Beneke

Thanks, @braun453! Good luck with your work. I suggest you be careful with LHR. Who knows how it can react with scar tissue. Definitely do a test site if you decide to follow through with it. As for an update with me, I'm holding off on booking an appointment for as long as I can. If my hair is long enough, and worn forward, it looks inconspicuous. I'll eventually recede my hairline and follow up with RF microlending if needed. I'm between a rock and a hard place. All I want is to not draw unwanted attention towards myself. I'm there right now. I just want to remain there. I hope that one day, if I bald farther, I can shave my head and not look too odd.

I recently talked to a cosmetic dermatologist. He said the following: - Scar revision techniques likely won't help (due to limitations with scar revision and I'm dealing with skin grafts, which are tougher) - Graft excision could lead me with worse scars A forum recommended surgeon that wasn't mentioned here yet said laser hair removal "often" removes the skin texture issues and is a much more conservative approach (I don't know if I should mention his name, so I won't). If I'm not happy with the texture afterwards, I can try scar revision. So, I've gathered a lot of conflicting information over the last 6 months. Every option I have, (except for doing nothing) has a risk of a permanent, negative result. I am still of the opinion that graft excision is the way to go. If I get the grafts removed, it may be over a year before the procedure is done. In the meantime, I may try RF microneedling. I know it may not help, but there is testimony on this forum that suggests it could. It is low risk and could save me the procedure all together. I will have a test site done to see how my skin reacts to the microneedling and later FUE punches. If I react well to FUE, I will have them removed over two to four sessions. I know this is a big time/money investment, but if I am careful to minimize risk, I think I will be in a much better place. Both in regard to my head appearance and for my mental health. I am looking at more repair surgeons that have not yet been mentioned. There's videos/testimonies of Dr. Bisanga from Belgium, Dr. Epstein from Miami, and Dr. Gabel from Oregon as surgeons who remove grafts. Would they be good surgeons to work with?

@BaldV That's an extremely insightful link, thanks for sharing! It seems Feriduni is unmatched when it comes to reducing scarring from removal. @BeHappy I don't necessarily think that's a bad idea, especially if I was older. I don't know how long finasteride will preserve my hair and I don't want to rely more on it than I am. The way I see it, I have scars now and I want to reduce them the best I can. I want to explore that approach as much as I can before looking into hiding them. I may post more informative pics at a future date if I have anything new worth sharing

Thanks everyone! I'm very impressed by Feriduni and for something like this, added travel cost and multiple surgeries is definitely worth it. I agree about taking it slow. I'll reach out to Shapiro and Cooley too. I haven't seen their work on raising hairlines yet but I'll keep looking. Yea, I'm also worried about cobblestoning on any grafts they replant. I'm not saying it would happen and my hair would probably benefit from it short-medium term. I just don't want to make my hole deeper lol

I would say there's about 1000 grafts I'd like removed. The FUE scars may be smaller than my recipient scars I currently have. IDK. I definitely want to be careful with this.

About 3 before HT and greater than 2.5 in now. I would definitely do electrolysis but I am bothered by the cobblestoning / scars. I want to try something like RF microneedling before removing the hairs.

Hey everyone, Looking for general advice. I got a HT about a year ago when I shouldn't have. I'm in my 20s and have some diffuse thinning, moderate recession. The results aren't terrible, but I am uncomfortable with how low the hairline is and the lack of density. 6 months ago, I started shaving my new hairline back to the old and it boosted my confidence a bit. That did change when I noticed some texture changes in my recipient site (minor cobblestoning). I notice it in certain lighting. I'm currently growing out bangs to cover my forehead. My goal is to make it more ambiguous as to whether I had a HT. I'm looking for the best path forward. I'm in no rush to spend any more money on my head. That being said, I do want to help the appearance of my skin. Just having a level-headed plan helps my mental health and gives me hope. I will be seeing a dermatologist about this in a few months. I think the best path forward is to remove all the grafts on otherwise bald parts of my scalp. I am in no way set on this. I want to see if minimally invasive scar removal treatments help first. I'm not even sure if I would bother to have the grafts replanted. I entirely understand this would create scars. These scars may be more concealed and more susceptible to scar revision treatment than the cobblestoning. I can also do a test site first and see how that heals before committing. A few months ago, I emailed one of the forum recommended surgeons in the US and he said he doesn't raise hairlines due to risk of scarring. I see cases from Dr. Feriduni raising hairlines and would love to have results like that. Does anyone have an opinion on this? Are there US based doctors with results like Feriduni (to save me the plane tickets)? I haven't seen any. If I go forward with this, this topic could document a legitimate way to help out others in a similar position. I do want to say that the active users on this forum really have helped me by showing I am not alone and there may be things I can do to help. Thank you.