Rafael Manelli

2 months will be totally fine.

It’s very good but it would be nice if his hair were pulled back in both sets of photos rather than just the before

Your hair looks super coarse. You probably have a good donor.

"no surgery performed anywhere in the world would be able to mimic, let alone appear as natural as your hair is now." Do you mean on a micro level? Like unnatural density or directions? “ He just means even the best transplant is not perfectly equal to natural hair. The density will be less than original hair, but that’s okay because you only need visual density aka high opacity. And the hairs at the very front will not be as super fine and soft as in a natural hairline. But it can be close enough. - "The hairline you have drawn is far too low." -"Now, that is not to say you can't have surgery. But you're trying to be too aggressive." I don't plan to lower my hairline which determined by central point, the last living hair at the center(blue cross at the image) or alter the temples. I want to refine frontal corners by lowering them to the same level as my central point(blue cross at the image). Is it still considered aggressive? “ It’s aggressive by surgical standards because you’re young and the hairline you want is your original hairline. At first I thought it was too low by aesthetic standards too, but that may have been due to the angle of the photos. “Also I expect HT to fix asymmetry between left and right sides” That can be done. But nobody’s hairline is completely symmetric. -"You have a good head of hair, the pros outweigh the cons" What are the cons if I will be in hands of a great surgeon?” the cons are any surgery has risks. Not just hair. Any surgery. Although the odds are in your favor. -"Most surgeons will not perform hair transplants that would appear juvenile because the likelihood of future balding in your 30s is high. " Why this would happen if I have no history of hairloss in my family past the state I'm right now? “ family history is reliable but not guaranteed. Genetics are more complicated than you may think. -"There is no surgeon on earth that will give you a better hairline that what you already have." I used to have juvenile hairliine in my 17-s “ Surgery can give you this hairline. It’ll just be a little less dense and not quite as natural looking to the trained eye. But it will have visual density and appear near natural with the right surgeon. -"I would really encourage you to give both finasteride and minoxidil at least a full year before even thinking of surgery." Can it regrow already minituarized hairs from 16 years ago on front corners? “ it’s not going to regrow hairs that have miniaturised to the point where they look like bald skin. The only way to get to the turquoise line is surgery. -"If you commit to surgery now you have no idea what the future holds" Can't I rely on my family history? “ to an extent, it’s a good predictor but it’s not absolute. -"Your donor area is DHT resistant but it is not DHT 'proof.'" I can put up with using finasteride for lifetime. “ thinning of the transplant is the last of your worries. If you continue to recede and thin, the nw7 (donor) zone will be the last to go. You’ll have ample warning. Fin is primarily to protect the native hairs behind the transplant, not the transplanted hairs, those hairs are tough as nails. -"but one thing you will committing to is a lifetime of surgery to chase that low hairline" Doing it once will be sufficient. I don't want to lower my central point(the last living hair at the center), just straightening the shape by lowering front corners. “ What he means by committing to a lifetime of surgery, is he thinks you’ll keep losing hair and need more transplants to fill it in.

Just curious if you prefer the turquoise or the red?

Definitely not. Meds can thicken thin hair but they will not regrow hair that receded into nothingness long ago. The only way to get hair where you want it, is a transplant. If I were you I'd go to a top doc and get it sorted. It will feel empowering and you'll feel great to have your hair back. If your family history really stops at Norwood 2 or 3, I'd personally go for it. It's a good sign. Fin is just another layer of safety. If it thins despite fin you can just switch to dutasteride. I still think about 2000 grafts will be required. Don't bother with minoxidil if it bothers you. It's not as powerful as fin anyway. If you need it later, you can reconsider. If the worst happens, and you become Norwood 6/7, despite all the precautions and odds, you can just get a partial hairpiece which will fit snugly behind the transplant and disguise itself easily. That's in a worst case scenario. It's good to prepare for the worst. But the odds are in your favour by the sound of it.

There's nothing magical about a juvenile hairline. There's no reason it can't be restored. It won't be any more susceptible to falling out than a conservative hairline. The only reason to avoid it in my view is because you may continue to lose hair behind it. The clinic said 15-20 years AT LEAST. They're being cautious. Hair in the donor area can thin as well. Look at old men. Is their hair as thick as it was at 15? Rarely. Look at old Norwood 7s. Is their donor area thick? Not always. It can thin over decades. So can transplanted hair. You probably don't have DUPA though. The transplanted hair should last as long as it would have lasted in the donor. Usually that is a lifetime. Finasteride (and to a lesser extent, minoxidil) are recommended not primarily to keep the transplanted hair, but to halt the progression of hair loss and minimise the need for more transplants. What do you think about these hairlines?

Hence you'll require fewer grafts than him. Maybe 2000.

If you transplant the hairline and temples and wear a system behind, you can look like a Norwood 1 all your life. But you have to be careful to position the system right every time, within a millimetre or two. It'll be a learning curve. It's one of the rare cases when you actually don't want to be "conservative" with the hairline design. Recreating a receded, undulating, high Norwood 2 or 3 hairline may actually take more grafts than an aggressive, aesthetic nw1. This is because the shortest distance between two points is a straight line. The two points being the frontotemporal junctions at each side of your head. So go all out. Go for that Brad Pitt/George Clooney hairline. The question then becomes how deep do you go? I'd say at least 1cm deep. I've seen it done to an inch or more. You need enough hair to cover the system, but not so much that you run out of donor or that the difference in density between the system and the transplant becomes apparent. The transplant will be lower density than the system, no doubt, and that can be okay since the front hairline is naturally lower density than the hair behind it anyway, but if you want the ultimate result, you might want to go for two surgeries - one to establish the hairline, and a second to add even more density. This will cover the edge of the hairpiece well and allow you to do any hairstyle you want. It's a bold move, for sure. But bold trumps bald.

They are fake. It's a world wide conspiracy to scam you in particular out of your money. Once they extract the follicles, they actually just send them off to aliens seeking to collate human DNA from the most gullible specimens, men stupid enough to believe hair transplants are real. Then they clone humans with extra gullibility genes so they have a population that's easier to control. Nah, they are real...

Never heard of him but I checked his Instagram. Looks good. I think naturalness is one of the hardest aspects to get right in a transplant accidentally. A bad clinic may sometimes get lucky and achieve high yield. But creating a natural looking hairline is all down to the surgeon. This guy seems to get it right in his pics and videos. Obviously Instagram is marketing and you should take it with a grain of salt, but there's my two cents.

I'd trust both. So factor in cost, location, language etc. You'd be in good hands either way.

You have to take meds indefinitely if you want to keep their effects unfortunately.

Looks fairly normal to me. It could be thinning, or it may not be. Nothing a little finasteride couldn't help with anyway. Holding the temple hair the way you are is bound to make it look a bit thinner. Toppik powder is also good for the temples if you want them to look thicker. I wouldn't bother with the back of your head. It looks fine to me. Nobody is going to be looking at that and thinking "oh he has retrograde alopecia hehehe". Nobody. You should be able to restore a satisfactory appearance without surgery, just concealer and meds. But rest assured surgery is there if you need it. Take note of where your hairline is now incase you want to restore it to that one day. And to answer your other question, i think you could cut your hair a lot shorter without making it look worse. Try it. Might even help.

Phenomenal write up and results. You have turned HTs into a sport with the amount of detail and analysis in this thread. The hairline design is wicked sharp and strong, this will look awesome.

Post photos. I’ll see if I can help.

You’re giving yourself good odds by having the balls to go for FUT. Get it while you’re young and you’ll enjoy your youth more. Use finasteride too. Rebuilding that hairline won’t take too many grafts. Temple points make a huge difference for a small number of grafts. You could look into Dr Feller and Bloxham in New York. Dr Ball in the UK.

Great write up and powerful growth. Your hair reminds me of David Lynch

I’d be very pleased with this growth.

You look normal. buy Toppik powder. Your thin spot will be a thing of the past immediately.

Superb growth. The redness lasted a super long time for you for some reason. Your hair looks coarse, did Mwamba check the diameter? interesting how the hair is much darker than the surrounding hair on the temples. The donor zone is often the last to go grey. It looks cool and makes you appear younger though.

The postop donor pic looks like a huge amount of skin was removed for only 2.5k grafts, I imagine a lot of scar tissue developed. Good result though.

This is going to be a big improvement on that large diffuse area. Prepare for more density.

Have a look at this thread, it might give you an idea.

Okay. I get what you mean. Are you sure this is the hairline you had before any loss? If so, if it looked natural before, it can look natural again. But it’ll take 2000 grafts, give or take.