gazzasgoin2

Hey NN, you have a good amount of native hair remaining so you are going to look great when this grows out. You deserve a positive outcome for all you help you provide others on here so congrats.

Only very rarely can such dense packing be appropriate, yet it is typical of all Armani procedures. Having looked at that post op picture again I truly think it is scandalous and I am surprised it has not caused more of a stir on the other site. Chucky, Armani has operated out if his Toronto clinic for many years. He has recently opened 2 additional clinics in Dubai and LA which he also personally carries out procedures on certain days. I believe he has trained associate doctors including Dr McMillian who also carry out surgery along with large team of technicians to help with FUE graft extractions. I believe he will be opening another facility in London next year. As his locations expand there has to be a risk that the quality is diluted. Dr. Armani cannot be present for every surgery and little is known about the associate doctor's experience so it will be interesting to see how it develops.

Wise words Dr. Mejia. It is a comfort to know that there are many ethical surgeons around if you do your research.

Exactly, the biggest concern for me is the blatant disregard for the guys request to have a conservative hairline. His reasons for this were two fold in that the patient recognised he is still young and is mindful of future loss. Secondly, he does not have the finances for anymore grafts. Now he is stuck with a very low hairline that will already have gaps behind it requiring additional cost to fix in the near future. The Armani clinic seem to be very unflexible in their approach to hairline placement and always opt for a low closed hairline. It is a shame they are not willing to listen to patients and when requested adopt a more conservative approach as their work is technically very good.

Bill, does a peer review take place before any new surgeons are admitted to the coalition? If the existing Coalition Surgeons were required to endorse any new membership it would add significant credibility to the appointment. Obviously the other entry criteria would be a pre-requisite with the peer review a final stamp of approval. Further, this likely would avoid any of the current debate over new memberships.

Topher, welcome to the boards. I've got to agree with the others that your hair looks great from the pics. However, I do understand the alarm and anxiety a person goes through when they first realise they are loosing hair, no matter how little. There is no harm in looking at your options at this stage but you needn't rush into anything. It is also to your advantage that you are already on propecia which should halt further loss for many years. I wish I had known about propecia when I still had as much hair as you. Take your time to get educated on the best physicians and schedule some consults either in person or online. You will get honest feedback from these Drs as to whether you are an HT candidate at this stage. With your limited loss I would seriously consider FUE. The price is much higher but it is less invasive. It also would allow you to simply buzz down to a shorter cut if you decide in the future not to continue chasing your hair loss. I'm not sure where you live but Dr. Feller in NYC has shown some excellent FUE result and would be a great place to start. Dr Rose, Dr Wolf and Dr Harris also do good FUE procedures from what I have seen. So take your time, schedule some consults with some coalition Drs and then you can decide if you want to procedure with a small HT at this stage. In the meantime enjoy the hair you have!!!

Bobman, Ive seen your results on other forums and it is a fantastic transformation. It gives hope to everyone and shows what a great surgeon can do these days. Good luck with the growth from your final procedure. You didnt tell us how the date with the young lady went??

There is a good thread below that reviews dermmatch along with some of the other concealers. Dermatch Thread I find it easy to use and like the results also. Gazza

Guys, Can you get periodic shedding with propecia? I have been on it for 1 year and it has stabilised my hair loss. However, the past 2 mths i seem to have slipped back slightly and im wondering if it is some shedding at the 12 mth mark.

Hi Steveo, huge improvement with only 3000 grafts. I would definately leave the hairline, thicken up the middle and provide some coverage to the crown. Did Dr. F say how many grafts you have remaining in the bank?

Congrats mate, im sure you are over the moon!! Does that mean Dr. Feller owes you double paternity leave ?

Hey Charlieb, everyone who posted are on your side and hope you get a positive outcome. You are definately going to have increased density from this surgery. I think the only question is how natural and "stand alone" this procedure will be and it may require some refinement in a future procedure to look more natural. However, I suspect the end result will be better than the post op pics suggest, it is just a very different strategy & procedure than we are used to seeing. - Its difficult to tell from your pics how many grafts you would require in a future procedure but i would guess c3000 grafts to increase density throughout would give you a good outcome. Check out the Coalition Doctors websites for prices, however i would think this would cost $10k to $12k USD. - Regarding the meds, even patients with mostly transplanted hair are recommended to take propecia otherwise there is a risk that the donor area will continue to thin as you see in some older guys. Also even hairs taken from the donor "safe zone" can be predispositioned to thin in some aggressive MPB cases and the continuation of propecia will prevent this. Hope that help and hang in there bud, im sure the end result will at least provide some decent coverage and additional density. Then you can think carefully about a further procedure.

Hi Steve, the work looks really good and it looks like you have a thick head of hair behind the new hairline. You should be happy for a long time.

It really does look bad and unlike any other post ops from the top surgeons. Maybe there is a method and reason to it that the Dr. can explain? Hopefully the final result will be to cb's satisfaction.

Hey Bill, congrats, the live chat looks to be working well and I enjoy reading the highlights. However the time prevents most of the UK & Europe guys from joining in as its +5hrs, so 3am GMT. Perhaps you could gauge the response for a slightly earlier time that could allow more members to join in?

The incisions look very clean and minimally invasive. I think you will have good results and great to see Farjo doing a larger session of 3500. Best of luck and keep us posted.

Hi Andy, this can be a side effect of propecia in certain individuals. The manufacturers Merck note it happens in 2% of cases but I think there is a higher occurence from what I read. The good news is that any sides will be reversed when you stop the medication. I suffered the same prob before dropping down to 1/2 propecia pill per day and that seems to have done the trick.

Dr Feller, as ever the work looks great. Does this now mean you can safely extract approaching 2000 FUE grafts per day for patients or did this particular patients physiology allow for easier extractions? Also, you can see from the donor pics just how quickly the extraction sites have healed even during the course of the day. What size of Feller punch was used in this instance? best wishes

ha ha - just seen your signiture - 4608 grafts. Very nice work.

No need to be "Undercover" anymore!! That is a fantastic transformation. How many grafts did you have transplanted?

I researched Dr Armani and had consultation with him for FUE. I believe they claim to do 3500 FUE per day and they insist this will increase to c5000 grafts shortly. However, when I asked for more specifics regarding the procedure, how the grafts were extracted and instrument size they were not willing to disclose this info. All they would say is their procedure is "unrivalled in the industry". All very secretive. There is also very few large FUE cases documented even although Dr Armani has claimed to be doing these large sessions for a few years now. There has been promises of new all FUE websites and more cases to be documented on the forums but thus far it has not been delivered. For me there was not enough evidence or transparency in their process to allow me to proceed with them. Perhaps this will come but until then I would rather stick with the facts and go with a Dr who is comfortable disclosing everything about the procedure in the patients best interest.

Thanks Jersey, I remember seeing your results and they look great, im sure you are more than pleased. If people are commenting you look 10 yrs younger that must make you 18 again

hey Dazza, safe trip buddy & best of luck. Im on for the 2nd Oct with Dr Feller and also travelling from the UK so I may bump into you at some point

LT, You should send Spex a PM, he works with Dr Feller and will be able to answer any questions you may have and hes a great guy too.

I believe FUE/FIT will overtake strip in the future as the favoured method of surgery. However, firstly there has to be more evidence of successfull FUE mega-sessions and secondly the price will need to come down to c$4/5 per graft. There does already seems to be an increasing awareness of FUE and subsequent demand. Further as FUE only clinics become established there should be more evidence of results over the next few years. Presently there are only a few clinics worldwide who claim to offer large FUE session successfully and the $ is still too high. However, im sure results will begin to filter through and prices will decrease. Then you will see a definite switch to FUE/FIT IMO, likely within 3 - 5 yrs. It is a more patient friendly technique with shorter recovery time less evident scarring.