15-20 years from now and get their opinion on if the HT was 'worth it'

I've been reading these post for a while and I noticed there are several types of people on this site with a wide range of experiences. You have some people that have had 2-3 bad hair-transplants and ended up going to a respectable HT surgeon and getting it all repaired. I am simply using the above as an example. My question/topic of this discussion is simply to ask the question "What do you think your hair would look like if you didnt have 2-3 botched jobs and got a solid 2-3 HT's from a respectable doctor"? I personally have not had a HT, but expectations are extremely high simply because first off it would be my first HT and secondly, I would be getting the "gold-standard" of HT's What I'm imagining is the folks that have received a HT from a Coalition doctor from the very very beginning would be in WONDERFUL shape for the years to come... I'd like to see everyone here that had gotten a solid HT 15-20 years from now and get their opinion on if the HT was 'worth it'

jmg, I see you're asian I also noticed you got roughly 3000 grafts, that is exactly what I want to get done. Do you know out of the 3000 grafts, how many hairs total were you able to get? haha, sorry forum folks, this was off topic, just socializing with my asian relative, hehe. So JMG, it wasn't that big of a problem to have dry skin, again I will get a second consultation and we'll go from there...

After seeing Dr Cooley, he recommended Clobetasol propionate. Considering Dr. Cooley is a dermatologist he really does know his stuff (in case anyone were to ask) I touched base with my local Dermatologist and they recommended the same thing I had a rash where the donor area was and Dr. Cooley said he will not operate on me unless the irritated patch went away. To be honest, I'm actually on accutane and surprisingly, my dry scalp issues went away. I just got off accutane and my scalp is starting to itch up again. (yes, I know, you would think the complete opposite, every "body" is different!) What makes me worry is now it is possible my scalp issues could come back, I'm going to get a follow up consultation in a few months to double check if there are any obstacles

I personally have had major dandruff mostly located in the donor are and on the sides of my head. Can this be a potential issue with getting a HT? Dandruff is usually caused by dry irritated scalp, I do not think a doctor will attempt to take the strip out if there is any type of rash/irritation at the donor area Any thoughts folks?

I live in raleigh, and the only 2 surgeons I know of is Dr. Koher and Dr. Cooley Search the forums and you'll notice Dr. Koher has some knocks against him. Of course many of the forum post are older so he may have upgraded his practice. In my opinion, I would recommend Dr. Cooley in Charlottle. I dont know his experience with Black patients though...

thanks

When transplanting asian hair (oriental decent), do Hair Transplant Surgeons recommend using the Lateral Slit Technique? Because Asian hair is more perpendicular to the skin, rather than angle like Caucasians, does this mean the L-S-T wont be as advantageous? If the L-S-T is used with Asian hair, are there any benefits? Comments/Answers/Photos are welcomed!

The Real Question is How many grafts do you lose with a tricho versus standard?

I dont know....his hair is too thick in my opinion. even if he got a HT, he would need an outrageous amount to be moved to the recipient area. I have yet to see a HT patient on this site that has hair like Matthew's.... With all due respect, Bob who got a HT from H&W has had very sucessful HT's, but I dont "think" it would be possible to have a thick head of hair like Matthews... Feel free to prove me wrong guys....it'll help educate me

Timmy25, I dont think your photos will offend anyone. Everyone's hairloss is different, I showed off my hair too and everyone said it looked fine We are our own worst critics when it comes to hairloss since you yourself knows your hair best... I personally would love to get 3000 grafts right now and be postpone my hairloss fascination, I know if I get 3000 right now, I probably wont have to worry about hairloss for another 10 years. The tricky thing here for EVERYONE on the site is, each one of us that is losing hair does it at different rates, that is what makes it difficult. I've seen other 28 year olds and they are completely bald, while I'm better off with good head of hair with recession and diffused thinning (plus i'm asian, so my coarse hair really really helps) Getting a HT is a personal decision, but there are several folks on here that have truly gone through the experience and knows what it's like. I posted a new topic and asked a specific question and no one answered. The question was "Who received a HT and wished they had waited?" Many users on this site that had received a HT usually say "I wish I had got a HT earlier in my life" So again, it's all personal decision, but choose wisely.

I saw the same post and started to wonder about this... Good question!

not sure it belongs in the questions and answers section though if anyone has any cool information or url's feel free to post here...

Timmy25, I am in the exact same boat as you. I've always had a "BIG" forehead and in the past it was hidden because my hair would cover it up. As the years go by, my hair continues to recede and recede and my "BIG" forehead is more and more apparent. I used to gel my hair (I think you've all seen the gelled asian look), but because the temple region is disappearing, I am no longer able to gel my hair. I have to just towel dry and let my hair get a tad frizzy simply to make it have a fuller illusion I'm at most a NW3 Vertex, so I am not bad at all at age 29, but if I could fill in my temples again, (1500 grafts would fix it), I would look like I'm 21 again

I also stole the following information from Dr. Wong from another thread. I figured it would be nice to have it all together According to Dr. Wong 1.) Asian hair follicles are more fragile than non-Asian follicles so it is easier for them to be damaged during a procedure. 2.) The direction of growth for multi-hair groupings (two,three or more hairs in a follicular bundle) is more apt to be divergent in the fatty tissue. In other words, once the hair disappears below the tissue surface the direction of growth can look more like the legs of a coffee table splayed out. This makes the dissection process more laborious and time consuming. 3. Asian follicles are on average longer than non-Asian follicles so the chance of vascular damage is a bit higher. This is due to the need for slightly deeper incisions when matching the depth of the incision to the length of the graft and because the follicles tend to diverge more (see #2) the incision will be on average slightly larger for Asian multi-hair follicular units than for the corresponding size non-Asian multi-hair units.

I've been a big advocate of trying to get more information on hair characteristics based on race and I stumbled across a document that I believe is new, it was actually at the top of the list when I did a search Hair Characteristics based on Race/Ethnicity Regarding the Asian Characteristics, here are the main points I got from the document - Most Asians has coarse hair which leads to very good Hair Transplants - If Coarse hair is "too" coarse, bottom of the hair follicle can be removed - Hair Shaft diameter is larger making HT's "illusion effect" more successful - On Average, Follicular Units contain 2 hairs - Asians total number of hairs per area is less, which averages 170/cm2 versus caucasians which averages 210/cm2 - Asian hair's sits more perpendicular to the skin - Because of the angle of the hair, if the hair grows long, it creates a "bowed" affect which helps with the illusion of more hair - Because of the angle of the hair, if the hair is short, you can see through the hair and more scalp is seen - Doctor MUST replicate the angle correctly - Low Tension Closure must be performed in the donor area since the HT strip scar will be more visible with a short haircut While all of this is easy to read, I find it helpful to spell it out here, and it allows others on the site to simply do a quick search. It's nice to have a summary of this in one document oh, and according to the document, hispanic decent is one of the best candidates for HT. Not only do they have darker skin, they also have thicker, coarser, wavier hair. There is a small paragraph at he bottom of the document

I've taken accutane 3 times (yes, it's a lot), and the last time I took it (6 months ago), there was a disclaimer that there could be hair shedding. I spoke with my dermatologist about this since it was a "new" side effect, and he said after being off accutane hair should come back. What I suspect here is that it is "possible" that accutane probably kick started your hair loss. Again, I started Accutane when I was 16 and 21, and I had a full head of hair until age 24, so I personally dont think accutane is the direct reason for this. I want to warn you and I'm sure seasoned dermatologist can agree with me (since I am such and expert on the drug now, haha) BE VERY CAREFUL when doing any HT after being on accutane. Accutane due to causing your oil glands to stop producing...oil, there is a high chance that if you get "cut" or have surgery, the scar will not heal correctly if you do FUT, be very careful with the donor strip scar, but also be very careful with the recipient area, the small incisions may not heal correctly. if you do FUE, it'll be the same situation as FUT I just got off accutane, so I wont be getting any major surgery that requires "cutting" for at least 8-12 months ps: there are those that say that accutane did not cause any abnormal healing, but I personally would NOT take a chance

Hey Latin Lotus, I thought you were gonna disappear for 6 months :-p nice to see you post again, hope the hair is growing as planned!

It's funny how there are a lot of folks here that see the correlation between whey protein and shedding. While there isn't any scientific evidence of this, the coincidences cannot be overlooked splitting hairs, once you're off the protein, come back to us later down the road and let us know what you "discover"...

wow....now that's a full head of hair...

I know this may sound weird, but I thought that whey protein was doing something, so I tested this (it could all be by coincidence) 2005 on whey ==> this is where I started noticing the thinning 2006 off whey ==> hair looked better 2007 on whey ==> noticed hair loss was worse 2008 off whey ==> hair looked better overall 2009 on whey ==> hair is looking bad again I guess I can try it again in 2010 it's completely un-scientific, but I micro-manage my hair and I would notice certain correlations....I know my hair best...

nismo, how old are you? I agree with the other guys here, you gotta wait a bit for anything to really be seen...

TC, you raise a good point. I was actually looking at my dad (who has a full head of hair for being 68), but I checked out his donor area and the hair when compared to mine is not as "thick". So assume you transfer donor hair the front of your head, and as you age, that transplanted hair will thin...obviously it wont thin like mpb thin, but it'll lose some of it's density over time. Any doctors have anything to comment about this? I do agree with you TC, that a NW5 28 year old that gets 3000 grafts on average seems to get better results when comparing to a NW5 58 year old that receives 3000 grafts... at least from the photos on this site.