Melvin- Admin

Wow read your story and it's quite compelling, ugh when I saw the picture of you in the doctors chair almost Norwood 6 at the age of 22 my heart sank. Man I really hope you can get your hair sorted out at least the scars, have you considered Dr. Umar? He's dealt with cases worse than yours, I wish you the best man you deserve a good result. I think bio lizard will begin to appreciate his own situation and realize that "ugly duckling" phase is literally nothing in comparison. Dr. Umar repairs take a look

Pictures can be deceiving, I think the best thing you can do is set up a consult with a good doctor in your area and have him/her look at your donor density and measure it, they can also check for minituarization, this is the best way to go about things, my donor was like yours and I've done 4,000 grafts thus far and it looks thinner yes, but not terrible this is what it looks like at a 1 guard.

Transected follicles will sometimes grow back in the donor area, this is how these supposed "donor regeneration" clinics work, they transect follicles and split hairs, but this does not always occur and I think more often than not the follicle is lost, but to answer your question yes transacted follicles can regrow in the donor area.

Well minoxidil just like propecia will only maintain hair I wouldn't say a limited amount of time, but yes it won't maintain it forever, both meds don't cure Balding, but either way it's best to use it because the less hair you transplant now the better. Id say the crown right now would be good with 1,500 grafts, body hair I'm considering transplanting the donor area, my goal whilst may not be possible I still have to consult some docs, is to thin my donor area transplanting as much hair possible to the scalp,then once it's completely thinned out, transplanting some body hair to the donor area, whilst using smp, I wear my hair short on the sides so the difference between native and body hair wouldn't be visible. But since you're doing FUT I think it's best to use body hair for the strip scar. Other than that I think it's a good long term plan you have, seeing as your expectations are realistic, I don't see a problem wth getting a procedure done now, consult with H&W and others like rahal, shapiro etc.

Yea I'd say we're pretty similar I had about the same amount of hair at 27, that was the year my hair really started to get bad. I'm sure you're feeling the same way at this point. I'm not slick bald yet, I'm not sure how different it will look, I stay on minoxidil and nizoral shampoo it's maintained the native hair I had quite well i recommend doing the same for yourself, it's a shame about propecia but it's ok you an still have surgery just need to plan well. I think less is more with diffuse thinners like you and me, my first surgery was only 1,850 grafts and it made a difference, second surgery was 2,120 grafts I'm only 4 months post op, the difference it's making is huge, my third surgery I'm planning will be next year to address the lateral humps and sparse coverage for the crown. Just so you know hair transplants are not miracles, yes the density will appear different with water in your hair or under strong lighting, people can't tell I've had anything done though, I've been lucky my surgeon is good at hairlines it looks pretty natural. My gf knew I've had both procedures, it's best to have full disclosure with your significant other, it's noticeable for the first two weeks of surgery. So unless you can wear a hat at work I recommend getting at least 2 weeks off of work. You'll look young, except the crown will have to be sparse, because of your age and extensive hairloss, the crown will likely be skin bald in the future, the necessary grafts to cover such an area is high, there's no use in using up grafts for the crown, frame the face, address the lateral humps, lightly dust the crown, that way you'll have an acceptable look now and I'm the future as well. FYI you have more hair than me, I've only had 4,000 grafts, if you'd be happy with my result, there's absolutely no need to get more than 5'000 grafts right now, plus your hair to skin contrast is better than mine, I have medium light skin with dark hair, the contrast is not good so I need more hair for it to look as good as someone with light hair light skin or dark hair dark skin.

Sam every month you make the same thread, and every month you get the same advice, I saw your pictures and I think you have really good growth for only 4 months, obviously it may look sparse and unnatural right now, there is still a lot of growth to come and the hairs still need to mature. If at 12 months you still feel the same, get the grafts removed shave your head and forgot about your hairloss. There's no use in trying to judge your results at 4 months.

It's hard to tell how good your donor is just from pictures, you'd have to schedule a one on one consult with a surgeon so they could measure your density, on average most men have 6-7k lifetime grafts, I don't think I'd do more than 5,000 in your case, although you have a clear Norwood 6 pattern, you still have quite a bit of native hair, what I would do, is stay conservative now, 4-5000 grafts would make a huge difference especially in the front 2/3rds of your scalp, I would lightly dust the crown with some grafts just enough so that the transition from front to back is not abrupt. SMP should be done once you're done with all surgeries, because you want the surgeon to be able to clearly see what the balding area is. Also, are you on minoxidil or fin? I recommend getting on some form of hairloss med prior to surgery to help with shock loss.

Yes you're headed to Norwood 6 especially since you're 27, H&W are quality docs you'll get a good result, looks like you have some nape thinning (retro alopecia) common with high norwoods you'll have to use your grafts wisely, build the front leave the crown sparse, I don't recommend getting SMP until after you've finished your HT procedures, you'll more than likely need more than one procedure.

The donor area looks way better, doesn't look moth eaten at all, I'm sure if you cut it short again you'll see that it's thinner, I think that goes for anyone who's gotten FUE, but at least it looks better than the pictures you posted before. Recipient area still looks sparse though, hoping more growth occurs in the next 7 months, still only 5 months do you shouldn't throw in the towel just yet.

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HASCI exposed

We're all guilty of this, i'm 4 months post op, while ive seen definite growth, it's still quite thin, and very see through in certain harsh lights, I find myself also questioning whether the procedure will be a success, don't compare yourself to others cause as others have said we all grow differently, from my first procedure, growth appeared at 4 months, at 6 months growth was there but not maturity, by 10 months, the grafts were pretty much matured and slight changes occurred from 10-18 months but nothing substantial. Quit rounding up too, I've noticed a lot of guys have rounded up their post op time, for example if your surgery was in mid august, you can't say you're at 3.5-4 months that's only 3 months, you sell yourself short doing that and make it seem like you're not growing at a normal rate.

Paleo, now that its been a month since you created this thread, can you post some updated pics, id like to see how things are coming along now that it's been 5 months, also can you show the donor area.

All i'm gonna say is research this forum dude, a lot of negative results and according to Bill the doctor is on a probationary status, techs do 100% extractions and they create the incisions with the choi implanter pen as well. I'm also 30 and I can understand not wanting to be conservative but don't rush in to to any surgeries, a lot of these threads were randomly created after Paleo's thread makes me wonder.

I've reviewed your picture, definitely not folliculitis like I suspected, honestly I don't see anything wrong, the redness might be irritation from continuing to buzz your head with clippers, I recommend just letting your hair grow, I see growth beginning already, nothing to be worried about, far from the disfigured monster you described.

Interesting, I agree if there's a complication the doctor should be immediately notified, however, not sure if he was in the middle of surgery, I'm sure the other patient would feel bad if he just stopped mid surgery to leave for an undisclosed time, that's why I think one surgery a day is best, but with popularity not sure if this is possible. You have valid criticisms and I think the clinic could benefit from improving in these constructive criticisms, as someone who's interested in having a procedure with Dr. Bhatti, I think potential patients benefit from the doctor improving in these aspects. However, I agree with Dr. Bhattis assessment of the hairline, rounder the face the more straight the hairline, narrower the face the more arched the hairline, it's just more of what looks better aesthetically. But at the end of the day you should get the hairline you want. I've found Dr. Bhatti has conducted himself in a proper way on this forum, and from your assessment of him it seems to back up my feelings on him that he's a genuine Doctor, I hope you have good growth cheers.

Biolizard can you post a pic? Maybe it's folliculitis that can be treated with antibiotic ointment. Generally by 3.5 months you should start seeing hairs sprout out. I'm also 4 months post op, my hair still looks really thin under certain light. Who was your surgeon? I think growing your hair out will definitely help, at this point just let it grow quit cutting your hair, as the hairs thicken you'll forget about it hang in there man, this is the hardest time, you're still unsure if it's a failure, but trust me 4 months is way too early.

Pretty aggressive hairline for someone in their late 20's, with that being said, I don't think he'll be really bald even as he gets older, the majority of guys destined for Norwood 6 usually see the pattern by their late 20's. But the future is never certain, will he regret getting a Pre-pubescent hairline only time will tell. Enjoy it while he can that's what I say.

The theory is that you can get as many FUT or strip surgeries as possible whilst maintaining the surrounding hair virgin, in other words untouched so the you could FUE and get additional grafts, whilst this is fine in theory not really always the case, a lot of variables come in to play like skin elasticity, scarring physiology, 4,000 grafts extracted via FUT are gone forever regardless, in my opinion you'd be crazy to go FUT especially now, the probability of you balding significantly is high, so if you have surgery at 30 you may decide to want to shave it all off, well with every strip surgery you have you take the risk of your scar stretching significantly. Now just so you know there is no surgery that is scarless, I'm sure Dr. Bloxham will repeat this 9 times, so just wanted to let you know, FUE will leave thousands of little dot scars on your scalp, but here's the thing, you are fair skinned with light hair, the absolute best scarring for FUE are with individuals with fair skin and light hair, why? Because the white dot contrast is not as obvious due to your skin already being fair, there's plenty of examples on this forum of fair skinned guys like sethticles who've gotten 4K+ FUE shaved down and the scars are barely visible. Also, I don't advocate doing FUE+FUT cause you run the risk of thinning the donor area and making the scar visible, that's just me though, if you don't care about scars doing that will probably give you the most grafts.

This is the first patient I've seen with substantial hairloss from feller and bloxham, Norwood 6 possibly Norwood 7 in the future, I'm eager to see his results, keep us posted on the progress.

I'm 4 months post op from Dr. Diep as well, I had 2,120 grafts, in your 12 months post op photos your density looked better, are you on meds? Or was it just the lighting in those photos?

Typically, folliculitis should not harm the grafts, however, like pimples, they could create pits and thus would create some issue with growth, so I guess to answer your question yes folliculitis can mess with growth but the chances are low if you address the issue quickly.

Remove the grafts, FUE in to the strip scar, shave your head and be done with it dude.

Oh man that is definitely folliculitis there is an antibiotic ointment you'll need a prescription for it, do you have insurance? You'll need to get oral and topical antibiotic, it does not look good dude not trying to scare you, but get it looked at by a doctor ASAP.

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