mattj

^ He's joking, in case that isn't obvious. No signs of baldness at all. Zero. Put it out of your mind.

The photos I see show a very typical situation for someone at your post-op stage. I see no reason to worry at all and I would expect that explosion of growth to happen soon.

Congratulations on choosing a surgeon and a date for your surgery! It's a big step to take and I'm glad you have confidence in the choice you made.

The result should be the same, regardless of whether you choose FUE or FUT. The difference in yield (successful growth of transplanted follicles) is spoken of a lot, but in reality, the best surgeons are achieving near parity between the two procedure types.

It's impossible to say if your donor area will look visibly thinner after the two procedures are complete. I can't see your hair and can only speak in general terms. There is an uncanny ability for the donor area to be depleted through FUE without anything being noticeable. The extractions are spread out, the hairs that remain cover the spaces. Ultimately, there could be some trade-off in terms of what you gain on top and what you lose at the back and sides. For the typical patient, it is worth it.

As soon as I read that you can wear a hat, I thought that you have nothing to worry about. I think it's best just to 'own it' and tell people, but I understand that that strategy isn't possible for everyone. But seriously, if you exist in a work culture that allows hats, you're set. You can conceal your HT with no worries.

That's an insane tattoo! Walk around with that out and nobody will look at your head

Since you mentioned coming up with a better story, I'm curious what you have told people.

I know you haven't placed blame on the surgeon. I just said that to pre-empt it and in case anyone was thinking that way. Sometimes people are inclined to blame this that and everything on a surgeon when the reality is different.

There is no doubt that he's had work done. He does good work himself, too.

Whatever happens, I wouldn't blame it on the surgeon. What you're experiencing is a rare an unpredictable thing which has nothing to do with the quality of work that has been carried out. I hope you keep us updated.

It's best to have longer hair for use in consultation photos. It makes judging donor much better - In fact it makes judging the recipient area better too.

You do appear to have quite expansive hair loss throughout, including in your donor area. I did notice the SMP. Frankly I don't think you should go ahead with a transplant. Your probably have more hairloss in your future and even in the best hands, the improvement from an HT won't be mind-blowing.

If I were you, I would buzz it and own it. I know that's easy to say from the position of someone with hair, but I think most people would agree with me. Perhaps look into improving the SMP. I think that better work can be done.

James81, from everything I've learned over the years, I'm inclined to say that this will grow back. I always err on the side of caution when saying things like this as I know that there are always people who fall outside of the 'normal range', but I think you'll see this issue resolved in time. Please do let us know.

I'm sorry to hear that your result wasn't good. I normally wouldn't get involved with something like this, but I'm curious why you had visa problems traveling to Canada. Is that a problem that can be sorted?

I'm quite amused that Robert McNamara is being spoken of on a hairloss site. Can you imagine if he was aware?

I'm actually not surprised by that assessment about the miniaturization in your 'lower donor'. The third photo does show some thinning in that area, extending upwards from your neckline. Chances are it won't travel up too far, but it's something to think about. I can still see you as a good candidate for a procedure.

It's tough to be really accurate with photos. It's probably about average. Did the doctors see you in person?

Since this is well outside the area that was treated, it is nothing like shockloss and more likely to be stress related. Even then, it's still a rare occurrence. Did your doctor give you any more input?

A nice FUE procedure here. The patient was aged 33 and wanted to add density to a miniaturising hairline and restore the temples.

This was done over two sessions, the first for 2380 grafts and the second for 805 grafts. The patient is very happy with his result.

Surgery type: FUE

Recipient Area treated - 53 cm

Grafts Transplanted - 3185 grafts

Recipient Graft Density - 60 grafts/cm

Recipient Hair Density - 114 hairs/cm

Graft breakdown:

Single Hair - 867 grafts

Two Hair - 1705 grafts

Three Hair - 584 grafts

Four Hair - 29 grafts

TOTAL GRAFTS - 3185 grafts

TOTAL HAIRS - 6029 hairs

HAIRS PER GRAFT - 1.9 hairs/graft

Growth can come it dribs and drabs and I wouldn't worry at this early stage. Five months counts as early. There is no special shampoo as such. I know that my doctor instructs using baby shampoo, as it is mild. The main thing is not to apply too much pressure in the first couple of weeks, and as I'm sure you've followed that instruction then I'm sure you haven't done any damage.

If you do get a hair transplant, here's my personal opinion on your hairline placement. Don't try to make the hairline curve down to meet the sides. That rarely looks natural and is one thing that can make transplants look fake. Instead you should let the hairline go more towards the corners and bring the sides forward a bit. In other words the sides should be brought forward to meet the hairline, not the hairline being brought down to meet the sides. See the edited photo I'm posting with the red line showing the idea of how I think the hairline should be. This is my personal opinion, so take it or leave it.

The line you drew is definitely more appropriate for where the hairline should be placed. It's more in line with what surgeons would design.

I'll get some close ups on the next update but so far it looks good to me - integration into the side hair and hairline above looks perfect, just awaiting more growth to sprout, then thickening should have them framing my face nicely I'm hoping. A young woman said I look like Wolverine the other day which I was taken a back by as I never get compared to guys with good heads of hair lol

I'm glad it's looking good and you're pleased with how it's taking shape. The integration of transplanted hair with the existing hair is one of those interesting technical aspects of HT surgery that aren't mentioned that often. If done well it blends well, especially after the hairs mature.

The photos show parting of the hair in the frontal zone behind the hairline. Personally I don't think that area is bald enough to justify surgery. There is still plenty of native hair in the area and transplanting to it could be detrimental. Don't get me wrong, it's possible to transplant to areas of diffuse hairloss and it is done all the time, but it's best avoided when the area in question is still quite strong, as yours is.

2000 grafts sounds about right for the temples/hairline. Very good work could be done to restore these zones.

It's common to shed hair after beginning Finasteride. You are probably experiencing a typical shed.

At what age did you hairloss begin?

As Dr Rahal offers both FUE and FUT, the choice is down to the patient. Sometimes Dr Rahal might feel that one procedure type might be the better choice for the patient (e.g. very tight donor might make FUT difficult), and sometimes they might not be a candidate for one or the other. Patient's will often have a bias towards either FUE or FUT, with it being the former rather than the latter in most but not all cases. FUT shouldn't be seen as outdated.

As long as the material doesn't let the sun's rays penetrate to the scalp, then any of the options will be fine. Most materials I've seen used for headwear are suitable - only open weave fabrics will allow a significant, harmful amount of sunlight through. Basically, you have a lot of options.

A vacation in a hat is still a vacation worth having. As long as you do cover up then there's no reason why you can't enjoy a warm climate. After all, many HT patients live in that climate.

33 year old patient who came to Dr Rahal to restore his temples and strengthen the hairline.

Surgery type: FUT

Recipient Area treated - 58 cm

Grafts Transplanted - 2201 grafts

Recipient Graft Density - 38 grafts/cm

Recipient Hair Density - 73.3 hairs/cm

Graft breakdown:

Single Hair - 550 grafts

Two Hair - 1254 grafts

Three Hair - 394 grafts

Four Hair - 3 grafts

TOTAL GRAFTS - 2201 grafts

TOTAL HAIRS - 4252 hairs

HAIRS PER GRAFT - 1.93 hairs/graft

The position of the new hairline was dictated by the old hairline, which was indeed placed too low. The new hairline has been raised as much as possible through careful removal of many of the old 'plug' grafts. It's possible to see in the immediate post-op photos where they were extracted.

The purpose of presenting this case is that there are many clinics out there still performing sub par surgeries, and if they don't use microscopes to sort out the singles from the doubles from triples, after FUE extraction, then you will be at risk of multiple hairs in the hairline. This is much worse if one uses an inexperienced clinic.

Also note that the after photos were taken at around 9 months. The transplanted hair is often 'kinky' at this stage (mine was) and it relaxes over time.

In a virgin scalp with proper technique you should get a result like this: