mattj

One of the all-time great results.

Jotronic, did your original plug job every look remotely passable? Presumably there was more hair surrounding the grafts when they were placed as you say that they became progressively more visible. Do you have any photos from back then?

A #3 cut should be able to hide a well-executed strip scar. Your hairdresser has obviously seen a few bad transplants and never a good one. Or perhaps he has seen some good transplants without realising it. I've heard reports from patients who've amazed their hair stylist when they've mentioned that they've undergone a hair transplant.

It would be interesting to know how grafts take to being traumatised for a second time.

Do you have any problems with poor growth when grafts are recycled in this way?

I know Dr Rahal attended the last DOUCHE meeting. (Doctors for the Obfuscation and Undermining of Cloned Hair Experimentation).

At a guess I would assume that you are looking at crown work. How's the hair up front?

The photo is overexposed and could make things look worse than they are, but depending on how much ground needs to be covered towards the front of the scalp, you're probably looking at quite a large procedure. It's difficult to tell with that photo, really.

Great design. Fairly high but intact, just the way I like them. That's a very small number of grafts for a modern strip though.

Who determines the "right amount of pressure"? The machine? Considering the amount of pressure needed varies from patient to patient, how does the machine change or adapt to the individual to determine how much pressure is needed?

Bill, the answer was in the quote. The doctor has that control and can vary it depending on the individual. I have no ball in this game but I wanted to point that out.

It's interesting to see a good result from that far back. I'm sure I'm not the only one who'd like to see other results from the past. The older the better.

Originally posted by Anouar:

this is no doubt a great result. Obviously these are picked to be showcased as outstanding results. I would just like to know are these results the norm of what to expect.

Dr Rahal is not very forward in asking patients if he can make their results public, so it's probably more a case of this being one of the few who, somewhere along the line, let it be known that they're fine with their photos being shared. I'm not sure exactly how these things come to be.

I think it's fair to say that this case represents a possible result with a patient with these particular characteristics. That might be stating the obvious, but that's all any surgeon can say of each individual result with so many variables at play. I do think though that most would agree that the result we see here isn't unusual for Dr Rahal.

The photos are a bit small but we can get a rough idea. The loss is quite extensive (as you know) but it looks like you still have plenty left throughout the balding area to combine with the transplanted hairs to achieve a good result. The sort of numbers Megatron mentioned are probably right.

How long have you been losing hair? Are you using any medication to improve your chances of keeping the hair that you still have?

As for package deals, cost, etc, you are best off doing a lot of looking around at the results from different doctors, finding a number who produce results that you like and then contacting them.

It does like like the early stages of MPB. It's not uncommon for the hair loss to be uneven at the temples, with one side appearing thinner or more recessed than the other.

Being at the beginning stage does mean that should you start to use finasteride, and perhaps minoxidil too, you do have a chance of keeping what you have, which I think is still a great head of hair. The thinning areas might even thicken up with both of those medications.

The reason I asked that is because, looking at the photos, I see what appears to be recession in the typical male pattern.

Does anyone else share my view?

Would you say your hairline is still the same as it was when you were very young and first noticed the bald patches?

Yes, that's a lot of coverage for such a low number of grafts. It doesn't look like he had much native hair left up there either. Good stuff.

You say that someone pointed it out to you. Do you think there's been a change? If you hadn't noticed it before and then you were suddenly provoked into paying closer attention then the 'problem' might have always been there, and might not be a problem at all.

The variation in hair texture you mention could be making the difference. Straighter hair will allow you to see more scalp, as will hair that is sticking up.

I recently got a mirror in a new position in my bathroom and I noticed my hair looked a bit see-through on top, but I realised it was because my hair was short and it's very straight and the light hit it in the right direction to show scalp. I examined my hair with a strong light, shining it on the sides and combing the hair out straight and I could see just as much skin as on the top.

I also believe that African hair is less dense than European. By less dense I mean less hairs per square inch.

It's hard to know which thread to reply to! Perhaps the mods can shift posts into one?

I can see why stripped wanted to add density along the front, even though he hadn't receded too far.

Stripped, if you don't mind me asking, how old are you? What age were you when hairloss struck for the first time?

Do you plan to go back to the same doctor if you go ahead with HT#2? Perhaps you should see what they think.

As well as those already mentioned, I think Dr. Keser in Turkey is doing some great work. I know Turkey isn't in Europe, but it's close enough that Europeans who don't want to hop across the ocean should consider the country as a convenient HT destination.

Originally posted by thanatopsis_awry:

 

This, and the actual remifications for HT patients, couldn't be overstated. It ties in to just how crucial.."adequate"..documentation can be, in giving a viewer the best apprecation for the work, and result as it is.

 

There can be multiple realities to a HT simply because we are so often dealing with an illusion. Where on the scale of the illusion you happen to stand, and the real-world implications of this, are things that should always be taken into account.

 

One reason why well-lit, HD pics -- not unlike these -- would ideally be a status quo in documentation. And HD vid can't be beat.

 

Nice result. Natural and dense.

Absolutely. If this patient had a twin, and he received half as many grafts over the exact same area, I dare say that under some lighting/camera conditions the hair would look the same. But it wouldn't be, and under more careful scrutiny the differences would be clear.

Sad news. RIP.

Originally posted by hdude46:

This result could have been accomplished with half as many grafts...don't understand the need to waste grafts. looks good otherwise...

The same area could have been covered with half as many grafts but it wouldn't have been nearly as dense. It wouldn't look as good under all lighting conditions.

That's some wild hair!

Julius, you seem very fixated on this issue. I understand that you would want a transplant to look as close as humanly possible to a head of dense, natural hair, but really, unless a transplant is below average in density is will be thick enough to convince people that you have good hair.

I don't remember seeing your photos (if you've posted them) but surely if you're looking into getting a transplant then the realistic, achievable results are going to be an improvement on your current hair situation.

You make no mention of medication. Have you considered taking propecia?

If a patient smokes and is going to continue to smoke after the procedure, then it doesn't make much sense to prohibit them from indulging their habit during breaks from surgery. In fact it's probably best that a patient with a heavy addiction is not getting antsy in the chair.

I know from personal experience that cigarettes are very bad for the circulation, so my main worry would be the issue of scalp vascularity and possible effects on yield.

It seems that you're at roughly 5 months post-op, right? Once your growth is complete and the hair has matured your hair should no longer be such an issue.

I do think it's an age thing. When you reach your mid to late twenties you'll find young women of that age much more tolerable. Personally, I don't have much time for under-twenty fives. (and I'm 29)