Shera

Benny, I think you should take the advice from the earlier posts. You have just committed to a surgery which you have most probably invested alot of your time, energy and resource. If you have the capacity to stay another few days to rest and recoup then you should do so. It is difficult to assess how you will feel the following day after surgery, every patient is different. Also your grafts are still at risk and your head will be sore and and you may feel other discomfort too. I personally insist that long haul patients stay at least 3 nights following surgery. It's not rocket science, just plain old common sense!

The only time donor hair is not a requirement for a hair transplant is when you are in possession of a lamp containing a magic genie.

Hey Nik, You are fine to eat spicy foods. Thousand of Indians go for hair transplants each year and have a staple diet that revolves around chilly food, anything else would probably not agree with them. Sweating is also OK, it will cause you no harm to your transplanted hairs.

Hey HTsoon, Your hair is looking great, it must be unimaginable right now for you to think of yourself as a balding Norwood 6. Well done and well deserved. Mission Accomplished.

Hi, in my case Dr Bhatti completed 100% of the extractions, 100% of the slits and closely supervised the graft placement which was completed by his long serving experienced technicians.

Hi Itzajit, If you wish I can personally go through the whole process with you including your options and associated costs. I will see what I can do for you. Just email me at the address below.

And here's the patient video.....Enjoy

I personally wouldn't advise a patient to buzz his/her hair in the implantation zone at all. Why?...... its going to fall out anyway over the coming weeks, buzzing just seems so unnecessary at this particular time. If they insist I would strongly advise them to at least wait until the crusts have all fallen off after about 10 to 14 days, and even then as Dolph states, be very gentle.

Hi David, You will be a massive loss to the forum. Thanks for all the hard work, patience and understanding. You will be missed. All the best.

If you have a prescription for the meds you should be covered. Also just put them in your hold luggage, the chances of being searched and asked specifically about the meds are remote.

This guy was 24, his hair loss was starting to affect his confidence so he went and got it done and hasn't looked back since. http://www.hairrestorationnetwork.com/eve/185576-dr-bhatti-9-months-result-uk-patient-24-years-old-2218-fue-grafts.html

You are right, there doesn't seem to be any results of scar revision posted. I suppose many scar revision patients don't feel the need to post a result for such a minor procedure which probably makes sense. It's hard enough to encourage standard patients to post their progress and results as it is, the term "getting blood out of a stone" does spring to mind. I would say that less than 1% of patients actually post their results. I will ask some of my patients from the UK for pics, again they may be reluctant to share them. In the meantime, have a look at the link below 5 Points to be noted while repairing a Strip Scar. - Darling Buds Hair Transplant Center

Can you post some clear pictures of your scalp?

Hey Kickbuttmario, So you went through with the transplant in the end.....congratulations. As mentioned by Mikey, the implants placed to your side areas are actually your temple points and not your side burns. You needed these areas addressed because the traction alopecia had eroded away your hair here as can be seen in the pic which I lifted from your previous thread. Without addressing these areas the final result will have looked half cooked. As it stands, once grown out hopefully the end result will help frame your face and give you the confidence to move on. Incidentally how many grafts did you have implanted?

I would just say that we are all different and the timing of the implanted hairs to fall out is generally 4 to 12 weeks. Often referred to as the "ugly duckling stage", if you search the forum for this phrase then I'm sure you will encounter many folk with similar experience as you. It's probably for the best not to read too much into it after just 1 month.

In answer to your question, Yes, it is quite normal for your implanted grafts to still be intact a month on. In approximately 95% of cases your implanted hairs will start to fall out over the coming days/weeks. There is no cause for concern.

I don't think any anyone is saying its a poor result, 8 months is far too early to judge, you will have to wait 12 - 18 months for the final result. Your clinic should have told you this. Also there does not appear to be much concentration of placement of grafts in the crown (could be mistaken) as already mentioned, surely this would have been discussed in your surgery plan. I just think that you need to provide more info on the actual procedure for an accurate judgement to be made. If the reasons for having surgery was to primarily address your crown area and the front was still strong then why were so many grafts placed at the front? Try to provide some much better clearer before, post and present pics and tell us the exact reasons behind you going for transplant surgery. The vague picture you have provided as your pre-op doesn't even make you look like an immediate candidate for surgery, more so a candidate for meds.

Hey Punk, I would say there is definitely hope for you, it all depends on whether you want to give it a go. Obviously the chances of a better result will greatly increase with your choice of surgeon and whether they have a proven track record in dealing with challenging cases such as yours. It's quite natural for you to constantly change your mind, it does at first feel like a huge commitment. Once you have committed your procedure date can't come soon enough and once you've had the procedure you will probably look back and think why you didn't have it done much sooner. That's the feedback I usually get. Again if you have a procedure completed by a reputable surgeon then the chances that your final result will look awful will be greatly reduced. I personally haven't yet come across a result with any of my patients that I would say looks awful after the 12-18 months growth period. Of course if it does look awful then it's important to get reassurance from your surgeon that he/she will do everything to put it right. In your case, with your limited donor I would say you will have one good crack at this, and possibly one chance to put it right if it doesn't work out to plan. You could go for the 3000 - 3500 grafts (scalp & body) in the first procedure and then a further 1500 - 2000 grafts (scalp & body) in the second procedure giving you a total of 4500 - 5500 which should be enough grafts to give you the illusion of a full set of hair. (for the hairline and mid scalp and possibly some coverage for the crown too). Looking back at your pics, I personally think it will make a huge difference. To create the optimal aesthetic illusion, you should grow your hair out to an inch - an inch and a half at the front and top, and you should keep your hair at the back to a grade 4/5 to make it look more full. This should hide any possible FUE scarring but I think it will be much more difficult to hide the scars that could result from FUT. You need to be aware of this. Again I hope that helps.

Hi, If you are taking "mild DHT inhibitors" then you should switch to taking Finasteride. I am confident you should start to see a noticeable improvement in your hair after 3-4 months. After about 6 months it will be clearer for you on what path to take.

Hey Punk, You are right in assuming that your hair loss has stabilised now at the age of 43. Now looking at your donor area, it doesn't look the best but having it cut so short doesn't always do it justice in photos. I would say that you could get about 2500-3000 grafts from there at the most. This will however result in an even thinner look so its best not to over harvest. Again the photos can be deceiving. Depending on how it looks when it is grown out you may be able to go for a second surgery of approximately 1000 grafts. It really depends on how you want the back of your head to look. In your case it will be a trade off. It will also be possible to harvest a further 500 grafts from your beard and 500 grafts from your chest as you have stated you have plenty in these regions. That's an estimate of 3500 grafts that can be used to build you an age appropriate hairline, slightly reinforce your temple points and fill in your mid scalp. If you look at my own pics, you can see what can be achieved with this amount of grafts if all the factors affecting a final result weigh in your favour. Depending on the outcome of this surgery, you will have the option of topping it up with approximately half the grafts to add more density and perhaps add some grafts to your crown area. It's best to wait 9-12 months before going for part 2. Most clinics will advise you use DHT inhibitors and in particular try Finasteride if you already have not done so. This will help you preserve your existing native hair and in my opinion judging from patient results will help your new transplanted hairs too. You could look into topical Finasteride but I would personally try the normal stuff first, in the vast majority of cases there are no issues.

Looks like Mikey answered your questions perfectly. Here in the UK, Fin is prescribed by your doctor. He/she may be reluctant to offer you a prescription unless you make a strong case for how your hairloss is affecting your life. I have seen mentioned on this site recently that you can get a prescription online too through the Boots website. Most of the guys I know use generic Finasteride which can be obtained at a fraction of the price of the named brand. Most clinics will advise you to try the Fin first. As previously mention Fin use could recover the miniaturising hairs you have now to a state where a hair transplant will no longer be required for the time being. If you go down the path of HT surgery then Fin use will help prepare your native hair against possible shock loss. Its probably best to give it about 5-6 months to see the full effect of Fin usage. As for recommendations for surgeons use the "Find a surgeon" link directly above. You could contact me direct if you wish to consider my surgeon or contact recent patients of his here in the UK.

Hi Josh, From your pic I can see a lot of miniaturizing hairs in your temple regions. It is possible that the use of Finasteride will help reverse this process giving you something back. It depends on whether you want to commit to long term usage knowing the risks which are well documented on this site. Many patients see positive results as early as 6 weeks, in others it can take 3-4 months. Your other option is to have a small procedure of approximately 2000 grafts to fill the temple areas.

If it took 10 years for you to feel your scalp after your previous FUT then I would personally opt for FUE. In your case you have more than enough grafts available for a 3500+ FUE procedure and you will have enough banked for future smaller procedures. In the hands of a highly skilled and experienced surgeon, without getting into a debate, I believe the yield between FUT and FUE is very small if any at all. That's my opinion gained from my own result and the results of the many patient journeys I have managed.

Hi Hairaway, I'm not really sure whether you are a diffuse thinner, your hair beyond your frontal third and sides still looks thick and healthy. You could just be experiencing an aggressive balding pattern at a relatively young age. The Finasteride should make a difference and slow down any further hair loss as well as preparing you for possible shock loss post surgery. At the age of 24, many doctors will be reluctant to operate on you however it really depends on how it is affecting your life now. Is it stopping you from being the person you want to be? Are there other options for you? You are already using concealers which you could continue to use for another few years and see where your balding takes you. Will it stabilise or become more aggressive? Only time will tell. It seems you have thought about the 3000 grafts in the hope that there will be a magic cure some way down the line. We all had them same thoughts and the magic cure never came along for us. I think if you do go ahead with surgery then you need to be aware that you will possibly need further surgeries down the line to keep up with continued hairloss. You may at some point have to utilise body hair too, so it may be wise to be economical with your grafts. But if you are going to blow a lot of them, then blowing them on your hairline and frontal third isn't a bad thing. Saying that, successful hair surgery will give you the opportunity to enjoy the rest of your twenties and put the hair loss issues aside, at least for the short term.

$50 a graft:eek: My procedure would have cost a mind blowing $165,250:mad: