jimbrann

Hi all, My hair covers my temples (how I normally set my hair), but if I have a HT for my temple regions and frontal vertex, can I set my hair as before (i.e. so my native hair covers my temples) without dislodging the newly transplanted grafts? Can grafts be dislodged due to your native hair 'covering' the transplanted grafts/recipient areas?

Could you please share your post-op procedure?

From what I can tell this doctor is one of the most popular names here. I submitted pictures for an online consultation weeks ago and still no reply. Hate to sound impatient but does anybody know how long this clinic takes to respond to prospective customers?

Could you post some pics of your head right after the operation? Curious to see how the grafts were placed in conjunction with your native hair.

Aren't the transplanted hairs supposed to fall out after 3 or so months?

If anybody could share their experiences, it would help. I had a consultation the other week, however during the consultation I was told that the clinic examines/confirms the donor area on the day of operation. Is this normal? I was ideally hoping to have my donor area thoroughly examined before committing to a transplant via a microscopic device (the apparatus all surgeons use to check your donor), in order to determine just how many grafts I have, and the quality of those grafts and quality of my donor area in general. What do you think, can anybody offer me some advice?

My hair loss pattern is close to Pattern 5 Class 4: http://www.alviarmani.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/alvi-armani-hair-loss-scale.jpg Maybe my forelock is a bit weaker but I was told at my consultation today that a HT over the area behind the forelock and in front of the hair behind it, cannot be done as there is still hair there sparsely spread out. Does anybody have any knowledge on this? Also if I shave my forelock all the way down, can I still get hairs transplanted there?

I went in for the consultation today. The physician/surgeon I spoke with was nice enough as was the staff members I spoke to. Anyway here are the questions I asked (and the answers I received in bold) Will the main doctor oversee the HT process and/or be the one to do the actual implantation? 3 main physicians/doctors usually carry out the procedure however the nurses are the ones who do the implanting. Dr makes the slit for the incision for the nurses to implant, and the nurses harvest the hairs after the initial punches are made (fue/artas). Usually up to 3 people (surgeons and nurses) work on the patients head simultaneously. How experienced are your technicians? How long have they been doing the procedures? How long have they been working at this clinic? Nurses have been working at the clinic for 3 - 4 years. He said they are used to the work. How many procedures have you done with FUT, FUE and ARTAS? Depending on the surgeon roughly 2-3000 procedures. This particular clinic carries out roughly 200 procedures per year. What is your policy on 'touch-ups'? I was told that not much is done if the surgery does not meet expectations, unless there is a serious mistake of the clinic. How long have you been doing procedures? Artas since 2012, FUE (powered, rotating punch tool) since 2004. Can I see examples of other patients? Was asked to refer to the websites and other examples from the clinic. What type/size are the instruments used to make recipient incisions? From the hairline 0.8mm, and past the hairline going further back 0.9mm or 1.0mm. How long will the grafts remain outside of the scalp? I didn't get an exact time in hours but I was told ATP and other graft preserving mediums and holding solutions are used (he also mentioned antioxidants which I noted down. And now looking it up again it seems to be a supplement) Can I see some failed procedures? I was told there aren't any prevalent cases but I can check with the concierges to look up their procedure history. After costs and medication costs? If I use their services/buy their medicine etc outside of the costs of the HT. Can I see the surgery consent forms now? Yes. Can I meet or see some other patients of this clinic? I was told if really needed I can request this (and that they would try to contact past patients if anyone was willing) What does everybody think? I would like to go in for a second consultation / q&a soon.

Really really interesting because my hair loss is similar to yours and today I was quoted the same figures (830ish grafts). I was also told that the universal standard is 35 grafts per cm square. The physician/surgeon said a not-so dense packing is done to ensure survival rate. Does that make sense? My main question is, if the frontal forelock area is shaven all the way down can hairs still not be implanted on that area?

I've never heard of increased restlessness on oral min. Could you expand? And how long were you on it for, any regrowth at all?

How much did those 1400 grafts cost? And that would be the hairline shape I'd go for if feasible.

Good luck! After checking your profile it may be best to also get on treatment like finasteride etc. to stabilize your hair loss.

Many thanks, you raised some good points and I'm grateful for your input. And I will leave off shaving the back for a bit, though the sides have been shaved. This consultation may end up looking more like an interrogation from my side. But I will be going in with an open mind and really basic and moderate expectations

Bill, should I shave down the back and sides of my head before the consultation so they can examine my donor region? Can a clinic determine how many grafts are available during the consultation?

Thank you very much Sean this is some awesome advise I never would have thought of. Btw this clinic seemingly offers FUT, FUE and ARTAS. I say seemingly because it seems that the clinic and/or surgeon's preferred method is ARTAS, followed by FUE over FUT. I'm not sure what to make of this so I will have to inquire about the rest during the consultation. Hi Spex, would question 2 still apply in the case of a FUE?

Thank you for the list Spex. I will be using the majority for reference. Also, can anybody help with the questions in the OP?

Before even discussing about any HT procedure my first points of discussion will be about the costs, and depending on that I was thinking to ask: Will the main doctor oversee the HT process and/or be the the one to do the actual implantation? How experienced are your technicians? How long have they been doing the procedures? What is your policy on 'touch-ups'? What is your policy on return visits? Is there anything else I should be aware of or ask during the consultation? Also, if it's possible to examine the condition of my donor area, is it also possible to figure out how many grafts I have and what number of those grafts are 1 follicular unit grafts, 2 follicular unit grafts, 3 follicular unit graft etc.? If so, would it be better to shave the back of my head really low?

So this is why you made that other read (I posted in there too). Our situations are similar, except you've been on fin a lot longer and my hair loss is a bit more severe in the front but still able to style/set my hair. I am considering getting a HT later this year if I can, but I've only recently considered it and it's exactly for the same reason you just gave, i.e. getting increasingly more difficult to style the hair the way I want. I think that's the point of getting a HT for those like us. I think for the others, its for coverage and not so much styling options. How is your donor area?

Can anybody confirm how common this is?

Is there a reason why the grafts are so dense at the front and more spread out across your vertex, was that by design to accommodate 3k grafts?

I think for most people it makes the most sense to post and be active at a time most relevant to one's current situation. I recently registered on this site for that reason as I'm considering a HT, something which I didn't consider 2 years ago, for e.g. For what its worth though, I've browsed this community, hairlosstalk and baldtruthtalk and I think this is the most dynamic community for HT related discussion. Yes it can be a bit disheartening seeing less activity but people are still contributing in addition to the historical data. I also think with the advent of things like Reddit and to a much lesser extent, social media platforms, traditional bulletin like user forums aren't as significant anymore.

OP your situation sounds similar to mine, except I wasn't taking fin or any other preventive measures. This was about 2-3 years ago. I've been on fin for 15 months now and my frontal vertex has thinned making my hair harder to style, hence I'm considering a HT by the end of this year.

Any update on this procedure and are you still on oral minoxidil?

I understand if hairs are extracted 'too high' then there's a chance it's outside of the safe zone however some users commented on this extraction possibly being 'too low'. Isn't the safe zone essentially the back of the head starting from the bottom going up (but not too far up where your crown is). Are hairs not supposed to be extracted from the back of your head at the bottom?

Hi Shera, Bill. Amazing, I honestly was not expecting such thorough answers! Thank you both, especially Bill. I am glad to have registered with this community. Does this mean then when going in for a HT, the clinic will examine your entire scalp to gauge how many total follicular unit grafts you have (i.e. count up all of the single, double, triple, quadruple etc. haired follicular unit grafts as a total number) and divide that by how many grafts you have; which means its not possible to understand your average number unless the clinic examines the entirety of your head? Thank you very much for the insight. Similar to the previous question, does this means that the clinic and HT surgeon can determine with accuracy how much available donor grafts you have as well (and more accurately, the numbers of single, double, triple, quadruple etc. haired follicular units), in addition to how many grafts and specific haired units your head has overall?