Furless

Look up permanent/chemical/japanese hair straightening. My wife has wavy hair which she straightened. The treated hair remains absolutely straight, but of course hair grows out the way it naturally is. She does a "touch up" one every 1.5 years.

Scooping around, could you please point me to your pics? Sorry I did a search but couldn't find them. Thanks.

Thanks, guys, for all your support. And please join me on my upcoming year long journey. I hope it will be a smooth, uneventful ride (but my seatbelt is buckled). Furless

Hi Gorpy, I have not come across too many of Dr. Keene's patient pics on this forum, so thank you for posting your pics. From all the pics I did find, I was most impressed by her hairline work and how she fills in the temple areas. Yes, I'm going for a 2-day session. The goal is to get 4500 grafts, donor willing. Furless

Wow, no replies? This must mean there are no bad HT's. Pretty encouraging for a newbie such as myself who's about to go under the knife

Mrjb, Wanting to see what difference 5017 grafts made for you, I searched for your pics. Didn't find any. If you have pics uploaded or a blog, could you please point me to it. Sanjeev, Here's what I did: a) Measure the bald[ing] area. b) Estimate how much density will satisfy you. Now multiply the two. If you have existing native hair (in my case, with my evenly diffused thinning it was easier to calculate), subtract the native FU count over that area to arrive at an estimated graft count you'd need. Finally, the hair count makes a difference too, imho.

uggh.

Is it true that Asians typically have few 3-4 hair FUs? I read somewhere that asians/middle-easterners typically have a) mostly 1-2 hair FUs. b) a bigger than average head I am an asian with fine, straight, dark hair, an XL head, and light skin. Am I screwed?

Is it true that Asians typically have few 3-4 hair FUs? I read somewhere that asians/middle-easterners typically have a) mostly 1-2 hair FUs. b) a bigger than average head I am an asian with fine, straight, dark hair, an XL head, and light skin. Am I screwed?

Arrie, Thank you for the info. Dr. Shapiro was very high on my list. I had 2 phone consultations with SMG. One was with Matt Z. and a long one with Dr. Shapiro himself. He took his time and answered all my questions. It was eventually a toss up between the two (Keene and Shapiro), and I felt safe going with either. Finally Dr. Keene's willingless to do a 2 day megasession swayed my decision towards Dr. Keene. (not to mention Gorpy's half-of-fame results Nervous but excited. Hoping all will go well.

I'm so sorry for the delayed response, Bill. I had subscribed to be notified on an update to this thread. Turned out the notifications were filtered out. Anyway, my surgeon is Dr. Sharon Keene. (and Gorpy's results have a lot to do with my decision His hair characteristics and hair loss extent seemed very close to mine. Also, from all the pictures I came across, I absolutely loved her work. With the excitement of being just a week away from my surgery, I can barely sit still; although I think I have managed to keep my expectations in check. But, dang, I would give anything to get the results Gorpy did

Congratulation, rjvw. Looks very natural. Do you have any pics taken immediately post-op.

Thanks for the replies, guys. I had read through tons of posts on this forum and had also gone through all the patient galleries I came across. I soon realized that I was giving too much emphasis to some of the "all Star Surgeons" lists that other members had compiled based on their research. I wasn't really objectively checking for the results that I was seeking. So, once again, I went through the patient galleries carefully, and I did notice that surgeons do seem to have a pattern/style. It tends to vary a bit depending on the size/shape of the head, the hairloss pattern, hair characteristics etc. But there is a discernible pattern/style (to my untrained eye, imho). With this information, I searched for pictures of other patients at my NW level, my hair characteristics, head size/shape etc, and I was soon able to shortlist my own surgeons whose style seemed to match the result I desire. I'm glad to say that I have chosen my surgeon and have scheduled my surgery for next month. I'm a bit nervous, but can't wait for the big day. I will post regular updates. Thank you all for educating me.

Dr. Keene or Dr. Shapiro. Do either have any strengths or weaknesses over the other. (although I know at one point Dr. Shapiro trained Dr. Keene) Sorry, I realize there isn't necessarily a right/wrong answer for such a question. The reason I'm asking is that I've only seen "show-cased" pictures, and havent' had the opportunity to meet any patients personally. I figured asking here could possibly yield some tid-bits that could sway my decision on way or the other. Thank you in advance.

Dr. Keene or Dr. Shapiro. Do either have any strengths or weaknesses over the other. (although I know at one point Dr. Shapiro trained Dr. Keene) Sorry, I realize there isn't necessarily a right/wrong answer for such a question. The reason I'm asking is that I've only seen "show-cased" pictures, and havent' had the opportunity to meet any patients personally. I figured asking here could possibly yield some tid-bits that could sway my decision on way or the other. Thank you in advance.

Guys, Thanks for educating me. The graft density numbers I have heard seem misleading to me. Like Bill said, 50 FUs/cm2 can translate to a bunch of different numbers. Not sure how to read it. What is the hairs/cm2 number required to give the "illusion" of density? Will 80-100 hairs/cm2 do the trick? When people talk about dense-packing over 70 grafts/cm2, it makes me wonder if it isn't always going to be single hair grafts. It would be nice to know the approximate size of 1/2/3/4 hair grafts so I can grasp how challenging it really is to fit 70+ FUs in one square cm.

Amazing results, Undercover! You must be ecstatic. Compliments to Dr. Rahal.

Some clinis offer a mega-session that is split over 2 consecutive days. I found this interesting thread on the topic 2 Session procedure I was considering this as an option, but after reading all the posts in this thread I admittedly cringed. I am wondering if anybody here that has gone through it would share their experience? Thanks

Some clinis offer a mega-session that is split over 2 consecutive days. I found this interesting thread on the topic 2 Session procedure I was considering this as an option, but after reading all the posts in this thread I admittedly cringed. I am wondering if anybody here that has gone through it would share their experience? Thanks

BTW, I have consulted with 3 clinics and they all seemed to think that I would need about 4500 grafts for good coverage. H&W said they could do it in one session. Dr. Sharon Keene would split it up in to a two day session. I just didn't "feel it" with the third clinic.

Thank you all for the responses. Mrjb, I am 31. I have consistent diffused hair loss on the top of my head. My native hair density is down to about 10 FUs/cm2 througout on the top. I will post a pic soon. Undercover, I'm sorry I couldn't find your weblog. Could you please point me to it. Folica, NervousNelly, Yes, H&W were top on my list. Being an international I have to get 3 different visas to get there (this really takes months and is not as straight forward as it should be). This was a deterrent, and hence I set out to find a reputed Coalition Surgeon in North America who routinely does such mega sessions. I will bite the bullet and get those 3 visas if I have to if H&W or Dr. Rahal are my best options.

Folica, Could you please help me better understand this? I am 31, a NW 5 with very good donor hair (so I'm told). Does that make me a good candidate? What are the potential pitfalls with my planned agressive approach? The one pitfall I can think of is that there's a limited supply of donor hair, and if all/most of it is possibly used by an unsatisfactory mega-session (God forbid), then there's nowhere to go from there. I guess that should be a big concern, and should probably make me think twice about my approach. However after seeing some consistently amazing results with such super sized sessions at this forum, the instant gratification that's afforded (well as instant as it can get), it seems like a very attractive option. Are there any other pitfalls? (proven higher risk of shockloss etc.) Thanks again.

Thank you all for the replies. I also discovered (thanks again to this forum) that Dr. Sharon Keene in AZ does 5000+ megasessions, split over 2 days.

As a newbie just starting to read up on HT I am very thankful I found this community. I would really appreciate it if somebody could answer my questions below. 1) Why is density in terms of FUs/cm2? Is the hairs/FU averaged to some value when we talk about density? If not, it seems that the only logical metric for density should be hairs/cm2. Am I missing something? 2) Can products such as toppik or prothik be safely used post surgery. I am concerned that such products could possibly harm newly planted grafts? Has any of you found it safe? 3) I have heard that some surgeons shave the recipient area (for better judgement of hair angle, to avoid transection etc), while some other work around existing native hairs without shaving them. My question is, if my clinic chose to shave my recipient area, how long should I expect to be under a hat (I can't sport a shaved head. If only I had a Michael Jordan-like head, I wouldn't even contemplate HT I heard 8 months? It shouldn't take that long for my existing native hair to grow back, right? 4) Is it considered bad form to try to negotiate the pricing schedule with clinics? For "megasessions" especially, any little discount per graft would count. Thank you all in advance.

As a newbie just starting to read up on HT I am very thankful I found this community. I would really appreciate it if somebody could answer my questions below. 1) Why is density in terms of FUs/cm2? Is the hairs/FU averaged to some value when we talk about density? If not, it seems that the only logical metric for density should be hairs/cm2. Am I missing something? 2) Can products such as toppik or prothik be safely used post surgery. I am concerned that such products could possibly harm newly planted grafts? Has any of you found it safe? 3) I have heard that some surgeons shave the recipient area (for better judgement of hair angle, to avoid transection etc), while some other work around existing native hairs without shaving them. My question is, if my clinic chose to shave my recipient area, how long should I expect to be under a hat (I can't sport a shaved head. If only I had a Michael Jordan-like head, I wouldn't even contemplate HT I heard 8 months? It shouldn't take that long for my existing native hair to grow back, right? 4) Is it considered bad form to try to negotiate the pricing schedule with clinics? For "megasessions" especially, any little discount per graft would count. Thank you all in advance.