el guapo

I agree with Ken. Recently I visited a major SMP clinic and checked out their results. The guy I met with there is quite famous on the forums and had his treatment done with the clinic. Looked great in photos - not so much in real life. Although I one what to look for I thought it was a bit too obvious from my liking.

Where are you based? Probably a good idea to go to someone close if a good options is available. There are plenty of SMP practitioners out there but only a few good ones it seems.

I can tell you first hand how the meds stop working after about 5-8 years but then again you will find out on your own eventually. Ive been there - done that... In regards to diffuse thinners - yes of course they produce great results. Most of them do. The problem is that as a diffuse thinner you will keep on loosing hair. A lot of it .And that is absolutely guaranteed, unless it is not genetically induced hair loss. And the only thing that looks worse than a bald head is a bald head with a few rows of transplanted hair at the front. You can argue with me all you want - I don't really care. All I can do is pass on information which is what this forum is for. If you choose to use that information or ignore it is completely up to you.

How is that "patently false"? Besides speaking from my own experience all you have to do is read on this forum for long enough... I doubt anyone who have used mess for 10 years or more have completely halted their hairloss. It generally works got a few years before the hairloss picks up again.

Please elaborate. You are not being very helpful.

Meds do not work long term. They slow down the loss for a few years before it picks up again. They will very rarely help you grow back any hair. If you have a HT now in your hairline for example you will end up with a very odd looking fringe of weirdly placed hairs growing in front of a large bald spot. HTs can look OK on some patients with very thick donor hair and non diffuse thinning. Most fail over time. Just look through the diaries on this for and you will see what I mean. I get your point with SMP. It can look awful. But it is the only treatment currently available that can look completely natural if done by a top practitioner. ( if you don't mind a very closely shaved head) I've seen many HTs and several SMPs. I think most HT patients wish they can go back in time and just live with the hairloss. The SMP patients are happier but I can't imagine the shame of being called out one day of having tattooed your head...

As a 23 year old I would advice you to hold off. I have been on this forum for 10 years now and from my limited experience you are not a good candidate. Diffuse thinning is hard to fix with a HT and you may even loose more hair than you gain due to shock loss. Getting a HT that young is very likely to make you disappointed down the line as your hair loss continues and you run out of donor hair. I know I sound negative and someone else here may have a different perspective on things. If you don't mind a shaved head perhaps its worth looking into SMP. Seems to do wonders with diffuse thinners but of course it limits you to a shaved head which for some defeats the purpose of doing anything in the first place.

They have their own forum where you can see a lot of results from their NYC office. Like with most things, it comes down to the practitioner you end up with. His do get a lot of good results but they also get a few just OK results. Make sure you do your research.

Good answer. Thanks Ken. So with hat in mind, who can you recommend for small dot sizes? I have seen so many results from Hishair where the dots are just a little bit too big to stand up to very close scrutiny. Who was your practitioner btw?

In regards to the dor size... I have rad several diaries on the HisHair forum and the dots do look big and unnatural after the first session. This is always the case. But I have never seen a case where the dots did not shrink significantly. And yes, it is the second session that completes the look and make it look natural. However, I am wondering if HisHair is using the same dot size for all their cases? Like a one size fits all approach. If this is the case I would imagine that although it may look perfect on some heads it would look less natural on people with fine hair and smaller follicles.

There are no cases of SMP from Hishair that has "migrated". And its impossible for their ink to turn blue. I have researched SMP quite a lot. HisHair seems pretty good with mostly good results. Yes it often fades but thats because they are rather careful in their approach so it may take a few sessions. Vinci I am still unsure about. They have some result son their website which are awful. From HisHair results they are mostly very good. Some are average.

I've been on these forums for over ten years. I've seen many results good and bad. Even from good doctors held in high esteem on this site. Even the best doctors using the latest technique cannot consistency get perfect results. In these cases my best guess is that maybe half are great, several "ok" and maybe 1/5 or so have no growth or bad scarring etc. With patients that haven't done proper research online I would imagine that the proportion of bad results can be very high. Maybe close to 9/10. If you asked how many patients have good results after day ten years I would say that number is close to zero across the board.

I agree with fueonly. Take meds - see what happens. The meds will usually eventually wear off and stop working and its very rare for hairloss to not continue. But you have a lot of hair so just leave it for now. Another idea would be to ask forum members that had a HT at your age if they are happy with their decision 10 years down the track. My guess is pretty much no one will say yes.

I agree with fueonly. Take meds - see what happens. The meds will usually eventually wear off and stop working and its very rare for hairloss to not continue. But you have a lot of hair so just leave it for now. Another idea would be to ask forum members that had a HT at your age if they are happy with their decision 10 years down the track. My guess is pretty much no one will say yes.

I have seen some very good results where FUE combines with SMP can help achieve that look. The SMP covers up the "missing" hair in the donor or sometimes event the scars. The SMP can also help with the illusion of density around the planted follicles.