TooThin

This is an outstanding result. The hairline work is very natural and the density is well balanced. This fellow must be thrilled.

Hey John: I checked your website. I couldn't find any products or studies. All I found was a bunch of recruitment crap and promises of 'unlimited income'...Best of luck with your multi-level marketing business. Perhaps you could sell this device to the underlings below you on the pyramid. Do you get an override on their sales?

Headstart: You mentioned that it was "a hand-held device" that was "originally invented to reduce stress" but had an unexpected side of effect of growing hair. Now I remember...isn't this the 'Happy Wanker 2000'. I also heard it grows tons of hair but, unfortunately, it's only on the palm of your hands. Caution...too much use will give you "Popeye forearms" and may also cause blindness.

Headstart That sounds fantastic! I'll take one of those machines. Who do I make the cheque payable to???...Better yet I will send you a blank cheque that you can fill in. Thanks for saving us all from baldness! Your a saint.

If you want to add some weight to your post...How about providing pictures of 10 cases each showing immediate post-op results and one-year results. Formerly Too Thin

Excellent result. It shows you the lack of integrity of some of these hair piece outfits. They did their best to keep this guy locked into a wig. They probably shaved down a bunch of decent native hair in the front to make him feel balder than he really was. All it took was one decent surgery to fix the front of his head and restore a forelock. Kudos to him for doing some research and getting fixed by Dr. Cooley. Formerly TooThin

Stamos My case is similar to yours. I had previous mini/micro graft transplants and also had a repair done with Dr. Ron Shapiro. One of the keys to a successful repair is to create a natural frontal forelock. I think your eight month photos look good. From your photos, it appears to me that you have a forelock now. There is a definite improvement from the 5 month photos. I think you will see further improvement over the next four months. Formerly TooThin

You picked the right clinic. The work looks solid. I too had a similiar experience with SMG. They repaired some previous botched work I had done. I also had a number old micro/mini grafts punched out at the hairline. Just be patient. The waiting is the hardest part. The first three to four months are tough. I actually grew a beard for the first time to take some of the focus off my buzzed head. I found at about month 5 onward, the positive changes really accelerated. I shaved the beard at about 5.5 months. By month 6 and 7, I was getting lots of positive compliments. People couldn't quite put their finger on what I'd changed. Everyone told me I looked a lot younger and better without the beard or that they thought I'd lost weight. Good luck.

This is great work. It's unbelievable how some of these crooked hair piece outfits operate. I am sure this guy's quality of life has greatly improved now that the rug is gone.

That looks very clean and refined.

Just wanted to say "thanks". I had a similar experience as M&M. I discovered your old blog in probably 2005 or 2006. Up until that time, I had been brainwashed to believe that the mini/micro plugs I received in the mid-90s were state of the art. That blog and this website put me on the road to recovery and subsequent repair.

Bullitnut: Your progress is coming along nicely. I suspect you'll be very happy with things by mid-summer.

Shamrock: I suggest you consult with Shapiro Medical Group or Dr. Feller. I am a repair patient and I would estimate that my case was more involved than yours. I had a bunch of mini and micrografts removed from my hairline by Dr. Ron Shapiro. He then did a full strip to densify the front half of my head. I am very pleased with the result and am confident SMG could fix your problem. Dr. Feller started a thread a week or two ago on a new tool he invented for performing Follicular Unit Extraction. I asked him if it was effective for removing ill placed minigrafts in the hairline and he indicated that it was very useful for this purpose. You might want to search the thread. I am confident either of these clinics could remove the plugs that need to be removed and perform follicular unit grafting to fill in the balance of your hairline. Best of luck. Formerly TooThin

Dr. Feller: Is this new tool an option for safely removing ill-placed micro or minigrafts in a patient's hairline?

If you are referring to PAI Medical, IMO, I would look elsewhere. That company falls into the Hair Mill category. There is a guy who posted on this forum who had a past transplant through a PAI outlet. Check out the following link: http://www.drrobertjones.com/acell.html He is currently undergoing scar revision treatment. I suggest you do more research on this board for other alternatives. Formerly TooThin

Bullitnut: I enjoyed reading your post. I underwent similar repair work with SMG in the Spring/07. Interestingly enough, I had to undergo similar travel arrangements (albeit a bit shorter trip from Canada) and was concerned how things would work out with customs, connections, commuting and hotel arrangements. It turned out to be a piece of cake and the hotel arrangement SMG has with the Country Inn and Suites is incredibly convenient. The shuttle service is also terrific. I echo your sentiments about the team at SMG and Dr. Ron. Your pics look at lot like mine. In 6-8 months, you'll have a new lease on life. Formerly TooThin

azza: I used to get itching and flakiness from the liquid form of Rogaine. However, I have been using the Rogaine 5% foam product for about 20 months now and have not experienced the itchy, dry scalp. If you have an ongoing problem of dry, itchy scalp, I suggest you try using Nizoral shampoo twice per week. I find it works well. Formerly TooThin

Trainer444n4: I had initial transplant work in 95/96 with less than steller results. Unfortunately when I had my surgery, there was no internet and very limited sources of information. In hindsight, it's clear to me that most "hair restoration clinics" did their best to keep prospective patients in the dark about the likely outcome of a procedure. In my case, the clinic fed me lots of B.S. I was told that my doctor was the top hair transplant doctor in the country and did state of the art 'lateral slit grafting' and that the donor scar would be 'pencil thin'. Instead, I got unnatural looking mini/micro plugs and a donor scar that had a second branch off it. I continued to get my hair cut at the same clinic for a year or two following the surgery and they continued to push me to do more surgery to "improve the density". Thankfully, I didn't do it. Ultimately I started getting my hands on better quality research including this website. That led me to Shapiro Medical Group and I was able to get my situation repaired. All that said, I strongly suggest you do not get another hair transplant with the same outfit that did your original work. Judging from your photos, your situation looks quite fixable. Do some research into the top doctors and get it properly corrected. Formerly TooThin

I use Nizoral 2% two times per week. On the days I use it, I apply the Nioxin conditioner following the Nizoral. I find this helps with the dry hair issue that has been mentioned. Formerly TooThin

Pat: This will add a lot of value. Formerly TooThin

Don't forget that the Propecia study was controlled such that one group used the drug and the other took a placebo. A certain number of the placebo group claimed to experience the side effects that have been attributed to Propecia like erectile dysfunction. It's also my understanding that for the group that used the drug, the incidence of side effects reported during the first year of usage diminished significantly when asked in years 2 to 4. Formerly TooThin

Montrose: Your donor area needs to be carefully managed given your young age. Accordingly, you need to be very careful with your choice of doctor if you decide to go ahead with a transplant. I suggest you consult with some of the top doctors on this site like Shapiro Medical Group, Hasson & Wong, Feller, etc. You should be able can do an initial consultation over the telephone. Formerly TooThin

ninjathen: My family doctor set me up with Proscar. In fact, he was the one who told me to get the Proscar and an $8 pill cutter instead of the Propecia. I've been on Proscar now for five years with no problems. He gives me a script once a year for a 12-month supply. TooThin

BHUK: Congratulations. That's a great transformation. I read your story with interest as it is very similar to my own experience. I also had a bad mini/micro plug job in the temporal region. I recently had it repaired by Shapiro Medical Group. It's a great feeling to get that confidence back. (formerly) TooThin

Baldie3000: I am also a NW5. Unfortunately, I was misled into having micro/mini HT surgery with a crap clinic in the 1995/96 period. I was told it was the state of the art technique. I lived 11+ years with an unnatural combover and two strip scars. Dr. Ron Shapiro did repair work on me last year. I had a full strip in late April 2007 to densify the front 2/3 of my scalp and create a normal frontal forelock. He removed both my scars and left me with one longer and flatter one. I also had some additional punch out work to remove mini/micros that were outside the natural hairline region. These grafts had to be removed because they could not be hidden by grafts taken from the strip. To my knowledge, a punch out is essentially the same as FUE. The grafts that were punched out were disected into FUs and then recycled back into an appropriate part of my scalp. The good news is that the punched out grafts which had previously caused me a lot of stress because they were at my frontal hairline are now gone. The bad news is that the survival rate on the punch outs is not as high as FUs harvested from a strip. I don't know if SMG keeps track of FUE survival data. However, my guess from my conversations with Dr. Ron is that, in my case, the survival rate of the punched out grafts was probably only about 1 out of 2 or 2 out of 3 at best. Based on that anectodal information, I don't think current FUE technology makes sense as the primary technique on high level Norwoods (i.e., Norwood 5 or higher) given our very limited supply of donor hair. I could see using FUE to fill in a strip scar or finetune a hairline but not as the primary technique to build a forelock. Reflecting back on my own personal experience. My biggest regret is not the strip scar but rather the donor hair that was probably wasted by the original clinic during my initial surgeries. I am pleased with the work performed at SMG. The staff are top notch and Dr. Ron is a class act. When I did my research into getting repair work done, a couple of the things tipped my decision toward SMG: 1) Their ability to make a significant cosmetic improvement with a limited number of grafts on high level Norwoods. For example, in my case, I had 2,500 FUs as a result of the strip surgery last year. I have a reasonable forelock now for my age. Do a search on SMG cases and you will see a lot of cases of 2,500-3,000 FUs that result in a significant cosmetic improvement. 2) The other issue that impressed me was the quality of the hairline work. I found that the case results from SMG consistently showed hairlines that were more natural than other clinics. I like a soft hairline with a transition into a denser core. In my opinion, that replicates nature best and will withstand the test of time as compared to a wider and more densely packed V-shaped hairline that I have seen from other doctors. Anyway, I would suggest you have a consult with SMG. I think they have produced much more consistent results than the other two clinics you mention. Formerly TooThin