Time to do something

Has anyone noticed that when they use Toppik it gives your hair a dull matte look? I tried it this morning and it seemed to make my hair which is normally shiny take on a dull non shiny look.

Has anyone noticed that when they use Toppik it gives your hair a dull matte look? I tried it this morning and it seemed to make my hair which is normally shiny take on a dull non shiny look.

On August 4th I had my second procedure with Dr. Epstein. Everything went well. Dr. Epstein and his staff went out of their way to make me feel at home and relaxed. I am very anxious for the final results but know that won't be for a year. Dr. Epstein said when the second procedure has matured I should have about 60 FU/sq cm. This should be enough to provide some good density from what I've read. The recipient area for both procedures was the front 2/3 of my scalp and the crown was not addressed since I plan on wearing a lace crown piece there once the transplants have matured.

On August 4th I had my second procedure with Dr. Epstein. Everything went well. Dr. Epstein and his staff went out of their way to make me feel at home and relaxed. I am very anxious for the final results but know that won't be for a year. Dr. Epstein said when the second procedure has matured I should have about 60 FU/sq cm. This should be enough to provide some good density from what I've read. The recipient area for both procedures was the front 2/3 of my scalp and the crown was not addressed since I plan on wearing a lace crown piece there once the transplants have matured.

B Spot, I'd be glad to let you know how this works out. It will be a while since it will take up to a year for my second procedure to mature to the point where the density will match that of the crown piece. It isn't expensive at all. My stylist ordered a regular hair piece (I'm charged about $450) and cuts it into small pieces slightly larger than a silver dollar for my crown. He is able to get about five crown pieces from each hair piece he orders and each piece looks fresh for about four months so theoretically I will get almost two years worth of hair from that one piece for $450. There are companies on the internet such as "cool piece" and "Farrell" where you can order them if your stylist won't. I plan to stay on the forum after my transplant matures to show my results. I don't think enough people stay on after they have completed their journey to show others who are just beginning their journey what to expect.

This question is right up my alley and I think I can provide you some insight. All of the advice you have been given is good. You are young so it can't be determined this early how much hair you will actually lose. However, let me share my experience with you since I have done what you are asking about. I have worn a hair piece for 20 years. Today you can get them that are completely undetectable unless someone actually runs their fingers through it and then they might feel the base. I had a hair transplant last year and just finished my second one this past Monday. I have had a total of almost 5000 grafts placed in the front 2/3 of my head. My stylist has made a lace hair piece for my crown where I had no grafts placed. Once my grafts mature and thicken up in the front 2/3 I will put the lace piece on my crown and attach it with double sided sticky tape. It will be basically no maintenance and very easy to blend and work with, especially since I have worn a much larger piece for so long. My stylist says he has several clients who have had hair transplants and elected to concentrate all of the grafts in the front 1/2 or 2/3 of the head to create maximum density and then use the lace piece on the crown. He says it is undetectable.

I appreciate your comments and I do like to hear the good with the bad. This site is not about sugar coating everything. We will all have different experiences. It sounds to me that you must have used a surgeon who did not have the ability to produce ultra fine results leading to a scared head and you may have fine hair further aggravating the situation. My scar is virtually undetectable at this point according to my hairstylist. The hair that has come to the surface looks very natural like it was the hair I was born with. I am not concerned about the scar because Dr. Epstein is known for his ability to produce a minimal scar and I have thick rather coarse hair covering it. I hope this procedure will provide me with the density results outlined in my initial consultation and Dr. Epstein has assured me he will do that at any cost to him to get me where I need to be. This is a very unusual case but for those of you out there considering a procedure you can at least rest assured if you are one of the unlucky minority of patients who have delayed or minimal growth Dr. Epstein will make it right.

Well, Monday is the big day. I am having my second procedure with Dr. Epstein. My results were lacking for whatever reason on the first procedure so Dr. Epstein is going to do what is necessary to make me the "poster child". I am excited and nervous at the same time. I'll keep everyone posted.

Well, Monday is the big day. I am having my second procedure with Dr. Epstein. My results were lacking for whatever reason on the first procedure so Dr. Epstein is going to do what is necessary to make me the "poster child". I am excited and nervous at the same time. I'll keep everyone posted.

I'm sorry, I thought I mentioned that I had my density checked before the surgery. So with the measure of density before the surgery at the donor site I should be able to tell how many grafts were removed in relation to the scar size. The grafts were put in a totally bald area so whatever is there now is a result of the grafts moved from the donor area. I'm not looking for an exact number but a ball park to determine what percentage of the amount of hair that was removed from the donor site has now surfaced and growing on the recipient site.

Sorry for the confusion. No you are not missing anything. This formula will determine how many grafts were excised from the donor area. Then the same magnifying glass used on the donor area to determine the native donor area density is then used on the recipient site to determine that density. All I am looking for is to determine the approximate number of grafts removed from the donor area and now 11 months later the number that is in the recipient area. I know what my donor area density was before the surgery and the density of the recipient site was before the surgery so this should be fairly easy to figure out. Do you agree? If you see a flaw with this formula please let me know and I'll bring it to the attention of the Coalition doctor and see if he can address it.

Bill, Here is the answer from the Coalition doctor. One can make a rough estimate as to how many grafts one would expect to obtain from harvesting a given amount of tissue. For instance if the donor density is on average 80 FU per sq cm then if one took a strip of 25cm x 1cm , we would expect to get about 2000 grafts. ( 80 FU times 25 = 2000 grafts) That said one would have to factor the rate of telogen (perhaps 10-20% depending on the studies one sites) and varring density from the harvested area. Also the average FU contains about 2.1 hairs FU

Thanks for asking. I had some delayed growth so I'm not where I should be by this point. Dr. Epstein postponed my second procedure until August 4th to give me another month beyond the one year mark for additional growth. I'm nowhere near ready to get rid of the piece yet but I'm counting the days until that happens. It will probably be another 10 months after my second procedure before that can happen.

It is nothing miraculous. It is a lace hair piece. I wear one and they are very natural appearing. The negative is the maintenance and the self conciseness of wondering if someone might touch it etc.

Bill, Are you volunteering to count them? I'll be glad to send you a photo. I just emailed the coalition doctor that told me about the formula for determining the number of hairs removed from the donor site and number of successful grafts at the recipient site that surfaced. When I hear from him I'll post the answer. It seems to me that this would be a fairly common subject of interest since patients would want at least a ball park idea if they truly received the grafts they paid for especially if one is questioning the results of the procedure.

I was told by a doctor I consulted with before my HT that there is a formula to determine this and it is very accurate. I may check back with him if nobody here is familiar with the formula.

There is a way to determine the amount of hair successfully transplanted by measuring the length and width of the donor scar and number of native hairs per/cm from the donor area. Can anyone confirm the specifics on measuring this to obtain the number of hairs that should have been extracted and transplanted? I want to get a measure on the number of hairs currently in the area where they were placed to compare the number of hairs removed. This will tell me what the success rate is. Thanks

Is it true that transplanted hair can become dependant on Minoxidil and once it is stopped the transplanted hair can fall out or thin?

Is it true that transplanted hair can become dependant on Minoxidil and once it is stopped the transplanted hair can fall out or thin?

This is very interesting. I am in month ten and have very modest growth at best. I was told to not wear my hairpiece at night for the first three months and I was in total compliance. After that I began wearing it four nights a week to bed. My stylist says he has many clients who have gone from hairpieces to transplants and wore the hairpiece until the transplant matured. He said none of his clients experienced delayed or inhibited growth. For the past month I have not been wearing it to bed and hope that will help the growth. Can you say if wearing a hairpiece will cause some of the hair to never surface or will it just delay it? Thanks.

You also need to know the extent of his hair loss. If he was a NW 2 or 3 and just had the temples filled in it would probably be hard to mess that up. If he was above a NW4 then that would be a good sign.

I would say your list is 100% right on target but not necessarily in any particular order. I think they are all the best and you wouldn't go wrong with any of them. If I had to put a list together that would be it. In fact those were the ones (didn't contact Feller) I considered before going with Dr. Epstein.

I've been going to this guy for years. He doesn't have a patent on it or anything. You can go to just about any hair replacement organization and get one. I'd stay away from places like Hair Club because they are really expensive and their product is no better. Google Farrell and Cool Piece and you'll see what I'm talking about. If you are in the Orlando area my guy would be glad to help you too. The name is New Beginnings and it is in Winter Park which is in the Orlando area. It is made of lace and each hair sewn onto the lace. It is placed on the scalp with either a water based glue or double sticky sided tape. This will adhere it to the scalp very well. On the crown it will be even less detectable than in the front hairline area. It will look as if the hair is growing right out of your scalp even at a very close distance. I'm not ready for the crown piece just yet because the density from my first HT isn't thick enough yet to wear it. I do however wear a lace piece right now which covers the top of my head from front to crown and it actually looks pretty natural and stays on without a problem. I work out five days a week and have never had a problem with it. Weather has never been a problem either and I'm in Florida with very high summer humidity. You can swim with it although I don't too often.

I'm sort of in the same boat as you. I believe what I'm going to do when I go for my next procedure in June is have the grafts placed in the front 2/3 to thicken up the first procedure. I will not address the crown right now but my stylist has made a lace crown piece which is slightly larger than a silver dollar. That will cover the crown until the day I decide to maybe get a third procedure there. I wear a hairpiece now so this should be a piece of cake. My stylist says that he has several clients who wear a crown piece and they are very easy to blend as long as the hair around it has adequate density. He says he can even alter the density of the piece to match the hair around it if necessary as long as it isn't too thin. He says they are really undetectable.

I would like to thank everyone for your support and concern through this very difficult time I am going through. I am cautiously optimistic that this will end successfully. Dr. Epstein has given me his word that this is very unusual and sympathizes with my situation. He has agreed to stand by his work and make me his poster child to get it right and no additional charge. This has greatly relieved me. I don't believe this situation is a reflection on his work but rather an abnormality which may be understood eventually. In fact, my stylist said that the donor scar is almost non existent. I just want to make it clear that I am not a "no grower" but a "slow grower". There is hair where previously there was none it is just very sparse at this point. Dr. Epstein is a perfectionist and is taking this as hard as I am. He didn't sleep last night because of this. I also received a very nice and reassuring call from Roxy today. I posted my photo on the forum to receive opinions to see if I was where I should be at the nine month point. This being my first hair transplant I had no point of reference by which to judge the results. The forum served its purpose by alerting me that the results were not where they should be. It became apparent after posting the photos and sending them to Dr. Epstein (who also responded back quickly with his concern) that the growth was not where it should be. To sum it up, it appears that my situation is very unusual and for the very few who have this complication there are other routes to consider when undergoing the next procedure and Dr. Epstein will have your back and not leave you out in the cold. For now I'm taking a deep breath and putting my hair in the capable hands of Dr. Epstein. Why did I select Dr. Epstein? I was willing to travel anywhere in North America for my hair transplant and wanted the most artistic results available. I finally narrowed my selections down to two doctors and Dr. Epstein was the one I ultimately selected. I thoroughly researched every aspect of this procedure before I committed to it. Dr. Epstein can tell you I emailed him dozens of times with specific questions so I would be an informed patient. He gladly and quickly responded to all of my questions no matter how trivial they may have been. I will admit I was very concerned about my results at the nine month mark but when I approached this situation logically with a level head I realized I was probably worrying needlessly. Dr. Epstein has offered to make this good and I am taking his word on that. He didn't work this long, earn numerous accolades and build his state of the art medical facility with seasoned technicians only to lose his reputation by abandoning one patient with less than expected results. So I'm confident he will do whatever it takes to make this work. The plan is to give this another three months which will put me at the one year mark. The first week of July I will have a second procedure with approximately the same number of grafts as the first one. After Dr. Epstein has an opportunity to see me in person May 2nd we will determine where the next grafts will be placed. He has even sent Aaron his assistant to my house tonight in Orlando from West Palm Beach which is a two hour drive to consult with me. I think I'm being taken care of on a very personal level. I will keep everyone posted on the progress.