Manko

Mahair, As I had mentioned in the past, I've been reading all your posts, and I wondered where you went for a few weeks there. Obviously you're still distraught about your procedure, but you really have to at least believe that there is still hope. Even if this HT turns out poorly, try to cope with the next 7-10 months of letting yourself growout and heal, and then make the appointment to get a revision with a great doc. Jotronic is certainly one of the best examples of someone who restored a very normal looking head of hair after having been dealt a few real bad procedures. You just have to manage the next short period of time, and in the big picture of a long life this will just hopefully be a bad experience when you look back in 5 years. Out of curiosity, have you visited a top doc to see what they think about a future repair job, or what they think of your current procedure. I believe you're in the northeast, why don't you try to come to NY for the ISHRS (??) meeting on October 15th (??). I'm not sure if it's only open to docs, but if not I would look into making the trip. I really wish you the best with your lawsuit, and certainly bad docs should be punished. Good luck. Manko

Nicely worded. Conspiracy theorist. Now it all makes sense. Manko Good luck - they were nuts not to hire you from the beginning.

I thought NHI had always done good work. I know recently they had been growing and might've added some docs that are not all that popular, but overall I always believed they were a great outfit. From past readings, Bernstein and Rassman appear to be two of the best. Good luck. Manko

Belgiumdude, I would agree with your self assessment as a 2 going toward 3. You're hairline reminds me of my own, but I think I was closer to 3 than 2. I'm 36 years old, and I had 1500 FU's done in June. I'm not sure if you're considering doing anything, but in my opinion I would wait. You may stabilize at the point you're currently at, and I think your hair looks good and thick. Just my opinion. Good luck. Manko

My donor scar felt great for the first 6 weeks, outside of soreness and slight loss of sensitivity. At around week 7, it became irritable, and i itched back there and bled. It was just slight bleeding, but very disconcerting. It then felt tender for about 3 more weeks, but now at week 13 it feels fine again. I was thinking that one of the reasons may have been that the hair along the hairline was trying to grow at strange angles and perhaps there was even some hair growing in the scar area. I was thinking that because the hair on the sides of my head is very thick, and when the donor area was closed, it wouldn't have surprised me if hair was closed into the area. I might be nuts, but it seemed to make sense. Everything is fine now, but that was a momentary scare, because I think the scar is one of the most important parts of the procedure. Good luck. Manko

I couldn't help myself - I voted. I was the 2nd person polled.

I buzz down my sides, and keep the top about 1.5 inches long. I just like the look. The hair on the sides of my head is real thick and real straight, and if I let it grow I'd probably look like I'd been electrocuted. Manko

Smoothy, Be careful with that idea. My medical savings account won't pay for an HT, and I'm not going to risk thousands of dollars thinking they won't catch that mistake. That's a lot of money to send out the window. Good luck. Manko

Uncjim, Yeah, I agree it's incredible. It barely feels like 3 months. Lots of hairline growth, and I've been combing my hair back for the last 3 weeks and no one has said anything. It kind of looks like a shadow hairline. Actually today someone accused me of dyeing my hair, and that's the closest anyone has come to suggesting something is different about my hair. I laughed them off, and they said no more. I'm looking forward to the next 3 months. Manko

Badboy, I had read in the past that the hairline HT takes longer to fill in than the rest of an HT. I can't think of any reason why that would make sense, but it may explain why you might be seeing delayed results. I'm now 3 months out of my hairline HT, and I have lots of peachfuzz/wispy hairs coming in, and some are as long as an inch. At this point, we just have to be patient and wait for the new hairs to thicken. Good luck. Manko

Arfy, I couldn't agree more, and that was my number one concern in getting an HT. As I had mentioned in prior posts, I would look at all the older actors/tv news people, and think they really had an age appropriate hairline. I didn't lower mine all that much - perhaps 1/4 inch and I should be fine, now I'll just have to be careful with the thinning behind what will be my new hairline. Last night I watched a movie where the older actor (in his early 60's) had a naturally recessed hairline, and I couldn't help but think how my hairline will look when I'm that age. Great post, and in my opinion, that really should be one of the biggest factors in deciding to get an HT. Good luck. Manko

Uncjim, Being a lifetime Yankees fan, I always wondered whether Joe had work done. That pic definitely shows the work, but his is definitely better than Van Gundy - what was he thinking. And by the way, thanks for all your help in this journey. Now at 11.5 weeks, the hairline is starting to fill and it looks like it's going to be good. I'll send an e-mail soon. Thanks again. Good luck. Manko

el guapo, I, for one, don't think Harrison Ford has had an HT. Just my opinion. Manko

noreaster, I don't laugh out loud often, especially home by myself, but I laughed so hard at the "assassination" comment that I had to get up from my computer. It reminded me of the recent story about the guy who had the huge drill go through his head and it didn't kill him. They said when he was in the hospital with the drill still in his head that he was laughing and cracking jokes. A friend of mine told me if he walked into a hospital and saw a guy with a drill in his head laughing and telling jokes, he'd self diagnose schizophrenia and leap from the first window to his death. I feel the same way about hairpieces, but a lot of guys wear them, and I don't want to say anything bad because I'm sure it makes them feel good. My boss wears one, and he jokes about it all the time, and he just says that without it he looks ridiculous - no comment. Good luck. Manko

Max, I believe that would be a record. I agree, it probably is # of hairs, not # of fu's. Good luck. Manko

I used to work with a guy who was an alcoholic. His face looked terrible, his hair was thin, and he just had an overall real bad look about him. Every now and then when I would consume a few too many a few nights in a row, I would think I don't want to wind up being 45 looking like this guy. Which by the way, he looked closer to 60. I believe his overall appearance of unhealth was directly related to his alcoholism. He finally checked himself into rehab, and then was found dead a few days later when he went missing. Apparently he had fallen down a gully and hit his head. In my opinion, overall healthy habits can only help in all aspects of looking better. That's not to say there aren't plenty of full haired alcoholics, but why put your body at a disadvantage. 15 drinks a day, 5 days a week is a real bad idea. Honest to God, that was a true story. Manko

Ken, Thanks for the offer, but no thanks. Manko

Anonymous, I feel for you buddy. All your questions are along the lines of what I was asking at your age. Be real careful. Of course, you're luckier than I am because when I first started losing there was no readily available internet - thank you Al Gore. Don't fall for the crap, and from your posts I can tell that you're intelligent enough to know what the crap is. The only thing that is likely to regrow your hair is an HT, and unfortunately you're probably too young for an HT. Propecia has had incredible results in certain patients, but it does seem to slow loss in almost all patients. Good luck. Manko

Ken, What part of my e-mail didn't you understand. Manko

kevinj, I thought I had a bad memory - you may be the only person with one that is worse than mine. Also, in my opinion writing FU is always funny, but in addition to having no memory I'm pretty childish. I would definitely stick to the board for a while, and read as many posts as possible, and please go to one of the most recommended on this board. The guys on this board are pretty objective, and someone touting a bad doctor is almost always uncovered. As you know, MHR is not highly recommended. Good luck. Manko

Ken, I also thought your post sounded like a sales pitch. I agree that your Bosley work does not look good, but the message I had taken from your post was that you were selling something. You'll see, after reading this board, that 99% of the guys don't go along those lines, and are really only here to help each other without selling anything. If you think you've got a good idea, get a patent, then sell it to a pharmaceutical company. Well don't bother selling it, because they'll probably steal it anyway. Good luck. Manko

Arfy, I think I can agree that FUE is less traumatic than strip, but I still think there is plenty of trauma involved in extracting the 500 - 2000 grafts. I'm saying those numbers because bverotti has had 2000 recently. From what I've read, FUE is a very time consuming process of harvesting primarily. I'm sure we will agree that placement takes the same amount of time - FUE or strip. So harvesting in the back/sides of the head for 3 days (??) in bverotti's case has to be traumatic to some extent. A strip is more traumatic, but that is only 10-20 minutes of the operation. The healing of the strip is definitely longer, but still in 10 days the area is no longer sutured, and at that point a patient is basically waiting for sensitivity/redness to subside. I think it's a little misleading to think that the trauma involved in FUE is not significant, while, as mentioned above, I believe it would be less than the strip it is still a factor that would contribute to shock loss. Good luck. Manko

I couldn't have gotten luckier with my financing. I was ready to fork over the money out of my pocket, but about 1 month before my HT in June, I got a 0% financing credit card offer until August 2004 on any transferred balances. I had that credit card company send $6,000 to another credit card that had no balance on it, and then charged the surgery to that credit card which now had a $6,000 credit on it. I'll pay that off by August 2004, and have paid no interest. Keep an eye out for those 0% cards, they're like free money. Good luck. Manko

Anonymous, I agree with Arfy as far as counting hairs, and I think it's a bad idea. I can lose a lot of hairs in the shower/pillow/hairbrush, but what is most important is how you are actually thinning. At the risk of sounding like a rocket scientist, if you're noticing thinning then you're probably thinning. If you're losing a bunch of hairs and not noticing thinning then don't worry. I wish I knew this 10 years ago. The most important thing is your actual regression/thinning, not counting hairs on the pillow. While I know it's hard to do, I would try not to be too concerned with individual hair loss counts. Good luck. Manko

Fabe, Good luck with Feller. Manko