Hair4Days

I respect your input on finasteride. And it makes sense. But why would you recommend forgetting about a transplant if you are indeed affected by the medication and chose not to take it? I’ve seen countless Ht cases on this network showing high Norwood patients really turning things around with surgery alone. I understand everybody is different, But if you were a nw 6 already, had excellent donor, and in the hands of an experienced nw 6,7 doctor.. you wouldn’t feel confident in a large HT restoration? I’ve seen it be proven. Please tell me, in your opinion, how much coverage you think this particular patient can get with surgery alone? Considering his pattern progresses down to a solid 6/7. Rough guesstimate? It seems like you think a transplant is only suitable for mild/moderate balding? And there’s nothing wrong with that, I love hearing other people’s opinions.

So on average, how many grafts can you extract via fue from the scalp, and then from the beard. Considering the donor is very well and the beard is thick. And would you say these exact rules apply for nw 6+ as well?

There are safe zones in the donor. Especially when performing FUT. Even in megasession FUE procedures, you notice doctors harvesting under and around the dip of the crown. I do agree finasteride will slow the process down..but I’d still proceed assuming my hair will eventually look exactly what my genetics are meant to be..overall i don’t think it’s smart to rely on a medication that you don’t know if you’d tolerate, or lose its potency over time. You should still plan for the worst, and that in my opinion includes being examined thorough enough to determine if you’re likely to get grafts in the crown in the future or not.

Why, if a doctor gives me the green light that my donor is suitable for the long haul?

Well understood LaserCap. However, it may be hard to be happy with the front not knowing if you can do the back or not. I think it’s easier to enjoy your front when your doctor confirms you do indeed have the donor for some kind of crown coverage in the future, hence why it’s very important to have in person consultations with experienced surgeons.

Would gentleman be able to max out his donor with fue and then use beard grafts to cover his whole top?

How many total grafts have you used thus far from your donor to have done 5 Ht?

In a scenario where the patients needs are as much grafts as he can get. we’re comparing going fut/fue for max yield versus fue + beard. Do you ultimately get the same amount of grafts for both strategies.

Hey guys, I’ve been told the best way to maximize your lifetime yield of grafts is to start with Fut, then head into fue. Top doctors tend to agree you get 20% more combining both methods versus doing FUE alone. So in a hypothetical situation, harvesting 7200 grafts fut/fue would only land you 6000 fue grafts....However, in an fue only case, can a patient with a very full & thick beard make up for these grafts you’d be leaving on the table? What are your guys thoughts on this strategy? Are the grafts the same? Do they work well for added density? What makes more sense, max out with fue + beard grafts to avoid a linear scar, or do fut/fue and potentially harvest equal grafts? Or are fut grafts just better quality regardless? thanks

With the wrong doctor, i agree. If you have similar donor to this guy i think it’s safe to say similar results is realistic

I do understandPhysiological factors is the key phrase people over look. The way human biology and physiology works Varys from person to person . Since that’s proven to be true, there’s no way a doctor can gaurentee the same results for every single person . I get that. However.. the contradicting opinions i get make me so damn indecisive for the last point you made about being unable to shave their head. I don’t want to be that guy who regrets the hell out of his decision- being forced to wear long hair on the sides.. with garbage density up top. Lol at if other industries having such loose standards. I remember when i tore my labrum in my shoulder- all 3 surgeons said arthroscopic repair with 4 anchors. At that point it was just about choosing who i felt most comfortable with. There was a universal orthopedic understanding of how the repair needs to be done. One guy didn’t have a completely separate strategy. With Ht, it’s literally all over the place

Perfectly said. Every point you made is true & valid. A lot of these doctors are pretty sketchy. The only time I’m impressed is when i see wet comb through videos. Other then that- you can keep the before and after photos for those who don’t use critical thinking for such a serious procedure. I’m glad I’m indecisive, because it gives me the opportunity to point out the flaws in this industry. Literally zero across the board standards when it comes to strategizing. I understand millions of men bald differently, but i was literally told yesterday to start with fue, and i have apparent crown diffusion that’s dipping into a severe advanced pattern. When a different surgeon says to completely forget about fue because in order to utilitize every available graft you must start with strip? Why do two surgeons in the same field have completely different game plans? You don’t know who to trust or believe. If I’m not getting a guarantee that my results will Atleast be 90% satisfying then I’m not dropping 15-30k, and I’m sure as hell not scarring my head. Until things become more universal i believe this industry will always be a coin flip

I’m with you on that. But you can also argue- why risk having a linear scar when it’s possible to get similar results via fue? I think we can all agree that fue scarring is probably better then having a strip scar. And about the longer hair in the donor- i feel like i need to know for a fact if I’ll be able to address my crown enough where it won’t look bad with long donor hair. Imagine having a bald or thin crown and long hair on the sides. Atleast with fue they say you can cut your sides down lower .. which would ultimately make the top less noticeable. But if i get good coverage then the length on the sides don’t matter as much - which goes back to the question of which method yeilds more grafts. And i was always under the impression fut then fue will max out the donor. But I’ve had enough consultations where some doctors contradict this philosophy and claim fue can do just as good. And that’s when the confusion begins

And the alternative is just fue with similar results? Or are you on board with fue alone yields less lifetime grafts? Some doctors don’t agree with this

For something so serious as surgery, something that creates permanent scarring.. I’ve never seen so many conflicting inputs on hair restoration. I’ve consulted with 6 different hair transplant doctors, all with separate game plans. You would think there would be Atleast some kind of universal understanding about grafts, coverage, density..I know it depends on the skill of the surgeon..but for someone to completely disagree with starting with FUT, and then another doctor saying stay far away from FUE.. it just causes confusion and makes patients indecisive about a decision so crucial to a mans life. I was coming to the overall conclusion that (And I’m sure a lot of you guys would agree) the only way to extract the most lifetime grafts is FUT first, and then FUE second. This was explained to me during a few of my consults, so Atleast some were on the same page. But then i do further research and consult with other doctors for another opinion. Then i hear FUE can yield just as much and get you the same result as an FUT strip. This same doctor Includes beard hair in the overall strategy of obtaining full coverage, and highly advises against strip. As a 28 year old, i just want to feel confident moving into surgery. I don’t want to regret starting fut if i can get the same result via fue. I wish more professionals AGREED on these topics so i could better weigh my options and make an executive decision. Does anyone have an opinion on the better strategy. Would an fue case of 2500 grafts give me the same result as a 2500 strip? My donor hair is above average, with diffused thinning front to back (eventual nw6)

Very well said & understood. I’m very impressed by your results and would be more than satisfied with those results. Almost making me consider konior now, simply because you achieved what I’d hope to achieve- good coverage from the hairline to the crown. A lot of people on here claim it’s not possible to fulfill the entire top of the scalp due to supply and demand. Also a lot of finasteride lovers. I was planning on seeing dr bloxham in New York. I feel like i can’t go wrong with either doctor now.

So great man. Very happy for you. The difference between you and i is I’m only 28 right now and becoming a nw6. did konior tell you before you started surgery that you were likely to address the entire top including the crown with your donor quality ? Or did you just play it by ear ?

Any photos ?

Those results are amazing. This right here gives me hope and further justifies you can achieve full coverage with surgery alone. There’s literally nothing transparent about your crown. You can argue your results were still great prior to your fue procedure you just had. Was this all with konior?

Lol no worries man. These are valid debates. I appreciate your input. Trust me, i wish i wasn’t paranoid about meds. I’m just sticking firm on not using them for personal reasons. but anyways.. how bad is having a wide open crown with Coverage 3/4 back? Just Incase the donor depletes and the far crown can’t be addressed.

My doctor told me exactly what I’m voicing here. I’m not making any of this up. My doctor here in Ny doesn’t rely on finasteride to hold onto any native hairs. He feels genetics will always take over although He does agree it can slow the process down. I guess this means the medication will eventually not be as effective. But the plan is to expect for the worst..by starting the hairline conservative, starting with strip to utilize the entire donor, and run with it. I personally have enough problems and i don’t need any more with sides from finasteride, even if the likeliness is low

I have read and seen it’s possible to get satisfying coverage from hairline to the crown if you became a nw6, considering you have good quality donor hair. I have been told i have good donor. During my consults, doctors had told me that you can get basically full coverage with two large strip surgery’s consisting of about 2500 grafts each.. and then a couple thousand more grafts via fue. Knowing i have this much donor in the bank, it makes me feel confident that if i never took finasteride.. then with surgery alone i can get front to back coverage. Not saying completely dense, but cosmetically acceptable.. dense through the mid scalp, then sacrificing density towards the crown which I’m fine with

4K in the crown? I’m guessing it’s crazy dense? How many did you use upfront?

The truth is, the internet is the only way we can judge a medication. It could either do its job successfully for however long.. or i could experience sexual side effects.. potentially permanent.. according to the internet. There’s even a foundation for those suffering from post finasteride syndrome. I’m just not willing to roll that dice. Especially when you have doctors saying the average patient can achieve coverage front to back if they went completely bald, so i rather just do surgery and if i have to sacrifice less density in the crown i can use a little concealer. I just realistically want to see some crown results on here

I understand finasteride helps with stabilizing the crown but i refuse to rely/commit to a daily tablet that could give me sexual side effects. I’ve read too many horror stories on the negative effects. I rather just let the hair go and rebuild it all via surgery. Plus your genetics always win in the end and what’s meant to be will always happen so i also feel it’s not wise to ignore the fact that the crown will eventually be bald so i rather take the hope for the best but prepare for the worst approach.. why do you say it’s the most difficult to treat via surgery?