imissthebarber

I broadly agree with SpaceBetween. As he pointed out it depends on the patient's individual characteristics in regards to both the amount of donor hair available (which itself depends both on laxity and density) and on the amount of initial loss. It also depends how you define a mega-session. Some clinics probably wouldn't consider 2500 to be a mega-session. Anyway, the hair bank or amount of available donor hair is quoted on this site as 4000-7500 fu's Multi-Media presentation on what can be acheived Elsewhere I have heard a range of 6500-8500 as being normal. However, I think it would be normal that subsequent sessions would not be as big as the first as there will likely be less laxity to work with.

That's awesome dude. I was in college when Wonderwall came out and it is one of my favourite songs. I can imagine the great feeling you had singing it and enjoying the moment without having to worry about your hair.

My approach to questions like this is why take risks? The hot-tub environment; warm and moist is likely to provide good conditions for bacteria to grow and spread. The last thing you need now is any type of infection.

Well that's quite a conundrum. I personally don't think I could have taken the test at that point. I was taking painkillers which made me drowsy. Well I guess I could have taken it but my performance would have been considerably less than optimal. If you fail and can have another go another time that's different to it always being a bad sign if you failed once. Good luck.

I think Bill may have meant 1 month after the pimples appear. Giles - Have you tried any concealers with the shock loss? It can make a big difference. I have found dermmatch to be very good, and I think nanogen also would have been a big help if I wasn't using the dermmatch.

I'm about 8 weeks post-op and I can confirm what Bill said that the transplanted hairs that didn't fall out have continued to grow so they are close to an inch long now.

I use a pill cutter to break into fourths so you should be able to cut that again. It would end up pretty small and the pieces might crumble a little. I don't think you'd get them all the same size but over the course of 8 days you should get the dose evening out to around 0.6 as you say.

I have been thinking a lot about this myself and I agree with the last 3 posts.

Does anyone have any experience using thickening shampoos in the ugly duckling phase? Is it better to wait until the hairs gain thickness naturally before trying to beef up the thickness with a thickening shampoo and/or conditioner?

Nanogen or Toppik I have only used nanogen but I believe they are similar. See the above thread for more detail. I think I read that Nanogen is basically tiny sheep hairs treated with some kind of electrostatic charge that makes it stick to your head so if it does come off it will look just like tiny hairs. I haven't used it that much. My experience with dermmatch was that it didn't come off in any significant amount on a dark pillow case but other people may disagree. This is more like a powder and it could come off on your fingers although this is more of an issue straight after application. Once it has settled down it should be OK. However practice is definitely required before the big day. I found after a few hours it did not come off even when I put my head under the shower. Only shampoo made it come out.

Nanogen is a shake over which was pretty quick. Dermmatch is applied with a special applicator sponge about the size of a fingertip. I guess you could use a finger tip, but the sponge is provided and works well. However, my experience was dermmatch took a little longer to apply and then a little time to settle and be fully dry. I would definitely experiment before the big day. Good luck man.

headinahole I have found dermmatch to be very effective for pretty extensive shockloss. Nanogen was also pretty good too. (I have read that some people try using them together.) Without them I didn't want anyone to see the shockloss but after I put them on I felt it was pretty undetectable. There may be a line that makes it look like you've been wearing a hat, which people sometimes refer to as hat-head but no-one who didn't know about my HT has said anything about that. Also you might want to consider changing some other aspect of your appearance to draw attention away from the donor area. I grew a beard and now people are commenting about that and their eyes are drawn to that area rather than anywhere else.

Interesting thread guys but I can't see that anyone has made the distinction between the trichophytic closure type scars and the non-tricho scars. Does this make any difference to how low you can buzz? My understanding of the process was that it was intended to minimise the visibility of the scar.

I agree that once you are 100% sure you want to go the HT route then the front makes the biggest cosmetic impact. I would raise the other questions with H&W as well. Now that they have seen you they should be able to give you a good idea of what is acheivable. Also they would take into account your wishes as long as they are realistic and will facilitate a good result.

Canadian_buba - I think I have something similar but I have often found this is caused by the sun. I was expecting that hairs moved to the top would get more sun and therefore get lighter in the summer. Has anyone found problems with this?

Hope it all goes well dude.

Tree Hugger - Thanks for sharing, I'm glad to hear you've had positive reaction so far. I may choose to be more open once the shock loss has worn off so it is good to hear your situation.

I was thinking of going with a neck strain if the guys I play soccer with asked me why I haven't been showing up. It isn't an organised team match thing though just a weekly game of buddies. There is also an element of truth to the neck strain due to the laxity being taken out and it probably being a good idea post-op to avoid sudden and excessive movements that could be caused through sports. Some guys may say it is no problem a few weeks post-op but who wants to take the risk of the scar stretching? Also I saw elsewhere on the site that the laxity doesn't properly return until 6 months post-op and is unlikely to be fully what it was previously.

I totally agree. I used to have a girlfriend who was 5'11". I thought she was very attractive and many people agreed. But she surprised me when she said that it had not always been easy to meet the right guy as she wanted someone taller than herself. This ruled out the majority of guys right away. She told me as well though that the attitude of most of her girlfriends was that they would prefer to meet someone taller than themselves but that person did not have to be actually tall.

I'm a couple of weeks ahead of you guys at the 1.5 month mark but my shock loss looks the same as it did and from what I've read it will be around the 3 month mark before the native hair grows back. (Although it varies from person to person.) Have you tried Dermmatch? I found it made things look a lot more normal, and no-one said anything when I saw people who didn't know. Not saying it is perfect, but it might help.

This article might be useful Dr Arocha on Advanced MPB

I'm certainly no expert but what I've read suggests that failure rates tend to be measured per graft and what is usually supported is rather the success rate. So for example a success rate of 90% would mean that 90% of the transplanted grafts grow succesfully in the recipient site. A lot of factors effect the success rate for any given patient but there are some other threads on this site suggesting that success rates of over 90% are normal. It also seems that success rates may be higher for grafts containing more than one hair (but just one follicle).

Tree Hugger - Good luck man with the consult and whatever the outcome.

Really good thread guys. I would guess the number worldwide is higher judging by the relative population size of Canada to other countries, espeically the USA. I believe the US has about 8 to 10 people for every one in Canada. Since there is a similar culture I don't think it is unreasonable to suppose that people in both countries would get HT's on a similar ratio of the population. On that basis there might be 40-50,000 in the States each year. Having said that people do travel to get them and some of the top docs are in Canada so it may see more surgeries per head of population than other countries. Still I guess it is much more than 20,000 since there are also docs in Europe, Asia and Latin America etc. also doing it.

Thanks Bill.