TC17

I do not believe this thread should be locked. I hate seeing threads locked and I believe it weakens the credibility of this community at times. This is an important thread because it highlights an issue that we see come up quite often, that being the issue of pre-surgery communication. Nobody here is privy to what was said between TE and Dr. Wong, but what is clear is that there was, at the very least, a miscommunication between doctor and patient. Either Dr. Wong made a promise about a result to TE, or TE misinterpreted what was said as a promise. Either way, TE's belief as to how he would look after surgery is not consistent with how he actually looks. TE hasn't handled this situation as well as he could have, but he is being driven by emotion. That is not to say he has carte blanche to say anything he wants, but we have to view things through his eyes. How would any of us react if we had spent thousands of dollars, years of our life, physical and emotional pain, and still did not receive what we were either promised, or thought we were promised? It seems that whenever a negative result is posted, the people with good results rush to condemn the poster or defend the doctor, while the people with negative results rush to defend the poster and condemn the doctor and industry. TE's transplant was not a failure. TE looks somewhat improved from certain angles with certain styles. But unless I missed something, "not a failure" is not the goal of hair transplantation. TE was a NW 5 and he had A LOT of grafts moved - he should have had a better result. If his hair was of such poor quality that he could not have the result he desired, then that should have been explained to him in great detail prior to surgery. I do not know what was discussed so I will withold judgement, but I hope this spurs the consumers to get clear answers from doctors before surgery, for doctors to clearly communicate the meaning of "realistic expecations" for that particular patient, and for there to be some record of this.

Emperor, I would not classify your hair transplant as a failure. Obviously I cannot speak to how your hair looks in person, but in the photos it appears natural and pretty darn good. That being said, unless you have very fine hair, I would have anticipated a fuller apperance for 6,500 grafts over a NW 5 area. I hope that you can get your issues resolved.

Supremely natural hairline. Beautiful work, Dr. Konior.

Genetics.

Has this patient had a second procedure yet?

JPGR5, Do you have any other photos? How old are you?

Based upon what has already been said, I think I'm a bit more liberal with my definition of a comb over. I believe a comb over, at least with regards to when the term is used to describe a hair transplant, is when the layering effect is the only way in which the man has any "illusion" of density. If the man is a prisoner to one style, and that style requires layering, well, that man is rocking a comb over. The Combover: An Awesomely Bad Photo Gallery – Holytaco

I would LOVE to only have to shave every three weeks. Cool find, mattj!

Looks great even without the crown being touched. Is that hair loss above each of his ears?

Since Dr. Mwamba was trained by an FUE only doctor, does that mean that he performs FUE exclusively?

usedandabused, you cannot keep surfing the internet looking for anything that you can to attack Dr. Epstein. I remember your case well, and I truly feel awful for you, but this cannot be healthy for you. Perhaps you should seek out the care of a mental health professional to assist you.

Great job.

Maverick, based upon your photos, I don't think you're a candidate for surgery. Your lateral humps are dropping, and you appear to have some retrograde alopecia above your ears. Those factors, combined with the fact that you already have an advanced balding pattern and your young age indicate that you're very likely going to advance to at least a full blown NW 7 level. Thus, hair transplantation is simply not an option for you.

Your photos aren't of the greatest quality, but it does appear that there is some thinning.

Nice job, Dr. Feriduni.

What Dr. Lindsey said regarding future balding is accurate. There is no way to predict a person's future balding pattern. ANY doctor that tells you otherwise is lying. I think this misconception with microscopic analysis stems from Dr. Rassman's blog, but that's a topic for a different day. The fact of the matter is that if a doctor examines hair under magnification, he will be able to see those hairs that are presently miniaturizing. To the naked eye, those hairs may appear to be healthy, but in reality, they are destined to fall out. So, in one way, you can say that the doctor is predicting future hair loss, but only to a limited extent. The doctor cannot predict whether hairs that are not showing miniaturization will always remain that way. Like Dr. Konior said, even the worst NW 7 had a time when nobody could look at his scalp and accurately predict his future hair loss. While I understand the desire for some sense of certainty with our hair loss, we have to remember that a simple microscope is not a tool that allows a doctor to predict the future.

So to make sure everything is clear, Dr. Rahal's pricing is in Candian dollars, whereas H&W's pricing is in US dollars. Correct?

Although not the fault of either H&W or Dr. Rahal, when speaking about price and Canadian surgeons, you also have to consider that new Canadian tax and how that adds to the cost of the procedure. I've asked this before and have yet to receive an answer, but is H&W priced in American or Canadian dollars?

I hope I'm wrong, but looking at your preop photos, I just don't see how Dr. Umar could have operated on you. I hope things work out well for you, I really do, but I think your donor is going to thin considerably and you will subsequently lose the grafts that have already been transplanted. I can't seem to wrap my head around the notion of tattooing little dots on your head as being a viable option, but in your case, it might actually be worth considering. Good luck!

I agree that Dr. Dorin's response was appropriate, but I applaud unclejesse777 for the way he handled this situation, also.

Thank you for taking the time to respond, Dr. Shapiro. Based upon what you said, I tend to think that propecia, at least with respect to younger men, might be a doubled edged sword and could perhaps lead to major problems down the road. I have a hypothetical to better illustrate what I mean. Take two patients, each having begun losing hair at age 20. The first one, Patient A, got on propecia at age 25 while a NW3. The second one, Patient B, also a NW3 at age 25, decided against using drugs. Fastforward 10 years and each patient is now 35 years old. Patient A is still faithfully taking the propecia and is still a NW3, while Patient B, who still does not take medication, is now a NW5. Each now wants their hair restored. Who is in the better position? (assume hair caliber, density, balding pattern, etc. is identical in both patients) Is it Patient A? If so, why? Is it because he obviously has stablized his hair loss, has less surface area to cover, which means he needs less grafts, thus meaning his surgery is cheaper. One would think, based in large part on the advice given by many on this forum that Patient A has done everything correctly and is in a great position for hair restoration. That's fair, but hasn't Patient A, by virtue of taking propecia, also artifically altered his balding pattern? Obviously he has, so doesn't that make the doctor's job of trying to predict just how advanced the patient's hair loss will become that much more difficult? I've heard from quite a few surgeons that MOST NW 7's can be predicted when a patient is 25 or 30 years old. I hope that's the case, but I cannot imagine that holds true if the patient is taking propecia. Bringing it back to the hypothetical patients, if Patient A had never taken drugs and would have also been a NW 5 at age 35, then shouldn't he be transplanted as though he is a NW 5? That way, if life happens, and he's unable or unwilling to continue taking drugs, he can get off of them without the risk that he would look foolish. But, if the patient is hiding his true pattern behind drugs, the doctor now not only has the inherent risk of continuing hair loss in all patients, but the added risk that his patient is actually a much balder man than he actually appears to be. And that says nothing of the fact that some patients might not even be candidates for surgery, but appear to be because they're on drugs. I'm curious as to a doctor's philosophy when he finds out that his patient is taking propecia, and how that knowledge subsequently affects the analysis and examination of that patient. My first meeting with a highly respected doctor on this forum was when I was 26 and on propecia for one month. He looked at my scalp and told me that I was a NW 3v, but that I had thinning in a NW 5 pattern. I'm sure I'm the exact same now, but if not for the drugs, who knows.

At the very least you should consult with Dr. Cooley.

Dr. Feller did a dynamite job with that hairline.

I'm not familar with your doctor, but you look to be having very nice growth for four months.

I believe your plan is solid, but there are some concerns that you should be aware of. First, you're assuming that if you go the FUE route, you will not have visible scarring if your hair is buzzed to a #1. That might be true, or it might not be. I've seen FUE on a shaved head and couldn't tell anything was done, but I've also seen FUE leave pretty bad scarring. Granted, a lot of the bad scarring I've seen comes from bad clinics who use large punches, but there is still the possibility that you will scar visibly, and thus lose the ability to buzz your hair to the level you want. And that says nothing about the possibility of hypopigmentation. Second, I'm not sure you even have the donor for any surgery. The lighting is bad, but in your second photo it appears that your crown is thinning to just a few centimeters above your occipital bump. If that's true, that's a pretty strong indicator that you're going to advance to a high level of baldess, and that you might not be a suitable candidate for any type of hair transplant surgery. If you look, you will find a doctor willing to take your money and operate on you, but that doesn't mean it's the right thing to do. Good luck.