esrec

Hot chicks and drinks supplied in this guesthouse too? Rahal might be onto something.

how many total grafts? And did you change your hair color?

The challenge is age / relative to hair loss, not simply "age, "or degree of hair loss''. If you were 24 and needed 2500-300 grafts I dont think you'd see the same reaction. Conversely, if you were 50 years old and needed 1500 grafts you wouldn't see any reaction. The patient absolutely needs to do whats best for his condition. Its a personal decision, one that must weigh the practical (Age, donor supply, candidacy) and psychological ( how much are you currently suffering?) I think its important to delay at least a year from when you first hit your mental breaking point. Not just to exercise patience, but to really calibrate your situation. I waited 3 yrs after my first mental breaking point. Slightly too long, as I suffered more than I should have allowed myself to, but it also makes the decision to move forward that much easier. Best advice--be your own devils advocate. Ask the tough questions and be honest with yourself. The worst lies are the ones we tell ourselves. Best of luck.

Killer work doc.

Both sides make sense. Depending on your tendency to "self loathe" make your decision. Like the guys said, its purely psychological at 3 weeks.

Probationary status would make the most sense IMO if the evidence is in fact incriminating. To incentivize a doctor to change practices back to a previous standard in order to remain in strong forum standing leaves a poor taste and sends the wrong message. Doctors should be demonstrating top notch quality control because they are DOCTORS, not because their business is being threatened by poor feedback. It's the ultimate slap in the face to patients, and insult to top doctors who maintain their quality of patient care because they do have high ethical standards. Agreed the doctor should be able to explain himself. We might be missing information that changes the entire narrative. Although, I'm not sure what he can say, if you do in fact have sufficient evidence of poor outcomes and suspect forum behavior. Thanks for the update.

How old is he?

Skeptical. That much coverage for 2600 grafts doesnt seeem feasible.

Ive had the same issue lately. I contacted the mods but no response. Try the same.

Right? I thought so too. First surgery but from what I've read at least....Should I be worried / pleased / indifferent? I had no redness, irritation, or even scabs. And Ive been showering/bathing and massaging delicately with shampoo--following directions pretty carefully. I havent seen hair that long in those areas in 10 years

4 week post op pics attached. Nothing significant to report, recipient area still relatively unchanged. Native hair (directly behind middle/front) was shaved, coming in slowly.

Much higher than reported. Some people respond nicely, others have horror stories. Personal decision, but lets just call it controversial. Neither works great on hairline better for crown. Point wasnt to discredit validity, they are valuable. I think the HT stigma around naturalness is most pervasive. I feel you on not stepping on toes...I think its easier if you shoulder it. " I was researching this, and found out this, can you believe these advancements, etc?" Depending on his curiosity level, you can go further, or not. Most people feel helpless when options dont exist. Do you think he realizes he has options?

The drugs are ok. Lets be honest. Fin is great at stabilizing and comes with potentially great consequences. Hairline regrowth quite rare. Min is fine but the stats on % who see benefit are low. Listen these are great tools--but to think we've had ZERO medical advances in the past 15 years is pretty disappointing. Maybe Latisse? Havent heard much about that. Laser, PRP? Supposedly gaining populairty for maintenance. The biggest culprit IMO is the stigma of HT naturalness. Most guys in their 20s-30s-40s remember back to terrible tv infomercials on transplants in our adolescence, or watched our parents balding bc they werent privy to current HT technology during their prime. The educated are few and far between. Net / Net: Most people arent aware of the advancements made by FUT and FUE. The cost is nothing in grand scheme--save some cash, find a low interest CC, or convince yourself that the cost over 10 years averages out to an extra monthly cell phone bill. You should help your buddy.

Admittedly did not. I stopped at Dr B and Feller in NY. By that time with the assistance of the group I expanded my search. However, Dr. Wesley's office did remove my staples. SMG set me up with him to 14 days after. We only spoke for a few minutes that day, but found that to be a pretty classy move. With all the concerns lately around beside manner, that was top notch.

Continue and expand your research--do not limit yourself by geography. Most top clinics will assist with the cost. The top guys (mentioned above) are cheaper and better and do no charge for consults. Ironic, right? Stig's list is a great start. At minimum, you can set up phone consults and decide if you need to see them in person. Share some pics with the group. It will help guide opinions.

Nice work Dr. Wesley!

So you went in there got nervous and came back to the forum? You need to ask these questions to them directly. You have a right as a patient to know. In this case youre in good hands but step up and ask the tough questions that'll give you calm.

Stig, I dont want to play conspiracy theorist but if what you're suggesting is true then the entire credibility of this forum is non-existent. I personally don't believe that all docs deploy a team to pump up their status on the boards. That said---your homework should go beyond listening to people on the board. I personally spoke with 8 doctors. Phyisician coordinators are great but personally can't believe people would agree to surgery without talking to the doc himself. Baffling to me. I asked every doc personally who he would choose if the procedure was being done on himself. I narrowed my search based on who was mentioned. Pure and simple Beyond that, you can ask to speak with previous patients. There's no shortage of confirmation you can seek if you choose to conduct due diligence. If a doctor rushes you, or doesnt answer all of your quesitons--run. If you dont have access to them personally-run. Just a shame we're here right now. Hopefully mods step up their game.

agreed. credibility at stake.

Good for you Win. Jealous that you can go out in public. To your credit, you had/have a pretty health head of hair to start with. I think once I shed I'll be ok to lightly mask w agents and remove the hat, but I look pretty f'n awkward at the moment. Anything else notable to report or feeling pretty good?

But isnt this the VERY distinction between the doctors than can and should be trusted and those who should not? I cannot imagine anything resembling this with a Konior, Shapiro, H+W, Feller, Rahal, etc. I agree that many can be naive, which is only compounded by an industry with inherent shadiness (ALL areas of elective and plastic surgery are like this--purely cosmetic even worse) but thats why we have to be our own doctors sometimes and scrutinize prior to surgery. The bar will be raised if patients demand a certain standard. Paleo--I truly respect what you've done here. You've persisted despite many doubting you and trying to silence you. I agree you should still focus all this motivated energy on next steps with a different doctor, but I hope the moderators take action now.

This seems premature---24 and 1500 grafts?

I was thinking the other day about the difference between insecurity and vanity as it relates to hair loss. Insecurity is caring or worrying how others perceive your hair loss--worrying that they'll judge you, how it will impact your career, etc. This can impact you socially on a variety of levels, even if artificially. Vanity is much deeper and innate. Vanity has you looking in the mirror 20 times a day, or combing your hair for 3 yrs when nobody else is even around. I remember looking at my dads hairline when I was 12 yrs old. It's completely independent of outside perception. It's you vs you. I think there's people who are deeply effected by this (they usually take notice, either verbally or non-verbally) and the others that simply dont care bc the fear of hair loss is absent from their mind. Why is one fat guy happy and another is depressed?

merely speculative but if you're itching/scratching a recently closed wound and an infection subsequently occured I think its totally possible the two are correlated. Its possible you may not have healed perfectly anyway, but no doubt the scratching didnt help. Once mostly healed you can also apply Mederma which can help w the appearance.

maybe a silly question---but if the itching is that bad, and you've suffered bad scars, why havent you tried a prescription strength anti-itch cream during post-op?