lost my swagger

the above quote is a perfect example of what worries me about this site.....i tried for a while to to push the fact that i truly believe this view point is a DANGEROUS one, ESPECIALLY FOR YOUNG GUYS WITH MORE HAIRLOSS AHEAD.... but the fact is this....... people like the creator of this quote and MANY others are so deeply affected by our hairloss, so pshycologically effected that we will cling to hope if its presented to us... this site IMO provides hope... it shows that in SOME circumstances a man CAN deliver a fierce uppercut to hairloss with a HT,atleast for a while assuming your hairloss progresses like the typical mans does. it often does not take much for a young man who is suffering to buy into the glossy outcomes often posted here... it does not take much for him to believe it will work out great for him too.... and maybe it will.... but i can guarantee no matter the research one does none of you have ANY idea if you will love or regret your decision until AFTER your have done it and cannot go back, will your decision be worth it 6-7-8 years from now?? guess we will see. will you and your top docs "gameplan" be executed well?? so ill just have to hope for the best for all you guys taking the plunge.. hope you have atleast a decent idea that this road is a long one... hope you guys realize that the worry and obsession you have with your hairloss will more than likely NOT stop even after your hopefully successful HT outcome....you guys are gonna go thru with this regardless... understand one last thing.... EVERY dr has plenty of patients who are less then thrilled with their outcomes.. EVERY dr..... i dont care what some of you think... im correct..... the difference is the best drs at this difficult craft also have plenty of patient who, for the time being look fantastic too... and dont you young guys worry......... those fantastic photos will be presented for you to see...that way when the "occasional" disgruntled patient pops up we can disregard his story, or place him in the "small" % of unhappy patients....... its much more comforting to click on the 'homerun' HTs and convince ourselves that they are whats really common and that nowadays the super- duper- ultra- refined technology is near flawless in the hands of the anointed top docs.....lets not forget that likely even in the best cases this process takes YEARS AND YEARS, multiple procedures and many thousands of dollars, and lifetime of meds and scars.... is this a negative post?? i dont know. maybe.. im absolutely positive some of you will view or lable it as such... personally i just think its truthful and worth SOMEONE saying it... there are alot of you who feel it, or experienced it but say nothing for one reason or another... as a result, IMO, the above quote is quite common on here.....

ALOT of people feel or have felt like you... have you tried meds like finasteride and minoxidil?? personally those two things are the only thing saving me from looking horrible... this treatment has been effective for me in terms of greatly slowing my balding process.. its hard to say if you will benifit from the meds but i do believe the sooner you start the better chance you have of keeping the hair you have for longer... if i were you i would start my reseach with that... there is NO cure for baldness, NO MATTER HOW MUCH MONEY YOU HAVE. and baldness is progressive.. IF you are destined for a higher NW level, like NW5 or higher, then you must understand that the transplant route can only achieve so much for you.. and the decision to have one should never be taken lightly... the procedure often has limitations. and once someone has chosen to have a transplant they are pretty much commited for the long haul, for better or worse.. if. however you are lucky and your hairloss is extremely slow progressing and taking place JUST up front and not in the crown, i believe a HT from a quallity dr can be more effective for you, though even in this "ideal" case or slow frontal only loss, there are absolutly NO gurantees you will be happy with your outcome.. and how you manage your available DONOR hair is a decision that will be paramount as your hairloss progresses..if your hairloss progresses further, you will require more and more HT work if you want ANY chance at maintaining a natural looking( but thinning) head of hair... to date meds and/or a HT are your only options.. ive had 2 HTs from a less then stellar dr and while i can make it look ok, there is no doubt that the MEDS are responsible..... post pics if you want more indepth opinions about your situation.. how do you look with a shortly buzzed head of hair?? you might not want to do it now but you very well could find that option to be the most beneficial, and MORE IMPORTANTLY the most freeing from your suffering... you really should post pics though if you want advice.. all the best

thanks dr.. i always enjoy the way you document your cases.... however a pic immediatly after the grafts were places helps IMO...... does this patient have plans for another procedure, to address the crown and top?? if so how many grafts do you think it will take to 'get the job done'? ...thanks

john-- this is something i 100% agree with.... im hoping that more and more patients like yourself and 16inchscar come foward with your experiences.. sadly we only get occasional posters coming forward from time to time...when they do they are often are met with un-open arms by alot of posters who refuse to believe HTs can be hazardous, OR are protecting their dr......many are simply blamed by other posters as if their unhappiness is THEIR OWN fault..it is not... excuses are made in favor of the dr making it seem as if patient X's poor outcome is nothing more than a RARE RARE exception..... i very much believe there are a LARGE number of unhappy HT patients from all kinds of drs... if one does enough research they catch this fact... the ones who are run off, or the ones to shook up to voice their experience are not helping..... then again many just dont feel like its their responsibility to save others from making the same mistake they did.. perhaps they are right... but as long as that mentallity continues there will ALWAYS be a predominatly 'glossy' and one sided view of hair transplants on this and other forums IMO.... and people like yourself will be seen as nothing more than the unlucky disgruntled few in a giant ocean of super happy HT patients who no longer give their hairloss a second thought thanks to their decision to have their HT.... i with you and 16inchscar the best....

what are your thoughts on this hair restoration video advertising FUE...please watch for atleast 60 seconds where we are shown that some strip drs are simply not not informed... thanks

what are your thoughts on this hair restoration video advertising FUE...please watch for atleast 60 seconds where we are shown that some strip drs are simply not not informed... thanks

agreed... i assumed this was 1 procedure before reading and was ready to praise it...............but 3??? come on... the result is not a bad one at all but perhaps DR, you can explain to us why we should go to you instead of one of the handfull of docs that can produce this graft #, and similar results in one pass rather than 3

sting-- i hear ya man.. the down time,RE- slicing of the head(in my case),the cost etc etc... it can sometimes feel like ALOT to go through, especially with little TRUE guarantee.... fortunately you have some things working in your favor IMO... you will get where you want to be eventually.... good thread to post your link in.

lol... im a solid player myself thana.. so you just climbed a bit in my book... which is good cause you were pretty LOW in my book before i learned you were a poker player..... just playin man!! you know i love ya... ive had a few 'misclick' wins myself. but even more losses .... call me crazy but ive learned its not exactly a winning strategy... percentage wise, of course.... given your situation you had to have been quite pleased when you saw they both had the same hand with KK... automatically betters your suck out chances VS two players.......................nice hand............fish

low class move by pats205 who represents Armani(terribly, i might add)???...... yes is it at all suprising??.... not at all is it the WORST or most destructive thing pats has done to a hairloss sufferer???....... not by a long shot... stingray--- good to see you still around any idea what the future holds for you, in terms of potential future hts.. sorry if youve said so and i missed it... ive been away

dude aaron...... all the best brotha... the work looks good and i honestly cant wait to see your result.... and about the before HARSH lighting pics you posted.... I LOVE THEM!! when the sun is high in the sky its quite similar to the effects of florecent or downward overhead lighting. ... if you will notice you got a comment saying that it looked like you got almost no yield from HT#1...but you did yield and i would BET that in particular rooms and particular times of days with particular styles of with a touch of concealer you can make your hair (before HT#2) look quite passable, maybe even an improvment from your PRE HT days.... but overhead lighting KILLS you. just as it kills me...and many other ht guys... just another reason EVERYONE sould be cautious of posted pics.. especially by clinics themselves... because i can take befores of myself that look EXACTLY like yours and at the same time i can easily take pics that would leave all of you saying "wow. LMS got a very good bosley transplant"....... aaron, i admire what youve done to remedy your situation and i cannot tell you enough how much im wanting #2 to be great for your... your situation closely resembles mine... please keep the forum updated with your pics... i believe a case like yours will go a long way in showing what "repair" options are available... believe me there are MANY MANY young guys whos transplants ended up like yours and mine and they are comming from all different doctors.. even if the majority of them never find or get vocal on the forums for various reasons they very much exist....

must say i agree fully with the last part of judges post.... be careful if your considering a HT... ron is right too, your girl is awesome

TC--- im going to try to leave as many drs name out of this publically as i can.. because im not trying do damage cred of anyone in particular... will say i agree with you on konior, alexander and reed, for the most part.. but can we really say we have seen alot of patient-posted results? and yes i do think there is a difference personally not a fan of arocha or bernstein for reasons i believe can be found in past posts of mine. and we can always speak in detail thru PMs AND THAT AN INVITATION TO ANYONE OF YOU. WETHER YOU AGREE OR DISAGREE WITH ME ABOUT ANYTHING...i always try to be as real, and as open as possible but as you can see it does get me into messes like this one alot, and given that i type 4 words per min, and USUALLY need to edit mistakes like 4 times this crap get real tiring real fast for me.. i do generalize, i must admit... its difficult not to when you speak of the industry as a whole like i tend to do... its something im working on, and again.. its why im really only good at pointing out my "issues" as i see them ****EDIT***** TC-- in the future if you see me commenting on what i think is bad work, and you feel the opposite tell me about it next time, even if its thru PM... id love to hear your views as your a poster whos opinion i respect.

and i would say thats a VERY good point PGP.... one i would agree with.. but what i also feel should be considered is how many of those NW 2s and 3s will LATER become 4s 5s 6s and 7s

Hasson wong Rahal(not a fan of his Armani-like aggressivness, but very good at what he does) shapiro --------------------------------- happy? dont want to criticize the whole field and i DO believe that there are other docs that CAN and have produce solid results, but with far less consistancy then the drs above.. hair transplants ARE SUPPOSED TO BE NATURAL correct?? 99.9% of us would not even THINK about a hair transplant if we werent being TOLD BY OUR DR that it was completely natural looking.. would you agree? if your asking me if i think that you and pat do a great service to the transplant community and you try very hard to seek out and and make known the best in the HT field i would say YES you do all that.... if you ask me if every single dr on this site is capable of producing natural great results on a consistant basis i would say i dont think so....i can find what i believe to be density issues, poor PLANNING issues, many of these issues i vioce publically in alot of threads in my time here, surely you have seen a few. you can 'RonJ' me on this if you would like but keep in mind my good friend ron asked me to provide poor results for only H&W, Rahal, and Feller....2 of which are on my list YOU asked me for so post yout your fun little list bill, knowing that it will be a giant pain in my ass as you demand i break down each one of your listed DRs... do your best to discredit and make me look stupid.. make me out to be a HThater but as you do so KNOW that plenty posters and lurkers here agree that there are but a select few who they themselves trust.. i KNOW this, and you prob do too .. they just dont get vocal about for their own 'reasons'... but really if you want to see the ISSUES i speak of pehaps you should pull up MY POST HISTORY... because anytime i see crap i dont like im usually vocal about it... IMO, i see results that that really cant compare to that of the above listed.. i did not say the drs here were not dedicated, or hard working, nor did i say that THEY THEMSELVES 'suck' at what they do. that is YOUR OWN spin on my words.. .what i am saying, and what i DO believe is that this is a highly DIFFICULT PROCEDURE to do consistantly and naturally. and with adequate efficiancy. and i really believe a small few have shown me that i could trust them with MY OWN HEAD.... MAYBE i dont think ill be re-evaluating my earlier post but AS ALWAYS, and like ive told you before bill... if my opinion is one you dislike then have my permission to remove ANYTHING i post, or me for that matter. your the boss..

i hate to be such a negative nelly here but i was told this several times when i expressed that my transplanted hair stands up making it even EASIER to disappear in sunlight... i was told 'meh, it will settle, its just kinky, just give it time'... been a couple years now and its quite clear its never gonna settle in my case, leaving me with one styling option...

i think 90% of HTs suck..for alot of different reasons.. and in alot of cases they are certainly NOT as good as advertised.... and YES they have been great for alot of guys(typically ONLY for patients of like 3 or 4 drs/clinics IMO) especially in recent years, but they have also been anywhere from bad, to down right life ruining for many aswell... results are being produce STILL TODAY that come nowhere near "completly natural"... IN MY OPINION.... there are alot words that could describe alot of the work produced by a decent portion of this indusrty today. but personally i find the word "suck" pretty right on, sums it up well.... um...In MY OPINION, humbly of course .. gerrrr... me so bitter...gerrr!!!, me lack logic and reasoning too..... just kidding, im loaded with both.... IN MY OPINION

can i ask who your dr was?? i think you ought to trim it all the same lenght, if its not already... also like others have said we need to see some before pics to really judge your progress........ do you have any pics immediate post op?... i agree with thana, you prob could pull off some decent styles at this point but i see what you are talking about because your situation looks alot like mine actually.... i bet the sun seems to cut right thru the transplants.... sadly i cannot expect any further 'thickening' while you still prob have some left... however be aware that at 8 months its prob pretty likely that all the grafts that are gonna grow are growing at this point....sorry to be blunt. if you wanna get out from under that hat you can look into a concealers... i believe in your case dermmatch will serve you best because its easier to use up front.. its been my savior BE CAREFUL THO... do not apply to much, and do NOT apply right to the front of the hairline... rather behind the hairline and then lightly fade the dermmatch closer to the hairline... a LITTLE makes a huge difference and if done right will look pretty natural in most conditions.... all the best who was your dr???? oh wait i asked that already

Dr. Lindsey, ill be really interested to see how the scar turns out for this guy, as you know, by seeing my scar, i can relate to how this guy feels when exercising... now when i play basketball im one of those guys wearin the headband the whole time.... i look like a damn fool but its better then the alternative IMO. anyways the closure looks nice, i hope it stays tight for him... thanks for once again providing honest documentation... i think i speak for many here when i say its refreshing and appreciated.

john, please elaborate on your second 'fact'. thanks.

thanks man, crown looks pretty good.....im sure even IF you lose the middle and front, which you may not, it will be a slow slow progression allowing you many many years of a great looking head of hair.....this is a victory IMO in the hairloss battle.. enjoy

your hair looks really great my friend.... it looks really great.. is the crown holding up? and do you believe you will be able to hold on to your exising native hair for a while?

insane how we dont even know one another but so many of us here understand exactly where your at or are there right now in our own life... i wish i could give you great life changing advice.... thankfully there has been some good advice given by others...... you say want to know that you will alteast look 'alright' in the future. you likely ALWAYS will.. and you will have options.... but what i think is a good thing to do, i have to do it myself when my anxiety sets in, is focus on the now. i know it sounds cheesy and it is, but you really need to NOT look to far ahead...all of our futures are full of vaiables we cant possibly know are coming... some good, some not so good.... but as for right now you ARE ok and you DO have alot to be thankful for... dont lose sight of that and keep pushing foward..... we will have to attack future problems as the come... thats all we can do really.... but were really screwing ourselves it we let fear and 'what ifs' dictate how we are living right now....... as im comming up on my 4th year of NOT living to my full potential as a human being, largely due to hairloss and a couple other phycological issues, i wonder if i'll be able to break free from this self induced hell ive fueled for so long and actually be able to practice what im preeching. i really dont have a choice in the matter, because each passing year the weight of a failed life grows bigger and bigger..i cant allow this to be my legacy and my life.. im in my mid 20s now and, and years seem to be going so fast... ive grown an awful lot since this started at age 21 and im about fed up with my waisted life... 4 fu*king years.. its gotta stop and i believe it will very soon.. i can feel myself getting closer and closer in the grand scheme your exactly right.. there are far more important things to focus energy on. all the best

who was your dr?

----"Yes, I feel EXACTLY the same way. The clinic said my hair was between medium and fine (found out after I called them back after in-person consult), and when we talked about some other patient results who were what I considered bad, I said I didnt want to move forward if that was all I was going to get. I was reassured that my characteristics are better, and that my loss not as extreme. This from a top-5 clinic."----- ======================================================= the quote above says alot IMO, when we tell people to "do LOTS of research" its posts like this that i hope their research leads them to. i really believe that 'The Emperor' and 'aaron1234's' story is one that that is common with hair transplants......not butchered but not happy..... not lied to but not fully informed.....not the worst thing but not what i expected... i believe ALOT of guys go into this thing with a gameplan only to find out that its not gonna happen like they had planned, for one reason or another.. and these are guys who DID their homework... aaron- chose a recommended doc the emperor- says he went to a top 5 clinic