NervousNelly

As I have yet to get #2 underway, I might not be the best to answer this, but being more educated and knowing what to expect has certainly put my mind at ease. As stated, aloe vera is a great product to try as well as graftcyte from what I have been told. Also, depending on when your 1st HT was, the technology has come a long way where both the recipient and donor areas tend to heal better because they are somewhat less invasive and more refined. If you don't require as many FU this time around it might make a difference also. Good luck.

Nobuzz, I thought that doctor didn't work for you??

Isn't it true he started to go blind and his face was stuck in one position?? Check out the last photo in the photo album section. That's the face!!

Not that I am advertising for Dr. Rahal or anything, but I had been checking out some of his work as a friend of mine had been talking about him. He is a Coalition member and appears to do some pretty awesome work. I know that money is always a concern for many of our members so I just wanted to point you in his direction to check things out. On his site he quotes prices in CANADIAN DOLLARS. For those of us in the US and you guys in England it could amount to a heck of a deal when you consider conversion. For Ex. 3000 FU for approx. $9000 US. That's cheap and from a world class physician. Check it out at www.rahalhairtransplant.com and then for currency exchange go to www.x-rates.com Just an FYI.

I'm not sure as to why I thought of this question and I might know the answer myself, but I thought I would put it out there and see if there are any other viewpoints. When the surgeon removes the strip, and then sutures the incision, does the crown move downward?? I assume that because the main insertion area for the skin and underlying tissue is at the nuchal ridge, that the scalp will move downward. If this is accurate, does that mean that an individual with say 3 surgeries now has his crown lowered towards the neck approx. 4 centimeters? That seems like quite a difference. Did I explain my question well? I guess the reason that I ask is that my concern has always been the frontal area (which I believe it should be for most people) because unless I bend over or someone is taller than me, my crown bald spot is not really visible. As I progress with other surgeries though, I guess that bald spot might become slightly more noticeable from behind? I think you get what I mean.

I'm not sure as to why I thought of this question and I might know the answer myself, but I thought I would put it out there and see if there are any other viewpoints. When the surgeon removes the strip, and then sutures the incision, does the crown move downward?? I assume that because the main insertion area for the skin and underlying tissue is at the nuchal ridge, that the scalp will move downward. If this is accurate, does that mean that an individual with say 3 surgeries now has his crown lowered towards the neck approx. 4 centimeters? That seems like quite a difference. Did I explain my question well? I guess the reason that I ask is that my concern has always been the frontal area (which I believe it should be for most people) because unless I bend over or someone is taller than me, my crown bald spot is not really visible. As I progress with other surgeries though, I guess that bald spot might become slightly more noticeable from behind? I think you get what I mean.

I think that NoBuzz has explained things well. There might be other reasoning but those are the 2 primary as well as wanting to limit blood loss.

NoBuzz, Hey I wasn't married until 34 so yes I would think that might classify me as an expert....and from what all my married friends tell me, it doesn't take long to where you get to revisit your youth.

I'll try to quickly answer your questions as best as I can. 1. It is near impossible to fully determined who you inherited your hair characteristics from. More than likely it is a combination of both parents. 2. Lifting weights and doing pushups will have no bearing on your hairloss. 3. Masturbation DOES cause hairloss--look at the member B Spot on this forum. That is what happened to him. He also lost his right hand. Just kidding ofcourse. Watching porn and not masturbating or masturbating itself has no affect on your hair. 4. Diet has some impact possibly?? That is debatable, but I would always recommend eating well to limit any health issues. 5. Exercise might have a factor, but it is probably more the stress that builds up if you don't do something to get your mind off of your worries. 6. Yes it is possible to retain some of your hair until 45. Eat well, sleep well and hope that your genetics are such that you can retain your hair. The meds will help however and it might be something to consider. Aslo try some different shampoos such as Nioxin and Nizoral. Hope that helps.

I guess your post confuses me as well. If you did indeed call different coalition physicians and those are the responses that you got it is kind of alarming. Several of the criteria that you mentioned are what they are supposed to be doing as a condition of keeping their membership??? I would private message Pat and give him details of your conversations. There are ofcourse certain physicians that tend to be more conservative and opt for smaller sessions and in my opinion there is nothing wrong with that sometimes. That topic can get sometimes heated though because the multiple surgeries is more expensive and taxing for the patient. Hasson and Wong are great surgeons. I am going to have a consult with them in March/April. I think though that there are other great surgeons that are equally skilled but get less "talk time" on this network because some of the regulars on this site went to HW. Take a look at some of the other docs on the Hair Transplant Network website. There are some other great docs like Dr. Ron Shapiro, Dr. Feller, or Dr. Rahal. Go to Dr. Rahal's website and check out some of his work. There is a lesser known individual that provides some world class results. I would bet that his results are on par to HW but there is little mention of him. It is important that you set up a few consults and go with someone that you are comfortable with.

AN, Firstly, I would agree with the other posters that approx. 3000 FU is what it would take to help you out nicely. I guess you could probably get by with 2000 for now and it would definitely make a good cosmetic difference but isn't going to save you a lot of money. What you have to understand is that most physicians will have a minimum starting price or will have a sliding price scale for the more grafts that you have. As well, if you are going to go thru with the process, you might as well get more as either way there will be recovery time, etc. The price of $15,000 seems high for 3000 FU. I would think that you should be able to find a world class surgeon that will do it for under $12000. Yes this is a lot of money and ofcourse now gives you something else to stress about. Have you tried a very short haircut or shaving to see if you could become comfortable with that? As you indicated, you have to plan on being a NW 6-7 which will mean several surgeries to give a decent amount of density. (5000-8000 FU) You must be prepared to spend a lot of money to follow thru with things. There are a lot of guys that get the first surgery and then their financial picture changes later in life and they just can't swing the follow up surgeries. This is a real concern. I wish you luck as I understand that this is a very stressful situation for you, but you do need to really think about things. Good luck.

Who needs reality TV?? This shit is good. LOL. I look forward to the monthly posts by everyone and it gives me something to expect with my own future procedure. Due to the size of the donor strip this time around for you I would expect that you might have some differences. Hopefully it will disappear soon and things begin to grow quickly. I can imagine that it has to be starting to get pretty exciting. You'll be styling just in time for summer. How cool. When things start to thicken up I'll send you a container of hair gel to celebrate.

We have had a similar thread in the past regarding this issue. I myself believe that there is some merit in laser therapy and HBOT but lets face it, niether are going to perform miracles. I think that if you have more money than you know what to do with why not try it as it has shown some evidence of success.

We've been down this road before. Whether there is a recommendation for this Network or the Coalition, I don't ever feel like I can give a valid arguement for approval based on a few of the docs personal best photos. Pat you have witnessed more of his work and had the opportunity to talk with him on several occasions and are more familiar with his history. Morevover, you are well educated as to what categorizes an individual as a premier HT physician. I guess we have to trust your judgement unless otherwise disputed with evidence from other members.

I would have to say that from what has been provided the work looks very good. As I always state however, there needs to be more angles, similar lighting, post op photos, etc. to give a proper assessment of the true abilitlies. I must sound like a broken record.

Thanks for the post. I'm curious as to why you chose BHT over FUE or strip? It appears from the photos that you do still have a relatively decent donor area to at least start with. So far it does look like a lot of the hairs are growing, but what % would you estimate have taken? Ofcourse this is merely an uneducated guess from a couple of pics but I would have to estimate 60%. I'm an inquisitive person by nature so I started with the questions but I do want to state that I am happy for you and it does look like with some more work there will be a dramatic change. Good luck.

You're right doc, the other photo looked strange because of the length and the mascara. If I were you I wouldn't use it much for promotion. Just my opinion.

Tony Q, I don't want to be known as the individual that started all kinds of rumors and smeared the name of this awesome site. For the record, that is not what I was saying and there is no "suitcase of money" changing hands. My point is that from what I have seen, it is equally beneficial for the doctors to be appointed as members of the coalition. And for that priviledge and to cover expenses involved there are fees. I just don't want anyone to lose sight of that fact. I'm sure that on occasion, there are some less than honest individuals that do try to "buy" their way into membership. From what I have seen this will never happen with Pat at the helm. He has done a great job of protecting the integrity of this site. I want that trend to continue and if someone is voted into membership in what looks like a hasty and premature manner, it ofcourse gets questioned. End of story. I don't believe there is any "palm greasing" going on but if there continues in the future to be a quick and simple approval of membership others might start to wonder.

Most people on this site are going to agree with you. MHR is a marketing genius that doesn't follow thru with the promises that they make. Morris I'm truly sorry for you not being happy with your decision but I would like to understand things a bit more: 1. Are you upset about the scar? 2. Is it the quality of the scar or did they not inform you that you would have one? 3. What did the actual transplant look like? Do you have photos of hairline? 4. Did the hairs grow? We do sympathize with your situation but would like to understand things a little bit better. Thanks.

His smile is on the back of his head. LOL. Everything looks great. The hard ass look is a good one though.

B Spot, I did a little more research myself and got some of the answers that I was looking for and not provided. Yes, the Coalition members do in fact have to pay dues in order to be members. Let me make this very clear---I AM NOT IMPLYING ANYTHING. I just like to know all facts. I myself am a member of different professional societies for my career. Do we pay dues--absolutely. I understand that it is imperative that money is provided for inorder to have the continuation of said societies. Do we constantly strive for new membership--again absolutely. There is power in numbers. Do we do this for the benefit of ourselves or the benefit of those we serve? That is where things become a little grey. I like to think of it as a win win situation. It certainly does benefit both sides, no questions. Again, nothing is implied but I believe that it is a good idea that everything is out in the open. I had always wondered why there seemed to be an urgency for new Coalition members and what is more key--Why do the docs contact Pat wanting membership??? It definitely will benefit all involved and I don't believe that it SOLELY is just for patient satisfaction--But there is nothing wrong with that. Again just my 2 cents

Yes I am familiar with Intercytex and some of the work that they are doing to investigate the possibilities of someday being able to clone and transplant hairs. I have looked at them from more of an investors perspective as I am always interested in new age stocks and profitable opportunities. Ofcourse with them there is also the personal interest of helping out us poor souls that lack the follicular count. I do believe that this will be a reality someday, but it is difficult to say exactly how far off in the future. My guestimates will be 2012 which really is not that far off, but that will still be in the infancy and I certainly don't want to be the "lab rat." Probably before it is a little more mainstream it will be 2018. Again that is purely a guess. One thing to consider though is that there might also be some gene therapy work, other pharmaceuticals, BHT developments in the meantime that might rival or make the cloning unnecessary. I wouldn't plan on going follicle crazy and transplant everything you got just yet. Good post though as this is quite an interesting topic.

Cousin_It worded things quite eloquently that I wanted to leave things at that, as his arguement is essentially the point that I am trying to make. I am certainly in full agreement with what he is saying, although that doesn't mean that he is in full agreement with my arguement. I don't believe that the question is whether or not Dr. Paul Shapiro is skilled or not, rather we are questioning the process in which a new doc has been admitted to the Coalition. There is a huge difference between the 2 and I don't think that you have addressed that B Spot. 1. Are we not allowed to question the process? 2. The only person that had a HT with the doc voted NO. Where are the positive responses from actual patients? 3. Is a total of 7 responses adequate? Is there a magic number? 4. Why did we not wait for his (Dr. Pauls) response to some questions proposed? 5. Why vote if we should just trust Pat? 6. Is money involved? Fair question. Not implying anything but if it is we should know. 7. How does making Dr. Paul a member save one more soul from a bad HT? The patients are going there anyways based on SMG reputation alone. This is an open forum and I think that it is fair for us novice members to be able to ask questions without there being some hard feelings over it by senior members. If I am going to devote my time to try and help others in my same predicament, I want to understand the workings of this environment. I mean no disrespect to anyone, especially not Pat. But the facts are the facts. If Coalition membership is based on solely Pat's determination than fine. I can live with that, but at least spell it out for us so that we are aware of what it truly means to be a member. Lets not pretend that it is based on some strict democratic process and standards if it really isn't.

I guess that I am still not sure of what it takes to be a coalition member. Although I did give a thumbs up to Dr. Paul Shapiro I was kind of thinking that there might be a little more of a process involved. From my count on this thread the vote would be 5 in favour and 2 against. This ofcourse would look like a democracy but one of the against was an actual patient. If I look at the link that Pat provided which outlines the strict guidelines for membership I'm not sure that there is a complete fit. My point is that although I did vote yes, I would like to see some legitimacy to the process. It kind of loses the lustre of being considered a member of the coalition when you see witness to the actual hasty approval. Will someone explain to me the need for more member doctors? Is there money involved? I'm sure this post might get a frown or 2 but this is an open forum and its just my opinion.

Middleson, I wasn't implying anything about Dr. Cooley's motives or ethics. He has a great reputation and obviously is quite skilled. I guess what was meant is that if I were to tell a surgeon that I was going to post and document everything and they had reservations, it would throw up a red flag. But a little motivation never does hurt anyone either. He has done excellent work and I'm quite impressed. Yah it stinks that you'll likely lose the hairs for awhile, but it's short lived. With your existing density you'll be in good shape.