dberliner

Hey Hairthere - Thanks for your reply. Seems like both you and Dr. Rahal think I should go again with the strip route. Not sure what you mean by the quality of it, but if you refer to it's esthetic look, I think it's pretty much as good as you would expect in this method. It's pretty narrow. 

Dr. Rahal - I understand that I have some temple area hair loss but I actually think it's covered pretty well when my hair is well washed and groomed (maybe not this picture). I've also sent you private images on your website. Not sure if you're answering this thread based on that but I think they're higher quality with better angles for you to assess. My main worry about another strip is the recovery part. Last time it took over a month before I was able to gain full neck mobility since lowering my head resulted in a very inconvenient "stretchy" feeling. I'm wondering if the recovery with subsequent strip harvesting is different in anyway. 

Thank you!

DB

So I had my first transplant 5 years ago With Dr. Paul Shapiro (you can find my review here on the forum under my username). I was very pleased with the result and the natural looking hairline the doc has designed for me (I'm in my mid-40's now) but I couldn't continue taking Finasteride as it was seriously adversely affecting me (heavy sweating, sexual dysfunction issues etc.) so the areas that could not have been covered by the original transplant have continued to progress in shedding, to the point where now my crown area is completely bald.

My original surgery was close to 4K grafts in the FUT strip method. I'm thinking of going with FUE this time, and also there is no need to really design a hairline here anymore, so the fine-tuning (I think, correct me if I'm wrong) is not needed as much.  

Was wondering if anybody else has found themselves in a similar situation and what you did:

1. Type of surgery you think should be done.

2. Doc recommendation - would like to not overspend here because I feel like this extra surgery should be simpler as design is not really an issue, but of course also not underspend to the point of risking safety and getting an underwhelming result (I'm located in West USA but willing to travel abroad if needed). 

I'm attaching some pictures of the affected area and the donor area.

Thank you!

DB

2 hours ago, hdude46 said:

Any updates mate?

Absolutely! Sorry about that. Life and routine caught up with me

What can I say... I'm right after the much anticipated 6 month point and that's the result so far.  I couldn't have imagined anything much better than this!

Hairline looks full and healthy. I still have the crown area not fully covered by the use of Finasteride, but it has improved somewhat. The difference is remarkable and noticeable. I hope for more thickness in the next few months but I'm already quite happy.

End of Month 4. What a difference a month makes! Growth has started. From up close it still looks like a separate group of fine hair that's not yet fully matured but from a bit of a distance the hair has started to blend in really well. Excited for more to come in the next couple of months!

On 11/15/2018 at 3:31 PM, PeloDinero said:

Max grafts dog 

Yes, that was indeed the main reason. Also, a possible second future operation will be easier after a FUT (even if I'll switch to FUE) due to smaller donor area extraction.

Thanks for the wishes, guys. I'll keep on waitin'!

End of month 3. I still don't see much change from month 2... Is the spurt around the corner? I sure hope so!

2 months post op. I think there's a little more hair growing now but obviously no significant visual impact just yet. I'm still wearing a hat on a daily basis.

5 hours ago, SWdan said:

Looking good brother. You'll be a new man in six or seven months from now.

Thanks, my friend.  I most certainly hope so! 1 month post op certainly puts some doubts in you as you look worse off than when you started this journey!

1 month post op

Immediate Post Op

So after lurking around this forum for a while I had decided to dive in head first (pun intended) and go ahead with the transplant. If you'd like to ask me any specific questions I'd be happy to answer. I'll just say that the HT itself was relatively painless and aside from some acceptable uncomfortableness and tenderness in the first 3 weeks the entire process was relatively as smooth as one would expect.

I've been taking Finasteride for 2 and half months prior to surgery and I'm using Minoxidil once daily starting 2 weeks after surgery, per Shapiro's instructions.

I was a NW 3/4 with balding spots in the crown and heavy thinning in the frontal hairline region. Shapiro has decided on using the entire grafts extracted on the frontal region and let Finasteride do its trick on the crown area.

Right now I'm at the 1 month mark. I've been losing a lot of hair during this time, especially after starting to apply Minoxidil.   I will update every month or two with pictures of my progress. Hopefully it will be a good one!