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He's been on both Finasteride and Minoxidyl for 4 years. At 26 that's a very aggressive Norwood pattern especially since he's been on the meds. His donor shows signs of thinning and retrograde alopecia. I think surgery would be a disaster in this young man's case.

Thanks for the shout out John! Hairlosssucks...., Hair transplant scars are PERMANENT. Let me say that again. Hair transplant scars are PERMANENT. SMP, even really badly done SMP, is reversible. I don't mean to be overly negative on the surgery. I've had several successful HTs myself. But you will not be able to shave your hair close anymore (And yes despite what some HT clinics will lead you to believe, even FUE causes scarring and they are visible when you shave). I also concur with the others on this thread who noted that after looking at your donor conditions you are a poor candidate. I'm guessing most top HT surgeons will agree.

As far as I know none of those surgeons offer in-house SMP at this time. They actually do all refer patients to my clinic (Ahead Ink) in northern New Jersey and I'm sure all of them would gladly verify this. The reason I got into SMP was because my HT surgeon, Dr. Feller, introduced me to Milena Lardi back in 2011 at his office.

Well as Melvin pointed out, it’s a bit fishy when someone creates an account just to seemingly drag up an old thread. Being on this forum for so many years you see behavior like this and it gets predictable. So you get the inclination it might be a competitor trying to slander my work. Or who knows, maybe it’s really a guy who just doesn’t think it’s good work. Cosmetic procedures can be subjective, and I never take that fact for granted. Either way he’s entitled to his opinion and to have a voice on the forum. That’s the beauty of free speech, right? Have a great weekend gents!

Thank you JohnAC71! Dark skin presents its own unique set of challenges to work on but the results when done properly can have a big impact. The key is being patient as the pigment can take some time to develop and darken, so you never want to rush the process just to give the client immediate gratification. Below is the most challenging dark-skinned client I've had. His skin tone was nearly darker than my pigment (I only use medium brown as a base) so I had to tone it up with a black agar, and we needed a fourth session. The result is still subtle but thankfully it did make a difference and a happy client.

As long as we're bumpin' an old thread I may as well update it with some more of my "bad" work.....thanks

There should be no issues with getting SMP then having a transplant. As Dr. Barghouthi mentioned a surgeon should be able to make clear distinctions especially since they use high magnifiers. Also, the SMP, if done properly, should be placed in the upper dermis (superficial injection) so it's not deep enough to effect the grafts.

Thanks Voxman!

Presenting a Norwood 7 Client after 3 sessions. Thanks for looking!

Seniormido, The client featured here would probably want to maintain this hair length ( zero guard on a clipper) so the new SMP hairline blends properly with the existing hair. I know this is a common concern among SMP clients but the reality is SMP is 2D so for it to look its best and most seamless you want the surrounding hair to look as much like stubble as possible.

Gatsby, You have a pretty solid understanding of SMP at this point. In fact you're probably more knowledgeable than many practitioners. Glad to see you found a good artist and that you're happy with the results!

Denver touched on a very good point here regarding hairline design. A good result means the practitioner should have solid technique, proper, SMP-specific tools and training, but also understand the basic principles of hairline design. If all three aren't in play then you are looking at a poor result. I was not a tattoo artist. My background was actually in publishing and at one point I was even offered the moderator position on this forum. I was just a hair loss sufferer who had a botched hair transplant. I then found this forum and educated myself and went on to have several transplants with incredible HT docs, and it was Dr. Feller who introduced me to SMP. I learned how to design hairlines from the best HT docs in the business (Feller, Arocha, Alexander, Cooley). These surgeons all had similar approaches to hairline design and were constantly delivering natural results. I realized it was a good idea to understand how they designed and employ something similar with my SMP clients.

It looks to me like they probably injected far too deep into your dermis-beyond the upper dermis-which can result in dots bleeding into each other and an overall unnatural look. This is likely from lack of experience and possibly using equipment not intended for scalp micro pigmentation. SMP is a highly specialized practice and should use proper equipment and techniques. Neither of these appear to have been used on you. As far as removal, make sure you find a good laser technician (maybe a cosmetic dermatologist). This is worth traveling for if you don't have one in your immediate area. Laser if not done properly can end up scarring you. Best of luck

Thanks Denver, made the correction! And good looking out by you as well! And to answer your question, while this will certainly fade on its own over time/lessen in color saturation, it will likely not disappear completely on its own so laser removal is his only recourse.

JustGotSMPD, Sorry to say this a botched procedure. Any qualified SMP artist will tell you this. Do not have any more work done by them. You should remove with a laser. (Make certain to thank Ciaus for adding me to this thread by the way, he saved you from getting into even deeper trouble.)

Carbon, I use both single and three-point needles. Light-skin clients with fine hair usually get single point. Dark skin and coarse hair get three point. For hair transplants I will often use both. The three-point is sometimes needed to camouflage the grafts which tend to be thicker.

Hi Kruchie, I don't think I've treated any true redheads. That being said I have worked on clients with red highlights to their hair as well as blonde and gray. I wouldn't get too caught up in the hair color as it appears when it's grown out, though. SMP is designed to look like shaved hair stubble and you might notice that hair--when shaved, no matter what color--has a grayish tone. This gray tone is from keratin. Hope this helps....

Thank you! Here are some recent "model" shots we took:

This client decided to ditch his hair system in favor of a Shaved Look. We addressed his hairline to crown with 3 sessions.

Sam, Thank you. FUE and Strip scars both present unique challenges. Any scarring is difficult though and can be unpredictable as it's not normal, healthy, vascular tissue. Ciaus, The client did not want to treat the frontal zone. I agree though that they best way to fix would be remove and redistribute the grafts or fill in-between with SMP or single hair follicular units to make it irregular and to soften it.

This client had a FUE surgery done overseas and was understandably unhappy with the results. Unfortunately they used a large punch for donor extractions and packed them too close together which prevented him from wearing the short hairstyle he prefers. We treated the scars in two sessions (he may require a third).

Hope everyone is doing well and getting through these tough times. Here's one of our first clients since reopening. Thanks for looking!

I think he's actually headed for a NW6/7. Look at how deep the pattern sinks in the back, and it looks like the sides are dropping, too. Acura, Have you tried just shaving your head first? You're going to require a few surgeries to get decent density and coverage and in doing so will create a good bit of scarring. And even with a few surgeries you're still going to have areas like the crown that won't get coverage. Another issue to be wary of: without being on FIN/Minox you'll get the HT, it will look great for a while and then you'll lose more native hair and appear thinner. Just make sure you do plenty of homework and consider all the pros and cons of doing surgery before you proceed because the scars are with you forever.

Firstly, I hope everyone is doing well and staying healthy during this crazy time..... Sean, Thanks for the nice words. Yes I agree Fousey's first treatment looked good then he got botched. I'll be sure to start a grey hair thread of examples this week for you. Thisisnotatest, Thanks for the comment. I usually recommend clients go with either a zero guard on a clipper (the Wahl peanut or And is T Outliner for example), or use a Foil Shaver (The Babyliss FX is incredible), because when the surrounding native hair has some length it does give away the illusion of SMP. That being said, some clients do let it grow in a few days and while not as seamless, still looks quite good and I doubt the average Joe would notice. I can also also create a thread of clients going for more of the buzzcut look. And trust me, I know SMP isn't perfect. Neither are hair transplants for that matter (I fix TONS of unnatural ones with horrific scarring). The best solution for hairloss is to not lose your hair! I also believe that once hair cloning becomes viable it will change the game.

Yes I’ve got a bunch. I’ll create another thread for them.