RecessionProof

Here’s my first attempt at camouflage. Had to comb my hair quickly to catch my flight so not the best hairstyle. But I am feeling pretty damn good about not wearing a hat right about now 👌

His original estimate was 1500-2000 based on photos I sent a year ago. This was the only hairline he drew, and after drawing it he did mention that 1500 wouldn't be dense enough to fill that zone. So I basically asked him to fill it in as densely as possible, to the extent of what he considered ethical. I'll see if I can find out what density he was able to get tomorrow morning. My guess is somewhere between 40 and 50 FU per cm.

She's great! I've only seen a few of her results posted on here, but her style and approach seem very similar to Konior's. I was actually hoping I'd get to meet her but we didn't end up crossing paths. Konior's tech Anya mentioned that Nadimi posts a lot of her results on Instagram...here's the link: https://www.instagram.com/dr.saharnadimi

Thanks for the kind words! I'll definitely be posting more pics in the weeks to come, including my attempt at a cover up once I'm able to comb my hair forward again 👍 His fee is definitely considerable, but much more manageable if you opt for FUT rather than FUE. I have one more meeting with him tomorrow morning before my flight back to NYC...here's hoping I get the OK to wear a hat on the way home.

I would hang in there for a few more months! A lot of people don’t see noticeable growth until after the 3 month mark...it’s very possible that the major growth won’t start for another month or two.

Days 2 + 3 Update: Pain has been super manageable as I've set alarms and kept a paper log of which pills I've taken at what times (the office provides this). Initially I took 2 vicodin every 4 hours, and after a couple days I'm down to 1 vicodin every 6 or so. Remembering to take your meds on time is absolutely key in ensuring you won't experience any FUT pain. There were only one or two brief windows of time where I felt some slight discomfort in the strip area, and I've had no trouble at all sleeping on the staples. I'm pretty amazed at how functional I've felt so far -- I could probably do some work from my laptop right now if I had to. Swelling was minimal for the first couple days, though I did have some along the incision so I wound up icing that day and night. I thought I'd managed to avoid the infamous facial swelling, but it finally happened on day 3 and is (hopefully) now fading. There has been no bleeding or oozing from the graft zone whatsoever. So far I've gone back to the office for cleanings each day after surgery. Anya removed my staples earlier today and has been really helpful in keeping the graft and donor areas clean. Funnily enough, I ran into someone from this forum on my way into the office yesterday. He was consulting with Konior in hopes of repairing some hairline work that had been done by another popular surgeon...in any case, it was great commiserating with someone who went through the same journey. So if anyone on here is in the Chicago area, feel free to shoot me a message and I'd love to show off my Frankenstein head.

Here are a few "before" pics as well. As you can see, comb-overs have been pretty effective:

Hey everyone, I'm about two days out from my ~2300 graft FUT procedure with Dr. Konior. As often happens with Konior, he initially quoted me 1500 grafts but wound up going all the way up to 2300 to pack everything in more densely. It was one of the smoothest and most painless medical experiences of my life, and the whole thing took about 12 hours. I'd take a hair transplant over getting cavities filled at the dentist any day. I'd like to start by thanking the past Konior patients who have documented their procedures so thoroughly. Spanker, Reyes1, SamSpade, and the various Matts (among others) posted incredibly detailed threads that helped make my choice of surgeon very easy. I hope that I can continue in their tradition with another well documented write-up. Pre Surgery I was 28 and probably a NW2.5 or 3 prior to this surgery, and my main goal was to restore my receded hairline and fill in the temples. I've been on finasteride and minoxidil for several years and they've definitely slowed things down, but there are a few spots that have slowly continued to thin (including in back...but it looks worse in one of the below photos than it really is). I plan to continue both meds for the rest of my life, and will likely have additional "tune up" surgeries down the line to maintain what I have. Dr. Konior actually suggested a low dose pill version of minoxidil for those who find the application of Rogaine to be tedious (I only apply the foam once per night because it's such a pain in the ass). I spent months reading about hair transplants and researching doctors until I finally narrowed it down to Konior, Rahal, and Hasson (I had already decided to stay within North America). There's no question that all three are hairline masters, but there were a few things that stood out about Konior that steered me in his direction: 1. His relative conservatism and focus on long term strategy would be a great check on my own desire to be as aggressive as possible. 2. If you look at his cases, it's pretty clear that he is often able to do with 1500 grafts what most surgeons need 2500 or even 3000 grafts to achieve. Konior's ability to make every graft count really speaks to his artistry and perfectionism, which is of course another big advantage for young patients like me who need to use every single graft very judiciously. 3. He performs one surgery a day and as others have pointed out, does virtually the entire surgery himself -- donor extraction, lateral slit incisions, and graft placement. I do think one or two of his techs placed some of the grafts, but he supervised them meticulously and I overheard him tweaking anything that didn't look perfect. This isn't to say that technician-heavy clinics are inherently flawed -- many techs at other clinics have years of experience and are truly skilled workers -- but ultimately, I felt that a tech-heavy approach would add another level of risk that I'd prefer to do without. 4. Konior's year long wait list and relatively high price speak volumes, especially since he does minimal marketing and is pretty selective when taking on new patients. These things may seem like "cons" at first glance, but over time I came to see them as major "pros." A hair transplant is something that will affect your appearance for the rest of your life, and I knew that 10, 20, or 30 years from now I'd care a lot more about having picked the right hairline than saving a few thousand dollars. More often than not, you get what you pay for -- and plastic surgery is not an industry where you want to look for a bargain. 5. Konior's immediate post op photos have a really clean and distinctive look, with very little blood compared to most other surgeons' graft zones after surgery. I've always found it very satisfying to look at his post op photos and notice the precision of the graft angles and placement. The Surgery One thing that isn't often discussed on here is the feeling of oh shit that kicks in as your surgery date approaches. As soon as I realized my surgery was a month away, the reality of the situation hit me hard: was I seriously about to fly to Chicago and undergo surgery just to give myself better hair? Eventually the excitement started to outweigh the fear, but it was for sure an emotional rollercoaster until I finally arrived at Konior's office at 6:30 AM. Once I checked in with the doctor's staff, I finished my paperwork and wrote down my lunch order. Everyone was very kind and conscientious, and at around 7 the doctor came in to discuss the surgical plan. As Dr. Konior and I settled into our initial conversation, I immediately felt my anxiety begin to fade. He really took his time to discuss his hair loss philosophy, crack a few jokes, and field a few questions that I had. He seemed totally relaxed and in no hurry to push things along, and by the time we moved on to drawing the hairline I felt totally at ease. Helping a patient feel comfortable during that first meeting is a genuine, underrated skill and it really helped to set the tone for the entire day. He then had me draw my version of a hairline -- I wanted it lowered just a bit with my temples filled in, and I asked him to pack it as "densely as he thought would be ethical". Konior took one look at the hairline I drew and said something like, "yep, I know what you want" as though he'd seen it a million times before. He then spent about 45 minutes drawing his own version of the hairline, erasing and re-drawing parts of it over and over again until he thought it was perfect. He took pictures from several different angles while doing so, and every now and then he'd pause to stare at my hairline the way a painter looks at his work while trying to get those last brush strokes just right. It was easy to see how Konior's artistry and surgical precision are a super effective combination. When the doctor handed me a mirror to look at his proposed hairline, I was ecstatic (the hairline he drew is visible in the pics I've attached). I had worried that he'd push for something more conservative, but what he drew turned out to be pretty much exactly what I'd hoped for. So I basically told him I wouldn't change a thing and the process continued. I felt even more relief when I learned that he would only have to shave a small portion of my existing hair to create the new hairline. I've seen a lot of Konior cases where patients went for the full shave, and I really hoped I wouldn't have to go down that route and thus experience a much longer "ugly duckling" phase. When he wound up just shaving a few useless miniaturized hairs in front, I felt pretty confident that in another week or two I'd be able to cover up the work without wearing a hat. As someone who wanted to get back to work and my social life as soon as possible, this was a HUGE weight off my shoulders. With my last major fear assuaged, I was genuinely excited to get started. They gave me some valium and had me lay face down while the doctor got ready to remove the strip. I have a pretty low pain tolerance and a very strong fear of needles, but I have to say that the numbing shots were the least painful shots I have ever experienced. They used some sort of vibrating device on my skin next to the injections, which made the actual shots feel like nothing. I barely noticed when the strip actually came out, and then they gave me a bathroom break and got ready to start the incisions. I was given more valium throughout the day and for the most part I felt restful but awake. I dozed off a couple times and woke back up mid-snore, but for the most part I just chilled out and focused on staying perfectly still while Konior and his techs did their thing. Occasionally I'd feel some soreness in back and they'd have to re-numb me -- the re-numbing shots were actually a little more painful, but that's probably because I waited too long to ask for them (the doctor was really in the zone so I was hesitant to interrupt). As mentioned earlier, he did have two techs present during graft placement but I'm pretty sure he placed most of them himself while the techs would pass him the grafts that had been dissected. It definitely sounded like he placed the most important grafts himself, such as the 1s along the hairline. At around 6:30 PM, the surgery was finally complete. Konior and his team put in roughly a 12 hour day in total: 2 hours of conversation and planning the hairline, followed by 10 hours of performing the surgery itself. Compared to what I was expecting, the entire day felt like a series of best case scenarios -- I got exactly the hairline I wanted, felt close to no pain whatsoever, and was able to keep enough existing hair to (hopefully) cover up the procedure after another week or two. Konior's staff was nice enough to give me a ride to the Comfort Suites that evening, which I really appreciated because I was not looking forward to interacting with strangers in my post surgical state. In fact, I didn't end up having to interact with anyone -- the Comfort Suites have a back entrance you can open with your room key, and my room was right next to the back door. So yet another small anxiety was eliminated. I don't think I could have asked for a better experience. Immediate post op pics are below (I circled a small mole in the final pic for added perspective):

This is a valid point and an important thing to question: is the lifetime donor gain from choosing FUT first enough to balance out the grafts you'd need to fill in the scar later? Konior recently said that most patients need about 300 grafts to fill in a FUT scar, so the overall gain in grafts would have to exceed that (I would guess they typically do)

Just had surgery with Konior and it was ridiculously good. It went on for about 10 hours and he never left my side. Will post a write up about my experience shortly. I'm inclined to agree about him being in a class of his own, but I've seen really good results from all of the other doctors you just mentioned and don't really know enough about the European surgeons to judge. A lot of people think they're as good as the best US doctors when it comes to FUE, so I would just keep researching and asking them lots of specific questions about their methodology. I originally wanted FUE myself, but in the end decided I'd rather go down the (somewhat) affordable path of FUT with Konior than get FUE somewhere else. EDIT: I'll add that H&W has also done some seriously impressive FUE work, so definitely worth considering as well.

I had FUT with Konior literally 2 days ago. One of the easiest medical experiences I've ever had and there's been pretty much no post operative pain or bleeding (I've had a little swelling/oozing around the incision in back, but it hasn't really bothered me). He agreed that starting with FUT and moving on to FUE later was generally the best way to maximize donor use. All of the names you mention are super high quality and capable of producing scars that are almost invisible (I'm not as familiar with Lupanzula but have heard good things). Cooley probably performs the highest number of no shave surgeries of the people you listed, though Konior has done a bunch of those as well. Bloxham and Cooley have both posted some really nice and informative videos, so I'd definitely check those out if you haven't already. Obviously Bloxham is younger and not as experienced as some of the other names you mentioned, but his results so far have been great and I'm sure his work will only keep getting better. Hasson and Wong do very good work so it ultimately comes down to personal taste. I'll probably post my post-op Konior thread later today, so feel free to message me or check that out if you want more details on that.

You might want to start with FUT since a few top doctors have told me that starting with strip is the best way to maximize donor supply. This would especially benefit you since you’re fairly young and might bald significantly later. That said, if you’re sure this will be your only transplant then maybe FUE would be better. I originally wanted FUE but switched for the reason above, and also because the top FUT doctors produce a scar that is extremely hard to see (most can shave down to a 3-5 guard depending on scar physiology). If you’d like to name your contenders so far, we can help point out how they differ to help you make your final decision.

Looks very promising! I've always really liked Cooley's work and I'm sure you'll be thrilled by how it turns out.

Whoa I just came across this thread, really interesting to see that this is possible with the right surgeon and donor supply. I'm about to have my first procedure and the hair greed is kicking in already 😂 Congrats on the ridiculously good hair!

Beautiful. Subtle but very effective hairline design 2500 grafts and the front looks totally transformed

How effective has the finasteride been for you so far? I would recommend waiting a few years to see how stable your hair loss is on the drug. I live in the same area — if you’re looking to stay local, the best NYC surgeons are probably Feller & Bloxham, Carlos Wesley, and True & Dorin (I think they all perform high quality FUE at this point). I would consult with them, as well as other clinics that stand out to you, and see what they think about your age. But I will bet they’ll recommend holding off for a while

Your donor is looking pretty thick! We actually have pretty similar hairlines. Some of Rahal's results are really great and it's hard to say how much stock should be put in those few subpar results. I do love his overall hairline aesthetic. I'd echo the previous recommendations of Konior and Hasson, and I'd also check out Cooley as he's posted some really nice result videos lately. Konior in particular is extremely consistent and judicious with grafts, which is part of why I went with him ultimately.

That #2 haircut is craaazy, just goes to show how much of a non-issue FUT scarring can be with the right physiology and doctor. Here's hoping I'm so lucky in a few months

Great info, though I’m not sure I’d agree about FUE being superior in being easier to conceal right off the bat. Recovery is certainly faster, but if you’re having a smaller hairline procedure in the ballpark of 2000 grafts you have the potential with FUT to grow your hair out to cover the graft zone. With FUE most doctors will want to do a full shave, forcing you to expose the recipient area and the subsequent redness (though some FUE patients have shaved just the back/sides to achieve the same trick).

Good to know! Did you find that you were able to go out somewhat passably after the first week, or did it still look noticeably strange up until the first 1-2 months when things started blending in?

Looks like a huge improvement, congrats! And with probably a little more growth to come. I have a procedure coming up with Dr. K early next month so it's good to see another positive review

Great result and thanks for the detailed write up! Out of curiosity, how long did it take for you to look reasonably normal without a hat after your procedure? I'm having a similar surgery to strengthen my hairline next week and trying to prepare myself for that ugly duckling phase.

Still at least 1 year from what I’ve heard

It varies from person to person — I’ve definitely seen a lot of cases where people have had growth in spurts. 3 months is super early so you most likely have a lot of growth ahead of you

I think FUT with a surgeon who is really good with scars would be a safe bet. It varies from person to person, but a bunch of FUT recipients have been able to shave their sides pretty short (I made a thread polling people about this and many have said they’re able to get down to a 2 or 3 without the scar being visible... though some are unable to go below a 4 or 5). I’m about your age and was set on FUE until I realized how good the scars can look when you go to a top doctor. I often hear that FUT followed by FUE once that’s expended is the best way to optimize graft harvesting in the long run. I would ask a few doctors their thoughts on that, as it may have changed now that FUE have improved in recent years.