Paulygon

Hi Paulygon,

Nice result. Did you have grafts put in the lower crown? Its hard to tell from your post op pics but clearly its looking good now.

Hi Levrais,

No grafts put into thr crown because I started the meds at the same time.. Doc wanted to see how well the crown responds to meds and he spent his session rebuilding the entire front hairline.

If you go to my blog u can see that at 6 months thr meds worked ok for my crown. But I think I will go back for another transplant to get the crown more filled in and maybe some more grafts around my hairline.

When I get time, I will put up more pictures from different angles that were taken at the doctors clinic. I know someone was requesting to see them.

My thoughts exactly... We in the HT community are a paranoid bunch, having been sold many scams and bills of goods in the past. However, it is generally known that the crown generally responds to meds way better than the frontal region, so after a year of Propecia and/or Rogaine it is possible to recover a lot.

 

In any case, amazing result!

I'd been on and off Finasteride and minox since 21 now (31). About 6 months before Hair Transplant I had stopped both my meds. Hair kept falling out like crazy, it was depressing.

I just felt like even with the meds, I had shitty hair.. I couldn't style the front because the front had sparse bad quality hairs... Thr hairs from the middle would comb over to my front... After about 6 months of not taking meds, I just buzzed my head to see what authentic me looks like... It was not pretty.

Then I

Well, when I got to do thr hair transplant I started the minox + Finasteride the same week as my procedure. This is important to know-- it was the trifecta approach that caused the crown to thicken (and maybe since I had recently been on meds earlier in thr year, I kept the follicles alive that would be thickening up in thr future?); if you look in my blog, as some of you have mentioned, the doc did not put any grafts in my crown. Reason was he wanted to see how much the meds would fill up the crown (as OtherSyde mentioned, the meds do a good job of that). This was good because Doc could use the HT session to build me a new hairline which I badly needed.

OtherSyde, I understand the justified paranoia... Ive been sold everything from Revivogen to Hair Club. Anyway, my story with hair loss goes back to when I was 21. I tried everything (including getting on and off the finasteried and minox for various reasons... and I was against transplants for the longest time, but now that I know a little more about the way hair loss works, and the know treatments we have, I embrace HT technology and concede that I will probably require a few strips and maybe 1-2 FUE sessions in my life. Now, just to make the money to allow that to happen.

Also, to the guy who said from old man to young buck..... THANK YOU! U made my morning

Yes, I get complemented by people a lot about looking so young.. It's kind of great hearing that alot... I never tell them my secret

One last thing... I used to stigmatize hair transplants until one day it clicked to me that a hair transplant is about as cool as getting a tattoo. I personally don't care for a tattoo but to be able to design your own body ascetics.... That is cool... To put hair where you want it to be instead of the sides of your head.... You r in control... And that is cool. HT is the new tattoo. ( and SMP actually is a tattoo lol )

go to my site: Hair Restoration Journal for Paulygon - 6 months follow-up Appointment

I know I have all angles at least up to the 6 month mark. Let me know what you think.

Thanks!

yea it looks really great... i saw all your pics on your website at 4 months.. i knew it was getting good.. congratulations man!

"Before pic" was the day I walked into the operation.

"After pic" was @ 1 Yr mark.

2710 grafts by double edge strip FUT.

Procedure performed @ Dr Parsa Mohebi's Encino, CA clinic in Oct. 2012

Jason, have you been talking to ISHRS doctors? The one who operated on you, was he ISHRS?

I looked at Dr. Dieps youtube vid.

Are you planning on doing strip or FUE?

when a person maxes out the # of strip procedures (FUT) available to him, he can start doing FUE's (follicular unit extraction). So an individual shouldn't feel totally limited by the fact that he/she can only have a finite # of strips removed (before the scalp tightens up to its max amount). You can start moving around individual hair follicles at that time by method of FUE. It is more expensive but an option. Your scalp is your canvas, essentially, for the rest of your life!

just some thoughts--

The only downside is that FUE is significantly more expensive and you wouldn't be getting as many hairs transplanted for your money. The plus side to FUE is that its an easier surgery and minimal scarring, as it is less invasive.

So for example, in my case, I would do the 3-4 strip procedures I discussed with Dr Mohebi, and then if I continue to need more work, I can start doing FUE (my scalp tightens too much). (Hopefully by the time I need FUE I'd be making more money and can afford the procedure more easily anyway, haha).

i think the rationale against using clippers on the transplanted hair is that clippers, if not oiled up or used properly, may accidentally pull hairs... and since those roots are potentially delicate, doctors errr on the side of caution... some put the date out 6 months from transplant, as a rule of thumb

I had one done so far... my doc (Parsa Mohebi in Los Angeles) told me that with my medium scalp laxity and very good donor density I can have about 3-4. On the first, I did not do much scalp exercises but he said for the next ones it is important that I do. The more scalp exercises you do to prepare for surgery (as xtatic said above), the better you optimize the amount of donor area that can be removed. So I think the important considerations are scalp laxity and density, as well as good technique (ie. skilled surgeon) so they don't waste anything. Dr Mohebi said that wasting even a single hair is considered a sin in hair restoration.. so as far as I see it, those 3 considerations are crucial for determining the # of strip procedures.

I've been receiving botox injections every 4-6 months and have also had a successful hair transplant done a year ago (w/ Dr Parsa Mohebi).. I do not see the correlation between botox and hair loss... so don't worry.

Jason, I would definitely go talk to 2-3 other HT surgeons.. and also ask them if your original doc's explanation is reasonable...

A free 2nd treatment says alot about the doc trying to get it right... but, if his skill level isn't there for your type of hair, you don't want to go through that again with him and have to wait another 18 months and waste your donors in the hands of an unskilled person.... bottom line.. evaluate your options, do more research and then make the choice.. good luck to you my friend!