iron_man

I had a procedure with Dr. Umar in February. You can click the link in my signature to follow the results. I think you're in good hands, personally.

Here's the original thread: http://www.hairrestorationnetwork.com/eve/138399-two-month-update-dr-umar-1950-fue-grafts.html Six months have passed since my visit with Dr. Umar. He worked on my temporal peaks and lowered my hairline a little. Overall, I'm pleased and I'd recommend Dr. Umar. Lots of pics have been posted in my weblog.

I posted 3-month pictures on my hair blog for anybody following. I've had a lot of new growth in the past month.

As a hair transplant patient of Dr. Umar's, I can say with 99% certainty that Dr. Umar would not use beard hair to restore a hair line. It is way too thick. He uses nape hair for hairlines.

I just posted pictures from two months for anybody following my progress. So far things look pretty good. New hairs are definitely growing in already, although I do have some pretty big empty areas still. Hoping those start to fill in by next month.

Hi Aaron. The pics at one month aren't a good gauge for density. Most of the hairs have fallen out or broken off. I think the density of transplanted hairs was probably around 40cm2. I had a lot of double hair and triple hair FUEs, so I think it will end up fine. But I guess time will be the judge of that. Also, the hairs are placed at an angle. So you're correct. I've always had a wicked cowlick at my hairline and along the temples. I asked Dr Umar (and my previous docs) to keep it, so that's why the hairs are angled.

Just added one month photos for anyone following.

Oh, I should also add that I have a a lot of double hairs, and I've even noticed some triple FUEs. And a couple of doubles even from the nape. That isn't entirely seen in the pics, but certainly will add to thickness.

Jon, those are all the hairs. There will likely be some native hairs that return, particularly where you see the gaps between hair transplant and existing native. (I believe I've had some shock loss in these areas.) Also, about 15-20% of the transplanted hairs have fallen out already. Of the grafts that haven't fallen out, nearly all of them have already shown some growth, so I take that as a positive sign for overall yield when it's all said and done. My only area of concern at present is that the left side looks a little thinner in places than the right. But I trust Dr Umar and his placement of grafts, and it's not a major concern of mine.

Ijust posted 2-week pics. No worries, aaron. I went with FUE because I wanted to use nape hair. Dr Umar is the only doctor I know who uses nape hair and he only does FUE.

Hi aaron. My comments to you mirror exactly what windjc said. If I lose the nape hairs in 20-30 years, so be it. I'll take the extra soft hairs in front right now since it's not something I need to worry about anyway. By the time I'm 55, a little more recession won't matter much if they do fall out. Behind those nape hairs are single hairs from the scalp followed by some doubles. And there is plenty of proof that Dr. Umar has been very successful at transplanting nape hair. Anyway, today is Day 10. Tons of scabs came off in the shower today. Most of the transplanted hairs still in tact as well. I'll keep this updated as I progress!

I just thought I'd share my own personal experience with this. Several months back, I began losing massive amounts of hair all over my head. It seriously freaked me out. I thought about everything that might possibly cause this sudden loss and remembered that I had recently discovered an iron deficiency. (Unfortunately for me, despite eating a fair amount of red meat and green leafy vegetables, my body just doesn't absorb iron well.) I'd had an iron deficiency for quite some time actually that went unnoticed. The reason it went unnoticed was because my bioavailable iron levels were fine, but none of my doctors ever thought to check my ferritin levels (iron storage). I did some research on this and sure enough, I found a ton of info that correlated low ferritin with hair loss. In most cases, however, it was noted with women, presumably because most men do not suffer from low iron. The average male has a ferritin level of about 150 ng/ml. Mine was at 1.3 ng/ml!! So I began taking supplements about 5 months ago. The last time I had my ferritin levels checked, they had risen to 24 ng/ml and that was a couple of months ago. I'll be checking them again within the next month. According to my doc, it is ideal to get your ferritin level to at least 70 ng/ml. Anecdotally, what I can honestly say is that taking iron supplements--specifically, I take ferrous fumarate tablets--has had a TREMENDOUS impact on my hair. My hair has stopped falling out in large amounts and has thickened throughout, quite noticeably. That being said, if you notice sudden, rapid thinning, you might want to have your iron levels checked by your doctor, specifically your level of ferritin. Also, please note, that without having your levels checked, it is incredibly foolish to just start taking iron supplements. Too much iron can be toxic. I searched for the topic of ferritin before posting, and there are very few posts on it, most of them old. So I just thought I'd share my personal story with it. Obviously, I may still succumb to more male pattern baldness, but the low iron was definitely causing some of my issues.

Quick background... I'm now 33 years old, nearing 34. Currently a Norwood 3. Not likely to be any worse than an NW 5, based on family history and opinion of a couple surgeons. Thus far have only had frontal recession. Some very minor thinning in the crown, but it's not very noticeable. Had my first two procedures with Bosley in Chicago when I was 26 and then again at 28. While it was an uninformed decision, I could've ended up worse. I overpaid and the session sizes were too small to justify the procedures (545 first time, 1114 second time), the procedures were a success in that the grafts were transplanted correctly. The FUT scar was not great, but also not awful. The quality of the hairline was not very good, however. I started losing a little more in my frontal third as well. I had Dr. Ron Shapiro fix the additional loss in October 2007. He did a fantastic job on the hairline and placing of the grafts (1885 total and just under 4000 actual hairs). He did a little temple work too, although I will admit it was less than what I expected and would've wanted. The strip scar also ended up wider than I would have liked, and I also have missing hair from where the stitches were placed, presumably because the skin was pulled too tight. This was my third procedure so I suppose this is more likely to happen at that point. Despite my minor disappointment in the temple work and strip scar, I would still highly recommend Dr. Shapiro. He's a top notch surgeon and his staff was great. After Dr. Shapiro's surgery, I was just under 40 cm2 on my frontal third. I contacted Dr. Umar for my latest surgery because I wanted to use nape hair to soften my hairline, and in more particular, fix my temples. Yes, I realize that there is a possibility that nape hair may fall out, but a) if and when it does, that will be many, many years from now; b) the nape hairs were placed in the front two rows of my hairline and temples so if they eventually fall out, it will look like a natural recession anyway; c) I'm not convinced that most of my nape hairs will fall out. I have a tremendous amount of nape hair, as do the other men in my family, even at an old age. In other words, my decision was entirely informed. Dr. Umar struck me as very matter-of-fact, proud of the quality of his work, and kind. He did an excellent job of constructing a softer hairline and temples from what I can see thus far. Assuming the grafts grow in well, I think I will be extremely pleased, and I will not need any further work done in the frontal region. He used 1900 grafts from my scalp and nape. (I'm going to email him to see if I can get hair count from each area, but I know the scalp produced mostly double hairs according to the technician.) He used more hairs from the back of my scalp than I was anticipating. However, he believes I have a good 3500 donor grafts remaining if I need it for crown work. Additionally, I have a very thick beard and lots of thick chest hair if it comes down to it, so I'm not too concerned about the crown. I also had Dr. Umar take 50 FUEs from my beard to run a sample into my strip scar. Assuming those take well, I'll be filling that in with beard hair sometime at the end of this year. To see pics from Day 2 post op, Day 4 post op, and Week 1 post op, click on the link in my profile to go to my hair loss blog. I am going to email Dr. Umar to see if he has any pre-op pics he can send me. I foolishly forgot to take my camera with me to the procedure so I didn't take any photos the day before. The only ones I have are from September 2009, but I didn't have any further loss from that point. (Actually, I had some thickening since I had started taking iron supplements.)

Hi Abe. I'm scheduled for a transplant using nape hair with Dr. Umar in a few months. As another poster had asked, I'm also wondering if there is any visible scarring at the back of the neck? From all of the pictures I've seen of Umar's patients, I don't see anything visible, but it would be nice to hear firsthand. Could you please let us know? Thanks.