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TimeForAction

Regular Member
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    60
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Basic Information

  • Gender
    Male
  • Country
    United States
  • State
    NY

Hair Loss Overview

  • Describe Your Hair Loss Pattern
    Thinning Hair Loss All over the Scalp
  • How long have you been losing your hair?
    10 years +
  • Norwood Level if Known
    Norwood V A
  • What Best Describes Your Goals?
    Maintain and Regrow Hair
    Considering Surgical Hair Restoration

Hair Loss Treatments

  • Have you ever had a hair transplant?
    No
  • Current Non-Surgical Treatment Regime
    Propecia (Finasteride)
    Rogaine Foam

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  1. Just wanted to update, Left side donor looking much better. I was able to buzz down to #2 at 1 month with no obvious issue to anyone .... and buzzed down to 1.5 a few weeks ago and all looked fine. Have not got back to my original buzz 1 on the sides but will do so in the coming weeks and post photos. Trust the process, your doctor and your research!
  2. Melvin and Gatsby make excellent points, yes SMP can be used effectively it seems. I think the goal is to not have to if you don't need to, and that is where you have to be very careful with donor management. Dr Arika is clearly an excellent doctor, I would recommend being up front with her and tell her your goal and possible desire to buzz cut, discuss it with her. It's a balance, we all want the most grafts, but at some point, there is a limit depending on our goals.
  3. About that yes Matt Smart decision, there is a point of satisfaction with this journey - I know I wasn't quite, hoping to be there after this one. But you are playing it smart, no doubt. Thank you Melvin, following along your thread closely... Thank you BDK, it has been a slow but steady gradual reversal process. Of course one must have reasonable expectations, Dr K did outline that clearly on my first consult with him in late 2016. Good question....Every time I ask Dr K that question after a procedure, he always answers with 'I don't know"....which like it or not, he is telling the truthful answer. It is a numbers game as he says, we are simply moving hair from one place to another, and there is no way around the numbers at some point. SO he always recommends reevaluating later on how things look in the donor area, not right after a procedure. Right now at POD 24, I won't lie, my left donor is looking a bit ragged (to me, noone else would be able to tell and I have asked)- but I know I have to give 6 months minimum to reassess. He did mention at least 2000 beard grafts available. I believe he used the 100 or so beard grafts as a bonus for me, as we had only planned for up to 1200 initially. He asked me if I wanted to use 100 beard or save it for the future, I said sure why not. I feel like he just wanted to give some extra without jeopardizing the scalp donor, I appreciated it.
  4. I have not had any issues buzz cutting after my FUE HTs, you can see my posts. In fact this is how I wear my hair. Perhaps my darker skin tone helps, but I would suspect that white dot scarring would actually be even more visible on me. I buzz down to 1 on the sides everytime, sometimes even 0.5 After my latest procedure, I will check again but I suspect 1 will be fine again.
  5. All I can tell you while I was in Chicago just over a week ago, is that Dr K had high praise for his student Boomer who will be working exclusively in hair restoration it seems. I don't think he would allow someone to operate in the prestigious hair restoration surgical center he built up over the years, unless he had confidence in them. As in medical training, fellowships in subspecialties are usually 1-2 years, so that is a good time frame to absorb a lot from one of the world's most experienced surgeon. Having said that, my question would be how many procedures has Dr Shah done under the supervision of Dr. K, and then subsequently, if you want to ask how many has he done by himself. One day, he will be doing his first procedure by himself, and I am sure over time he will do great if Dr K has that level of confidence in him, you just have to decide where you want to fit into that timeline of experience.
  6. I know you are speaking tongue in cheek, but rest assured, I am still driving the same car for the last 7 years 😁
  7. Yes I recall you mentioned that TorontoMan. I am also originally from Canada myself, live in the US now. I had consulted with Rahal way back in the day. Do you have any plans for your hair ? I think with the right skilled surgeon, buzzing your hair can always be an option.
  8. Fair point curious, I updated my previous thread as I grew my hair out ONCE, and once only, lol. See here: Definitely still looks better buzzed, though I am lazy and don't attempt to style my hair at baseline. I am on fin.
  9. Here were some pics that I took at 10 months postop grown out 6 weeks under the same bathroom lighting (a bit harsher in fact as I took these myself). This is the longest hair I had in 10 years, keep in mind that I am originally a NW4-5. As you can see, the sides remain very thick in relation the lower density on top , and I also did not style or add anything to my hair.....so I started buzzing it to #3 again on top. For this reason, I also went for another procedure for added density, with Dr Konior February 2022.
  10. Hair greed is certainly real - I am postop my 4th procedure with Dr. Konior, who was gracious enough to fit me in on this past Valentine's Day- as he said, no better gift than hair follicles! 😂 Here is a link to my 3rd procedure with links to previous procedures. I was not necessarily going to post yet another thread, but I suppose I can be of assistance to those who are wondering about large FUE numbers at Chicago Hair Institute. Originally we planned for 800-1200 grafts, depending on what the donor could give. He managed to extract 1300 from the scalp and Dr K also used 100 beard grafts this time around, all of this was much appreciated, or maybe he is just trying to get rid of me once and for all!? 😆 For this go around, the goal was to add density in the crown and mid-scalp and frontal area behind the hairline, see this pic from my previous thread. He divided the area into 2 zones, with the plan of placing half of the grafts in each zone (you can see the marker lines in the following photos). I'm not one to keep exact numbers, but such division means that I have now had approximately 2550 up front, 1850 in the crown, and 1000 in the midscalp area, for a total of approx 5400 FUE grafts. Here are the 4 day postop photos below, which clearly show the goal for added density (compared to the above photo): As usual, Ilisa, Kasia, Karen, the entire team take care of you from the minute you arrive, they are all simply top notch. Postop care is daily at the clinic with cleaning of the donor. Unfortunately I had to leave a day early due to bad weather, but it was no big deal as things went as planned. As for Dr Konior updates, he is still the same 'passionate about hair' doc I met back in 2016. Same artistry, same surgical precision and same attention to detail. Nothing seems to have changed and he was still doing a surgery every day of the week that I was in town- but still made sure to pop in to see me daily and chat.
  11. Thank you for the kind words. I have learned during this process that it’s the “illusion of density “ that HTs are trying to achieve , Dr K was very up front with that when I consulted way back in 2017. Keeping the hair short adds to that illusion I believe. I was never big on styling my hair , so for me not a big deal. But I think one has to keep expectations in check depending on the amount of hair loss, I had a lot. I will say that if my crown density improves , I will grow my hair out longer a bit. Nowadays I am going 2-3 weeks without a hair cut, and it’s not bothering me.... and I have thought of just cutting the sides. It would probably look good now with some more hair on top . Perhaps when I’m one year post op I will give it a try and post some pics here.
  12. Hello everyone here are some pics taken a couple weeks ago, so they would be 4 month postop, right after a haircut (first time postop with the 1 guard on the sides) and in the same lighting as my usual pictures.
  13. Yes I don’t think you have to be in the medical field at all to relate, professionally speaking. The descriptors you used are something we can all understand in one way or another. thank you for the kind analysis. 😀
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