nobuzz4me

Ng2gb, LOL! Its like when Beavis and Butthead went to the sperm bank to make a deposit - Butthead says after doing it: "and there's plenty more where this came from" Dude, judging by your avatar, it looks like your lasercomb is on steriods.

Store your ejaculations in a bottle, then rub it back into your scalp. It's a form of recyling the proscar and guaranteed to regrow hair. Just kidding! Not sure about what effect that may have, just be glad if you are on proscar you are not having problems cleaning out the tubes.

No side effects. Using for about 9 months, hard to tell if it working, not noticing any regrowth but if it stabilizes further loss I would be satisfied.

Barley, The advice above all have good points, I would not get buzzed (nobuzz4me lol) due to work, but if I could hide away on an island for a month it would not be a big deal, who has that kind of time? I can see a reason for it making it easier to see the angles less chance of transection for dense packed spots but if you have little native hair in these spots, the doc can easily work around it.

Dhuge, Good luck with you new career, you seem goal oriented and determined, good recipe for success. Check out my repair pics if you like as I had an old plug job from the 1980's. You are right, a unnatural result is worse than the hairloss itself.

I agree with NN, those two are the best value for world class surgeons.

Yes - this is a concern. This is why HT is not for everyone. I am scared shitless of going further than NW6. I am 48 and loss has slowed down but who knows? The lucky thing for me is that I seem not to have ever experienced shockloss during any of my procedures. Permanent shockloss is scary as is the donor zone thinning over time. I probably wont give a crap at 80 years of age but do not want to look freakish either. Hell, just hope I live that long Good topic.

Wow, nice to hear the doctors are joining in. I am sorry to have missed out this Tues. Look forward to next week. Great work guys,

Here is your choice: Spend the same or more money per graft to a hairmill chain who employee lesser experienced docs OR Find a great independant doc who has in most cases far more experience for the same or less money.

MM, Did Dr Rose take before and afters for both HT's? Most docs will with the same angles and lighting to give a true comparison. I assume the pics you put up were yours. You have been given good advise here and we are pulling for you. Your case makes me wonder how graft yields in the future can be accounted for. You know we hear all the time that strip HT yields boast high 90 percent yields......... Who is verifying this?? What about that tool (small camera)they use to look at your donor for density? Why couldn't some small camera like that scan your head closely before and after to verify a reasonable yield. Seems like the technology exsists, why are we not demanding it????? As patients who spend large amounts of money on this we deserve better verification of yields. JMO. MM, good luck on finding a resolution.

Mrkneed, It is possible but they do not in the letters advocate hair club instead, most say just go bald and shave it. Again, the letters and the stories are old and involve guys who got plugged instead of refined work of today. I think the guys letters are real since I could relate to them having gone thru that era. The guys aren't saying I wish I never got an HT and went to HairClub sooner.

Middleson, Very nice letter to Dr. Cooley. It must make these surgeons feel good to know how life-changing their work can be. We know that they make a good living doing this kind of work and certainly deserve it, but a thank you like that you cannot put a price on. I am sure he is as happy for you as we are!

Steve, good find, I read thru a lot of the patients stories which are a little like mine. I had 50 large plugs put in around 1981. Now 2 HT's later with some additional plug repair, I have a pretty natural hairline, planning one more for working midscalp and maybe crown donor willing. There is hope in repair work for these type patients. Many of the coalition docs spend a portion of their surgery's on repair cases. Those stories are from patient who were butchered with old techniques mostly in the 1980's and 90's. The new techniques are not even a fair comparison they are so much superior to the butcher shops back then. You newbies should not be afraid if you see a great surgeon. Not to scare anyone but check out this link which details a gruesome history of HT from the old days. http://www.angelfire.com/indie/hairtransplant/plaintruth.html Remember the internet could have saved a lot of us older guys (I am 48) from the kind of info we got back then. If I were to do it over again with todays techniques, YES, todays techniques with the best surgeons are very natural. You young guys are lucky to get the info you get from this site! ONLY GO TO THE BEST SURGEONS AND STAY AWAY FROM THE PROFIT DRIVEN HAIRMILLS!

MDguy, I kind of thought that is what you meant donor vs recipient areas. FYI, my recent HT was with Dr. Vogel in Baltimore and he does not require buzzing down. As you can tell from my alias, "nobuzz4me", which means I will never shave my head! (Not to be confused with getting high like in the good old days!) I like having hair!

MDguy, The donor area is the area in the back and sides where the strip is taken. Only the area shaved is removed then the top and bottom stitched together which has your regular length hair conceals the scar area. The "recipient" area is where the grafts are planted. That area can be shaved down or worked around exsisting length hair depending on which doc is chosen. I do not buzz my hair so it would be hard for me to go to a doc who requires this. There are many great docs who do not require shaving the recipient area. Dr Shapiro, Dr Epstien for example.

Funny story and yes girls will talk! Maybe Mr. Happy was too much for her???

Michael and morenewhair, I know Dr. Feller shaves down the recipient area but many top docs do not require this. If you get buzzed down then you cannot hide unless you stay under a cap. Since Morenewhair has already had a 1800 graft session I think he knows what he is in for.

Hey Michael, Is it safe to assume you are not going to vote for Hillary!! LOL

Morenewhair, I think this is your personal business to tell her or not - you are not married to her. I can understand if your circle of friends might not all understand what hairloss suffers go thru. I think all of us here have things we would not want friends to know about - and they have things they dont want you to know about. Nothing wrong about that. You have to go with your gut feelings. I think it is possible to hide it if the session is not mega-size and you have long enough hair AND can take two weeks away from her. Good luck my friend,

Jobi, You must work in the CIA or something, Man can you keep a secret!

HAHA, new meaning to ingrown hairs!

tuscansun, There is no way you still have scabs in the recipient area after 27 days. You must be confusing the new grafts sites for scabs. Even if you tried not to massage off scabs they would sluff off on their own, most wounds heal within ten days or less, particularly with these small incisions.

Tell her, she will either totally understand your feelings and support you or probably say you do not need anything done. She is not with you for your hair. Now, if you cannot tell her, grow out your hair, stay away from her for at least two weeks and comb your hair forward. Might work but if she finds out, she may be pissed that you did NOT tell her.

Your plan for concealers makes some sense as they work better when there is some hair to attach to. I would strengthen the forelock and corners first to frame your face. Then with what is left, maybe dust the midscalp and leave a small bald spot in the crown. Depends on your age and future as to how to proceed, and it all about your donor. BTW, if you are heading NW7, you will notice the big difference is the sides dropping as well as the back. This is why as Bill says the safe zone is smaller and you will not be able to harvest enough grafts. You will also spend precious grafts to build up the sides again, (grafts which could have been used for the top or crown) this leaves less for the top. NW6's with high, strong sides like Bill for example, have a much better chance to restore a full-looking head of hair. I do hope you do not go NW7, are you on finasteride??