Albion71

UKresponder is right - the best options are abroad. Flying to the US, for example, may seem a major deal, but your no.1 priority has to be getting the best outcome possible. And even with flights and hotels, it is probably cheaper overall than any UK clinic. Do your research on this board - lots of it - and you should end up with a shortlist, none of whom I'll wager will be UK-based. Also worth having a chat with some UK-based consultants for foreign surgeons - Spex does Feller and Lindsey in the US, Stephen does Bisanga in Belgium. Both good guys.

Many thanks guys, for your words of encouragement. And thanks to Dr Lindsey, for saying I was a good patient! I've added a few more pics to the blog, not much change, but the scabs are all gone so it's a bit cleaner.

A few more pics. I've started using the photo gallery so hopefully the pics are a bit cleaner. Two weeks after the HT now, most of the scabs gone. Scalp a little pink. All pretty normal. My scalp feels a little sore at the top of my head - no grafts put there - which I'm putting down to scalp tightness.

Some progress photos eight days after surgery with Dr Lindsey. The stitches were removed today, and it was very painful - probably moreso than anything experienced during the actual op! I think the pain was partly down to scabbing around the stitches, although I did try to clean as much off as possible when I washed my hair. However, the nurses (it took two of them!) said the scar was healing beautifully. But it was considerably sorer than when I had the staples removed after my first op. In the recipient area, there is still a fair bit of scabbing and white crust. When washing the recipient area, I was perhaps over-cautious in the first 4-5 days post op, but the last couple of days I have been massaging reasonably firmly in that area. Based on last time out, it took about 12-14 days to become completely clear. In case anyone's wondering, I asked Dr Lindsey not to shave the hair in my recipient area before the HT, and he kindly obliged - the hair was left about an inch long. I'm hoping that if I don't suffer from much shock loss, I'll be reasonably presentable for work meetings in mid-late January. Front view Top Top close Scar after stitches removed - uncovered Scar after stitches removed - covered

The surgeon who I used for my last transplant - Dr Lindsey - is dead opposed to the idea. I'm aware that BHR - Dr Bisanga - has done transplants of beard hair successfully. Beard hair is obviously a little different to the hair on the top of your head, so I think the approach is to use beard hair in conjunction with hair from the more usual donor hair areas so that it is not too noticeable. I would be very cautious about it. But as I'm likely to end up a NW6/7, and I doubt I've got enough donor hair to cover that size area, I will be monitoring developments with beard/body hair transplants.

I've done it twice now. You don't feel completely comfortable but you just have to grin and bear it. If you wear any headgear, you'll have to take it off going through passport control, etc, but only briefly. I had staples with my first HT and it didn't set off the metal detector. For my most recent HT, I didn't use an ice pack on my face post op, but I flew back four days post surgery so it didn't matter. If I had flown back any sooner, I would have been a bit self-conscious as I looked like the elephant man.

Happy growing mate. Was over with Dr Lindsey myself on 22 December for 2495 grafts FUT. Flew back into London this morning.

Thanks guys, for all your kind words. Will be keeping the blog updated regularly with my progress following the HT with Dr Lindsey.

Thanks guys. I came off finasteride about 3-4 months into my current relationship, so think that's definitely why my libido has bounced back, not that I'm unhappy with my new girlfriend! blkblk - take your point about reduced levels of finasteride, maybe that's an option in the short term. Any of you ever had your DHT tested? This thread has some interesting points about it - notably from one guy who found it took a year for his DHT level to drop back to normal after quitting finasteride.

Hi all. Some of you may remember me from my unsuccessful hair transplant with Dr Melike Kulahci at Transmed in June 2010. It was documented in my blog and in this forum thread. I am pleased to say that I recently decided to go ahead with a second hair transplant, with a different doctor. Following advice from Spex, I booked a HT with Dr William Lindsey in Virginia, USA, and had surgery on 22 December. I'm typing this in my hotel room 48 hours later. Everyone on this forum is here because they were depressed by losing their hair. I can only say that, if you have a HT expecting to partially recover your hair, and it fails, then you can multiply that depression 100 times over. That is why I haven't posted on here for the past few months; I've been trying to 'regroup' mentally, and decide what to do next. I considered raising the white flag in my battle with hairloss – but decided after much deliberation to give it one more try. Enter Dr Lindsey. I'd like to thank Spex for his advice, and of course, to the many of you on the forum who have posted about your experiences, which helped convince me that it was worth having a second shot at a HT. However, I remain unsure of success. Transmed provided no explanation as to why the previous operation failed, although the photos on my blog prior to surgery with Dr Lindsey, 18 months after the Transmed HT, show how poor the outcome of the HT was. (Incidentally, I notice that Dr Kulahci has since left membership of the coalition.) So I'm still in the dark as to whether the HT failed because of Transmed, or because of me and my physiology. I am confident that I've chosen an excellent surgeon in Dr Lindsey, but I do wonder if I may be fundamentally unsuited to HTs. As I've never had much luck with the classic HT preventative treatments – finasteride (used since 1998), minoxidil, nizoral – I'm a little pessimistic. We shall see. On another note, I've posted on another part of the forum about my experience with finasteride. I have been taking the drug for 13 years, but my girlfriend persuaded me to give it up recently to see if my libido would improve. It has. So I now need to consider finasteride alternatives. Your thoughts welcome. Thanks again to all of you who posted sympathetic and encouraging comments about my first HT. I hope you are winning your own battles with hairloss.

Hi all. I wondered if anyone had any good suggestions for alternatives to finasteride as a DHT blocker. My story – I started taking finasteride in 1998. Apart from a six month period in 2003 on dutasteride, which hammered my libido, I used it solidly until six weeks ago. It has never reversed or stopped my hairloss, but I think it has slowed it down. In 2007, I noticed my libido starting to flag. It was much harder to get an erection, even harder to climax. At the time, I put this down to a number of things: stress caused by work; depression following a relationship break-up; age. Then about two months ago, my current girlfriend discovered I was using finasteride and told me to get off it. So I did. My libido has come back sharply. So I am now reluctant to go back on it, and I'm weighing up the alternatives. Currently I'm thinking about: Finasteride every other day. Reduced effect, and potentially still damaging to the libido. Saw palmetto. I did try it once before for about nine months, but it was in addition to finasteride, so I don't know how it would affect my libido. It had no noticeable effect on my hairloss. Super Zix. A saw palmetto-based topical application. Beyond those, there are many other topical applications, which often have wild claims but limited support for the hairloss community. Things I have tried without success (generally for 9-12 months each): topical spironolactone; topical copper peptides; topical minoxidil 5%; dermaroller (in combination with the previous three). I should add that I am planning to give minoxidil foam a go. I did try minoxidil 5% for about nine months in 2008, but without much success, unless you count a tougher beard and more ear hair! Does anyone have other recommendations?