mikeyhwk

If its not shock loss it's possible that your native hair up front is just following it's natural progression and thinning over time and that it's not the transplanted hair that is going anywhere. If that is the case then you know it's likely not coming back.

If you're open to strip absolutely the best course of action. Maximize the amount of usable donors.

It's like choosing between a Ferrari and a Lambo...comes down to preference ( what factors you value over others, how you feel about each one after your consult ) but at the end of the day you're still getting an elite sports car either way.

Konior Diep Vories Those 3 would be the top guys in the US for fue but Dr Shapiro and Dr Wesley both have some fantastic fue results as well... i just havent seen as many examples from them as from the from the first 3 but theyd be worth looking into as well.

I know you read a lot of studies but if you come across that study about topical steroids phasing hairs out of the anagen stage again i'd be interested in reading it. I tried a quick google search but just keep coming up on alopecia studies.

I didn't say Dr Bisanga was an authority on steroids nor did I say Dr Lorenzo was but you did say that Dr B does prescribe clobetasol too often, I'm saying it doesn't take an authority to observe something that is obvious. If the majority of patients using clobetasol were under performing with regards to their transplants I feel like that variable would've been noted and eliminated by now, not just by these docs but every transplant doc by now.. how is it not common knowledge among transplant docs already? Neither dr had me running it for extended periods and I don't know how long the poster here has been scripted it so I ask again what do you consider a long time frame. From what I've been told 50ml per week for 4 weeks or less on the scalp is not going to cause any long term damage and I was nowhere near that amount per week and went just over 4 weeks and this time Im about done with it at about 4 weeks so maybe it is something the doctors are accounting for and have run it in a way that is not having a negative effect? The shampoo is .05 you are correct. This isn't personal as I said im just trying to get some answers but you're making some claims about knowing better than the docs, so I think its fair to ask how you know more, what experience you have diagnosing and the patients you've seen having negative effects from its use and on what basis that Dr B's and Lorenzos experience with patients using these products isn't as relevant to what you know. I think it's fairly common knowledge that corticosteroids shouldn't be used multiple months at high dosages but on the window that these docs prescribed, that's all I want to get to the bottom of.

We've been over this before, I didn't have any issues with clobetasol on my first procedure and had Dr Lorenzo also recommend it post my 2nd procedure so it's not just dr Bisanga. I know in my case Dr B ran it thru Dr Meyer who is herself a dermatologist and his partner in their spain transplant clinics and Dr Lorenzos done more fue surgeries than most docs in the world, between the 2 main docs their experience is unmatched.. so I highly doubt these drs would be prescribing anything that would be harmful to the end result and If it was harmful I am sure they'd have seen it by now and ceased it's recommendation. I am not doubting your clobetasol experience but it may just be possible that you're experience isn't the norm and that not using clobetasol for the patients who are prescribed it post op, the result would be worse without clobetasol than the small percentage it works against growth. I will email dr Lorenzo and ask for his take on clobetasol and it's effect on ht's.

In my particular case no, maybe a few but overwhelmingly no, but I would say I was on the earlier end of the growth spectrum. As you know we all grow at different rates but what I noticed was that a lot of the hairs that were later growing, the month 4 and 5 hairs, started to hit a length that made them noticeable and a lot of those really faint weak hairs that looked sort of lifeless started to take on the characteristics of my regular hair so the combination made it begin to look full and filled out.

Hey, there is definite thickening up of the hairs from month 5.5 to 6.5 you can see that a lot more hairs are filling in the spots that had wider gaps in the previous month...this was about the point where some of those weak ass hairs that didn't photograph well started to take shape and started to fill out the result for me and it looks to be where you're at now as well. I look forward to see what happens over the next month and a half, I think we'll continue to see some big changes.

Both the above posters are right. JeanLuc has the top 5 list and Castillos right in that Lorenzo would be my number one choice, especially for diffuse loss, but for fue period...I have diffuse loss and he's the chair I was in just 2 months ago

lol, you're not losing any gains in a month, you may flatten out a bit and lose a little conditioning but muscle memory will bounce you back within a couple weeks...unless you're on heavy aas and decide to shut it down for good post transplant, then you may see regression but then that would happen just by stopping aas not because of the time off alone. I did fue and was back at it within 2 weeks, I could've stepped on stage shortly after if needed, I didn't lose any ground. I have a good buddy who has his pro card who had fut done, he was out 6 weeks, he's on heavy aas but he also didn't lose anything but conditioning, not muscle.

I'm am 100% on the side of a doctor charging for his time, I consult for my business and I always charge, there is a cost for expertise...but I also believe in not trying to pad costs for a patient/customer...if you use the doctor, the clinic should deduct the cost of the consult, or throw in a few extra grafts. If a customer doesn't use a clinic then they get to keep the consult fee. I have to admit no matter how talented the doc if he's charging me even 10 dollars for a consult and then 20k for a procedure and he can't take that 10 bucks off, it makes me think the money is the priority, not my result. In my line of work, I'm working with companies with 25+ million dollar budgets on average so paying my consulting fee amounts to peanuts and it's not coming out of their pockets directly but I still deduct that consult fee if their project signs on.

I had Drs Hasson and Dr Lorenzo both tell me they think Minoxidil sucks and patients only need fin. In my case Minoxidil made my scalp worse, I had a bit of regrowth but the inflammation it caused was a far bigger negative than any positives it had for my hair so I ended up stopping it and I'm happy I did. No more inflammation no more dry flaky scalp where I applied it, and im off the life long application train.

Very ethical of Dr Bhatti but what a frustrating experience. If you are intent on fue, I know you're down on leaving the country again but if Dieps prices are too high for you, then you are going to be largely out of luck with most docs in the US outside of Dr Vories for fue as they are all in that 7-10 us per graft ball park. My initial thought would have been Dr Umar as he has specialized tools to extract difficult bodyhair which may well translate well into curly hair as well but he's around 10 us per graft so if Dieps pricy, you're not gonna like Umars pricing. If not there, I would think again about going abroad and look into Drs Bisanga and Lupanzula, not for nothing but who is going to know African hair better than African doctors and both are among the best fue suregons in the world doing tons of procedures so you'd get doctors who have probably encountered your hair type more often than Dr Bhatti, they are both worth a consult at the very least....or as Rappy said maybe look into FUT maybe it's a better route.

Fair enough, it sounded as tho the Dr was insisting on the conservative hairline initially but if it was a mutually agreed upon decision that is a completely different scenario. Dr Feriduni does excellent work so I expect nothing less than a stellar result, happy growing!

Ditto this question... usually a doc presses a patient not to go too low for fear of both creating a juvenile hairline and using up unnecessary donor supply but with no miniaturization you could've afforded to be more aggressive than that if you so chose without creating a juvenile hair line. Why what his rationale for saying please don't go lower than this if you have everything working in your favor?

Having had a consult with Dr Gabel, I tend to believe it is genuine concern coming from his trying to contact you, that said, I also understand completely why you're choosing to pass based on your experience. I also had a very poor communication experience with a Dr that is near the top of most peoples list as an elite fue surgeon and it was the primary factor in why I didn't go with him. You have to have confidence in your doctor and if you get a reason that makes you lose confidence, feel unimportant what have you, then you're within your right to find one that you ultimately feel better with. I don't think it's fair to bash any poster for sharing an experience that was negative but it's also fair for other posters to share their positive experiences as well . I did not use Dr Gabel but my experience in consult with him was excellent so I tend to believe people have had very good experiences with this doctor but I also believe even in great clinics mistakes happen so what's done is done, the Dr has reached out, and the patient has decided to go another route and fair enough on both sides. Don't let this experience with the forum dishearten you random, there are good people here and lots of experience and insights to pick up from here.

For either of the doctors, these grafts that were scored but could not be pulled free, what happens with them in the scalp. Do they continue to grow as normal, do they die forever, something else altogether? if they survive and continue to grow can they possibly be extracted down the road again?.

What a transformation, I have no idea what was going on with the poor guys hair pre op but a much needed change, excellent work. He must be ecstatic. Now tell him to dye it and look mid 30s again

thank you for sharing this Dr Vories, this is fascinating, I too would be interested to know the info Dr Bloxham asked about re: growth rate over the remaining 2500 op... but this is very impressive to get that growth in that scar tissue, that area looks highly inhospitable to grafts. Further thank you for being brave enough to willingly walk back in front of the Feller freight train that is coming your way It's nice to have a fue doctor to help balance some of the discussion, and it'd be great to hear your take on some of the numbers stated about FUE growth rates recently.

Dr Shapiros clinic is running their own fut/fue study at the moment and Dr Josephitis had this to say: "preliminary results have been very promising! At this point, there is very little to no differences in the results of the recipient in the FUT vs FUE side. The growth, yield, and density visually appears to be the same. This is from photography alone. As I mentioned, hair counts have not yet been fully counted. This is good news though for patients debating whether to go with the FUT or FUE."

I can't wait for this study to wrap up so all the data can come out, those prelim results are very exciting to hear! thank you for sharing Dr Josepthitis.

I've only been able to come up with the Dr Beehner study so far...if it's not too much trouble could you link the Wesley study? I'd love to read it. I've googled and i just see posts where he talks about Beehners study and I got about 10 pages into your post history and gave up lol

Great result! and hearing you were pretty much bald before, makes it even more impressive. You look way younger than 54

That is fascinating, Konior is one doctor who can nail both of these surgeries out of the park consistently but built his name on FUT and would have year long waiting lists on FUT alone that he never would have to bother offering FUE if he didn't think the results were near what he could achieve with FUT and if he didn't feel it would be a benefit to his patients. That he led you towards FUE when you were open to either says a lot.