YoungGuy

The problem with saying something akin to "I have 12 years of experience" is that it only makes you more credible if you post proof; otherwise, who's to say you're not lying? I could post that I have 30 years of experience working with patients even though I'm in my 20s and I will sound just as believable as you. Once you say you have many years of experience in the field you really *have* to provide credentials, otherwise you're starting down a very slippery slope. Any excuses made to the contrary (the usual one being, "I want to remain anonymous") hut, rather than help, your credibility. This is why doctors who post on this forum provide their full names and, in many cases, contact info. They know that making unsubstantiated claims makes them seem more like con artists than physicians. Just a quick heads up since having read radgav's posts, he comes across as either someone who is definitely not the real McCoy or someone who's about 15 years behind the current science. I won't be taking them seriously until I'm shown otherwise.

I would suggest we pick a central location, like, say... NYC, in which case I'd definitely be coming

prabu, - If Propecia bothers you so much, stop taking it. - The only way to determine if Propecia works is to take it for 5-6 months daily. Apparently that's not an option for you. - There are no vitamins that block DHT. - There's no need to post a minute after you already posted urging people to reply.

Bottom line: use a coalition doctor and drastically minimize your risk. Even if you have to travel, heck, this is an expensive decision that will affect the rest of your life. It's worth it.

Another disadvantage of FUE is session size; you will generally get a lot more grafts from a strip than you would with FUE. So if you prefer 1-2 large sessions and being done with it rather than more smaller ones, you'd want to go with strip.

It sounds like you're in great hands man. Do some scalp exercises and get yourself busy gathering stuff you'll need post-op (a travel pillow always helps, make sure you have your painkillers just in case, go buy some good DVDs to watch on your days off after the surgery). Above all, in a few months you're going to start growing hair. How cool is that going to be?

I've started using it and will continue for a month, then assess results. So far, though, I've gotten some shedding which definitely wasn't happening before. Further research seems to indicate that creatine raises the body's testosterone levels; this may be counteracting the finasteride.

Is it even possible to notice ANY side effects after 2 days? Are you sure you're not so afraid of side effects that you're convincing yourself you have them when you really don't (hipochondria, I believe, is the term here).

Holy sh!t, that looks great! Big congrats fullheadofhair, you look awesome!

rafael, It looks like what you're really after is getting leaner, am I right? If that's the case then what you're looking for is cardio workouts. The best for this, IMO, is swimming. Swim a mile/day if you're close to a swimming pool. It's not as bad as it sounds, I used to do it on my lunch break every day for a year or so but then changed jobs and am no longer near a pool Of course, you'd want to start with a shorted distance - say, 600 yards - and work up to longer ones. If you don't like to swim or don't have facilities within easy reach, run in the gym. Walking is a good start for a week or so if you're out of shape, but you'd really want to get moving quickly ASAP. A good starter workout for you would be to run for 15-20 minutes, then work on the machines for another 20 minutes. In between, you're going to want to fit in 30-45 crunches - do them in sets of 10-15, they'll become easy soon enough. Be sure to get a personal trainer and tell him/her you need them to teach you about proper technique and to put together a good exercise program, though, since most of these folks think they need to get you motivated and will tire you out just as soon as teach you. You can tire yourself out, from them you need the knowhow so you don't hurt yourself Do the cardio/weights for about a month or two. Start with high repetitions/low weights and increase them after about a few weeks. Also try to vary the exercise every 4 to 6 weeks as your muscles will "get used" to the same motions and your gains will plateau. Once you're at the 2 month mark, congratulate yourself. You've just managed to do what 80% of people who work out never manage, which is sticking with it! By now you should begin to enjoy it and you won't *want* to stop Now get yourself a trainer session again and ask him/her to take you through some free weight routines, including barbells, bench, etc. And don't stop running! Don't get discouraged - I see guys in their 50s and 60s regularly working out at my gym and looking the way I *wish* I could. It's there, you just need to push for it!

No worries here; hair that's been transplanted is resistant to DHT and will not fall out if you discontinue rogaine. However, any hair that grows on its own, not via a transplant, will shed if you stop using it. Hope that clears it up.

The longer you research the better, definitely. Just by lurking around this board you'll absorb a multitude of views on any particular topic, which is much better than getting one point of view on it and assuming that's what there is to it.

I paid 10k cash myself (well, credit carded it and paid off the week after) in order to avoid a loan. Financing anything tends to be pricey in the long run. The good news, at least for me, was that wanting to have the cash for it forced me to hold off for around 2 years which saved me from getting a HT too early (I got it at 27). With a HT, most times folks are recommended to wait a year or two while they let finasteride etc. take effect anyway. A year or more should generally be enough time to save up at least part of the sum, no?

Total cost for larger restorations (6-7k grafts) can surely be in the neighborhood of $25,000. However, most of the time it happens over a period of a few years and many clinics do offer financing, which takes some bite out of the price.

That's why I posted; I figured if anyone had empirical evidence, it would be folks who post here. Especially since that workout thread last week where everyone posted their topless pics Cmon guys, someone say creatine is safe so that I can post my own workout pics in a few months!

This is a question for all you folks who work out. I've been working out regularly myself (closing in on 2 years - amazing how fast it went by) and am thinking about trying creatine. However, I saw one poster write that it has accelerated his hair loss. Can anyone else confirm or deny this from personal experience?

I don't know about this... it's like saying putting on weight after pregnancy is ok for women. Just because it happens to others doesn't make it any less sucky when it happens to *you*. It's just as tough for us guys

Actually the best position in the gym, if you're in the light workout phase (on the machines) rather than doing free weights, is toward the front. In my gym at least the machines are positioned slightly behind and to the side of tradmills, and there's no mirrors in front of the tradmills to let runners know who's looking. Heh heh...

One idea I would be for would be IRC. Download a free IRC client and idle in a channel. It's free, it's fast, and it can be kept open on a computer quite unobtrusively unlike, say, a web browser... Of course, if it came down to it I could definitely keep the browser open. I would just be AFK most of the time, checking it every hour or two and replying when I can

Everyone ends up receiving a different amount of grafts, so the final cost is different for each person. The average seems to be about $4 for the first 2,000 grafts and $2 or $2.50 for each one thereafter. You should post some pictures of what your hair loss looks like for folks to be able to help you with an estimate of how much hair you will need, which will allow you to make a cost estimate.

If there is a benefit to shaving the recipient area, any at all, then wouldn't it be worth it to look silly for a month in order to look better for the rest of your life? I think that's what you ought to be worrying about, not whether anyone will know you had a ht. Who cares if they know, you're not doing it for yourself

No worries with the name Thanks for your comments, any bit of info helps. As far as creatine, I've done some research myself and have found, so far, that there is no harm in using the stuff. I was actually planning on trying it this week. I am a little worried about it speeding up hair loss though, so back to the research for me to see whether there's something to it. Are you sure it wasn't just bad timing? Also, did your hair loss slow again after you stopped taking creatine?

I actually work out for a different reason: to gain weight. I'm one of those unfortunates who can sit behind a desk all day eating steaks & burgers for breakfast, lunch & dinner and still lose weight. I've been 145 since high school, and the only way I found to gain weight was by lifting weights. Speaking of creatine - isn't that stuff potentially harmful? From what I've read it basically fills your muscles with water, and the results go away once you stop taking the supplement. Also, I heard it can damage your liver (this from a few doctors). I tried it for a month and happened to have a liver function test, it came back real funky, doctor ordered me to drop creatine NOW brought it back to normal. If all of the above is false, can one of you guys post a link to a reputable source? I've been working out without any supplements for 1.5 years or so and got some decent results (went from 145lbs to 161lbs) but would like to be able to reach 170+ some day. Maybe some creatine can help...

Ah. Not that I do smoke (I've even quit smoking cigarettes recently to be sure everything goes ok), but it's always nice to have options

I have seen the first post by Starz and it was just as inane as this one. I'd ignore this particular poster, they have an axe to grind.