richie48

Hey billy I have included a link to my original blog , please take a look , there are loads of tips and info written in it , it will answer your questions and then some . I flew home 2 days after my ht , and removed the staples myself , there is a item in my blog on diy staple removal . The exchange rate was a lot better in 2007 , so I'm not sure of the cost now , and as for tax relief , not sure , it would deffinatly be worth you giving spex a ring , great guy , loads of info and really approuchable . richie Hair Restoration Site for richie48

Galtsglutch A couple of notorious repair patients mentioned in your little hit list illegaly accused Dr Feller of drugging them prior to signing there consent forms which was obvious bullshit . This was confirmed as an outright lie , this was an attempt to try and extort free surgery or money , I believe these patients where held accountable for there disgusting comments . Please lets not ignore the facts . Dr Feller doesn't pay hush money but stands accountable online to defend himself if needed unlike other clinics . He is a passionate , honourable highly skilled surgeon . Many clinics just pay their unsatisfied patients off so they go away and don't post. That is the answer to your question very simple. This is painfully clear as look at all the unhappy nervous posters at month 7/8/9 who seem to then just disappear from various forums . You are very naive if you think this doesn't happen . Dr Feller's patients don't just disappear . He doesn't pay them off this is why he gets conflict online from a few individuals who make demands of him. Other clinics will avoid this conflict and just get the cheque book out . Imagine if Feller just got his cheque book out, his reputation would be impeccable , but he is a man of principal and doesn't fold . That is why Dr Feller has these handful of seemingly unsatisfied patients who appear online, he wouldn't pay them to shut up and disappear and they got angry and threw shit at him. That is as clear as day . Dr Feller is a man of principal and has more integrity than most and defends himself and protects his reputation when attacked in such an underhand way , he will not be extorted . All of the patients listed were in fact repair patients to my knowledge whose results after Dr Feller's help were very good . These repair cases put all their desperate hopes at Dr Fellers doorstep along with all their previous hate towards their original surgeon , surely these are the unethical surgeons who should be taken to task when their expectations were not met . It's far to easy , and sadly all to common to glaze over the facts and chose the most controversial path , for the sake of drama . Hairthere was right to defend his surgeon , a surgeon who did a stella repair job for him , unfortinatly you chose to throw personal remarks at him , which only resulted in making you seem childish and ultimatly denting your own credibility . Leave the remarks for the play ground and lets keep this forum the most respected and informative online . richie

Hi blueboy I think you have a minor cosmetic improvement , the temple sharpness has been rounded off , the work looked clean and the grafts have grown in and look very natural , nobody could spot you have had a very subtle tweak to you hairline . The area covered looks roughly 7cms x 2.5cms per temple side ,thats 17.5cm2 per side this equates to 1367 / 2 = 683.5 grafts per side 683 / 17.5mc2 = approximatly 39 grafts per cm2 , not bad , not the most dense hairline ever , but far better than some work I have seen for some other UK hair clinics . If you only wanted a subtle tweak to your hairline , this would work , however due to you going for a second pass of a further 1200 grafts , I suspect you were maybe disapointed with you first ht , I have seen worse bud , so don't worry . Like Mars has already said this could have proberly have been done in one pass and saved you the down time of another ht and surgery , whether this was miscomunication or you were mis-informed , only you know , it could have been that your expectations for 1300 grafts were much higher than the reality of 1300 grafts . I have had a consultaion with the Farjo clinic in Feb 2007 , nice guys and came across as genuine , but for me the grafts estimate was too low and wouldn't have helped my situation , to be fair to the Farjos , and after looking at there new website I think they cater for an older gent , maybe more of 45+ age group at a norwood 5-7 , the type of guys who are happy with a few grafts placed at the front , creating a nice age appropriate hairline and maybe leaving the crown bald or thinning . I have seen from there recent work this is more of the case , very concervative age appropriate hairlines on older guys , nothing wrong with the standard of work they are producing , but certainly something that should be taken into account when looking into which surgeon to go with and your own goals . For me these desisions should not be taken lightly and true world class surgeons like Hasson and Wong , Feller and Rahal are well worth travelling for . Good luck bud richie

hey billynopants I went with feller in 2007 and had 2100 crown grafts , top surgeon and my results are very natural , I'm going back to have the front tweaked in 2012 , you wont go wrong with Dr Feller . Spex great vid and billynopants has very similar loss to this , good choice . I know I had the crown done but I've included a link to my Feller results below http://www.hairrestorationnetwork.com/eve/163760-dr-feller-uk-patient-richie48-2100-crown-grafts-2007-2011-brand-new-update.html good luck buddy richie

hi all I hope you are well balody , fallenstar and mick , but guys are you ever going to post pics on this thread ? It would be nice to see the results richie

Like hairthere and the others have said it really does depend on you personal goals , just strengthening the front will be less grafts than full coverage , the average guy will have upto 7000 grafts in his donor supply only . Mate from your pic I would say you are hending towards being a norwood 5 or even a norwood 6 and this is an estimate for full coverage , a very rough guild to how many grafts is to look at what nowood scale you are and multiply the scale number by a thousand ...... norwood 5 = 5000 grafts norwood 6 = 6000 grafts norwood 7 = 7000 grafts Another way is to roughly measure the bald area in square cms for example your pic looks like 15cms x10 cm = 150 cm2 , you will need atleast , and this is the absolute minimum of grafts to provide cover , 40 grafts per cm2 ... 150cm2 x 40 grafts per cm2 = 6000 ....... 6000 grafts to cover the whole area . Ofcourse you need to measure the area of baldness more accuratly than me guessing from you picture , but atleast you now know how to work how many grafts you will need to provide full coverage Hope this helps richie

Thats better , I can see the other pics now , cheers spex . A good result and a deffinate improvement from before Hair_care your ht results are fine and from the front look great , what are your concerns ? richie

Mynameisalsorich hahaha Thanks bud , I have only had one ht , 2100 crown grafts with Dr Feller , I am due to go see him again in New York in January 2012 for approximatly 2000 grafts to my front hair line and temples by strip method , I usually wear my hair longer , surfer style and it parts to far back into my temples and really bugs me , so thats what I hope to have addressed in January . Due to my research I know and accept there are limitations too both FUE and FUT . But for me I accept that my donor will run out if I continue to have hts without foward planning , so I want the most yeald from my own precious finite supply of transplantable follicals , so chose to have a further FUT transplant , safest way for most yeald for the best value for money with one of the best surgeons , whom I know and trust . I have copied an earlier post about my med use below to answer your questions about finasteride ...... I started on minoxadil cream and 1mgs propecia ( brand name of finasteride ) in 2006 . By 2007 I had ditched the minoxadil cream , it didn't seem to help any regrowth and occasionally irrritated my scalp . I also switched to 5mgs of generic finasteride ( proscar )in 2007 , I cut these into 4 pieces and took 1.25mgs daily . By 2009 I started to cut the 5mgs of finasteride into 5 pieces and took 1mg daily . In 2010 I started to cut the finasteride into 6 pieces and I now take only 0.8mgs daily , I did this with no noticable loss of hair . I have suffered no side effects , no drop in libido or loss of erections , I do however believe I have become more of a calmer and more focused person , my girlfriend has noticed this also , is it the finasteride , I don't really know but it coinsided with me starting on the meds . However I did notice my seamen become more watery after I started using the meds . Due to wanting to start a family I have recently had my testosterone , thyroid and sperm count checked , my testosterone levels where higher than average , my thyriod is fine and my sperm count was also higher than the average , on average most men have between 20-200 million sperm per edjuculation , I had 140 million . I have included a link below to one of my older posts showing pics of my improvement from meds only and my blog which has loads of close up pics of before , during and after , please take a look ..... Hair Restoration Site for richie48 http://www.hairrestorationnetwork.com/eve/155471-dr-feller-uk-patient-richie48-then-now-two-year-trip-meds-9-month-hair-transplant.html orlhair1 , hi Thanks bud , I have never sold my ht as a wow result , my pics have always being an honest account of what can be realistly achieved with good planning , good research and a top surgeon , I think my results are good enough to stand up to scruntiny and I have never really had a complimantary hair style for ht work hahahaha but it works and it has enabled me too wear my hair as I wish without being the bald guy in the room . I have just had all my hair cut short , it's part of my plan for next years ht , I'll explain it all in a new thread with more pics of my short hair , this has given me a new out look on Dr Feller's work , with respect to naturalness . Dr Feller recreated a double crown , which makes my hair "tuft" up in the middle , this is exaclty as mother nature had it when I was a child , before the onslaught of male patern baldness , because I have had my hair long since my ht grew in , I had never realized this before . This has given me a new appriciation of how good and natural looking the first ht was and this is something we rarely discuss about hts , its always density , graft count , cost , FUE or FUT etc etc , I'll post up these new pics soon in a new thread . Thanks spex ! cheers guys richie

Hey Hair_care Night and day bud , a clear improvement from the before pic , pics from directly above are never the most flattering for a ht , post some more pics from eye level before and after . I think for 2700 grafts over the full front , this is a good result . Spex your pics won't come up on my page , could you just check them please . richie

RedDevil Thankyou for you vey honest reply , guys all too often come on here and ask advice , if that advice is not what they want to hear then the option is to ignore and dismiss . Many of the veteran posters on HTN offer advice from knowing all the pitfalls and highs of HTs and hair loss . It was refreshing to hear your honest reply and re-affirmed my faith at passing on my experience , many thanks . I really do hope you find what you are looking for in life bud , good luck richie

Hey bud Yes transplants can be done in the crown and ,like the poster has said , sometimes you have to have more grafts to add the illusion of density , done correctly by a top surgeon hairlines look great and dense due to the illusion of how the grafts are placed like bricks in a house over layed , so when looking straight at them they look thicker because the hairs are layered , like below .... . _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ . _ _ _ _ _ Then as you look straight at the fringe from eye level the work looks denser due to layering , even with dense packing , many guys check out a crown from a higher angle and this always looks thinner , if you check out a crown from eye level it too will follow the rules , it will look thicker , but directly from the top will look thinner , however so will a hair line . Also the area of the crown is usually larger in respect of getting the coverage , from the front a hair line , from temple to temple is usually narrower than the crown area , I hope you understand what I'm trying to describe here . Our donor is finite , it will run out so careful planning is required before even entering the doctors chair , most average guys have between 6000 and 7000 grafts that can be used , some then move onto FUE fromw the sides , again this wshould only be be used with a plan , when these are exhausted , game over ! I have posted my a link to my most recent update and my original blog from 2007 , please take a look Hair Restoration Site for richie48 http://www.hairrestorationnetwork.com/eve/163760-dr-feller-uk-patient-richie48-2100-crown-grafts-2007-2011-brand-new-update.html I hope that helps richie

Hi bud Got to agree with can'tdecide on this , done by the right surgeon the FUE yeald can be as high as 80% and Dr Feller is regarded as one of the best , but even Dr Feller has stated you get a higher than even 90% yeald from FUT . To be honest all of this is irrelivent , it depends on age , hair characteristics and until you see an ethical surgeon and you both decide on how many grafts you need to reach your personal goal . At the moment you may think you only need a 1000 , but , and I've seen this happen alot , people underestimate how many grafts you truely need to achieve the illusion of density . And like cantdecide said a scar is still a linear scar no matter how long it is , I know I can cut my hair down to a number 2 clip without exposing my scar . Post some pics or work out how many grafts you will need from where you are on the norwood scale , norwood 2 would need roughly 2000 grafts , nowood 6 would need roughly 6000 grafts etc etc ..... It does really depend on how many grafts you need bud , but if you don't mind any sized scar , then i say go strip , save a fortune and get the most yeald for your money , I'm going back to Dr Feller in Jan 2012 for around 2000 grafts , I'm going with FUT , I want the most grafts and best yeald for the best value . Good luck richie

Hi bud From your pics I would say you are suffering from male pattern baldness , more so at the front . I also worry you are trying to convince yourself this will not happen , buddy will have all tried to do the exact same thing , it's called denial and I don't blame you at all , I did it and so has every other balding guy in the universe . Also you have to understand that our hair is finite , so it transplantable follicals will run out if we don't plan this from day one , your crown looks ok now , but you can never ever tell the future ..... Newhairplease is spot on with his post , you have to try finasteride again and assess it over atleast a year , it's no good doing it for a few months , there could be anxiety and pshycological issues about using the med that have caused your sexual problems . Give it time for you to become relaxed about using it and really be honest with yourself whether it is physical or phsycological , whether you are just starting a relationship , finishing or even during a period of feeling down after a break up these can often cause men sexual difficulties and many have grand ideas of hts and meds to win back the girls , due to this we always put stress on ourselves , I know you have made no reference to any of the above but most sexual disfunction is due to anxiety , and not the meds . Give it atleast 12 months of trial , reduce dosage , change how often you take it , exhaust all this first because having hair transplantation surgery is risky without being on meds due to future loss , looking at family members is all we have in terms of determining where our hair loss will or could go , but even this is far from accurate . Get on finasteride , assess if you can continue to use it , then spend the the next year researching about the limitations of hair surgery , then ,and only if you can continue with the meds look into having a hair transplant in the future , atleast till you are mid to late 20s . 22 is too young and many of the top , most ethical surgeons will advice you to wait , I have put a link to a thread I posted on recently about meds and hts , please take a look and check out all the links , it will help you with your research . http://www.hairrestorationnetwork.com/eve/163780-fut-fue-uk.html Good luck richie

Glad you have had a chance too look at the links bud . As soon as I started the meds I experienced a huge shed of hair , I chose to simply shave it all off and let the regrowth start together with my uneffected hair growth . I had a great result from using the meds only , the condition of my hair improved and the front and mid section became thicker and easier to style , the most minitulized hair effected by dht , didn't fair so well so I had the transplant to address the thinnest areas . At first I wanted a one shot hit , but after the transplanted hairs started to grow I maybe got the dreaded "hair greed" . At this piont I knew I wanted to have another ht to addess the front . I'm after 2000 grafts to really strenthen my hairline and fill in my temples , I like to wear my hair longer in a surfer type style and it parts too far back in my temple and this started to bug me , sometimes my fringe looked like it was thinning and I couldn't explore some new styles I wished too . Due to my research I know and accept there are limitations too both FUE and FUT . But for me I accept that my donor will run out if I continue to have hts without foward planning , so I want the most yeald from my own precious finite supply of transplantable follicals , so chose to have a further FUT transplant . Now cost should never be an issue in chosing between a world class surgeon and travelling , I stand by that statement , but for me cost was an issue in deciding which process to go for between FUE and FUT . FUE is expensive and has a relativly high percentage of low yeald (regrowth) due to the trauma to the follical during extraction . I want the most grafts to have the best chance of growing for the most cost effective way of doing it , with one of the best and most consistant surgeons , whom I trust and have used in the past . After my research I found there where only a handful of excellent , consistant , pioneering doctors who I wanted to go with , Drs Hasson and Wong , Dr Rahal and Dr Feller , I chose Dr Feller . As for Rooney , well at the moment his results look good in the press , however , I believe from looking at his press pics that Rooney is wearing concealer , the results should be judged with caution until after atleast 12 months and certainly without the use of any concealer ! I hope that answers why I chose FUT and to go with Dr Feller again . richie

Mate , 3 months is not enough time to educate yourself fully about HTs Read this thread below http://www.hairrestorationnetwork.com/eve/163780-fut-fue-uk.html I have written loads of infomation about everything you have asked in there . I spent years on research and I suggest you do to , educate yourself and you will find the most consistant and natural results are from North America and Canada . Don't let geography sway your desision and go with the best , If you get this wrong you will regret it bud . Read the other thread and check out the links in it , it answers all your questions and more . Good luck richie

Jesus ! you want me to be even more specific ! hahahahaha Search for spexhair.com and check out his site , this will lead you to the Dr who supplies Finasteride and proscar , its alot cheaper than the pharmacy . My GP got me a price once too , very sweet female doctor fully understood and it was a similar price to your quote . I don't want to stir up old arguements , but you asked directly , when I visited the Farjos they came across as nice guys , Mick was a nice chap , they came across as honest but I just think we were on different pages , and maybe had different goals . After a year of research and in person consults within the UK and online consults with North American and Canadian Drs , I found the most consistant and impresive results where in th US . It won't take you much research to find many UK guys travel for the best results , I guess for me it was my head and I wanted the best to work on it regardless of geography , I was unwilling to settle for second best . Here is a link to my original blog , the first 12 months and loads and loads of pics ,I remember for some reason I couldn't get back into it to update it and still can't now , but the original content is still there , go take a look ..... Hair Restoration Site for richie48 Is that specific enough ? hahahaha just kidding richie

Djjr1 Your hair looks great bud , I wouldn't even bother with any more work . Even FUE , whats the point in all the trauma just to touch up such a small area on the scar . From the pics I can only just make it and your hair is cut much shorter than most . It is up to you at the end of the bud , maybe just a small touch up with FUE , but trauma , down time , cost , I don't know if it would be worth it as I feel , looking at the pics you've posted , your result is stand alone , natural , undetectable and pretty damm good ! Hahahaha good luck , it's a tough call to make ! richie

newby FUT is still relavent are still regularly used , I'm going back to Dr Feller to have FUT in Jan 2012 FUE gets talked about alot because , and lets face it everybody wants it , it's everybodies first chioce for a transplant , but there are risks , it is universally recognised and accepted that due to the more traumatic removal of the follical due to the twisting and pulling motion that there is an increased risk of damage to the individual follical , resulting in less regrowth after transplantation . Because of this damage , this can lead to , what is labelled , "lower yeald" , this means less percentage of regrowth in the transplanted follicals . With FUT ( strip ) the follicals have a much easier time , only being disected under a microscope from a linear strip or scalp skin . People also think that with FUE you are left with less scar tissue , this is wrong , FUE scars you MORE than FUT (strip) , but it is just not in a line across the back of your head , thus being less detectable . But you have more scar tissue with FUE and this can make it harder for a HT surgeon to perform another proceedure in the future . Also some guys have trouble understanding why mega session FUE is riskier then lower numbers of FUE . It's not that the proceedure is any more riskier , it's from the fact that percentage of regrowth is always lower with FUE and however many follicals are transplanted the percentage of potensial wastage is always going to be larger than FUT (strip ), and we only ever have a set number of follicals we can transplant , resulting in no more donor , end of the game right there ! Our donor is finite , which means without a careful approuch we run the risk of running out ! Right now in 2011 both FUT and FUE have strengths and weaknesses and both are relavent for different cases , but I don't believe one is fundamentally better than the other , too much depends on personal situations and personal goals . I started on minoxadil cream and 1mgs propecia ( brand name of finasteride ) in 2006 . By 2007 I had ditched the minoxadil cream , it didn't seem to help any regrowth and occasionally irrritated my scalp . I also switched to 5mgs of generic finasteride ( proscar )in 2007 , I cut these into 4 pieces and took 1.25mgs daily . By 2009 I started to cut the 5mgs of finasteride into 5 pieces and took 1mg daily . In 2010 I started to cut the finasteride into 6 pieces and I now take only 0.8mgs daily , I did this with no noticable loss of hair . I have suffered no side effects , no drop in libido or loss of erections , I do however believe I have become more of a calmer and more focused person , my girlfriend has noticed this also , is it the finasteride , I don't really know but it coinsided with me starting on the meds . However I did notice my seamen become more watery after I started using the meds . Due to wanting to start a family I have recently had my testosterone , thyroid and sperm count checked , my testosterone levels where higher than average , my thyriod is fine and my sperm count was also higher than the average , on average most men have between 20-200 million sperm per edjuculation , I had 140 million . I used to buy proscar and minoxadil from a well know London hair clinic , hahaha , the one advertised on channel four in the early morning ! Now I buy generic finasteride from the same uk doctor whose details can be found on spex's website , this doctor is always available for questions and supplies lots of men with finasteride . Generic simply means another company has made it but can't call it propecia for legal reasons . I have included a link below to one of my older posts showing pics of my improvement from meds only ..... http://www.hairrestorationnetwork.com/eve/155471-dr-feller-uk-patient-richie48-then-now-two-year-trip-meds-9-month-hair-transplant.html I hope that answers your questions bud richie

Sorry Mick , I didn't know Farjo where now under going FUE procedures too . richie

Bomberman I have posted my up to date ht pics here http://www.hairrestorationnetwork.com/eve/163760-dr-feller-uk-patient-richie48-2100-crown-grafts-2007-2011-brand-new-update.html I also think Mick has a fair point at 25 years of age hts are risky due to future loss , even looking into family history is sketchy , I understand it's the best way we have , at the moment , to tell of future loss , but its not always accurate . You could have a few choices , see where you are in another 5 years , if you've had any loss or not , then decide from there . You could maybe look at a small FUE proceedure into the temples , this may help your confidence and anxiety , at least this way you get what you want but with mininal risk of a linear scar if you chose to shave down or change hair style . A guy called jazzy wanted to do something simimlar to this but was after 3000 grafts , this would serously deminish hit finite hair follical supply , but with a small proceedure it could be attempted . You could chose to do nothing and learn to live with it , hts are a long road and require careful concideration and research before any decision is made . You have alot of research to do bud , good luck richie

Also it's generally regarded that there is a bigger risk of trauma damge resulting in less yeald with FUE . I don't beleive Farjo does FUE . richie

Hi bud My names richie and I'm from the UK , I started on finasteride in 2006 , and researched as many forum for the the next 12 months , I educated myself and came to the conclusion he most consistant results where from North America and Canada . I had consults with Farjo , Hasson and Wong , Rahal , Dr Feller and even Armani , I met up with Spex and chose to go to the US and had 2100 crown grafts with Dr Feller in November 2007 . I have just posted my up to date results in the experience section with pics ,please check out the link below ..... http://www.hairrestorationnetwork.com/eve/163760-dr-feller-uk-patient-richie48-2100-crown-grafts-2007-2011-brand-new-update.html Research as much as you can and please don't let geography be an issue . Good luck richie

Thanks guys Waisal , no probs , I'm just glad you got your results sorted Hairthere , yes I will be going back to see Dr Feller in January 2012 to have the front temple points tweaked . I will be posting some pics in the near future showing what I need , but felt I needed to re-introduce myself to the newbies on this site . richie

Hi bud My names richie and I'm also from the UK , I had an in person consult with Farjo in Feb 2007 ,nice guys but I felt we where on different pages , I also had online consults with Rahal , Hasson and Wong and even Armarni ! I met spex in the uk and eventually chose to go with Dr Feller and travel to the US . I ended up having 2100 crown grafts with Dr Feller in November 2007 , I have just posted my up to date results in the experience section , please take a look , I'm going back to Dr Feller in Jan 2012 to have the front tweaked . Throughout my research and experiences I have found the best hair transplant surgeons with consistently good results are found in North America and Canada . Don't rush and don't let geography sway your desision , make an informed choice first time . Good luck richie

well done bud ! Gum clinic , local , quiet , discreet and cheap with a 7 day turn around ! ace richie