wylie

BeHappy, All I can say is I've been in your shoes man. And as one one who has gotten over 5000 beard grafts added to his nugget, this donor source was a lifesaver for me. One reaches an age where they feel something has to be done. Guys like us, and most on this forum, reach that stage in our early 20's, and there are/were so many bad actors in this industry that young guys like us are targets of opportunity for scumbags like those who took advantage of us. I first wasted ten grand with yet another unscrupulous hack repair doctor out of Alpharetta Georgia before I did the right thing and got in to see Dr. Umar. I'm not exactly sure how much I've spent with him over the past 4 surgeries I've had with him, but I do know I've gotten actual results for the first time in my life. It's been expensive, and I'll be paying it off for the next couple years, but throughout those years without hope I invested my paychecks in my retirement accounts and at this stage I at least know that I'm not in too deep, that a safety net I built is beneath me. It has absolutely been worth the cost, and I did not find anyone else who could have done my repair. There are some docs. in India using body hair for less money but I simply cannot take the risk of more failure, life is too short and my faith in the medical establishment won't endure any more disappointment. So, in summary, I just want to remind you to not lose hope. Dr. Umar can fix anything, he has seen the worst this industry can deliver. I was in such bad shape I never left my house without a hat for over 15 years. It is a habit I'm still trying to break, but knowing that I can go out without one if I want to? Well, that is priceless to me. Good luck man, don't ever lose hope. I did and now I realize that no one ever should.

I never said Dr. Bhatti is on par with Dr. Umar, nor did I endorse his work, I merely stated that you can ask him for pictures of Indian patients who had beard hair extracted. I'm not too sure how extensive his experience with this is and I'm also not sure if he does good work, that is subjective and I never implied that he did.

Yes, I can clean shave, no visible sign of scarring. A couple things you should know: 1) All grafts were taken from below the jawline. I keep a light beard for my own preference, because I like it, but my face remains untouched from harvesting. 2) I have few grafts left below the jawline, maybe 500. My neck does not need to be shaved but around twice a week. It used to be daily. I will visit Dr. Umar one more time next month for 400 grafts, an afternoon session. He does afternoon sessions of 700 or less grafts. 3) There is zero evidence of beard extractions. I have never heard of a Caucasian complaining of scarring from a beard extraction. If you are Indian or Asian you might want to consult with someone like Dr. Bhatti, seems to have a lot of experience with these skin types and beard grafts, although I bet Dr. Umar does as well. I'm really not too sure. Hope this helps.

Um.....no.

This is exactly one week post op in 2011. Only looks like some razor rash, and in less than two weeks, no visible sign anything at all was done. I think around 1500 were taken.

Thanks a lot gentleman, I'm indeed very grateful that someone out there has the ability to turn around a situation that was, for many years, totally hopeless. The truth is, without Dr. Umar, the situation would remain hopeless. Getting your hair repaired after 20 years is like getting out of prison after 20 years, the freedom is great but you look back with regret over the years lost hiding under ball caps. I'm grateful for forums like this one and informed posters like you guys making sure others don't repeat my mistakes. Keep up the good work lads!

I have some pre repair pics., but they were taken by me, and they really don't even come close to showing how awful my hair looked. In the pics. it really didn't look too terrible. Just to remind myself how far I've come, Dr. Umar printed out some pictures for me pre-repair to when I last visited, and the difference is remarkable. But even those pictures didn't do my present state justice because I don't think you can get on film how horrible my hair looked. It's another reason more doctors should go straight to video, pictures don't reveal the true extent of successful repairs like video can. I now understand why Dr. Umar uses almost exclusively video. I think everyone should. As far as your question, I don't like having my beard hair long on top. It becomes harder and harder to style as it grows longer, and it requires gel to keep everything looking like I want it to. Beard has a tendency, at length, to be harder to manage than scalp hair. The flip side, I've discovered, is it is practically maintenance free at short length. After a hair cut I barely need to comb my hair in the morning. This will likely vary from patient to patient, but that is my experience. And since I've had my strip scars repaired, I can now cut my hair short in back, to a 1.5 guard I think my barber said (She has watched all my progress too, and is as thrilled as I am)

Thanks bro. Yes, the grafts went into the front of my hair, to about mid scalp, and around 800 or so into my strip scars. If you choose to use beard, and visit Dr. Umar, you would not be disappointed with your results.

Well, it's been a long road. I've been wearing a hat everywhere since the mid 90's, so for almost 20 years I've had to hide my hair from the world. That takes a toll on a person's psyche, to say nothing of how it affects the rest of your life. All I can say, to summarize how I feel today, is thank God for doctors like Dr. Umar. No one else could have helped me. I was simply stripped out, with no donor and a head full of "mini grafts", made all the worse by dark, very fine hair contrasted against pale skin. Concealers wouldn't work to hide the plugs, and using them was as obvious as the plugs themselves. Before I found Dr. Umar I had a very small strip done by the very skilled Dr. Konior, who was able to soften the row of plugs with around 600 grafts. As small as that was it made a big difference. But the only one who would see it was myself, as the hat rarely came off. But then I found out about Dr. Umar, when I caught wind of beard hair now being used as an alternative to scalp hair. I believe this was late 2007 or so. I flew out to Redondo Beach to see Dr. Umar, and I can say, from the very beginning, Dr. Umar's confidence in his ability to fix my hair never wavered. His personality is rather stoic, and he never made any promises either way, but he said he could probably fix my hair with a casual confidence that provided the first ray of hope I had in well over a decade. But my experience with this industry never allowed me to think this would, or could, be fixed. I read so many stories online about how beard hair was a scam, how growth rates were terrible, and often about how it looked terrible as well. No matter where I went, the stories were overwhelmingly negative. But then I started seeing a trend repeat itself: The naysayers had never gotten any beard hair added to their nuggets, and the doctors were not able to harvest beard hair and expertly blend it with scalp hair on people like myself. Hmmmmm........ Well, my first session was the hairline repair, with scalp hair, and some nape, used. Dr. Umar could still harvest scalp hair with FUE, and he backed it up with beard. The next two surgeries were almost all beard hair, filling in around and behind the plugs, and the last surgery was almost all beard into my numerous strip scars. In total, over the course of 4 surgeries, I have had over 5000 beard grafts extracted, over 1000 scalp grafts, and a few hundred nape hairs. All the beard hair has been below the jawline, and there are still a few more grafts left, probably around 500 or so. No evidence whatsoever of them being taken, either. This beard hair is a lifesaver in so many ways. There is no way anyone can tell it is different than scalp hair, myself included. The only way I know it is not scalp is when I get out of bed in the morning, or when I'm outside on a windy day. I know how my fine hair looked in the wind, and I know what it looked like in the bathroom mirror in the morning. Now it has a body and control I've never had before, and I still smile in the morning when I look in the mirror and my hair looks like I never slept all night on it. Rather than tell everyone how happy I am, you can see from these pictures my hair looks relatively normal these days. My bald crown I could care less about. No plugs ever touched it, and I never had a scalp reduction, which were all the rage in the 90's :eek: I'm quite happy to leave it looking as it does, as a bald crown is quite common in men in their 40's. Also, all the gray hair you see in these pictures are beard hairs. You can see for yourself how beard looks on the scalp from these. most of my beard hair is brown, I'd say 10-20% of the beard was gray. All my scalp hair is still light brown, so the contrast in colors makes it easy to see what beard looks like when mixed in.

Don't give up loss hope, I've walked in your shoes. You need to send some pictures to Dr. Umar and start working towards repairing the damage. Dr. Umar is the best repair doctor in the world and has repaired the unrepairable on multiple occasions. Hang in there and start thinking positively about what you need to do to fix your situation. Nothing is impossible with Dr. Umar.

The words "Dr. Carlos Puig" and "integrity" do not belong in the same paragraph. Dr. Puig is infamous, he is someone who has left a trail of broken lives in his wake from his disfiguring surgeries. He was putting rows of plugs in low hairlines on Norwood 7's back in the 80's. Anyone with an ability to type his name into a Google search bar should run for the hills at the first page of search results.

I don't understand your accusations, most doctors do not post videos of their patients, that's all Dr. Umar does, is post videos which clearly show his successful outcomes. Some folks, like myself, have had extraordinarily successful results (i.e., the kind that cannot be duplicated by another doctor) and have not posted pictures (yet) but as soon as I take some (any day now) I would be happy to share. Part of the reason I don't bother is because I need clear "before" photos to highlight what a dramatic difference it has made. Only the clinic has those. No matter, I plan on getting pics. anyway. As far as YOU are concerned, you have a total of 8 posts, yet you have gone to great lengths in this short time to denigrate Dr. Umar. All I can say about you is 'Beware of shills from competing clinics and/or those with an obvious agenda'. I believe that would include you. Have a nice day.

My heartfelt condolences to his family. R.I.P.

When clinics do post before/after pictures, we are treated to this. This industry, the SMP industry, is starting to remind me of the HT industry of the late 80's and early 90's. Clearly it is in its "learning curve' state, where the deceiving photos being used as marketing are pretty much the norm these days. Navigating SMP clinics and the results provided by them is a tricky business, and people should be very wary of claims made online. I certainly hope this clinic does better next time in presenting photographs of its clients.

Well said. As someone who has had over 5000 beard hairs extracted, all I can say is if you are a Caucasian, there is likely no chance of scarring. I can't speak for other ethnic backgrounds, but I can speak for Caucasians, and I have never once read anyone saying they were affected by "scarring" from beard extractions. Furthermore, beard hair mimics scalp hair in all ways, except for one: It is naturally more curly. What I have personally discovered is that over time it gets "trained", that is to say, it straightens out through repeated combing of scalp hair. And added benefit of beard hair for me is that it has added a body and fullness my hair never had before. My hair is very fine and straight, and never had any body to it, now I can comb my hair and it will stay in place. I do need to use some kind of spray, or gel, to get it looking like I want it, but that is a subjective styling choice that I make in my appearance. I often feel compelled to comment on threads like these because I read comments from people that: A) Have never had any beard hair added to their scalp B) Have never had any work done from Dr. Umar. In my opinion, they do not have the requisite experience to make an informed opinion that will add substance to the discussion, rather, they are making a personal observation based on a variety of unknown factors. That's okay and that is why these forums are beneficial, everyone should weigh all opinions, good and bad, and actively seek out both sides of the story before ever getting anything done. There is no one on this planet who is better at knowing how to add non scalp sources to ones scalp than Dr. Umar. He did for me what no one else could of, repaired the unrepairable. I'm still a work in progress, but I'm very close to where I want to be, and could not have gotten to this stage with anyone else other than Dr. Umar.

Congratulations, you beat the odds. I'm not sure I've ever heard of anyone being happy with their result. Looks like you gambled and won, the equivalent of hitting the Powerball. Most flap surgeries don't end up like yours.

Is Bosley even doing surgery these days? When people mention "going to Bosley", they are talking about going to the big box store of hair transplants, where anyone might be working behind the counter. The best way to deal with confusion is to carefully, methodically, and painstakingly research and review the patient results of the best doctors in the business, and then spend the time asking those you are interested in for their professional opinions on what they think is best for you. Only after you have put in the requisite amount of research will you have to ability to judge their opinions as an informed consumer. This is not a decision to make in haste, it takes alot of time and effort.

Yea, you should be safe after 7 days, but there may be some swelling. If you can take off two weeks, that is a much better scenario. I would recommend 10 days minimum before returning to work, but it can be done in 7 days if you have to, but you will have to realize that working in a hot kitchen at a restaurant is not a great situation only 7 days after surgery. I can only say that this will be far better if you are opting for FUE and won't have to worry about stitches/staples and a scar. If you are doing strip surgery, I can't recommend going to work in 7 days, especially at a restaurant . "Doing food prep work in back without a hat on".... Say what? I don't think you want to consider doing that. It is not smart on alot of levels. Please reconsider this decision. As far as having "a nasty knack for getting things wrong", I can only surmise you have chosen a surgeon recommended on this forum. If not, this is not the kind of mistake you want to make in life. If you are rushing into surgery without doing enough research, stop right now and hit the red button that says RESET...

This is a new twist, a job where a hat is required. Most guys would love to be in your situation, they cannot wear a hat and want to hide the work they had done. You can wear a hat so it will not come in contact with any of your grafts. The worst part is when it sits on your scar. If you go FUE, you won't have that to worry about.

I think Dr. Konior of Chicago does the best strip work. I've seen some good results from all the recommended doctors, but Dr. Konior seems to spend more personal attention with his patients, and I believe this, coupled with his surgical skill, makes him stand out. As far as FUE is concerned, is there another doctor anywhere in the world who can do what Dr. Umar can do? I don't believe there is. He is in a class of his own. Those are my picks for best in the U.S., and perhaps even the world.

From what I've seen, I'd tend to agree. I would neither discourage nor recommend him based on what I know about his results (very little) but he seems quite experienced and knowledgeable, and this is hugely important when choosing a surgeon. I also find his blog very informative: Hair Loss Information » Archives - Balding Blog

Thanks, and same to you.

Dr. Umar is recommended here. Opinions are cheap and should be taken lightly, and that includes mine. "Having a "chip on your shoulder" is usually indicative of dissatisfaction with someone or something, and that is the exact opposite of my experience with Dr. Umar. The videos posted on his website contradicts your opinion on his hairlines, but you are entitled to believe whatever you want. I base mine on personal experience.

That is completely untrue. I know what his hairlines are like, and they are outstanding. I have been thrilled with mine since I started my repair with him a few years ago. What "sucks" is much of the advice you'll find on the internet. That's why a multitude of opinions, extensive research, and an extensive review of all available options should be exhausted before anyone ever gets a HT.

You were seriously considering Bosley? :eek: I don't think you've done nearly enough research. I would recommend you don't do anything for a minimum of 6 months, you are going to be making a decision that you will live with for the rest of your life. If you even considered Bosley, you are not making the most informed decisions and you need to do more research. Dr. Umar is likely your best choice, as he offers superior results with scarless FUE. I cannot recommend a strip surgeon in southern California because I do not know much about them (although I'm sure they are out there) If you are willing to pay for the best result, you need to determine if you want a strip scar or not. If you don't, and can afford the cost of a superior result without a scar, I would recommend Dr. Umar, as I know firsthand what kind of results he delivers. Either way, please continue to research before you do anything. Good luck.