nobuzz4me

John S. Are you saying you have a better chance of getting lucky with a $60 lasercomb than with the women?? LOL!! Just kidding my friend! HK, great idea to document from a member who has no stake in the product.

I think the bottom line here is that if you choose an experienced, top doctor, they are very good at handling any of these stresses. Whether the stress comes form long hours, many tight work between hairs, etc., these guys are all professionals and can handle the job. I would love to hear from the doctors on this though, would be very informative. On another tangent, Dr. Cooley, I understand, puts a surgical cap over his patients post op to pump oxygen in during recovery. If this really makes a difference, wouldn't everyone adapt? Again, this is an example of a doctor who has a preference which may or may not make a real difference in the final outcome, who can tell?

rjvw, Congrats, glad it went well. That is nice you did not have to get buzzed and the doc could work around the native hair. That is putting the patient first. Some docs like to shave you down, not necessary in all cases. Look forward to the details, heal well!

Young guy, congratulations, you will be glad you went thru the temporary pain and recovery period. It will be worth it. Trust me on this, if you can, take a few more days off. That will really help, the swelling you may get in your forehead and eyes will kick in days 3-6. In a week, you will be looking much closer to normal. The scabs will have shrunken or fallen off and your redness in the recipient area will have subsided. Good luck my friend! Follow those post op instructions!! Beer is OK now

Congrats, Island girl! Yeah those first few months make you really wonder "is this worth it?" Glad you got a good result from Nuhart, from what I hear many have not. Would love to see any before/after photos if you documented your journey. It is very helpful for others, especially other women who have a hairloss problem. Good luck,

Congrats Bro, The donor will be the worst part and will bother you most trying to slep. Sleep upright and stay with the ice packs on the donor and forehead areas. Swelling will be worst on days 3-6 if you get any. I am one week post with 1625 grafts and I didn't take any chances with the pain medication. Take the strong stuff the first day and night. Yeah, my neck was so stiff, I went into the procedure with a stiff neck prior to the surgery, should have had a massage or aseen my chiropractor before, my mistake! I did not take a valium during the procedure only locals, this way I drove myself home, no problem. I feel real good now, one week makes a huge difference. Did you doc do sutures or staples or both? Mine did disolvable sutures and they are very comfortable. Take it easy and keep your head elevated. Heal well,

I have never tried these as I am always cynical about these types of things. It is interesting how Dr. Charles and Dr. Bauman advocates it though and the price is certainly not going to break anyone.

Just goes to show recreational drug use does not cause hairloss!! Just kidding Gorpy!

Good call JOBI, your BS antenna goes as high as mine!

Mrjb and NN, As you can see by my screen name, I would not go to any Doctor who requires you to shave down. I am one week post op and it was no problem. They can still see the direction/angles of hairs and work between them. It is probably a little harder for the doctor and the techs who insert grafts but that is what they are paid for. I do not have real long hair but it is long enough that my scar is undetectable and my recipient area is almost undetectable. It is a choice IMO of the doctor just as some might prefer staples over sutures. Either way can give you a good result. The argument about dense packing does not apply to many who would opt for a little more coverage for a little less density. Unless you have endless donor, which most do not, it is not really worth argueing about. There are just too many great doctors out there who do not require it.

First, Do not schedule your HT in the Spring or Summer. I would go for HT in the months from OCT-FEB only unless you want to wear a hat all Summer. Now, after a few months, I would allow some sunlight, just don't get a burn I actually think it stimulates the scalp some. A little wind blowing thru your hair is good to, I wouldn't shelter those folicles too long, let them breathe a little! There are theories on hair loss due to long stays under in a submarine for example. I would not throw sunscreen on the scalp unless you absolutely have to, wear the hat. Good luck my friend,

Never tried it but it contians a mix of minoxidil and tretilin (retin A). The retin A may be the key to any success as it helps remove DHT and has cell rebuilding properties. I am sceptical though since minoxidil is pretty ineffective for most.

Irish, Scar line looks good, very thin. The little shockloss around the area brings more attention to it. Time will heal all. If it were me, I would not shave it down although I can see the advantage, it must be a lot easier to apply the topicals. I just could not pull it off like you shavers like to! Looking good my friend!

Kamin, The world needs smart asses like you to help all the dumb asses right?!!!

It contains minoxidil 5% I hear, it sounds like a lot of fluff. Avacor does the same thing, repackaged minoxidil under another name. Save your money.

Juan, Don't panic, you cannot hurt those folicles now, you actually want those scabs to all come off, do it in the shower with your fingertips while shampooing. I hope you realize the transplanted grafts will shed then come back in 3-6 months, it is normal. When these little guys shed if you see the bulb at the end of the hair that is normal. That is not the folicle. Also, if you s

Craig, Welcome to the forum, I think a lot of us are shocked when we see our head from a different angle, I know I was! I actually think we sometimes go thru a stage of denial while looking in the mirror face on. We can style around it for a while, but at some point it becomes more of a reality. No worries though, you have options and the first one is to educate yourself as much as possible here. If you are taking the photo with a flash, that will give you a balder appearance. Good luck,

Karthik, You say you need 6000 FU's. Is that for full coverage? If it is, then even if all you can get is say 4000 FU's, that will make a huge difference, then in a year or so you may be in better financial position to come back and finish up. As you can see, most on board here do not get it all done in one shot anyway. Good luck my friend,

Young guy, I agree with all and will add to spex's list about the massage before. This is a great idea and I just had a HT done 6 days ago and prior to going in I had a kink in my neck. This kink turned out to be the worst part of my procedure and it was not the doc's doing. I use a chiropractor ocassionally and really wish I had gotten that worked out with a massage on top of that. You will be still in the chair for extended time, do what you can to stretch or lossing your back/neck prior. Hairbrain is right about the crunching sound during incisions, bring in your ipod with small earbuds and crank it up during this part !!! Good luck my friend, you will be glad you took this step in your life.

Fit2, We are here to help you and it sounds as if you have done some research. It gets confusing because with all the variables in producing a good result, opinions will vary. The important thing is to be patient and go about it in great detail. Let me say, IMO, if any doctor takes a shot at another doctor I would disqualify them. (Unless its Bosley or MHR) Also, IMO, Hassong and Wong are on the short list of best in the world. However, even they I would venture to say, are not 100% in agreement with each others techniques (for example: I have heard one uses sutures Wong and the other uses staples for closure. Either one works fine but you can see how a doctor may have a preference). Point is that the coalition docs are not trained in a cookie cutter approach yet are successful in there own right. They may all have different methods to deliver consistently great results. Each Doctor in the coalition is a proven surgeon and each will have different opinions. Remember who is paying the bill, you are. Therfore, it is up to you to decide what you like done and then ask the Doc is that feasible. It is a team effort with the patient input extremely important to the design and outcome. No way, no matter how good Doctor X may be, would I turn my head over and trust him to know what I want. Be proactive with the doctors and arm yourself with knowledge. Most of us here have been thru the HT process a time or two (three in my case), so we can help provide some experience. No one here is looking to bully anyone, the veterans of this forum will be wary of a newcomer who in a first few posts attacks or overly praises certain doctors. There are shills out there and we are just not interested in promotion here, just helping perspective patients understand what they are getting into so they do not make a lifelong mistake. By the way, I have not used any of the coalition doctors, my last HT was with a network recommended surgeon though. Had I been on the site longer, I may have gone with one but who knows. I participate on this forum because it is the best and the knowledge here is genuine and from the heart. Good luck with your search,

Icon, I would check with your dermatologist about it if you can. The one thing you need to know is if it is a shed they will probably come back. I doubt that the meds are doing this now as your system has had the meds working for sometime now. I would not stop taking the Fin, but see your doc.

S&P, Good luck, when is your date with the chair?

{I was married at 30 so I had a full head of hair while I was single}. Dammit Nic, see what getting married does for you! Now I know what MPB stands for: Marriage Promotes Baldness

I was married at 30 so I had a full head of hair while I was single. In the early and mid-90's the HT industry was still ugly and or still maturing. (better techniques were still on the horizon) I focused during this time on power lifting competitions, family and my business. It was around the age of 40 that I didn't like what I saw in the mirror, I felt the missing hair prematurely aged me. So at this point I felt there were several doctors that could get the job done so that I didn't look like frankenstien.