win200

Fascinating article from Dr. Beehner. I was 29 when I got a strip surgery in 2012, and a NW1.5-2. I was the archetypal guy who's told that FUE is the way to go, but I could not be happier that I opted for FUT. I got a dense transplant with that appears to be a very high graft survival rate, I know I have more strips, if necessary, in the tank, and I also know that if my scar bothers me, I can have some FUE into it for camouflage. I think too many folks overlook that possibility.

And here's the thing about scars: they're really not so bad. I have a so-so scar and I have no problem covering it up. Like most young gay guys these days, I wear my hair very short on the sides; a 2.5 guard most of the time. At that length, the scar does show a bit, but I smear some DermMatch on it and it's pretty undetectable. Most people grossly overestimate the amount of attention people pay to the back of their heads, and no one is going to notice your scar unless you buzz down VERY short. Also, most people have no idea what a hair transplant scar is, so they won't know why it's there even if they do spot it. I'd say at a 3 guard, nearly all scars will be invisible.

I really appreciate Dr. Feller's attention to this issue, and I think more guys (especially the younger ones) that are pushed hard toward FUE need to think good and hard about the choice. It's a significant one that you'll live with for the rest of your life.

That's one of the best SMP results I've seen. The hairline looks perfect.

This really looks like it's shaping up to be a great result. I know people say that things can turn around in months 8-12, but let's face it--you can usually spot a disappointing transplant by months 3-4. This, on the other hand, has all the signs of being a home run.

I'll stick up for the clinic here. Sure, it's not a home-run result. But most of us know that crown surgeries are notoriously difficult, and that crowns gobble up a huge number of grafts to achieve anything approximating native density.

Looking at the slider pics (very neat too, BTW--I'd love to see more of these), I can see how 2,000-ish grafts grew. There's obviously a difference, albeit not a day-and-night one. It's possible that the patient experienced some shock loss, and the point about conserving donor grafts is well-taken.

Here's the thing: I think even the best clinics are not good at controlling patient expectations. Most patients have never seen a head of transplanted hair before, and their expectations are wildly out of sync with reality. Pictures--even clear ones--don't do the trick. Patients need to be told in clear terms: "The transplant will not be as dense nor look as dense as native hair. Your new hair will not be a substitute for the denseness or naturalness of your native hair." Period.

I had a homerun transplant of 1,450 grafts at my hairline. I was 29, and had nearly full native density behind the transplant. When it first grew in, I was despondent; the density looked see-through to me and didn't match my thicket of dense, native hair. Three years later, I'm completely stoked with my results, and I've learned that no one even notices that the hair in front is a little thinner. But my surgeon didn't talk any of this through with me, and I expected something that's impossible to deliver.

I don't know what kind of conversation Dr. Hasson had with this patient beforehand, but either it wasn't candid enough or the patient didn't absorb it. I think some free grafts are probably in order, but a full refund seems a little excessive to me.

It doesn't matter how many people come out of the woodwork to say the doc performed miracles on them, it doesn't change the fact that he went gungho HT on a 20 year old purely for commercial reasons it seems, and with a blatant disregard for his patient's future well-being, Shocking behavior but so true of many HT Centers in the West chasing a quick buck!

 

Guys, especially you young uns, please do your homework before rushing in or being talked into something you feel is not right.

 

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Dr Bhatti FUE Oct 2014 3305 grafts

http://www.hairrestorationnetwork.com/eve/178931-my-fue-dr-tejinder-bhatti-oct-2014-a.html

Yup. What really appalled me about this doc is that for patients in their 20s (both this poster and myself) is that he didn't recommend that they get on finasteride before having a procedure. That's just hair restoration 101. I consulted with him, and he booked me for surgery THE NEXT WEEK. Luckily I did my research quickly and insisted that he prescribe me, but I did all the legwork. It's just luck of the draw that my transplant turned out well. The scar, for what it's worth, is relatively long for my 1,450 graft procedure, and the width is okay-but-not-great.

Easy call--go with Gabel. He's one of the top surgeons out there, incredibly ethical, and has a stellar reputation. I've meet him numerous times, and he is among the best. I had a transplant with someone else and agreed to see me gratis when I was concerned about the work. The folks at his clinic are all thorough and professional, and you would be in great hands. Fallon is brand new, and like others have noted, yo have no track record to work from--it would be a complete crapshoot. Go with someone who has one of the best reputations in the business and has been through all the vetting. It's a no-brainer call.

I had a transplant with Dr. Niedbalski three years ago that was very successful, but I had minimal loss and also understanding that I'm something of an exception for his work. I was not on Propecia at the time and he did not recommend that I start it, which I think is just atrocious of a doctor operating on a young patient.

There are options for dealing with your scar. Do a ton of research on this forum and you'll find good resources. You can do some FUE into the scar combined with SMP and that'll go a long way toward covering up the scar. If you think you might need another procedure to cover up or repair some of the damage from Niedbalski's work, there are great options for that too. Don't despair.

Terms of Use guidelines for folks like Joe and Spex are Bill/Pat's business, but I just have to say something quickly about Joe. He deserves compensation for his time like anyone, but he has also been incredibly generous with his time and knowledge on a gratis basis. Joe has met with me to take a look at my transplant for absolutely nothing, and he's given me practical and realistic advice that included recommendations and kind words for doctors with whom he was not affiliated. I've known Joe for roughly two years now and sought his opinion frequently. He has always readily provided it and never asked for a dime. The notion that he is simply a hired gun looking out for number one couldn't be further from the truth. He's an asset to the hair restoration community, and there are tons of guys who would be walking around with hatchet jobs attached to their scalps if it weren't for him.

Love it. And that's basically exactly what I looked like at 29 when I had a procedure. A lot of grafts, but not irresponsible. Donor area looks totally undetectable.

One of my favorite cases in awhile. We usually ooh and aah over the transformations for younger guys with more density, but this is such a stunning change. Just goes to show what a difference having a hairline makes. Great job.

Stunning result. Do worry about a 23 year old norwood 4 using 4k grafts and over half his donor though .

 

Unquestionably nice result though, just love Erdogan's hairlines.

Agreed on both fronts. The work in obviously beautiful, but 23 is rally, really young for a transplant, especially one that uses half the donor supply. With that advanced of a Norwood at that young an age, it's pretty likely that he loses significantly more hair, even with a DHT inhibitor. If he were 33 instead of 23, I'd say go for it. But I totally concede that his 20s will be a lot less miserable now.

Agreed. It's not good work, but it's not the kind of disaster that leaves you permanently disfigured or beyond reasonable repair. Do some research, talk to knowledgeable folks, and you'll get a good repair job. This should be a relatively easy repair for a good doc. You'll probably want to wait another year to get the repair so your first procedure is fully grown out.

Really? You just got a FUE and now you want to do roids? You realize that one of the biggest side effects is hair loss, right? That and acne as another poster mentioned. Steroids are the lazy way of gaining muscle. Get a trainer, get in the gym, eat right, etc. and you can develop a perfectly natural great body.

This is the proper response. Your grafts are just starting to grow; do you really want to bombard them with extra testosterone? If you **must** take something, wait another ten months and then do a cycle of testosterone only (ESPECIALLY if you've never done steroids before). It is very, very stupid to start steroids while a new transplant is growing in.

You will not maintain all of the muscle you gain from steroids. You will retain SOME, but much of it will atrophy without anabolic steroids in your body to support them. And then you'll want to cycle again.

If you absolutely MUST, do a cycle of testosterone only at a dose of something moderate--like 500mg. That won't devastate your hair the way that other compounds will, but it will produce visible gains for sure. Just for the love of God, get on Propecia--or better yet, Avodart--before doing it. Otherwise, the increased testosterone will increase DHT conversion and you could wreck your nice new HT.

I actually think the after results look really natural. The pics aren't particularly clear, but I'd never have noticed anything amiss, and I usually have a good eye for this stuff.

Really nicely done, if you ask me.

Incredibly interesting. I've seen few cases of a mustache touchup, but never so many grafts to the beard area. I assume he doesn't really have any MPB that needs to be addressed? I have the same beard issue but don't want to use the grafts on the face; kind of a luxury.

Hi win200. Can you tell me what are your thoughts on strip and FUE? Which is a better "guarantee" that the hair wont die? Which is better in terms of density?

Well, that's a contentious and well-debated topic. It's pretty established that strip has a higher graft survival rate than FUE. Just exactly HOW much better is the controversy; some folks say it's a minor difference (~5%), and others claim its more significant (~20%). I will say that, by and large, the FUE results I've seen appear somewhat less dense than the top strip results. This difference diminishes in the hands of the very, very top FUE practitioners--mainly in Turkey. I will say that, as someone living in the U.S., I would absolutely travel abroad if I were to get an FUE procedure. I'm getting a second procedure with Dr. Rahal in October (strip), and I stand by that as the best decision for me.

Great result. Really natural looking.

I think it's pretty well established by now that if you want a very dense, natural hairline, then Rahal is one of the very, very top guys (for strip, at least).

Curious about the clinic's response to this. To my relatively uneducated eye, it LOOKS like over harvesting; it has that moth-eaten look. Honestly, the barest area--on the left side, near the birth mark--looks like a strip scar. Occasionally the tails of strip scars get a little extra shock loss due to tension, and it kind of resembles that.

Awesome job. After pictures aren't great, but they're probably just what the client sent in. I've been really skeptical about BHT's ability to produce natural results, but this is really impressive.

How many grafts was his previous procedure(s)?

Aside from being a really nice result, this is a perfect reminder about how vital finasteride is. This guy would be in a WORLD of hurt--and certainly couldn't be repaired nearly this effectively--if he hadn't taken a DHT inhibitor for all those years. He probably has an above-average amount of hair now for a 40-something.

I've said this to a lot of friends: if you lose hair relatively early but hope on a DHT inhibitor, there will probably be a certain point where you'll OVERTAKE a lot of your friends, in terms of amount of hair, who didn't lose "early" but lose ground over time. I'm just 32 now, but have a lot of friends with visible hair loss that wasn't there at ~23-25. One of the "blessings" of visible early loss is that it can prompt you to take action and get on the meds that'll help you actually keep an enviable amount of your hair as you get into your mid-30s and beyond.

Is there a good online source for dut in the U.S.? I notice that In House requires a prescription, but is that a technicality? I.e., do they just have to ask for it, but will ship without? I'm trying to get on 2.5mg/dut per day, and have an Avodart prescription, but I need to supplement. Getting Dutas from In House seemed like a good solution.

Help!

I've combined both for about a year. Probably redundant, but there was a study that suggested the effect is somewhat improved by combining the drugs. If you've got the money and the inclination, go for it.

Randomly found an interesting dutasteride study about the drug's effect during testosterone supplementation. Short summary is that a study administered 50, 125, 300 and 600mg weekly injections of testosterone to men. One group was give dut at a 2.5mg dose daily, and one was given a placebo. You'll see that even with 600mg of testosterone supplementation, the difference in DHT under the dut dosage is minimal.

Why bother to add dutasteride to your testosterone cycle?