civic

Finasteride is pretty tricky pill, some never develop side effects, others do. My dad is 90 yrs old & takes 5mg dose for prostate & has zero sides. I, however tried fin at age 28-30 & did experience sides, but they resolved upon quiting.

I am in the camp where i think less is more, if you look at works of Cuto, Bernstein, Eugenix, Vories, they most often work with no more than 3k in that region & results look fantastic. It is not only the graft #s, it's the art of creating illusion with density, certain angle placement goes a long way. 

25 minutes ago, NOMORENORWOOD said:

What is usually the goal? 40 or is it much higher?

Depends on hair characteristics, thinner hair vs thicker, wavy, curly etc.

I think FUE will be the standard soon, i read some research where good argument was made showing FUE allows for cherry picked grafts, doubles or triples, in FUT you are limited to what the given strip has. Also, with advancement in beard grafts, 300 of beard in crown area gives greater illusion of density than 400 hair grafts as beard hair is typicaly 2x thicker. FUT has a risk of permanent nerve numbness in strip area.

5k grafts is a lot for just front to mid region, is it possible that too many grafts in such tight area caused some grafts not to survive? Usualy on such big fue or fut cases they pack 3-3.5k grafts from front to mid, has the clinic said why 5k were needed there?

I don't think you need any surgery. What you have can be reversed with fin/minox/ drmaroller. At this age & diffuse pattern, Zero grafts is the best approach .  I was in your situation in 2009 & the doc i went to prescribed meds & said not to bother with ht till a decade or so later.

14 minutes ago, radioregime said:

I am being given the option of both. FUE would yield 4k and probably cover the front and part of the mid. Most likely, the crown won’t get any more coverage. FUT could yield 5k+ and has a higher probability of getting some crown coverage in. They are confirming my laxity. I really want to do this one time, not multiple. I usually have a 0 fade and realize I would have to trade a fade for crown coverage. But I think it’s worth it. What should I do? Going to H&W.

FUE can be spread over 2 consecutive days, did you ask them if perhaps 5k grafts over 2days is good idea in your case?

54 minutes ago, gxm100 said:

live updates from the docs office. See pre-op lines attached and my super cool pre-op hair cut. Sounds like we got about 2500 grafts. After doc shaved my head he felt we really only need 2300 but my donor was dense so sounds like they got a bit more out.

My biggest worry is that doc said my hair is fine in terms of caliber. He did not give me an exact #. I figured this was the case, as it seems generally those with lighter hair have finer hair (just generally).

 

Hairline design looks great!  not sharp V shaped, results should look great with dense-packing that he specializes in.

2 minutes ago, yesplease said:

I suspect that the increase in cost is beyond commensurate with the increase in labor for FUE harvesting 

Well, there are respectable/recomendeded surgens on here who actualy charge reasobale fee for FUE in USA $5-6 per graft & do implantation & extraction themselves with techs only loading implanter pens.

1 minute ago, yesplease said:

I believe one strong factor is that FUE is more profitable for the physician than FUT.

Not really, FUE is more labor intensive & takes much longer hours. If it was all about profit then FUT is where its at, most clinincs doing FUTs can do several surgeries a day. With FUE it would take a whole day to do 3k grafts.  In FUT, Doctors take out strip which is pretty quick, then techs do rest under supervision.

Good luck tomorrow! 

The density is perfect! 

9 minutes ago, user13 said:

I booked a consultation with him in a couple of week.

I also had a virtual consultation with Dr. Charles and he said my Donner was was pretty decent 6-7 out of 10. He said I would need 2500-3000 grafts which was inline with Dr. Bloxham.

He seemed pretty awesome.

He said he will also prescribe me oral finasteride if I wanted it.

 

Maybe the pictures above arnt ideal because I just got out of the shower?

I would not worry about pictures. Once Bernstein sees you, he will tell you exactly what is best, he has a no nonesense approach, very honest.

8 minutes ago, HappyMan2021 said:

who is your doctor, is this your 1st HT, do you have a good donor? 

If it helps you stop worrying a bit, if you are seeing a good doctor, no donor issues, and working on a completely virgin scalp I say you dont have to worry (even though you probably still will lol)

Repair cases can add alot of drama and complexity, and I think repairs in particular are more of a cause for anxiety. At least for me it did. 

 

My ht is with dr Vories. 1st surgery, i seen many before/after of his work & like what i see and researched. Donor area i had in person exam localy, was cleared to proceed.

8 minutes ago, HappyMan2021 said:

I just got a 3 day repair HT from a very elite doctor. In the months leading up to surgery I was mainly super excited and couldnt wait for the day to get there. 

However, in the week and morning of surgery I was getting incredibly nervous, buyer's remorse, questioning everything, etc. 

I would say anxiety when you are very close to surgery is completely normal. Especially if you had not had an in-person consult yet. Despite a webcam consult and any detailed photos you provide, until your surgeon physically examines your hair, there can indeed be a lot of uncertainty to what the doctor will say. 

Ultimately all my worries were unfounded. 

As long as you are going to a good doctor, you kind of do just need to trust the process, even though it can be super uncomfortable. 

 

100% agree, my ht is set for end of June & i am also getting a bit nervous-)

They utilize beard grafts, also those top clinics carefuly analyze each patients donor, there has to be a mutual trust between patient & clinic. If top surgen says a patient can handle 9k grafts then most likely they can. 

You still have good coverage, i would not rush into surgery, try microneedling 1x a week, take vitamins, & use Hair fibers. If you opt dor ht you will not be happy as current hair might keep receeding. Wait till 40s for ht, hair loss will be more stable by then.

Wow, this is amazing result! 

You can try to get 2nd opinion from Dr Bsrnstein in Nyc, he is very good in assessing if you are a proper candidate or not.  Though he charges for consultation it is very well worth to know what your situation is from expert & then decide. I had good experience in my consult with him in 2009, he said not to rush into HT.

35 minutes ago, D_Matt_I said:

Here are pictures of the top of my head at 8 months vs. 12 months post surgery.  I 

I think it's becauae you have wavy hair and high contrsast between scalp and hair color you may feel as though its not dense in certain light condition, but i think it looks good, can we see before operation picture?

7 hours ago, D_Matt_I said:

I didn't even think of logging in from my phone... duh, lol. Showing my age...

Here are a couple of pictures of my current hairline. Opinions/comments welcome, especially as to whether you think it looks good as-is or if you think it makes sense to do another surgery to make my hairline more natural. Sometimes it's hard for me to judge since I've been told that I can be overly critical of myself.

Somewhere (on an old phone?) I have some pictures showing the top of my head at 8 vs 12 months post FUE surgery with Dr. V. I think they will help demonstrate what I was saying in my earlier post about my slow growth. I'll post them as soon as I find them...

It looks great!  Thanks for sharing, the density is very good, i was worried that it would look sparse based on your initial post . This is on par with what i seen in top clinics like Eugenix & Couto.

1 hour ago, kirkland said:

Coming up on 8 months.

I cannot express enough how much lighter I feel having hair. It really has been one of the best decisions I have ever made. When I finally decided to get a hair transplant, I circled back to the Hair Restoration Network and from that point forward, all my decisions were the right ones. Melvin, you are a magnificent advocate and you do a fantastic job! So thankful to you. And so thankful for all of the support from friends I have made on here. It's nice to have a supporting network for something that many consider a trivial vanity issue but has deeper psychological implications for those who lost a big piece of themselves going bald (and beyond for those who went through tough times in botched attempts to address hair loss - looking at you @Gatsby!)

Baldness is now optional - wise words from a valued member here. Looking at you @Zoomster!

And thanks to Dr. Bansal and the Eugenix team which made this all happen and successfully so!

Likely going back to India for round 2 early next year given my schedule. It's been an amazing experience and it's not over yet.

For context, first pic is the original pic I sent to Eugenix back in late 2019. 

 

 

Looks perfect and with only 3500k grafts? That's outstanding density & coverage!

15 minutes ago, D_Matt_I said:

I don't think you need to worry.  Dr.Vories is an excellent surgeon. I am probably overly picky.

I'm at work right now, but I'll upload a couple of pictures when I get home.

Thanks! Would be great to see those pictures, i will also document my journey post op.

1 hour ago, D_Matt_I said:

I feel your pain and my heart hurts for you (seriously). I can completely relate...

I was a Norwood 4 in Jan 2018 at age 48 when I had a 3900 FUE transplant with Dr Michael Vories in Charleston SC. He does exclusively FUE transplants and had more than 15 years of experience at the time I did the surgery. I was healthy, lean, exercised, ate a good diet, was on dutasteride, used hair thickening shampoo, took vitamins, zinc, biotin, etc. (not Rogaine).  Even with all that I still had some shock loss, redness through 3 months, mild folliculitis, and at 5 months post-op I had a lot less growth than you see in pictures on-line. The top was the worst. Even at 8 months post-op it was still patchy, thin and bald in some spots.  I talked to Dr. Vories and he said some people heal slowly and to try to be patient. I didn't take it out on him, but OMG the frustration I felt at home! It took 9-11 months to see results that other people usually get in 4-6 months.  So hang in there. I know it's disheartening right now, but I really think you will see more growth over the next 6 months.  Please give an update in a few months to let us know how it's going.  It would be helpful to me (and probably others) to know how you are doing.

Right now I'm at 2.5 years after my first 3900 FUE transplant and I'm going for a second 1800 FUE transplant at the end of June with Dr. Angela Phipps in Raleigh NC to fill in the top (still a bit thin) and to try and make the hairline look more natural. (I have a nearly perfectly straight hairline which I think makes it obvious that I got a transplant).  I am really dreading being an "ugly duckling" over the next year... crossing my fingers that maybe it will be better this time...

Thanks for sharing what's going on with you. It helps to know I'm not the only one who has had to deal with disappointing results at 5 months.

I am also scheduled with Dr V.   From what i seen his hairline designs looked natural, now i am a bit nervous-(

1 hour ago, HappyMan2021 said:

after surgery you should really spend really spend a day or two in a nearby hotel before driving back. 

please don't be selfish and put other people's lives at risk. its not a good idea to drive immediately after surgery. 

 

 

Yes that's what i mentioned, i will stay 4 days there after surgery-)