YoungGuy

Oww, Rebecca, you shouldn't accuse Jotronic of touching up his after photos. That's something you'd accuse Bosley of, not him. He's been a valuable contributor to our community here for a long time. Not to mention that a good amount of posters here have met him in person and could vouch that he's the real McCoy.

Boy, come to think of it, yeah - that's great. I wonder what people will think when they see me after 6 months, Ive always had a shaved head+goatee and now I'll be clean shaven with hair on my head. Weird. This past week, I've been looking in the mirror and thinking, "this is SO weird".

Mine started to shed late, past week 3, and were mostly gone by week 6. A surprising amount hung around, though, and ended up growing!

I realize I'm not typical, definitely. But maybe there's things one can do to help growth. I'm younger than most folks getting HTs (at 27) and I work out daily, which probably improves blood flow. I wonder whether these two factors combined contributed to early growth, i.e., young age and daily exercise promoting faster healing.

Venkat, I'm actually in a similar situation to you, I'm 27 and had a HT 2.5 months ago with Dr. Feller in NY. Could you post your pictures? This would be the best thing to do as it would let folks here get a better idea of what your needs/options are. Also, feel free to take a look at mine in the photo albums section to compare cases. Naturally, if you're not on finasteride yet, get on it ASAP - any physician should be able to proscribe it for you, it's called Propecia.

Is it possible you're just looking way too closely in different light conditions & at weird angles? I know I did that myself, I was staring at my scalp like a complete nut for the first few weeks after my HT and saw things there I never knew existed 3 weeks out is very early. I'm not saying it's not possible because I don't know for sure, but if you have growth at 3 weeks you're probably going to make medical history. Don't worry, it will grow. When it does, you won't mistake it for anything else and there won't be any "maybes", you're going to love what's happening when it does. The wait sucks, but it makes it all the better when the growing starts (as you can probably tell, my growth started last week, at 2.5 months... WOOHOO!).

I thought long & hard about whether to reply here, with so much anger in the air Still, it looks like radgav is now pretty transparent about her affiliation with DMG and has no hidden agenda anymore. She's trying to pull for her doc and is posting a lot of photos. We can make up our own minds. It's as it should be. Hairbank, if I may, leave her alone To a neutral observer it looks like she dissed your HT and you're pissed about it. I can understand, but let's focus on helping each other and not on grudges. Don't mean to be out of line, apologies in advance if I am!

I think that the reason price is not often mentioned is that hair transplantation is somewhat unique in that doctor skill is the primary consideration. Price doesn't play as much of a role because by going to a poor doctor who is cheaper the patient is definitely NOT doing themselves a favor. I sound like an advertisement here, but I really think this is the case. Folks pick their HT doctor based on that doctor's past results & reputation and once they have, paying 3k more or less is the furthest thing from their mind. It's not like they're going to hear the price quote, balk & go to Bosly instead. Besides, all the top doctors have similar prices anyway. No sense restating them ad nauseum.

As my illustrious colleagues have mentioned, those pics are NOT 1,200 grafts. No way no how. Having said that, I'd believe that they're bad pictures of 3,600 grafts (3 x 1,200). The restoration looks done well, it's just that the graft number's in question. And, to stress once again: LOCATION DOES NOT MATTER. If you have to travel to Siberia in a sled pulled by 12 wild dogs to work with a good surgeon rather than with an average one across the street from your house, buy a parka & snow shoes because it'll be worth it

Andrew, your only having one post makes me suspicious as there have been instances of people coming onto this forum only to advertise doctors. Can you post some pictures?

I would be sceptical about this because UK doctors generally have a reputation for, well, sucking (it's a technical term). Also, the word "advanced" in place of a real description screams "snake oil". Any way to get some concrete info on how this works?

I'm never cutting my HT hair. I will braid if I have to!

I believe in specialization and incentive. The doctor specializes in making cuts & sewing up the donor hole and if he's great at that, the HT wil have a great base and won't leave a large scar. The techs specialize in graft care, from excision to placement and they may very well be better at that. Incentive is the second part of the equation. A doc should base bonuses for his techs on the percentage of patients they work on being happy 6-12 months down the line. A tech that's properly incentivized will care more about their job and is likely to do a better job. While one obviously can't access data on a doctor's bonus structure, we can ask about the techs' experience with that particular clinic. People who don't believe they're being compensated well and/or who are bad at their job don't stay with one clinic for 5+ years. Having said all that, if a tech has more experience placing grafts than the doctor does, which may very well be the case, I'd rather have the tech place them in my noggin. It's like getting something done in the military - while working with an officer is more prestigious, working with an NCO is often more effective.

Everyone is different in this respect; many second guess their decision. This is prefectly normal. Personally, I experienced about 15 minutes of remorse 2 weeks or so before my surgery, I'm not the worrying type I suppose As long as you've picked a good doctor you should be fine. Many people who got a HT say it changed their life, I'm sure you will be one of them!

To me, the worst thing about wearing a wig would have to be the constant worry about someone finding out about it. What do you do when, say, a girl tugs on it and it *moves* or comes off? I suppose the things work for some people, but they're just too restrictive with respect to even daily activities to have ever been an option for me.

Thanks a millio for the detailed answers guys, as usual they're extremely helpful

Hi Bayer, Welcome to the forums! From what you said, it sounds like you don't have too much to worry about. Redness in the recipient area is normal, and for some it does take a few months to subside. Itching is also normal as the new hair is growing out. Do you have any pre- and immediately post-op pictures you could post? That way we could form some more educated opinions.

Paris, I've sent you a PM.

The Feller HT is beginning to grow out just fine (at 2 months 1 week, it should't be yet so I'm excited!) and I got no shock loss that I could see in the area where I had hair transplanted in between existing hairs. It's too early to tell yet and I can't really make a judgement for another 4-5 months but so far, it's great. The doc himself & his staff were first rate, no complaints there. The reason I asked about top crown docs is in the interest of research. If there is an *outstanding* doc who does great crown work out there that I don't know about, I want to learn about them. I'm probably going to have Dr. Feller do my second HT since I have a feeling I will be very happy with the first one, but in the end my loyalty is to myself & to my head You can find my pictures in the photo albums section of this forum; do a search for my username or just scroll down there first page, it should be there. Are you going for a consultation, or for surgery to Dr. Feller?

This site is good Go through the albums, doctor reviews, read a bunch of threads. You'll have a good idea of what's out there in no time. Congratulations on finding this site before you had any surgery done - it will help you avoid hair mills like Bosley or MHR, at the very least!

I live in Queens and have had a HT by Dr. Feller 2 months ago. It's a 25 minute trip on the LIE, exit 23 or 25... you can call the office and Marcia will give you details. $70 does sound a little much. Do you have a friend or a family member who could drive you? That would probably be the best way to handle transportation.

I suppose I ought to start saving now for the second HT (4k put away so far, lol - a good start) and I'll be starting on scalp exercises in 2 months. 3 months of exercised may be enough to produce some laxity. Thanks for the info guys. By the way, what's a good rule of thumb for the # of grafts to cover the crown that's not empty, but visibly thinning? And lastly, who are some of the top docs around for crown work? Is there anyone recommended in particular? Someone I know has recently had their crown done by Dr. Shapiro, so if anything I can give them another 4 months and see how it's coming in around the time I'll be wanting to schedule my second HT

What is generally the recommended time to wait between transplants? I had 3,300 grafts placed into the front 1/3rd and would love to cover my crown a bit with something like 2,000 grafts, then leave well enough alone. I want to be this conservative with an eye towards the future, but I don't think an additional 2k would deplete my donor area and should help the look. Anyway, what's a good amount of time to wait? A full year, 6 months, 10 months?

What is generally the recommended time to wait between transplants? I had 3,300 grafts placed into the front 1/3rd and would love to cover my crown a bit with something like 2,000 grafts, then leave well enough alone. I want to be this conservative with an eye towards the future, but I don't think an additional 2k would deplete my donor area and should help the look. Anyway, what's a good amount of time to wait? A full year, 6 months, 10 months?

I have no personal experience with UK HT docs, but from what I hear they're all pretty bad. Do yourself a favor and travel to the colonies - err, the US! - for a HT.