JimmyNeutron

I don't think there's such thing as alcohol free minoxidil. I wonder if it would even work without alcohol? Anyway I don't know how your religion works specifically but I thought you couldn't consume alcohol? isn't it okay to just rub some minoxidil on your scalp? It's just like suffering a cut and using rubbing alcohol, would that be prohibited? Good luck, you can always just start with finasteride if you're not on it yet.

Have you considered using finasteride and minoxidil every day for at least 1 year to see what it can do for you?

I don't think there should be any "haters" here to begin with. I could be wrong, but I didn't get the impression that this site was supposed to be hostile, I thought it was for support, encouragement and learning. Not having the feeling like you are entering an MMA(mixed martial arts) ring and have to duke it out with other members because they are bashing your results before it's even done. It's been a very hostile environment for Hesediel and can clearly see where he is coming from. I don't blame him for leaving.

Hesediel it's disappointing to see you leave. I see what you're talking about the immature insults you are getting by forum members. I sent you a message.

Your hair loss doesn't seem terrible. I think 1800 grafts is good, depends on what you are looking to do and if you want any hairline lowering. Under 2000 grafts always sounds low to me unless it's a second HT doing some touch ups on the hairline and temples, or the patient is a low NW stage to begin with and already has a solid but thin hairline and wants a thicker hairline. I think that you are roughly a NW2.5 or NW3, but i'm not too sure. See if you can browse around this site for NW2-3 patients who underwent surgery and see what is the average amount of grafts they got. 1800 sounds low but I have seen doctors like Dr Raghu Reddy(spelling?) use low amount of grafts and seem to get a lot done with little grafts. Maybe your doctor feels he can get a lot done with 1800 grafts. Good luck.

You say the HT was a success and honestly that is all that matters, customer satisfaction. If you are happy then nothing else should matter. With $9000 saved up, maybe you should have gone to Dr Doganay or Dr Erdogan, but I understand that having friends that underwent successful HT's with Dr Maral influenced your choice, and that's perfectly understandable. Thanks for sharing your results by the way.

It appears that there was enough grafts placed on your scalp that it should have made more of a difference. Especially in your crown area, it's like if none of them made it. Anyway, I hope that you are happy with your results.

What do you think went wrong? I've seen this happen even with top surgeons, that hair just doesn't grow enough, and it always seems to happen to the same hairloss pattern, and same hair texture from what I have seen. Any ideas on what is going on? Is it lack of taking hair loss meds while having aggressive MPB, therefore as HT hairs grow in, native hairs fall out, and you are back at square one even 12 months after your HT?

1900 grafts to rebuild a hairline on a NW6 like you say you were, is not enough in my opinion. And 3200 grafts on the entire head of a NW6 is just not enough. You would see an improvement but not a dramatic change where you go from NW6 to Pauly D from Jersey Shore. I am NW3.5 or 4(not sure, it's getting better every week because of minoxidil + dutasteride) and I was quoted 3500 grafts, I have coarse hair like you(?). I feel like 3500 won't be enough for my specific goals, so I don't know how 3200 would be enough for a NW6. NW6, you are looking at 5000-6000 in my opinion, to see a significant change that would make you happy. I read something here that you should get 1000 grafts for every NW stage that you are? Not sure how accurate that is, but it does make sense to me.

I expect better results than that with 4k grafts.

But how will that work for NW5, 6 and 7's? What wig company can emulate a bald head? That's pretty much a make up company that you are looking for.

It appears as if you didn't have a hair transplant at all and your hair loss just kept going. Finasteride and minoxidil is very important in the battle against hair loss.

Don't count yourself out, or let a member count you out(not saying it's bad to ask around for opinions here, this is a great site with intelligent members), let a top surgeon(s) count you out. You never know what they could do with your hair. Having fine hair is not the end of the world in hair transplant terms, in my humble opinion.

I wouldn't worry too much about finasteride or minoxidil losing its effectiveness 10 years from now, because I think there's a good possibility that 10 years from now we may have a couple of new FDA approved hair loss drugs that are stronger than finasteride and minoxidil. It's not a given, but there's a high possibility. CB-03-01, if the right vehicle is found for it, looks promising. CB is only an experimental drug right now, but I think we'll get closer to bringing it out to market soon. There's also Latisse, it is supposedly stronger than minoxidil but it is not readily available as a hair loss treatment, i'm sure 10 years from now it will be.

Does any one know if a person with alopecia areata can have a successful HT when they have history of alopecia areata? Would the transplanted hairs fall off if AA reoccurs, and if they do fall off, would they grow back or would they be gone forever(the transplanted hairs)? I have history of AA, but I haven't had it in 2 years, it appears it has run its course. But the spots that have been affected are two in the hair line, 4-5 other one's on the mid scalp and one in the back in my donor area.

I think it's easier to tell on those who stand their hair back or comb it back, exposing their hairline. But it's nearly impossible if you let your hair grow and you comb it down to cover your hairline. Even those who comb it back, if they have a densely packed hairline, it would be difficult to tell they had a HT. I think if you have a high norwood case and don't get sufficient grafts, it could be easy to tell you had an HT. The normal person would probably see something is off about your hairline with the grafts having small gaps between them, something a natural hairline does not have.

Did you email Dr Maral about this and if you did, what did he say?

Thank you very much for your response Dr Panine, I appreciate it. I understand now. I have been using dutasteride 0.5mg a day for a year and minoxidil solution twice a day for 2 weeks, but I was on finasteride and rogaine foam for years before. My hair thickened up a little bit since last year and I've been having these little hairs growing on my temple corners lately, just for about 2 weeks now. Hopefully I have good thickening of currents hairs by the time of surgery. Thank you for the informative response.

Decent results, is this what the patient asked for? For nearly 4000 grafts all in the front, I expected a much lower hairline, and if not, at least a denser look and some temple restoration. I know he asked for something that wouldn't be so obvious that he got a procedure done, but why did it take so many grafts just for those results? I am not trying to be rude or negative, i'm just concerned because I am also a NW4 and I am getting supposedly 3500 grafts all over but these kinds of results that use a large amount of grafts and barely get anything done really scare me.

BTW clever username, NWwhoa, I like it. That's what my NW was like last March too, but as soon as I started on dutasteride I got some decent thicekning. Not enough obviously, I still have advanced hair loss, but i'm better than where I was last year. Have you considered dutasteride?

I'm like a NW4 and I was quoted 3500 by two different doctors. I guess it depends on what you tell them your goals are. I emphasized on lowering the hairline and rebuilding the temples. Honestly, I couldn't care less if I get all 3500 in the front densely packed, and leave the crown for when dutasteride and minoxidil are losing its effect. I don't think i'd be happy with 2400 grafts, but that's just me. From what I see 2400 does to NW4+ I don't like it, we need more grafts than those NW2-3's. Here are two current pics of me today, shaved to a 1 guard.

Finasteride is good to keep native hairs from falling and even thickening them if you are lucky, and you'd be even more lucky if you get regrowth, finasteride is capable of these things, depending on the person. Biotin is good to help both native hair and transplanted hair grow faster. Not to be confused with "thicker" or stopping hair loss, or getting new hair, just faster growth. I'd stay on Biotin and minoxidil and use fin as well. Maybe the biotin would speed up your HT growth? There's also MSM, it kinda does the same as biotin, basically makes hair and nails grow faster. MSM is also good for the skin, or so i've read. I've used it before and it did make my hair and nails grow super fast.

So when I shampoo my hair is able to spike up, but regular wash with water, using conditioner, gel, sprays don't spike my hair up. With that said, i'm a NW4 with very thin hair on top and that could be the reason, my hair is too thin to style it. But still i'd like to know why shampoo is able to do this and nothing else can? I want to know because I am getting a HT very soon and would like to know some tricks to use to style hair. Thanks for any answers.

I've never considered that, but I think that's too much cosmetic change in my opinion, I would be afraid of something going wrong. I googled what is an average hairline height for a male, and apparently the unanimous decision among different forums(non hair loss forums) is 4 fingers high, mine is just about 5 fingers. If I can get the doctor to just put it down to where it's 4 fingers, I would be happy,

My hairline is stupidly high, it's like 3.1-3.2 inches from my eyebrows to the hairline. Yeah there's hair on it, but if my hairline weren't lowered, i'd pretty much be a NW4 with thick hair and that's not a good HT IMO. What do you think?