jjsrader

Just go with BHR Athens - imho. 

You have male pattern baldness & have had hair restoration surgery.  To wear your hair very long will never look naturally thick from top to sides to back (like females or men with thick non-balding hair).  I would grow out the sides & do higher-end extensions for the back that do the least damage to your hair.

Best of both worlds.

I've had 9K+ grafts and have grown my hair quite long (24-40cm) but I always go back to short hair because the 'illusion' of density (top of scalp & frontal hairline) just doesn't have the 'weight'/bulk necessary to keep the look to my satisfaction under a variety of conditions.

You could go a bit longer on top & hairline where you still have the illusion of most density -whilst going alot longer on sides and back w/extensions.

Good luck!

So do another surgery - very few here can relate to your concerns though.

I looked at the 'comparative' photos.  Ya'll that love 'wall of hair' hairlines are satisfied w/this surgeon's work.  Fine - I was just thinking of longer-term results & prefer hairlines w/more single-follicular units & a WIDER zone of finer-single-haired follicles before putting thicker 2-3-4 haired units behind & blending a bit more artistically.

To my eyes his hairlines look very similar for all his patients vs a more 'boutique' style surgeon who really takes the time & artistry to give very individualistic & unique hairlines across all hairloss/head shape types etc...

I'm sure he gets all the patients he needs so it's always good to look at a wide body of work so all of us can really drill down & pick a surgeon that fits our personal aesthetics as well.

Cheers!

Erdogan - turned art & science into a moneygrab.  I would have respected him if he stopped doing surgery & hand-picked & trained just a couple really talented protege's & trusted experienced techs & been the 'jewel of Turkey' - whilst still making a handsome living.  He went another way.

I'm sure he sleeps on piles of cash everynight - very restorative for him I am sure.

Good deal - well done.

This does not imho look like natural temporal closure for a caucasian nor is the dense packing adequate (singles) before the wall of multis.  Good yield for sure - I'd like to see this surgeon take more care & better aesthetics in these areas - but what do I know?

It's disgusting (air).  In & out as quickly as possible.   Then again if it's your only time there - what can an extra day or two do to your lungs in the long term?  Who knows.

Ron Shapiro, Arocha, Cooley, & Gabel are all steady hands imho.

I'm sure you will be fine.  It's such quality work.  Even if let's say 5-10% of the grafts were taken a bit 'high' in the donor - if you eventually get on preventative meds (or are already on them) or even if you don't - you may not lose this hair for many many years if at all.

So, I wouldn't be too concerned.  H&W utilize the entire donor zone frequently & take into account donor hair quality & probably look for lack of any miniaturization in those higher-up donor zones and if they are all clear - they take a small % from that area.  That's my guesstimate of what your surgeon is thinking.

On 5/20/2022 at 2:45 PM, HappyMan2021 said:

curious how you were meeting college girls as a 38 yr old?

I'm in my 30s too and would be interested in dating college girls. College just seems like a completely different world than where I am currently.

It was online & then networking and being young at heart.  I tended to choose very intelligent but naive types who came to Chicago for college (grew up in other states).  I've always found extremely intelligent women regardless of age to be more open-minded to anything goes once they've sized you up as equally intelligent & more unique than the 'bro' type.

I re-inforced my frontal 1/3rd w/Dr. Feller in 2004 at age 38.  I then went on a year-long tear and dated several 19 year olds at the University of Chicago.  Without being able to have that hairstyle (for the time) - never would have had such fun. 

Alas, even w/strong meds for many years I had to have another massive surgery in '16 to fill in all the hair I lost mid-scalp to crown - but the '04 surgery bought me about 7 more years of philandering w/confidence I was not an overtly balding perv.

If you never want the hairs - just do a bunch of sessions of electrolysis.

Who is this guy & ya'll are obsessed!  😆

If you do temple reconstruction, it's imperative that the SURGEON looks over the entire shaved donor and cherry picks the areas that have the FINEST/THINNEST hairs that most resemble native temple hairs in thickness & obviously all singles (dissected down to singles if not enough regular singles) - w/your very thick hair the doubles you requested further back was a huge mistake & they extracted your temple donor hairs from the thickest hair zone.  It takes care & thought to make the slits for temple points and should not be rushed through, it's really both science and an art form - techs implanting in this critical zone & hairline should really only be the most experienced and skilled.    That's on them & being lazy & rushing you through.

I'm cynical as heck & have had multiple transplants - but for the money you got bang for your buck.  All you really need is a few multis taken out of your hairline & perhaps 200-400 more frontal grafts for ultra refinement.

Even now I probably would be hard pressed to tell you have had work done - and I have a super critical eye.  I would just think you have insanely thick hair.

Your hair quality is that good.

6 hours ago, 5BetaReductase said:

What’s your family history like? Have you looked at nutritional issues through blood tests like vitamin d, ferritin, etc? You’re obviously not a newbie as you’re well versed in a lot of this but I’m surprised to hear fin/dut stopped working for you after it initially helped.

All members reached NW6 or NW7 (some as early as mid 20's - some as late as mid 40's).  As I wrote - strong baldness genetics determine our fate.  Sometimes fast or slow w/or without meds.  Lots of men keep alot of mid-vertex & crown hair (very slow hairloss) til late 30's - mid 40's & then it just goes.  It's called middle-age & the hair just goes relatively quickly.  Medications only slow hairloss - never stop it.  Father time remains undefeated.

I was happy not to have surgery on my mid-vertex & crown until I was 51 years old - the meds bought me 10-15 years of time.

My younger brother always had great hair & by mid 20's it was going & by age 35 he was NW6 - so it's all relative.  No meds for him.

Getting there - month by month.  Your full results down the road will be a good example of what it takes to get full coverage (alot of grafts) for aggressive hairloss.

Think of all the FIBER savings down the road!  Brilliant.😉

Check out Dr. Shapiro in Minnesota - his work is more refined & his clinic is top shelf.

Looks like a good 1st transplant - I'm surprised that the donor wasn't more spread out - but you can always do that for the next surgery.  I'm not a fan of such a small area being harvested w/so many grafts though.  Will be interesting to see how much density you end up getting visually speaking.

11 hours ago, npk21 said:

They died after 3 years.. 😕

 

No they didn't - you just lost all your existing hair in that area & behind it.  Happens to alot of people as baldness is progressive - even w/medication.  If your genetics are locked in for aggressive balding - medication only slows the hairloss.  Although it does tend to keep 'donor' hair much healthier to use for future transplants.  Also, hairloss can greatly accelerate in your 40's if you managed to hold onto the midscalp & crown (though slowly losing it) in one's 30's.  Again, can't fight genetics.  Since you weren't on any medication - you simply experienced progressive hairloss all the way through your crown over the next 5 years after your transplant. 

I had 3,800 grafts put in my frontal 1/3rd over many years & about 7 years after my last transplant at age 45 I rapidly started losing the rest of my mid-vertex to crown (even after being on propecia/avodart for 10+ years and using minox).  My genetics simply caught up w/me & I did another 5K of grafts front to back in 2017.  Holding up well thus far.  Good luck and keep us updated.

How cool is this guy that he gets in-person consults w/Couto & Zarev?  One other surgeon you might consider a consult w/is Dr. Mwamba - he has trained w/Dr. C*** in Atlanta & is obsessed w/hair!  Good luck young man & don't rush into anything just yet.  Take it all in and maybe even wait another year (since you use fibers) & see where you are at age 25. 

It's good you are taking Dut & Oral minox - that will keep your 'donor' healthy as long as possible whilst you get older even w/your aggressive family history.

Please keep us updated down the road.

6 hours ago, bigtyivier2k2 said:

Even when I had a full head of hair I always had straight thin hair

I feel ya.  I have very fine - bone straight small diameter hair.  I was on propecia from '98 to '02 - Avodart since then (dut) & been using minox since late 90's & oral minox since about '18 - so my donor is solid.

Had about 3.55K grafts from the years '91-'04 - hair was okay from '04 to about '12 - at that time I was 44 & a NW5 (so I lost a ton of native hair mid-scalp to crown) from about '09-'13.

Did another 5.5K grafts in '17 & now have full coverage.  But my hair is very fine although no bald spot my density could be better behind the hairline all the way back to the crown.

My plan now is to overharvest slightly the rest of my good donor scalp via FUE for a more homogenous total 'donor zone' area to make it less dense and create less of a visual difference from the recipient areas.

Looking to do another couple FUE's beginning probably this fall or winter.

If family history is NW6's & NW7's EVEN w/lifelong meds if you began losing your hair early 20's & you have fine hair - the struggle will always be real.

Best to keep it at just the right length and a suitable hairstyle to create that illusion of a near-normal head of hair.

It appears you have extremely fine/straight & thin-diameter hair.  Even if all your grafts grew and you are a NW6 moving to 7 as you get older - 6K probably ain't nearly enough to get full coverage from crown up to hairline.  You might need another 2-3K after your crown grows out to homogenize your entire top of the head. 

You didn't waste your money - you're just a difficult case that needs alot of grafts. 

If you've been losing hair slowly for a long time & everyone in your family eventually becomes a NW7 - it can accelerate into your 40's and beyond as well.  It's all genetics & even dut won't stop it in the long run.  You take the dut so your donor is robust.

If you are destined to be a NW7 FUE in 2022 (w/the best surgeons) holds a slight edge over FUT especially since your're already almost 40 and a NW5 moving towards more accelerated hairloss.

Good luck.