asterix0

GeneralNorwood seems like a fun guy to have a sleepover with but I think I'll pass 😃. The point is, your thread has attracted a lot of attention because your case is very interesting, any hair transplant enthusiasts would be interested to see your result, which I think has been very good so far. Sorry if you got offended by the insinuation of fiber use, I think from the discrepancy of the pictures it is not out of the realm of reasonability to wonder how there can be that much of a contrast in the various lighting conditions. I do think the use of grafts for your temple points is interesting also, normally in such high Norwood cases it is preferred to use the grafts for the limited coverage on top. I am (was) a Norwood 6 before my transplant, so I understand this thinking.

I also didn't think GeneralNorwood had bad intentions. I thought the difference between that picture and where the lateral humps were barren were because he used fibers as well. Regardless if he did or not, I think using fibers in that area would be a good plan, and the other grafts can then be used to fortify the hairline and other areas that people will directly interact with/see. I think OP has already come a long way from where he started and he should be over the moon with his results. I'm personally happy for him that things look to have turned out brilliantly, he looks a lot better and younger.

Not everyone goes to Norwood 7. The Norwood 6 zone is perfectly harvestable for many patients, see @Melvin- Moderator

Good that you aren't a fan...one less person to go on the long waiting list 😀

I know I understand your frustration. There are some doctors that get close though, but are very expensive. Dr. Konior in the USA for instance, if you do not need a gigasession.

He has said he wants to but has found it hard to find medical students who are good enough I think.

A combination of extreme surgical skill, innovative technology he uses in his practice, and he is simply a genius.

@general-etwan There is no reason to stop finasteride prior to your procedure, or after. You can (and I believe should) continuously use it, unless you experience side effects.

Always consult with multiple doctors, preferably top clinics. You can also do some estimates yourself. Take a tape measure and find the square cm area you want to implant. When you consider a transplanted density of about 40 grafts per cm^2, you can approximate how many you'll need.

If I were you, I would consider getting on a DHT blocker either topical or oral to protect your transplanted hair. You have weaknesses in your donor area unfortunately that indicate your recipient may thin over time.

If I shave the recipient how can I conceal it? Shaving the donor is a must so that I know I would have to do.

Already had one bigger 4k+ graft session where I shaved so I know how the whole rodeo goes. This is more of a touch up procedure, but was hoping to just conceal it a bit more...but what's a bit with a buzzcut in the long run, not a big deal I suppose...

I've already had one transplant where I shaved my head so I know how it goes...but fortunately I worked from home during the ugly duckling stage so no one saw me haha. This will be a little trickier, but I don't look terrible with a shaved head either way. I was hoping to just conceal it better.

I have an upcoming FUE procedure where I was told in theory that not shaving the recipient area will not affect my yield, it will just make the surgery last longer. I anticipate it will be something in the 1500-2000 graft range. My question is, since I recently changed jobs I really did not want to shave my recipient area and sort of hide what was done as much as possible. What I am concerned with is keeping my head clean post op, and that having longer recipient hair will make it more difficult to follow proper post op care. Is this concern valid? Also, I will take a week+ off from work, so when I come back it will look like a buzzcut mostly. The main issue is the ugly duckling stage when all the grafts fall out, where then it will be obvious and my appearance won't able to be fixed even with fibers, since the hair length wont be long enough. To add, I will just be adding density to the hairline and midscale, not lowering the hairline.

Yes you did, unfortunately you are going to Norwood 7 now, sorry this is common knowledge.

It is a two way street to be a well informed patient and communicate to the doctor what you want as clearly as possible. If this is the guy who went to Dr. Konior earlier, he does seem to have issues of not quite understanding what the possibilities and limitations of hair transplantation are. Nevertheless, I do agree that the clinic should be able to respond to the claims before any judgement is cast. If what he said is true, it is a disappointing result indeed and I understand his frustration.

Watch this video from Eugenix to get an idea about transplanted long term maintenance: https://youtu.be/rJctY_jvd6U

Did you lose native or transplanted hair from your transplant in 2014? Were you slick bald when you had your first transplant?

Yes that is consistent with what to expect.

You also went to Dr. Zarev?

Right in the middle of the ugly duckling, this part is tough mentally but it will soon be a distant, funny memory :)

@washingtondc It will not get much better (maybe 5% improvement tops), you are being gaslighted by being told to wait.

In the short term, eyeballing can work if you are a low Norwood. However, if you assume every patient will eventually be a high Norwood, and every graft should be used as judiciously as possible, eyeballing is not a reliable method to evaluate the donor. The donor may show different regions that are stronger and weaker, it may be denser in some areas and so if you want to homogenize it as best as possible to allow for the greatest number of grafts to extract, you must precisely plan which areas of the donor have which capacity. Different parts of the donor are better suited for the front, midscalp, and crown. It is no coincidence that the best doctors in the world are meticulous about planning out their surgeries, that involves more than a 2 minute glance at a person's head. See @HugoX as an example.

Heart cancer is pretty serious, I don't think oral minoxidil would be on the market if some link was found to that.

This clinic is not at all worth the price you paid, perhaps they were recommended at some point in the past but remember you shouldn't take anything written here as gospel, ultimately it is up to you do your own research (as thoroughly as you can) and choose a surgeon that way. The way I did it is, I literally spent days and days (probably over 100 hours) looking at all the recent results from clinics I was interested in, and comparing their results with the clearest pictures I can find (no combover tricks, dim lighting, etc). with other clinics. Also trying to do the same graft number comparisons with different patients. For your next steps, I strongly advise you to not go back to the same clinic. I think a surgeon like Dr. Konior in Chicago would suit you best.