mattj

Like Spanker said, I think that if you do manage to retain your hair into your thirties then there is a reduced chance of progressing to an advanced balding pattern, but nothing is certain. Can't speak as a 55-year-old as I'm nowhere near that age yet, but as someone whose hairloss began in his twenties I have to disagree that starting to experience hairloss later is somehow worse due to the idea that you're safe from it. Hairloss is much more common, expected and accepted later in life. To not have to deal with it now while I'm young and not have the threat of further loss hanging over me would be quite welcome, believe me.

A hair follicle can be damaged if an incision for a graft is made too close to it or on top of it, but a skilled surgeon will be careful not to do this.

It will be fine to wear a hat by that time. Cold air does constrict the blood vessels and could potentially reduce blood flow to the grafts, but they will be past their most delicate stage. You should probably keep the hat on as much as possible just to be safe. This is me being extra cautous. I don't think you'll have a problem with the cold.

Are you applying anything like Vitamin E oil? This will keep the grafts moist much longer than a wash will. But you're actually at the point where the grafts will be secure so it's less of an issue. FYI Dr Rahal instructs patients to apply Vitamin E oil for two weeks post op and not to touch the area at all for the same length of time.

I'm not sure that you should be touching the grafted area with a sponge at this point. Some doctors are more cautious than others on this. Some (like Dr Rahal) want their patients to apply nothing but a gentle flow of soapy water to the area and to drip on the Vitamin E. No touching at all. Others instruct patients to try and remove the scabbing. As the scabs don't need to be removed and there is the potential for making a mistake while performing a routine where direct contact is made, it could be best to think 'better safe than sorry'. Four washes per day is excessive by any standards though.

10 days is often given as the time that the grafts would be safely secured. Dr Rahal instructs patients to wait 2 weeks to be absolutely certain.

Spanker, the code you're looking for is this: {url=http://www.exampleurl.com}Link word.{/url} With the curly brackets replaced with square ones. I don't think "hey baldy" is any more acceptable than "hey fatty". Both are seen as insulting but neither are exactly taboo or conflicting with political correctness doctrine. It's not uncommon to see idiotic trash articles like this one from Fox featuring stars who have piled on the pounds. Weird that they have Gavin Rossdale in the slideshow. His hair looks great in the 'after' photo and unchanged from the 'before'. It's obvious that someone clueless and not very observant compiled it.

Yep, it's important to remember the FUE potential on top of strip. The numbers above sound about right, but you rarely see that full potential reached. How many 7000+ graft cases do you see? Obviously they exist but they are relatively few and far between. It makes you wonder if patients' financial limits are reached before their graft limits. Or perhaps patients' needs are usually met before their donor is maxed out. It would be interesting to dig deeper into this.

You say you are willing to do whatever it takes to get your hairline back, but you're also planning to drop Propecia. That doesn't make sense because the Propecia could be preventing your hair from getting worse and moving beyond just a hairline problem. Holding off further loss should be the focus of your determination. Continuing to use Propecia (or Proscar as you've been advised above) would make the transplant option more viable.

How was their 'strand by strand' method described to you before you signed up? Did they promise something entirely different to what they gave you?

It's difficult to be completely sure if stopping Minoxidil will cause you to lose hair. It's true that hair gained through using it will usually be lost once stopping it (so the sales guy is wrong), but it could be that in your case the Proscar will be responsible for any benefits you see from the combined treatment. After all, if both the Proscar and the Minoxidil were doing exactly the same thing then you wouldn't need both, and some guys see results from one treatment and not the other. As a rule though, it's best to commit to using any treatment if you're serious about keeping your hair. I would also direct you to this thread: http://www.hairrestorationnetwork.com/eve/158685-laser-hair-restoration-fact-fiction.html

Black men lose hair less often than white men, so there are fewer cases in general whether strip or FUE, but there have been black FUE cases. Like multiplier said, your hair type gives good scalp coverage. It can be more of a challenge to extract the grafts due to the curl, but it's not impossible and there's no reason to believe that you wouldn't be able to get the result you're looking for.

It would be more harmful to be conservative and have high expectations which couldn't be met. If you walk into a consultation with realistic goals then that will count for a lot with the surgeon, and you'll also have a higher chance of satisfaction with the result if you went ahead with the transplant.

Hi, The size of the photos together with the angle and close cropping makes it hard to see the full picture, and the way the hair is lying in the second photo could be making the balding area appear smaller than it is. It's possible that a loss of density in the forelock between your temples is not as apparent in the photos as it really is. Do you feel that you have sufficient density in that area?

Human beings can look very good on the outside, but our interiors aren't nice to look at. Even without seeing photos I think we all know that we don't want to see what's going on back there, and thankfully it's just the doctor and their staff who have to.

Apologies but I can't confidently decipher what Norwood level you said you were. With the graft quotes I'm guessing 5. Perhaps the surgeon has a good reason, (I can't think of any) but it's odd that the FUT would be split into two sessions. Surgeons can often get those numbers, or significantly more, in just one.

People don't often switch from Dutasteride to Finasteride, but I have heard reports that the less potent drug is not enough to do the job of maintaining hair for some users who have been on Dut. Everyone is different though. If you are going to see a progression of your hairloss due to the drug switch then the impact might not be seen for a while. It could creep up on you. You might see the earliest effects as part of the seasonal shed. Or you could be completely fine. There is honestly no knowing. I would suggest that re-starting Dut is probably a wise move though. I'm interested to know why you decided to to switch.

There's something a bit off about the common charge that men who have transplants (or otherwise attempt to hold back or cover up balding) are vain, especially when the same 'news' paper is reporting on Prince William's hairloss in full knowledge of how devastating the condition is to those like him who suffer from it. So knowing the impact hairloss can have, how can it be vain to want to do something about it? With a hair transplant we aren't talking about a minor, laughable cosmetic tweek undertaken by someone in pursuit of a ridiculous level of perfection. It seems that hairloss is seen by the media as the absolute last thing that a man should try and hide, while simultaneously being portrayed as one of the worst cosmetic issues a man can suffer from. Has anyone else noticed that discrepancy? (Of course you have).

Could the change in hair colour be giving the appearance of thinner hair by altering the contrast between it and the colour of your scalp? Are you light or dark skinned? What colour was your hair and what colour is it now? Maybe you can definitely see or feel that there is less hair, but I'm just throwing out ideas. Perhaps the switch to Fin has kicked off a shed. As you probably know, shedding can occur a few months after starting a hairloss treatment such as a DHT blocker or Minoxidil. I have also heard of sheds occuring when switching between different DHT blockers, but in most cases the person is going from Fin up to Dut, rather than the other way around. The alteration of hormones due to the change in drugs could conceivably cause a shed. Being only three weeks after the change could make that unlikely, but these things can vary from person to person. I said the above to be thorough. Now I know more of the timeline with the drug changes I think the most likely culprit is the seasonal shedding theory. I have read that oral Minoxidil can increase seasonal shedding, (Did you experience noticeable seasonal sheds in the past?) and the move from a warm climate to an especially cold British winter could be all you needed to shed a lot of hair. What I mentioned above about hair/scalp colour could also be a factor if the changes you made altered contrast.

Hi MYFUE, I always like reading the write-ups. Thanks for that. It's always amazing to see how quickly a donor area can recover from FUE extractions. When I have spoken to Dr Rahal about FUE I detect real enthusiasm about how he enjoys getting into the rhythm of extracting the grafts. It has occured to me that this enjoyment in performing the tricky procedure could make an actual difference when it comes to achieving a good result. I'm sure it must play a part in Dr Rahal's confidence too. Good growth to you, and I reckon you'll have a great result to enjoy later this year.

Presumably you had hair transplanted to a region that had native hair. It's possible that the switch from Dut to Fin has caused you to loose native hair. Of the list of possible causes this stands out as the most likely candidate for your increased thinning. What was the reason for switching from Dut to Fin? If you can tolerate the Dut and have no trouble affording or obtaining it then you should probably continue with it. Users of Dutasteride do report that if they switch to Finasteride then that drug just simply doesn't have what it takes to allow them to hold onto hair that was being maintained on the more potent DHT blocker.

I agree, I think you'll probably need double the 2000 grafts for a significant change that covers more than just a small area to a satisfying density. This is just a guess, but I think your donor area could probably support the numbers you need. It doesn't look like many were used for your previous transplant in 2004. In fact, I would've assumed you had a 'virgin' scalp on the basis of your photos. I'm guessing you had minor hairline work done.

Future_HT_Doc, I Just thought I'd chime in in case ffar doesn't understand what avascular means. (Plus I'm in a talkative mood). ffar, if you look at scars you'll see that they often look whiter than the surrounding skin. This is because the scar tissue contains fewer blood vessels, and transplanted grafts need a healthy flow of blood to grow. The reduced vascularity can mean that the grafts don't get the blood supply that they need and are less likely to grow. Despite this, surgeons have had success in using grafts to disguise strip scars which are wider than ideal. A lot will depend on what your own scar is like. If you get a surgeon to take a look and he/she thinks they can help, then considering that relatively few grafts are needed for this task then it could be a good use of money and that the potential benefits outweigh the possible disappointment. If you're thinking of getting another transplant, then a small number of the grafts extracted at the time can be used for the scar.

It's not clear where you think the two strips would be taken from. Are you talking about taking strips from above and below the existing scar? If you are then I think you'd have some serious tension issues when it comes to the healing of the scar. Be aware of a few things: Those 2000 grafts will add up to more than 2000 hairs. (You might know this.) Different doctors will give different estimates for the number of grafts they feel they can extract, whether in one session or in total. The fullness of the transplanted region and the ability to see scalp with X amount of density will depend so much on your hair characteristics. Yours sound favourable.

I have spoken again to Dr Rahal and he says that once he sees you in person and can assess you at the 12 month mark then he'll happily help you achieve your realistic goals. I believe he has told you this during previous contact with him.