Stimpson

I don't know if you can expect these results or not. The photo's look good, especially with the hair so short. But... I know McGrath was with MHR, and they have a TERRIBLE reputation in general, and their marketing has historically been misleading. I would be careful. If you insist on staying in Texas, at least give some consideration to Dr. Arocha in Dallas. His results are known to be consistently good. I'm not saying a good doctor cannot work at MHR, or that a doctor who worked for MHR or Bosley should be tainted for life, but I would REALLY check things out thoroughly before proceeding. A bad HT will make baldness seem like a blissful dream. This is not something you want to gamble with. Stimpy

I agree completely about picture sets that do not show the vertex area. They are a waste of time IMO. In the picture with the 2700 grafts, the mans hair is very long and combed back. Yet one more annoying thing often encountered in HT photos. I understand that this may be how they wear their hair, so it cannot really be called trickery, but it makes the HT look deceptively full. I pretty much disregard these types of pictures, although I must say that this one does show exceptionally good hairline work! By comparison, in the first picture set, with the hair combed to the side, you can accurately see pretty much exactly how full the hair is, and it is indeed MUCH more than the second photo set if you look closely. The first pic set is very well done with no obvious deceptive elements. Stimpy

Number 6 seems like a huge factor for many. Getting the required down time is quite difficult for a lot of people.

Oops... Sorry about all that then. Regards, Stimpson

Is this directed to me? I am not being a dick. I truly believe propecia sides are overhyped and generally reside in peoples imaginations. As for making him feel worse, you are misguided. Honesty is the best policy here. If he is indeed destined for a NW7, extreme caution is CERTAINLY warranted. Honesty is better up front than to be stuck in a situation with a weird looking head after the sides and back lower and he is left with a bizzare island of hair inside a NW7 pattern and no donor left. An unnatural appearing HT is exponentially worse than no HT at all. I am not an authority but am rather just one voice, and I am just saying for the love of God be careful!! Stimpson

I would just proceed with extreme caution (you obviously already are). Are you 24, then? Because if you have that level of loss at 24, you likely truly are destined for a NW7. Stimpson

More importantly than multiple HT's it means you probably don't have enough donor hair for a worthwhile result in the end at all. That's what I would be worried about. Stimpson

I guess the finesteride might help keep the hair you have or delay the widening of the crown, lowering of the horeshoe, etc. From your pics I didn't realize you still had a lot of crown hair. I guess your crown is kind of like mine (sparser than normal, but definitely some hair present). The meds seem to be working okay for my crown, at least in that I don't think I've lost more. Fin has produced no sides whatsoever for me. To revise my opinion, and JUST my opinion, if I KNEW I was going to be a NW7, I would not do an HT at all. I would just trim it tight and let it be. There are worse things in life than being bald. Good luck whatever you choose. Stimpson

I have. Plus I have read it all before here. Nothing new in that other forum. Personally, I have had NO side effects. I know *some* people do have real side effects. I stand by my opinions completely, though, that the vast majority of finesteride sides are imagined, created, or just plain unrelated to the finesteride. I think people look too hard for the sides, and they find them. I *HATE* to sound like a jerk, but every time I read a post titled something like "HELP - propecia causing face to sag" or something like that, I chuckle and roll my eyes. That was a real claim, by the way. I didn't pull that out of thin air. I know I sound like an unsympathetic jerk, but *especialy* sexual function is subject to the powers of your mind. If you are waiting nervously for problems, you might very well find them. All this said, though, if you are worried about sides, then just don't take the finesteride. As worried as you are, you might find the side effects. Frankly, and again JUST MY OPINION, looking at your picture from your weblog, you're so far along with the baldness that if I were you I would probably just pass on the drugs altogether anyway. I will be interested to see what others think about this, but I don't really know what you would gain from the drugs. I don't think they do much for people as far along with the baldness as you are. IMO you are probably a really good HT candidate, though. Sort of an open field. Stimpson

I know I will probably be jumped on for saying this, but I think that the *vast* majority of people who claim drastic side effects are imagining them and/or they are unrelated to the finesteride. Especially in the case of impotence, I think they get it in their heads and it becomes a self fulfilling prophecy. Just my opinion. Stimpson

Because I still have a fair amount of native hair in the mid-scalp and crown, it's just that it's sparse and thin enough that I can clearly see the outline of a NW 6 horseshoe. I hope that for the next HT enough can be transplanted among this native hair that as the native hair finally vanishes for good, the transplanted hair will be there to create some reasonable coverage. I am taking the meds in an attempt to hold onto the native hair as long as possible, and also to hopefully keep the horseshoe from lowering (although I don't actually think it's going to). So, I guess, in summary, I can SEE what appears to be my final stage, but I am not actually there yet. But I think I am there enough for HT purposes to hopefully knock it out with one more procedure. I don't dispute Emans 'stand-alone' HT restriction above for 'some' cases, but if you are young and still balding it is not always possible to do that, especially with people who start with just temples or something (although looking at your picture it looks like you should be fine and one should probably be able to stand alone). I saw a HORRID example of an HT that did NOT stand alone at Dulles airport in Washington yesterday. Some sorry sap had the most APPALLING HT I have ever seen. It was a rediculous band of extremely dense hair about an inch and a half in width that stretched from temple to temple in a very low hairline. SLICK bald in a NW6 behind it. The worst I have EVER seen. It was no doubt great when he had hair behind it. That was just bad planning. I don't know if he ran out of money or what, but damn it was bad. Stimpson

I have been using Rogaine and finesteride (propecia) for about a year now. I started kind of late. It seems to be working pretty well. Yes, I will need another HT. I am going to try to do the biggest one possible next time. Basically, unless you are at or near your final balding stage when you have the HT, there is going to have to be more than one HT involved, because your hairloss will most likely continue (although meds can really slow this down). I am close enough now to what I think is my final balding pattern that I hope one more session (much larger than the previous ones) will finish me off. However, even that is annoyingly uncertain, and I will always be prepared for future touch-ups, etc. Once you embark upon the HT road, you are kind of a slave to the process depending on your future hairloss. Note, though, what I am going to do across hopefully 3 HT's (the 2 by Parsley plus the one I will get next year, I don't count the Bosley one), many people do across 2. I have perhaps done it in stages a bit more than most people. I think a lot of people get by with 2 procedures. It kind of all depends on where your hair loss is at when you have the procedure. Ironically, the ideal candidate for a really kick ass HT is old and bald. Stimpson

I had one in 1994 from the dreaded Bosley and one in 1999 and also 2007 from Parsley. All the transplanted hair is the same (even the stupid Bosley mini's). What has changed dramatically, however, is the rest of my native hair. Basically, it is abandoning ship. So, to answer your question, yes, the transplanted hair has remained as promised. However, the results are not as good as they were because I have become more bald with time. Stimpy

I just did the reclusive thing for the first ten days or so. In the shape I was in I would not DREAM of going out anywhere anyway. I stocked up on groceries at home, etc., for the reclusive phase. As for the motel, I just chose a place on the outskirts of the city (Louiseville) with a door on the OUTSIDE of the motel so that the dash inside with a bennie was trivial (especially in the dark). I had a little bit of food and so forth already stocked beforehand in the room for dinner, and drove back early the next AM to VA, thus spending most of day 2 on the road in the privacy of my car. I also had food/drinks etc. so that I would not have to go into places for the 10 hour drive, I could just fill up at the pump. In retrospect, a bandanna would be best for car travel. I have worn a cap SO much in my life, yet, suddnely when it matters, that stupid hat brim hits EVERYTHING if you are not careful. Especially in cars. Especially if it's some awkwardly loose fitting rediculous looking cap, which you'll pretty much need. Home was all stocked up with 10 days worth of food and so forth, and I just dropped out of the world for a bit. It's difficult, but with careful planning it can be pulled off. I don't know about airports and extended stays at hotels, or anything like that. That adds another level of difficulty, but again the key I would say is in the planning. Some people are all out and about town in the post-op days. Kudos to them. I prefer to hide. Stimpson

Somebody can correct me if I am wrong, but I think H&W are $5 for the first $2000, and $3 thereafter (so for example 4000 grafts would be 16k).

Looks good to me. I doubt it will be noticed at all. If anybody does, tell them you started Rogaine and it irritates your scalp, or sunburn, or something like that. I don't think it will be noticed, though. Pinkness like that generally isn't. Dark redness is one thing, but that's just light pinkness. Stimpson

I tried Topic once and it was a mess. This next photo more clearly shows the horseshoe. This one makes me cringe, but it shows it. To save face a little, and show that not all is as bad as it appears above, here is a shot from the front. I am basically completely bald in the front half, minus the 3100 grafts from Dr. Parsley, and also 132 blasted Bosley mini's that still plague me sometimes. This also shows the Jeckyll/Hyde thing, somewhat, because try to reconcile this with the picture immediately above. It doesn't look like the same person, but I assure you it is. You can also see that Dr. Parsley does good work. Regards - Stimpson

The picture is a completely accurate representation. I forgot to mention that I have 3100 grafts in the frontal half. The remaining native hair in the midscalp and crown is in fact very thin, to my great annoyance, but the emerging thicker horsehoe is exactly as it appears. Oddly, as bad as it looks, if I KNEW that were my final pattern, I would be pretty happy. The sides are fairly high and so forth... I appreciate your input. Stimpy

What do you guys think are the odds that the clearly developing horseshoe pattern is the "ultimate" pattern for my MPB? I am 37, and on fin and minox daily. Thanks - Stimpy

It's a bit of both, really. I have 3100 grafts covering a large area, and that can still look very thin in the right conditions. Also, those stupid Bosley mini's stand out occasionally, at least to me they do, which makes me paranoid enough to usually wear the hat when possible. I have realistic hopes Dr. Wong can fix me up later next year. Stimpson

I've had about 3100 grafts to cover a bad Bosley job from the early 90's, and alas, I still often wear a hat. I am going to have as large a session as can be done here in the next 8 or 9 months, and I hope then I will be able to more or less ditch the hat. The repair work has been good, it's just that those fu**ing Bosley mini's are a BITCH to completely bury. I may have the worst ones removed along with the next HT. I am probably overly self conscious, but I can still see them sometimes with my trained eye. Having said all that, though, I no longer panic when I CANNOT wear the hat. Oh God, the ordeal that used to be! It was *unbelievably* bad trying to hide that dreadful Bosley HT. There were rare days when I would have to play professional and meet a client or something, and I would be worried *weeks* before hand. The day of, I would sit in my office and do NOTHING but mess with my hair to utterly no avail. By the time of the meeting I would have sprayed so much hair spray and messed with it so much that it would be this weird texture and my scalp would be so shiny from the hairspray. It was truly a horrific time, but thankfully it was pretty short in duration, which is good, because a few more months of that BS and I would have been bonkers for sure. I've said this like a million times now, but a bad HT will make baldness seem like a blissful dream. So, alas, yes, I still have my favorite hat. The day when I can ditch it for good is still just a beautiful vision that will hopefully be reality a little over a year from now (by the time it all grows in and what not). BUT, the nightmare days of HAVING to wear the hat are now in the past. I rarely wear it around the office anymore, or in family or friends houses, but pretty much everywhere else, especially if there is wind or something involved. My last HT is still improving, and the overall situation is still improving. I'm going to defintely need another HT though to get to where i can retire the hat more or less permanantly. I look forward to that day. It will be such a free feeling. I cannot wait. Stimpy

I am unfamiliar with Euro docs, but looking at your situation it should be easy for a *competent* HT doc to fix. They regularly fix WAY worse than that. There are some very good docs in the states/Canada (probably Europe too). Just be careful you choose a good one. That is the key. Stimpy

If the absorbable sutures could not be found, maybe it's because they absorbed? I sure wouln't go reopening the wound looking for them. That sounds like a *horrendously* bad move. I had absorbable sutures used in the last procedure. The point is that you don't have to actually have them removed, they dissolve over time. That said, though, not all dissolvable sutures are equal, and apparently they do fail to absorb sometimes and have to be removed. In my case, they sort of broke apart after a couple weeks, and i just pulled them out effortlessly in chunks over a span of about a week or so. It was nothing. I won't use them next time, though. They are not ideal, and I think they caused some isolated irritatation at a point or two along the scar. Not horrendous, but I think I'll just stick to the regular sutures/staples next time. Just for clarification, I think pretty much ALL quality docs use seep absorbable sutures INTERNAL to the wound. I am of course referring to the external closing of the donor wound in the above remarks. Stimpy

"are you sure we only have 7000 grafts of donor? dr. Armani claims that he can get 20,000" I know. That guy is the undisputed MASTER of feeding on the insecurity of early 20 somethings. At least most other docs, when taking an aggressive approach, consider other circumstances, like age, family loss history, medication, and so forth. Armani just says "yeah, we'll give you 5000 grafts for that 100 FU/CM^2 density that you probably didn't even have in your 16 year old hairline, don't worry about the future...". Not even to mention the yield and waste issues. There are seriously going to be a LOT of weird looking people courtesy of Armani. We all HOPE for cloning soon. These people are going to be DEPENDANT upon cloning. Not an enviable position. Stimpson

These last few posts point out a CRITICAL factor in HT's. It needs to get better as you age. In my case, I have a much higher hairline than most people (even on this forum) would accept, and I also have quite high temple corners. It's all give and take. In my case, my NUMBER ONE concern is burying some stupid Bosley minis from the early 90's, which were thankfully placed well behind the hairline (at least that much was good). And as an initial repair, Dr. Parsley created a nice mature hairline with about 3000 grafts in the frontal 2/3rds (2 sessions), which basically succeeded in hiding the mini's, but I want a little more density to bury them for good, especially in the midscalp area. So, for me, the desired tradeoff is a higher more mature hairline, in exchange for a little more density behind it than might be typically found, and perhaps a dusting in the crown if donor permits. I seriously do not want to step on toes here, but I cringe a little every time i see a fairly young person get thousands of grafts to bring back what is almost a juvenile hairline by filling in slightly receded temples, etc. I know Armani is the king of this, but I see it done to lesser extents by others also. I hope I am wrong, but there might be difficult days ahead for some of these people. If you only have 7000 grafts total, and you put 3000 in the 1.5-2 cm around the hairline, you are commiting yourself to an AGGRESSIVE approach. I know it is not really natural to think ahead to when you are 30, 40, 50, but a really extravegant hairline with baldness or even excessinve thinness behind it will register as unnatural. Forget Elvis. Think Kiefer Sutherland. Receded hairline, high temples. He's my hair idol (we seem to have identical hair characteristics too). http://www.imdb.com/media/rm3509556992/nm0000662 Stimpy