Speegs

How short or long do you intend to wear your hair?

Substantial crown thinning and frontal loss suggests you'll need a large number of grafts, most reputable doctors will likely recommend the FUT route to best utilize your donor area both now and for the future. You can probably realistically expect to have two different procedures in order to tackle your existing loss. You'll probably start with framing your face with a frontal restoration and moving on to the crown in a subsequent procedure. Are you taking finasteride in an effort to slow down or halt future loss?

I empathize with your confusion, most of us have been in your shoes. I studied for 9 months before I pulled the trigger on my first one, and ended up going to a different physician for subsequent procedures because I found Dr. Gabel to be a better option than my initial doctor. Go to doctors not robots, some good doctors use robots but sparingly. I also respectfully disagree about the merits of the NeoGraft, some of my esteemed peers differ with my opinion, but I don't know of a single reputable doctor that actively still uses one. Most doctors up to speed have abandoned it in favor of doing FUE manually or investing in an Artas robot. Most importantly be very discerning in choosing a doctor, truth be told there are probably less than ten you should be entertaining at all, that's how few are truly elite. Do not be afraid of travel to get the procedure done with the physician that is right for you. I live in Austin, Texas for example and have traveled far out of state thrice for my procedures because my vetting of out of state doctors led me to conclude they were what was the best option for me. Money of course is a reality for everyone, and to a degree you get what you pay for. But as a rule of thumb you can expect an elite doctor to charge 4 to 5 dollars for an FUT graft, and if they're one of the truly elite, they're absolutely worth the investment. That being said, I entrusted my restoration to Dr. Gabel in Portland, and his rates were comparable to far less esteemed doctors I could've entertained in a major Texas metropolitan, so travel for what I determined was a vetted and elite surgeon was a no brainier. In order to determine the legitimacy of a surgeon I recommend scouring this forum, scheduling online or in person consults with the names that capture your attention and cross examining what each of them says about your hair loss to build a general idea of what's best for tackling a restoration for you. A good doctor will offer both FUT and FUE, don't settle for a doctor that only does one or the other. A good doctor will also be able to provide you patient references to speak with about their experience. A reputable practice will have dozens if not hundreds of case photos for you examine, and in my experience I would show preference to doctors who have either board certified plastic surgery credentials or who once worked as plastic surgeons. Typically that background has a sound foundation in aesthetics. That being said, DO NOT go to a plastic surgeon who performs hair transplantation as one of many cosmetic surgical offerings, give preference to physicians who practice hair restoration specifically and exclusively. You can also inquire about whether or not doctors have performed restorations on fellow doctors, a good sign of peer respect. For example one reason I was intrigued by Dr. Gabel was that I learned he worked closely under Dr. Konior at one point (a very esteemed doctor in his own right) and even performed some restoration on Dr. Konior, a sure sign of great respect when an elite surgeon allows another surgeon to perform work on them. Similarly I believe Dr. Feller has performed hair restoration on Dr. Alexander. Little nuances such as this reveal a great deal about the work and reputation of a doctor.

All of this is near gospel truth, all prospective hair transplant patients need to heed this wisdom when deciding between FUE and FUT.

You're just in paranoid mode, understandably, at this point if there's no blood you're in the clear as a general rule of thumb...stay away from your niece's reach for a little longer though

We all have our favorites. Peruse the site and scrutinize what you see and feel free to reach out to any posters who's signatures indicate they're hair transplant veterans and ask them their doctor experiences in private, some don't like to share the details on the forum but do in PMs or emails.

Never pick scabs, just soak your head and gingerly massage them and they should loosen.

He won't be the last.

If one is willing to SMP the donor wouldn't it be best to SMP the scalp instead of a transplant? I'm assuming you're keeping the hair cropped or buzzed since long hair would cover any FUE scars with ease.

Stay away, nay, stay FAR away. It is a second rate tool only utilized by second rate physicians...if they can even be called that. Any "clinic" that advertises the robot (NeoGraft, Artas) over the physician is to be avoided. Also stay away from chain clinics such as Bosley, Hair Club. And beware of celebrity endorsements. Take your sweet time picking a doctor, don't rush into this, now is the time to buckle down and do your homework. A fair price for FUT from a trustworthy surgeon is 4 to 5 dollars a graft. I'd be skeptical of the skill and demand of a doctor who does it for less.

Are you curbing your body's DHT production with the use of finasteride?

It's a result of genetics and technique, but if you have tricky skin elasticity or are a poor healer then even an expertly performed suture closure may not prevent what's known as keloid scarring, the raised scarring you speak of.

A lot of formerly skeptical doctors are changing their tune with the laser light therapies. Some reputable names on this forum included. I know Dr. Gabel will judiciously recommend treatment for patients with low light lasers, especially female patients, and he wasn't always on board with it until better data was available.

Most people are in the ugly duckling phase at this point in the post op process, give it a full calendar year and you'll likely get over this awkward phase. Good luck.

I think it's an educated conjecture to think also that the aging process causes a certain amount of hair loss that strictly limiting the conversion of DHT will not deter.

I'm also weary of clinics that rely on celebrity endorsements. I tell people to avoid chains like Bosely, Ziering, ad anything that resembles their cookie cutter business practices. To me celebrity endorsements and only performing FUE are red flags, is the clinic also using a robot such as the NeoGraft?

Respectfully, is a Norwood 1 age appropriate for the entirety of your life? Most men naturally recede to a 2 by mid life, whether they experience baldness or not. What looks good for a while may not long term, so plan accordingly. Best to pick an age appropriate hairline that can look good as you evolve over the decades without seeming out of place.

Your hair and skin are very light, and your frontal loss advanced, it may take the lion's share of those 7k to restore the front in a cosmetically satisfying density. And crown's are notoriously black holes for grafts, it take a lot of them to get the density most want. Is the doctor you're consulting capable of doing FUE and FUT or just FUE? I always advise patients to go to practices that are apt at both, otherwise you're limiting your options about what is best on a case by case basis. If your clinic will only perform FUE (and with a robot at that, something I personally discourage) then your doctor may be the proverbial hammer that sees everything as a nail. Keep consulting and get many opinions.

I agree, I think performance anxiety can give finasteride patients a negative placebo effect that they imagine, and blame their worked up sense of anxiety on the finasteride usage. Particularly if the patient is under 40 when sexual impotence is almost always psychological in nature.

I think it's two fold in that blood supply is not as ample in the crown as it is in the hairline region and the illusion of density is a more difficult task in the crown than in the frontal scalp, it often takes a great deal of grafts to create a density that can match the rest of the scalp. Crown hair transplantation is a skill unto itself, not everyone does it well.

If I were a surgeon, I'd steer you toward considering FUT. Your hair loss is advanced and you need to maximize your donor hair to get any worthwhile coverage or density for a restoration. FUE is typically good for less advanced cases or if FUT is simply not possible for physiological reasons.

Impressive growth for the seventh month mark. What a drastic difference a hairline can make in framing a face as masculine or feminine, kudos.

Are you on finasteride? Stabilization of your hair loss is crucial before pursuing surgical restoration. Hair loss is progressive, so without stabilizing it you'll be chasing it surgically, possibly at a rapid rate and beyond your donor capacity. Get on Propecia or finasteride ASAP.

Chillax and be merry, just don't pick at your scabs and follow your doc's post op to the letter and you should be just fine. Happy growing.

That's not a very clean post op pic, do you have one the day after for comparison? Your head shouldn't be dripping in blood before you leave the doctor's clinic.