UGLY MAN 4 LIFE

Top docs in canada are alvi armani and hasson and wong. I'll agree with the 3000 estimate, but realise that you'll need more work in the front when the diffused hair falls out. Good luck

Hey, Ok, firstly just calm down. What norwood are you (how bald on the norwood scale) and how many grafts did you have? Also, which doctor at MHR did you go and see? There are a few that are crap but there are others who are ok and the grafts should grow. Typically these days the most common problem I've read about from those guys is they don't plant enough grafts and rarely fully inform the patient of what to expect from a procedure. Even if this is the case, and even in the worst case scenario the grafts do not grow, given your age, you should be ok as long as you still have healthy, good donour hair. It is my opinion that anyone high enough up on the NW scale would be satisfied with a HT by a top doc. If you are in Norwood 4/5/6 territory, I'd strongly recommend you at least check out Hasson and Wong (the clinic). With HT's there's a night and day difference between the best procedures available in the world today and the mediocre one's practiced in many other places. So for a great result you should be willing to travel (to Vancouver in this case). If you post some post op pictures of your graft placement people can give you a better idea of how good the work looks and give you further advice. Good luck and don't panic, these days there is almost always something that can be done. Count yourself lucky that you researched today and didn't get 5-6 procedures from them like some of the guys in the repair section. Cheerios. P.S. - the shockloss post surgery is normal, and the hairs will grow back *provided* they are healthy enough to survive the cycle (ie - they weren't going to fall out and never grow back again on their own in a month or two) *AND* provided the doctor was careful and didn't transect any of the follicles when he was planting hairs there.

Dr Shapiro, Do you feel the trichophytic closure is advisable for patients who will almost certainly come back for more work? Does it increase the potential of transecting hair follicles when the same scar is re-opened for a second procedure? Cheers

AllsTar29 If you have MPB hairloss (male pattern baldness) - the regular kind where you lose the hair up top and the hair on the sides remains intact, then vitamins and oils will not stop you from losing more hair. It doesn't sound like you have regular MPB - it'd help if you could post some pictures so that we could see what you're talking about, but in any event you should go see a doctor to get your blood work done. Check thyroid and a bunch of other things like that, if it turns out to be MPB you will have to get on finasteride. Eating healthy, not smoking, not drinking and all that do help but only in slowing things down or, as I prefer to state it, not speeding things up. People without MPB can smoke, drink and do drugs and still have normal thick hair, MPB people can't. In any event, go see a dermotologist to get what ever it is diagnosed. Good luck.

hey, just wanted to point out that that will not stop the hairloss. You've got to address/prevent further loss before you consider anything as risky as a HT. Also, how severe is the hairloss of the men in your family? (what NW? - if they're a 7 I would be *very* very careful with HT's). Good luck

Hey domie, I've sent you a PM !! You look great!! And I'm amazed at the graft count!! LOL!!

Good luck mate and thank you for sharing your experience with us!

Thanks hairbank, The ordinary ticket is costing me around $2700+ USD, that's alot of potatoes - enough to take me all over the world, from U.S. to Europe and back home. The flight back will be nasty, no doubt, but graft safety is my #1 concern.

What do you guys think about 4 days post-op? How safe am I to travel?? I have an almost 19 hour travel time via plane. I'll have a connection stop over where I can spray the grafts or whatever, plus the restroom breaks I guess. I'm thinking I may wear a bandana on the plane, what do you guys think? An ordinary hat without a transplant would irritate my scalp let alone with all the healing going on. Thanks for your support fellas.

Captain123 I'm just going to point out something for you to think about and I'll leave it at that: 1. Okay, you have thick long hair now, let's say you transplant into the front and the crown - and let's assume that you don't get any permanent shock loss (temporary shock loss is probably a given) - and it grows in thicker and you're happy after 12 months. But then, say you continue to lose your hair and it eventually gets thinner there or in another place. Now what? 2. You say your mother has some FPB, I'd be looking at her pattern as a potential indicator for the future. Giving it to you straight, the difficulty for a female is you don't know for sure that the typical harvest area used in men will remain thick. Also, you've got minoxidil but nothing like finasteride on your side. Those are some things you should think about, but in my opinion, you shouldn't be getting a HT until your hairloss becomes obvious (Why would you do that? Well because planting into a very dense area will shock the existing hairs out, I don't know what you plan to do for the 4-6 months it takes for them just to start growing back but it's something you should think about very carefully). Closely checkout the HT logs of guys who were transplanting into thin areas, you'll notice that the first few months post HT are worse than pre-op, that is, until the hair grows in. Good luck with whatever decision you make.

Bump, I was wondering if Robert could share his baseball cap wearing tips??

Hey, just so you know there's been talk on HLH about Dr. Hasson saying that toppik on the recipient could be bad. Haven't got a confirmation yet from the clinic but just to warn you to lay off it (in the recipient) if you can.

Try and get a travellers pillow. They're usually inflatable and they stop your head from falling on its side when you're lying on your back. Good luck to both of you guys (kg007 and hairbank) and please keep us all updated. I really appreciate both of your efforts as there aren't as many Dr. Wong patients posting online as I'd like to see. Cheers guys.

x_Jodie_x I don't think a HT is for you. I think you should see several general cosmetic surgeons (try to get consultations from top ones - the really expensive ones that work on hollywood stars, sometimes you can do this over the internet) to get an opinion. It's unlikely that a doctor will be able to give you the density you want with a HT - it doesn't matter so much for men who keep their hair short but it will for you. Secondly you'll have to walk around with shockloss to the recipient (which will probably result in some of your hairline falling out - hopefully only temporarily depending on the quality of doctor). Thirdly, do you know what a HT is? It's basically cutting out a piece of skin from the back of your scalp. They'll lie you down in a chair and get a scalpel and cut the shape of the strip out, then lift it up and cut it off your galea. Here's where you can find a video of the procedure: (hopefully I'm allowed to post outside links) http://hairlosshelp.com/hair_loss_treatments/hair_trans...ransplants_index.cfm There are alternatives like FUE, but mark my words you won't get female teenage density from them. I personally think you'll grow out of it. You'll care alot less about what other people think when you get out of highschool.

Proscar costs me 100 odd dollars a year, and taking a pill everyday isn't particularly time consuming or a major problem. I say if it ain't broke, don't fix it - because if you do and you're wrong, it's unlikely that you will recover to exactly where you left off from. I've seen it before. Good luck with whatever you decide.

hairworthy Your hair looks great! If that's how it looks in your eyes when you go outside then that's about as non-balding as you can get!!

Thanks for the replies guys. I guess spoon highlighted the fact that expectations differ between people. My goal is not so much to have uber thick hair, and not even hair that people necessarily perceive as thick (by an illusion), but moreso I just hope to no longer be thought of as 'balding'. I'd like to be able to have some freedom in day to day life - so I'd basically like to drop (if possible) the daily routine of having to 'fix' my hair because it looks thin as the day wears on, and preferably even be able to get away with it outside on a moderately sunny day. I don't necessarily mind people thinking I have 'thin' hair, like I said my main concern is dropping the MPB badge. From the photos I've seen (and I can't easily view a HT in person given my geographic location) it appears as though most guys have hair that can do that. I was just hoping to confirm that with some of the past patients on here. As for body hair, I've got 3 cm (just over an inch) hairs on my legs at about 7-11 FU/cm2. I'd like to leave the arm hairs alone though because I like them. No hair on chest, back, abdomen, etc.

One more question guys, say with 7000-8000 grafts on a NW6 with average donour hair - will the hairstyles be restricted to straight back or combed to the side, or is it reasonable to be able to pull off other styles and do it without raising eyebrows? Thanks for your time fellas

Thanks for the replies guys. I guess what I was trying to get at was can you essentially look 'non-balding when dry' in all weather if you are a high level NW and continue the HT process to its completion? P.S. - I know there are often problems completely filling in the crown for NW6's, so excluding that, is it possible?? Also non-balding to me means most people won't recognise you as having MPB, that doesn't necessarily mean you will have the thickest hair in the world (so some may even say it's thin, but won't link it to MPB is what I'm trying to get at). Cheers.

Hi guys, I was wondering if you former transplant patients out there could please give me your best description of what HT hair - both coverage, texture and anything else, is like? Is it anything like early diffuse thinning? Any analogies you can give would be much appreciated as travel distance prevents me from seeing the number of HT patient's I personally would like to see. Thank you for your time fellas.

Hi guys, I was wondering if you former transplant patients out there could please give me your best description of what HT hair - both coverage, texture and anything else, is like? Is it anything like early diffuse thinning? Any analogies you can give would be much appreciated as travel distance prevents me from seeing the number of HT patient's I personally would like to see. Thank you for your time fellas.

DickJones How long have you been losing your hair for? If it's very recent then you should wait a while longer before getting a HT (ie - your hairloss needs to be relatively slow and stable or you'll be fighting a losing battle). I concur with the finasteride and maybe the minoxidil. I've been using minoxidil for over 5 years myself and it's a major pain in the ass but at this point, given your age (I'm 19 myself), I think you'd appreciate the hair over any inconveniences you may have.