nobuzz4me

Bill, That is great you are trying to have a child, it will change your life for the better! Good luck and have fun trying! I am no doctor but had many of the pre-med courses in college and this was my strength in school. I think all is good with Propecia, there are no warnings that I know of that it drops your sperm count, possibly only your semen amount. You might argue that a drop in the semen level may impact the ability for the sperm to survive during its journey to the egg but that may be speculation. Sperm counts and semen levels do not necessarily coincide. If this were a problem, the lawyers would have been all over Merck about it you could bet your boner on that. Do your child and the human race a favor and try not to pass on that shitty bald gene!!!! LOL. Good luck my friend!

B-Spot, You say you are not thrilled with Dr. Vogel's work, can you expand on that. What are you basing your opinion on? I checked with Pat about him and he says he does very nice FUT and repair work and the main reason he would not be coalition material is that he does not do the very large sessions. Traveling is not a good option for me with my work and famiy so I have found him to be the best in the Washington / Baltimore metro area based on the research I did.

IrishItaliangirl, All good advice above, I live in Maryland and have scheduled a HT on January 11th with Doctor Vogel, I did a lot of research before choosing Dr. Vogel and never heard of Dr. Rassell. Vogel has a very impressive backround (check his website, although not a coalition doc he is in the hairtransplant network and is very highly regarded) and met with me in person for my consultation. I left and still had more a few more questions which he called me personally to answer all concerns I had. This is my third procedure coming up but my first with him. I was happy to see how booked up he was. If he were not booked that would raise a flag just as you have with the doc who has a lot of openings. As far as the questions you have, it is good that he is using a stereomicroscope to cut grafts. Disolvable stitches are used sometimes, sometimes not. I believe that depends on the size and laxivity of the excised area. The non disolvable sutures and or staples are also used to keep a scar from getting too wide, the amount of tension is probably the key. Larger sessions with more grafts mean larger, longer incisions which make the closing of the donor area tighter. You would not want your donor area reopening or expanding during the healing phase. Only doing 500 grafts is not good, if you only need say 1000 FUT's, any good doc could do that in one shot. With Dr. Vogel I left a deposit upon scheduling the date but can refund most of it anytime up to two weeks or so prior, after that, I would lose the rest of the deposit if I cancel late notice. This is a fair way of doing business. If I were you I would ask for the refund of the deposit since you would give him time to fill that slot you reserved. If you lose it, it may be the best $500 you ever spent. $7 a graft is higher than even Dr. Vogel who is far more experienced than Rassel. His fee is around $5 graft. Do yourself a favor and check out all options before you commit to anyone. Send me a PM, I will let you know how things go with Dr. Vogel. You raised so many flags with Rassel that your senses are telling you not to go with him.

LMAO!! Good try Maggy, Cousin sniffed out your crap, find another site!

Good luck BadhairUK, you will have to change that to "GoodhairUK" in 2007! I had similar work done, it will really change you, I am sure the new hairs will be packed around enough to disguise the bad work.

Slinhub, I feel your pain, I had them done in the early 80s. Not many and luckily they were high enough on my head that a new hairline could be done in front of them for me. I had this done in 2001. I still need more work to fill in the forelock and am going to have the plugs reduced and then filled in around with more FUT's in January. My doc for this is James Vogel, not a coalition doc but on the network, he has on his site many patient repair photos. I do not blame you for being against more surgery, its expensive painful during recovery and stressful. The nice part about going with strip surgery is the scar being small and not noticeable unlike the plug scars in the back you have from "open donor harvesting" which is barbaric and leaves small circle scars. Also, the strip taken can many times include the old open donor sites and they will be eliminated. I keep my hair long enough (nobuzz4me!), maybe one inch to conceal the linear scar. My linear scar is so small that if I did not know it was there I could not find it. Since it sounds like you are really against further surgery, I have read some guys did laser removal of the hairs inside the plug the dermabrasion to smooth out any "cobblestoning" or ridging" you may have. The circular scars in the back can be punched out and stitched but that seems tedious and is still surgery, not sure what else you can do about those unless you keep your hair longer in the back. I have been researching this awhile since I have the same problem, I decided to repair and enhance my hair rather than shave it off. I have a few questions for you, # of original plugs done, size and location? Did you start Propecia just now or years ago and had no luck with it? Condition of your donor hair? Where are you on the Norwood scale? I would not rule out repair work!

glvin, You would be wise to get on propecia asap, keep in mind you will need to stay on it. It will help stop the hairloss from progressing and may regrow some of the lost hair. Minoxidil or rogaine will help stimulate some regrowth on the crown but not usually in the temples. Looking at your photo, I actually think you may be a very good candidate for a hair transplant, it is the only way to rebuild your hairline and fill in the top. The medications will help maintain what you have left. If your family history looks bad in regards to amount of hairloss, your HT surgeon can determine the best course of action. A good surgeon will look into your future to see where you need coverage now and into the future. You can figure on spending from 6 to 20 thousand dollars depending on number of surgeries and grafts as a rough estimate. Do your research for a few weeks on this and other sites before you make any decision, there are many wise old (bald) heads on this site. Slinhub's advice is to not consider HT, I disagree. I had two HTs, one with old plug techniques in the early 1980's and one too repair that in 2001. The repair was to camoflage the bad work. I can certainly appreciate having to wear a hat to cover the plugs as I used to have to go thru that and I still do to some extent. The techiques from 1987 to today are like night and day. A good HT surgeon using the latest techniques would do a great job for you. You too Slinhub, I believe a repair job can really help your outlook on the HT overall. I am sure the old plugwork you had can be fixed, it is a shame many of us went that route without the knowledge of what we were really going to get. The internet has really helped change this and I think had it been around in the 1980's, very few or nobody would have gotten hair plugs!

G, Do not be embarrassed to admit even going to Bosley, many of us here F-ed up at one time or another regarding our hair loss. I had plugs done in the 1980s which I would have never done had the internet been available. Luckily I had the smaller ones and they were not placed to low. I had repair work done which turned out pretty good, now I am waiting for my next time in January for more density and some additional reduction of some old plugs. Be patient in letting your scabs come off and the cups of water and light shower will not hurt. Do not be alarmed if the end of the hair that falls has a bulb on the end, it does not mean the hair will not come back , it will. Get off the Boz stuff and try maybe Nizoral combined with Nioxin between, do a search on these and you will find they have dht blocking properties directly on the scalp. I assume you are on Propecia/minox? Good luck!

You are probably OK, do not worry. Which dandruff shampoo were you on by the way? I am surprised these questions were not answered for you prior to them coming up. Your post op instructions should tell you when you can use shower pressure. Once the scabs are off which I assume are off by now, you should not be in any danger from the shower pressure. I would use light shower pressure if possible anyway in the first two or three weeks. Maybe someone else here can expand on any possible dandruff shampoo dangers, the clinic is probably erring on the safe side in the recommendation.

Just my two cents: All good points guys, Dr. Rassmon has the qualifications to be part of the coalition based on his experience and Pat' recomendation. I think perspective patients looking for info should be smart enough to educate themselves and then decide which doc to go with or even have the procedure done at all. This forum has a lot of information available if someone wants to find it and is willing to do their research. If a person is not scared off by prices he can go to Dr. Rassman, his choice. Personally, I would be more scared of a doc charging a bargain rate than one who is too high. Price may not dictate a surgeons skill but it can be a bit of a barometer. His vast experience, supply, demand and maybe market area is the reason he can probably justify being so high. Southern Cal is a little more expensive than say North Carolina. On the other hand, some great NY docs are pretty reasonable! Pat, Why not include standard patient fees in all your write ups, that may be one way of keeping fees reasonable? Some docs may not even realize their rates are out of line. Information is power!!

MM, Not sure how certain vitamins would affect a greasy scalp but it would be wise to take a good multi-vitamin for your general health. That should be enough along with exercise, nutrition and the right shampoos to keep your hair looking good. What is your hair care regimen? maybe a change is needed? If you started on rogaine that will leave you greasy. I doubt the greasy feel has anything to do with the transplant but you should check with your doc if it is a bad problem. Good luck!!

Tom, nice avatar! I love poker. I would go for it unless you are stripped out, how many grafts are you doing per session and how many total so far? Your donor area is the key. I am not sure about your shockless risk, someone else may know, I really never had any with my two HT's.

Rob, Welcome to his forum, you will find the members here most helpful and very knowledgable. I am assuming this is your first HT evaluation and if so, you are wise to educate yourself as to what you are getting into. This is a good place to start. It would help the board if you gave some more info about your situation, ie, age, family history of hairloss, ability to travel to other doctors, any other consultations, are you on any meds like propecia, minoxidil, etc. I do not know of the Drs. in Chicago, but your cost seems high to me 800 FU's at $5,600.00 ($7 per graft). Some of the finest Doctors around are less than that, $5 to $6 per graft range. I am assuming this for a strip procedure if it is FUE (follicular unit extraction) then that would be higher cost. Do your research and move slowly to make the right choice, keep in mind your hairloss could progress and if so you do not want your hairline placed to low althouhg you might like to have it that way for now. Think longterm for your plan. Good luck,

ogph, It seems most every situation is different with regard to techniques in repair. Some say suture closed some say that will scar still and cause tension in the scalp making it hard to keep grafts close by, some grafts may pop out? Another concern is damage to area follicles which were transplanted close by in my first repair which was to cover up the plugs. Some like to suture the holes closed, which is probably the right thing to do on large plugs which have no other hairs around them and are completely exposed. It is confusing and in my case since my old round plugs are not that large and I have had some work to fill in around my Dr. is suggesting a small coring out of the plug and leaving open. This would amount to FUEing on a larger scale rather than one hair at a time. I am looking to restore my hair not totally go bald and remove the plugs. If you want to go bald and remove the plugs I would consider fueing them out or laser. What is your situation and goal? Send me a PM if you like.

LOL!!! I got on Propecia for just this reason, the new hair growth thing is a bothersome side effect!

aj, Good luck with your new hair, how many grafts did you get? Since you are planning round 2 what is your game plan? Any pics?

John, do you think guys who have undergone a HT or worn a system would be more likely to spot a hairpiece on someone else? Maybe the average public (without hair issues) who do not think about hair as much as we do are not as adept at spotting a hairpiece. I am glad I never went to a hair system based on all the negative input, cost, traction alopecia, maintenance, etc. Never hear about that side of it from the infomercials promoting them!!

Brent, don't be so defensive, I never said anyone was criticizing Jerry, I just said I would never criticize anyone who chooses to go that route. You are right to point out the negatives having experience yourself. Just because I never used one does not mean Jerry might not like to know what EVERYONE is here thinking.

I agree with you Bill, whatever makes Jerry happy with his appearance is cool with me and I am sure most people. I went the HT route for the same reasons as Bill, others go the hair system route for other reasons, (surgery risks, pain, waiting for grafts to grow, more coverage, cost, etc.) which are all valid. The bottom line is we are all trying to turn back the clock, look better and beat the big bad bald reaper. Nothing wrong with trying to look your best, some people don't care, others like us do. Even though I would not consider a hairpiece, I will not criticize someone who does. To me, it is not much different than someone who does. Thanks for your post Jerry with pics, you look like you have real good donor hair and look to be a excellent candidate for a HT. You will always have the choice of switching and going the HT route in the future if you change your mind. Good Luck!

Thanks guys, its bad enough to have to follow a regimen with vitamins, minox, nizoral, supplements etc, then throw in trimming pills it gets to be a pain. We can all be pharmicists in our next life?... I actually did not know about pill cutters and I had been getting very uneven doses. Good to know you do not have to be exact. Thanks again.

Arabian, you should check with your Dermatoligist about propecia to slow or stop your loss. Keep in mind if you start it you will need to stay on it. I really wish I would have started with it early myself. It is your best bet and I would try this first before diving into a HT at such a young age. Good Luck.

I just switched from Propecia 1 mg to the generic Proscar which comes in 5 mg pills. Any suggestions to get an accurate cut without too much crumbling or waste? Does Proscar come in 1 mg? Thanks for your suggestions.

John, good point about HT'S bad rep from years ago keeping more baldies from really curing thier ailment. As far as reputation goes, consider MHR and the "Leavitt" Laser Therapy treatment. Here is a HT surgeon who is selling this crap to his clients. I hope all his hair falls out for ripping his clients!

Growplease, I would not worry for a few reasons. 1) Individuals growth rates are different, some people may see growth at 3 months, others maybe 6 months or more. 2) Trust in Hasson, he is apparently one of the top docs in the world. 3) Yes, you may have had some shockloss but that should come back. Be patient, it will come and in 12 months you will be looking good! Also, I would consider starting a nizoral/bioxin shampoo regimen which may help block DHT in the scalp. Plenty of info out there on it, most battle scarred hair loss veterans like me are on it! Good luck!