Acrobaz

I thought about this a lot before my HT. I thought about designs and even brought along to the consultation photos on my laptop of what I used to look like. But, despite all this preparation, what I simply wanted to avoid - like everyone, I guess - was a hairline that did not look natural. My surgeon told me that he did not need to see the old photos. He understood what I wanted was a more mature hairline that did not make me look 25 again (I am nearly 40 now). In the end, I smiled and said, "I trust you". He smiled back and said "Right answer". And it was. He drew a hairline and then spent about 15 mins making what, to my eyes, looked like minute adjustments to it. All part of the artistry! Incidentally, I've looked at osidekid's weblog. I have to say it looks more like an asymmetrical oval than a semi-circle to me! I think we also have to factor in the tendency of the brain to impose symmetry and regularity of shape where it actually may not exist ... I agree that it is an excellent job! Regards.

This research is very exciting, and the day will certainly come. But even a single human hair has an enormously complex cell structure. I asked a genetic scientist friend of mine about this, and he thought that its use as a commercially viable procedure was at least a generation away. My immediate thought was this: maybe this will be what my 8-year old son will do. I hope this procedure is available for him when, courtesy of his likely genetic inheritance, he one day walks down the same path of hair loss. I'll be very pleased for him, even as I sit in my knackered chair by the fire of the old folks' home, pretending I got that weird line on the back of my head when I was working as a covert operative in the Arctic tundra ...

Hi Abe - great update. I had my HT procedure the day after you and I'll admit that I have been luckier with the redness. But I can see that your new hairline will look awesome. Heal well mate.

Hi Biscuit - not seen your pictures before, and just wanted to say "WOW!!" Can't decide - you can see why some people, happy with such results, simply move on (with a big grin). It's great that some like Biscuit come back once in a while.

Have not shaved for a week - going for the Grizzly Adams look (that dates me). Three months time and some glue - and that'll be me.

Hi Harry The brothers speak the truth ... I have quite thick hair and reckon I could probably buzz down to a number 2 from a year post-op, and definitely a number three. Check out Eman's impressive pictures at two months with a number 3 - and that's at TWO MONTHS! http://www.hairtransplantnetwo...pyID=2475&WebID=1025 It does depend on your hair characteristics though. And by the way - you are DEFINITELY right to consider buzzing first. You should also look into meds. I wouldn't necessarily describe HTs as the last resort, but it is right to examine the alternatives first. Good luck.

I suspect you'll be waiting for a very long time!

Hi Take a chance I'm four weeks' post-op, and would say that it was mild discomfort rather than pain I felt at your stage. I had no scabs around my donor area, but I did get one spot that might have been connected to an ingrowing hair. My wife dealt with it. If you think you have an infection, speak to your doc, just in case you need antibiotics. In terms of general care, I was taking two baths a day at that stage, with tea tree oil in the warm bathwater, soaking my donor area for about 20 minutes each time. I also was using generous amounts of antiseptic cream - laying it on quite thick along the full length of the donor strip area, twice a day. Once the staples were out (which I did about day 12), I moved on to vitamin E oil on the donor strip. Hope that helps. Good luck and heal well.

All is looking good mate - excited for you. Soon Norton will be a distant memory!

I have updated my blog today at the four-week post-op stage. A warning for those of a sensitive disposition: there is a delightful close-up of a spot ... Regards.

I have now discovered why HTs make you feel younger: I spent much of this evening squeezing several zits in my recipient area. It's like being a teenager again. I'm glad I was forewarned by other posters ...

A belated thanks to all that contributed to this topic. I've been reading up on evolutionary theory recently (what else was there to do during my three-week post-op downtime!?) and I think TC17 nailed it. It seems that the "horseshoe" confers no evolutionary benefit because it generally happens once (in evolutionary terms) men pass their reproductive peak. Oh well. And there I was hoping that someone would say that bald men have evolutionary advantages! There has been some interesting stuff recently about how the decreasing number of older men reproducing is reducing the number of genetic mutations that power evolutionary change in humans, but I can't find any link between that and the question I posted. I thought Abe's link with sun and cancer was interesting - I wonder if there has been a study of the geographical distribution of hair loss (or, rather, DHT resistance) according to climate? I also saw a reference somewhere (and - grrrr - can't find it now) to the effect that while hair on the top of the scalp is genetically encoded to be adversely affected by DHT, by contrast moustache and beard growth are promoted by DHT. That might suggest that the presence of the resistant "horseshoe shape" around the lower part of the head is somehow linked to the evolutionary role of facial hair - namely that its growth in puberty signified, in evolutionary terms, that a male was ready to mate. The suggestion seemed to be that the hormones necessary to promote beard growth ensure - perhaps as an unintended by-product - that the horseshoe, which is proximate, remains DHT resistant. An interesting thought, just wish I could find the reference. Final point: when I did some internet searching on the topic (hmm, not exactly hard science), I found this: http://www.guardian.co.uk/note...y/0,,-192228,00.html For those that don't know, the Guardian is a UK broadsheet newspaper that runs a well-known "notes & queries" column for people to ask questions on the rather trivial. My favourite response - almost Pythonesque - is the suggestion that men evolved so as to become less hairy, in order to make them less flammable after the discovery of fire!! Regards.

Best of luck GTDL - look forward to following your progress!

That would be a useful exercise and advantageous to potential patients. Of course, like location, price alone is not a measure of quality, but it is clearly an important factor in the overall decision-making process. The other thing to bear in mind, especially with overseas quotes, is the fact that exchange rates fluctuate. Speaking as someone from the UK, an HT procedure in the US is now about a third more expensive than it was this time last year, purely because of the fall in the value of sterling against the dollar. Regards

Early days yet mate. I see some small advances from the pre-op pictures on your blog but methinks the real fun has yet to start. Regards.

There are many lengthy threads on this topic. This is one: http://hair-restoration-info.c...861/m/7841051593/p/1 Regards.

Bravo Eman - it's ironic that we should sometimes feel the need to hide that which has brought back so much confidence!

Brilliant

The recent activity on this thread represents the ultimate commendation for this online community. Keep it up guys. Those of you who are (understandably) pressing Pats205 for fuller answers can rest assured that his evasiveness and equivocation leads objective readers like myself to only one conclusion: he doesn't have any answers. If it makes you feel any better Pats, that contract would be wholly unenforceable in the UK. That's one of the most egregious penalty clauses I've ever seen.

What a difference! Brilliant results.

I'm interested in the answers to this too. I am hoping the lengthy growth period over 6-15 months helps to smooth the transition. I know from his posts that Eman has told some people that he has started taking meds, which is the strategy I'm considering adopting. Hopefully he might contribute to this thread to tell us how successful it's been. Good question though.

Coming along well there Adam. Be patient - not long now. And I'm just a month behind you!

Hi Space I've just posted on this subject myself: http://hair-restoration-info.c...66060861/m/344104471 I've also updated my blog with pictures. Hope that helps. Note also the comments of others on my thread - I suspect I could have gone back to work sooner if I'd left my hair longer. Good luck.

Good decision TRosen - take your time and keep researching. Incidentally, I noticed that your question about tightness is outstanding. It is difficult to describe the sensation. I am just over three weeks post-op and the tightness feeling is going. Speaking for myself, I had no tightness in my face, only the back and sides of my head. The nearest sensation that I think would work to describe the tightness experience of the first fortnight or so is to imagine a very tightly drawn ponytail that pulls from the sides. Generally it is not noticeable now, although I may feel a slight strain if I put my chin on my chest. I also retain some (diminishing) numbness around the donor and recipient areas. I expect both sensations to disappear in the months to come. Otherwise, all is good. Best wishes.

Good point balody - my surgeon was certainly supervising the techs. To put this in context ... I had two techs working on me at once to place the grafts, one on either side, with a third administering the solution, and they regularly swapped with another two techs throughout, working in shifts. I wasn't timing it, but my guess is that the graft-placing took something like 4 hours in my case. They work in shifts because it is skilled, repetitive and exhausting work. (And don't forget the other techs whose job is to harvest follicles from the donor strip.) So, if my surgeon had been doing it all himself, even working at the same speed as the skilled techs and without any breaks, it might have taken him 8 hours - and that would have been on top of the pre-op discussion, administration of injections, strip removal, tricho closure, the highly refined placement of slits and the post-op stuff. As balody said, he would have had to be superman. He certainly was in attendance regularly throughout to supervise the process. If you have not been through the process, it is understandable to think that the placement of the grafts is the most skilled part of the process. But that is a misconception. It is the placement of slits that is crucial - that is what creates the hairline, the hair direction, the hair density etc. To put it another way: the surgeon is the sculptor and the techs provide the varnish. One can't do the job without the other, and both need to be highly skilled - but the sculptor is the true artist. Hope that helps.