Obie one

Hi there j1j9j85- Been a while since I've posted on here but glad to be back. Ahhh.....the old shedding/shock loss phase. As all of the posters have pointed out to you, your hair will grow back and then some. I had my transplant done by Dr. Jerry Wong. All of my hair fell out and was left completely bare. At the six month+ mark, mine just got better with time. It takes time and it seems dreadfully slow waiting for the "grass to grow in the playing field' but it's definitely worth it. You went to a truly outstanding doc so try not to sweat it. Your results will definitely be worth the wait! Best of luck and grow well!

Hi there unfortunate- I think you are going to make not only yourself but the entire rest of the readers on this site very depressed! Fist off, stop with the negative comments. You look just fine. I really don't think that most people are looking at you and thinking wow, look at this guys forehead. Isn't that high ha ha. You are too young to have any surgery done at this point in your life. I would recommend making an appointment with a dermatologist and see if your hair is miniturizing. If it is, they can write you a prescription for Propecia or Proscar. The other thing you can do is to find a good concealer to thicken your hair. Toppik is something that I've used for a long time and it does a really nice job. You can look it up on the internet. One last thing you might think about doing is to style your hair straight back and use some gel or product in it. I know you are brushing your hair down to conceal the high hairline but since your hair tends to get oily and clump together, this might be a really nice look for you. Hope this helps-

I would recommend going to the area on this site where it says find a prescreened surgeon. Since you are in the UK, click on that area and you will find that there are two highly recommended docs. If you are in there area, make an appointment and go see them. Write all of your questions down before going so you won't forget to ask anything. I'm sure the docs will be happy to see you. You can ask them their advice on Propecia and Rogaine for preventative maintenance. You can also get a prescription from them for Propecia or Proscar, the generic version of Propecia.

Hello iamsobored- Currently you have a nice head of hair. If you are worried about hair loss, I would recommend getting on Propecia and or using Rogaine. As Marvin is pointing out in his post, it's nice that you are watching your diet. That's excellent for health benefits. Unfortunately for hair loss, you're wasting your time. When you turn 18 which I believe is the legal age you can take Propecia, I would see a hair doc or your family doc and get on the meds. If you are indeed experiencing male pattern baldness, over the years the chances are it will only progress. Also, if you get on the meds and it at least stops the thinning process, you will save thousands of dollars on hair transplants if that is the route you would go many years in the future.

Hello again hairgreedy- Ahhh....LA, my old stomping grounds. I used to live right smack in the middle of Hollywood. Miss it like crazy. I'm envious you're still there especially during the cold months. I understand your concern. It sounds like what you are saying is that you want to date hot Hollywood type girls. The type that are more interested in model type looking guys that have a really nice head of hair. You also feel that if you are balding that these women won't find you attractive or want anything to do with you. Three years ago when I lived in LA I had several friends who were completely bald so they went ahead and shaved their heads. Some were 5 foot 7 and others were 6' plus. They dated all kinds of models who were represented by top agencies. They didn't let this hair thing be a big deal at all. In fact, they attracted more women than a lot of the model looking guys with great heads of hair. The point? Most women don't care as much about looks as you think they do. They care more about personality and confidence. Sometimes I think that it's not the wonderful hair transplants that make a guy better looking to women, it's the inner confidence it brings to the guy who's had it done. He feels better about himself and more confident so he's more attractive. Advice: If you're going to go through with the hair transplant journey, it's going to be expensive and you're going to go through a lot in the short term. As long as you pick a great top doc and do your homework, it will be worth it if it is important to you which sounds like it is. Currently, the only meds that will stop or help prevent hair loss is Propecia, Proscar and Minoxidil. If you do indeed get a transplant and don't take one of these meds, if it's in your genes to lose more hair then it's going to happen. What you will need to do is get another transplant if you want to fill in the areas that are thinning. It sounds like you have been doing your homework and speaking with some top docs on this site. So good for you on that. They have given their opinion on your case so now you need to decide if getting a hair transplant is the right thing for you.

Hi hairgreedy- I do understand what you are saying. All excellent hair transplant docs and especially the highly recommended ones on this site understand that as well. The top docs I'm sure have seen hundreds and thousands of patients over the years. What they do with the patient in a consultation is to speak with you about your concerns and hear your expecations as to what you are looking for out of a transplant. They will then tell you which way you are headed as far as losing your hair and to make a plan of action.They will also tell you depending on your case what is realistic and what isn't. Depending on your genes and your hairloss pattern, it is most likely that you will need follow up proceedures depending on how you want your hair to look. Patients such as myself who was a norwood 6 will need at least a couple of sessions of dense packing whereas a norwood 1-2 can nail it out in one session. How much donor you have and how elastic your scalp is means everything about how much hair will be available. If you are that concerned about your loss and future loss, you really need to go see 3 good docs and ask their opinion. I would recommend doing your homework and going to see the docs who are highly recommended on this site. You can get some really excellent feedback from patients on this site. Patients who are willing to share their experiences and have "been around the block" with this hair thing. In the end it will be the surgeon who will be able to give the best advice to you on this topic.

hairgreedy- I had a typo in my last post and I didn't want you to get confused. In the first paragraph I said that Propecia will grow hair in the crown and in some cases has stopped and will regrow hair in the hairline. I meant to type Minoxidil,not Propecia.

Hi hairgreedy- What is available on the market for hair loss right now is the "Big Three" Propecia, Proscar and Minoxidil. From studies that have been done, Propeica is supposed to work in the crown but for a few, it has grown some hair or stopped thinning in the hairline. Propecia as you know is supposed to stop and in some cases regrow hair on the scalp. Proscar is a generic brand of Propecia and is less expensive. Because of this, many patients prefer to use this over Propecia/Finesteride. As far as any other treatments or drugs i.e. lotions and potions, you're wasting your time. Don't waste your money because at this point, it's a scam. What you have available right now to you besides the meds is either a hair system or hair transplantation. Hair transplants have come a LONG WAY since I started my journey back in 1998. You now have ultra refined grafting which offers dense packing. Pick and excellent surgeon who specializes in this and it won't look fake or "retarded" if you lose native hair surrounding it. You need to pick three or so recommended top surgeons and interview them and see what they have to say. Understand that if you're in your teens or early 20's, you will be considered too young for a transplant. For right now, these are your options that are available to you.

If you are bald and then a year later you have hair, yes people are going to know you've had something done. If they look at a picture of you with no hair and then you have hair I'm sure that they will put two and two together. Anymore it seems that cosmetic surgery is so much more common than it was 10+ years ago. Men and women get all kinds of small and big things done these days. Surgeries aren't kept under wraps that much by the general public like they used to be. I doubt very seriously if anyone is going to care that much if you've had a transplant. If it's a bad job and obvious, they might stare but I don't think they will be that intrigued to talk about it for 10 hours straight unless they're really that interested.

It is a world of difference! Dr. True did an outstanding job and results are excellent. You should be really pleased with your results.

Hi Tremblant- I do have pretty decent coverage. The thing with my transplant is I had four procedures with a another doc before I went to Hasson and Wong. The previous doc I went to did do all follicular units but he didn't do dense packing as it's done today. I had a terrible donor scar stretching which Dr. Wong did a nice job in getting rid of some of it at the expense of course of the large number of grafts he could have transplanted had I not needed a scar revision. He was able to add 2,650 grafts to the hairline which made a nice difference. Unfortunately, with my characteristics my hair is dark and my skin tone is light. Therefore, it's going to be a bit more noticeable than someone who has blond or gray hair. The Toppik is really to add density to the hairline so it's completely natural looking.If I have another 2,000 grafts to the front, I won't need Toppik anymore.

Hi Tremblant- I am a former norwood 6 patient. So I was bald from the front to the back. I have now a total of 7,650 grafts and plan possibly to do another session in the future. My personal preference is to brush my hair straight back. I hate the way mine looks parted to the side. Too conservative for my taste. Yes, if you have only transplanted hair in the front and mid scalp, it will simply look like a combover. I have had some grafts placed in back so I'm not totally bare in the crown. I also use Toppik to thicken up the work I've had done in front and on the crown. If it's windy, I use a foam gel and hair spray to keep my hair in place. Before my last session with Dr. Jerry Wong, I had to wear my hair much longer to help to conceal the crown. When the wind would blow, my hair would stand up 2 inches and looked totally rediculous. Since my last session, I don't have to wear it nearly as long for good coverage. The slicked back look definately works for me.

Hi happygolucky- Count yourself VERY FORTUNATE that you found this site and you can get honest opinions and feedback from patients who have visited many different clinics and can share their experiences and their results. I wish I had known about this site before undergoing my hair transplant journey. It would have been a much smoother ride. If you have a gut feeling about staying away from a clinic, then you should listen trust that and research that clinic further and ask questions. You did this so good for you on that. You probably saved yourself from a bad job depending of course on who the doc would have been. Continue to research and ask questions. Look at as many before and after pics as you can. There are a lot of great docs doing superb work. I'm sure you'll find an excellent one. Good luck-

Hi gap- Congrats on your recent transplant. Hopefully you will be really pleased with the final outcome in the months to come. I would absolutely NOT genty rub the donor area. It's good you are not scratching it but I would not touch the area at all. I was speaking with one of the hair tech's at Hasson and Wong after my proceedure and the recommended not gently rubbing or massaging the area. If you do, there is a risk of donor scar stretching. I would recommend calling your doc and asking their advice as products you can use to help the itch.

Hi johnboy- It could be a couple of things. As youngsuccess pointed out, if you are speaking about your newly transplanted hairs being frizzy and your other hair is normal, it will calm down as it matures over time. If you are talking about your entire head of hair being frizzy, that could be due to the time of year i.e winter. This is assuming that you are in a cold dry environment.

Hi Sidat- Congrats on your recent transplant. I hope it will turn out well for you. Different docs give different time frames when to get back to strenuous activity. My old doc I went to said I could return to strenuous activities in 2 weeks. I had several surgeries with him and had a terrible 20 mm donor scar. I had a transplant and revision with Dr. Jerry Wong and he recommended one month being fine whereas the hair techs said the longer the better. I went 4.5 months because I wanted to make sure the scar revision had the best chance of holding which mostly it did. I really went above and beyond what Dr. Wong said would be okay. The best advice anyone will probably give you is don't strain the donor area. Don't lift excessive heavy weights, don't do a bunch of twisting with your neck and do a bunch of excercises to strengthen your neck; in other words don't roll around on your head. If you lift weights, you might consider keeping the weights light at this point and keeping your head elevated. You might start with nautilus machines. Don't do one arm dumbell rows. This excercise requires you to look forward while you're rowing which will strain the donor area. Most importantly, talk to your doc and get their feedback.

Hi Paradoxbox- It looks like you have a very nice head of hair. Very thick and I don't think you have to worry about it. Does your crown look thinner than the other parts of your head i.e. can I see scalp? The answer is yes. Do keep in mind that you did say that you wet your hair and moved it around so we could see what you were talking about. Does that mean that you wet your entire head or does that mean that you wet just the crown portion you took a picture of? Anytime you wet hair and move it around as you did, your hair is going to look thinner than if you blow dry your hair and fluff it up some. trust me on this one, I've been completely bald NW 6 and done the transplant thing and have styled my hair to look thick and full. It's good that you are eating certain foods for your diet. That's good for health but in terms of male pattern baldness, you're wasting your time. You can use the "BIG THREE" Propecia, Proscar or Minoxidil. Anything else to prevent hairloss on the market right now is a waste of your time. You might look at some old pics in the meantime to see if your head hair has thinned on the crown. If it has and your hair means that much to you, find a way to pay for Propecia or Proscar in your country whether it's more expensive or not. You can also go see a highly recommended hair transplant doc on this forum but you are very young and I don't think they will want to have you as a patient at this point in time. They can however give their feedback. Hope this helps-

Oooops......

Hello afraid of hairloss- It's really hard to tell if you have hairloss without you sending in pics of you with your hair grown to a respectable lenght. That being said , you really have a few options to see if you are losing your hair: 1.You can grow your hair out to the same lenght you had in pictures from several years back and see if they look different. However, this can prove to be misleading as the lighting might be different in the pic, were you inside? Was the pic taken with a flash? You can't compare this with your scalp now in harsh lighting like sunglight. If there is an occassion when your scalp is going to show it will definately show in bright sunlight. 2. You can ask your friends and family again. 3. You can go see a highly recommended hair transplant doc. You're pretty young to start on the transplant journey. What a hair doc might recommend is for you to start on Propecia, Proscar or Rogaine or a combo. Hope this helps-

Hi Jon- I hate to be the bearer of bad news but Sebbhoraic Dermatitis is a chronic problem that does not go away. You can treat it and it does dissappear for a while only to return later. It sounds like you are treating it successfully barring a bit of flaking. Some people have it much worse than others. Some can have a great deal of build up while others have some mild flaking. It really depends on the person. I too have Sebbhoraic Dermatitis. I don't use anything for it as I simply massage the build up off with my finger tips while I'm in the shower. It seems to work fine for me.

Hi Ned- There could be other factors that could be causing your rash, not necessarily the Propecia. What kind of a doc are you seeing about the rash? Is this your GP or are you seeing a dermatologist? If you haven't seen a dermatologist, I strongly recommend you see one ASAP.

Hi Julius- That's quite a generalization your GP is making. I do believe that he has your best interest at heart and he is telling you what he believes. He is telling you what he has seen in terms of HT results have been bad not to mention the bad donor scar to boot. It would be interesting to find out who did the work on these patients. This could be old work he's seeing. The results will greatly depend on who's doing the transplanting. Yes, patients reults can vary as some are a noorwood 6 while others are a norwood 2 or 3. Skin tone, hair color, texture, curly etc. can all make a difference. I am pale complected and have dark hair. Therefore, my transplant will be more noticeable than someone with blond,light brown or white/gray hair. What you have at your disposal is a great website which lists outstanding docs. You can get all of the support you need from forum members. This is something I never had so count yourself fortunate. If you are going to do a transplant, Tricho closure or not, you are going to have a scar. Pick an outstanding doc who is recommended on this site and your scar has the best chance of being minimal. Bottom line is you need to decide if you want to have hair or if you want to let it go and shave it bald. Of course you can shave it bald but you will see a scar. Since I don't have a tattoo'd head, I can't advise you whether you will damage folicles or not. I'm sure someone else can advise you. You should do your homework and visit 3-4 docs and look at their before and after pics. You should also see if you can meet a couple of their patients and check out the work in person. Hope this helps-

Hi Kozakow- You are far from done for my friend. If you want to see someone who's done for, then you could have taken a look at my scalp several years back (Norwood 6)as well as some of my other fellow baldies. It looks like you are starting to thin a bit but not bad. I wish to God I could be in your shoes. Right now, you have baldness by the rear end. If I would have known about Propecia back in 1998, believe me, I would have started on it immediately and wouldn't have had to restore my head with transplants. Although, I'm glad I did. My suggestion is this, go see a highly recommended trasnplant doc or your family doc and start on Propecia immediately. Look to set up an appointment not yesterday, not tomorrow, TODAY! Quit listening about all of the nasty side effects. Everyone's body is different. You will most likely need to see how you respond to the meds. Worse case scenerio is your body doesn't like it. If this happens, then just stop taking it and get on Rogaine. I used to use Rogaine but it's a real pain as you can't get your head wet or sweat for a certain time period after application.It can also irritate your scalp if you have sensitive skin. My advice, start with Propecia. Much easier.

In other words as Sparky is suggesting, DO YOUR HOMEWORK!!! If you're going to follow through and do a transplant, location and money should NEVER be an obstacle.

Luckyme- Take what every poster has advised to heart. If you still want to go to Bosley for a HT,then re read the posters advice until you don't want to.