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<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR> It would be very helpful if Peter Mac could post the reasons he originally went to work for DHI. Peter Mac did comment on that, when he originally was hired. He wanted to work in the industry, he wanted to learn about hair transplant surgery and so on. To PC As I said, Peter Mac most likely cannot comment on the emails because of legal concerns.

Peter Mac probably can't comment on those emails for legal reasons. I remember when Peter first started working for DHI, he promised that he would not work for them if it turned out they were not doing everything the best way possible. BRAVO to Peter Mac for keeping his word.

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>Apparently the survival rate is still higher for the strip procedure than for FUE. Dr Seager has some interesting info on that on his website, explaining why he does NOT do FUE. That all depends on which doctor is doing the procedure. All doctors are not equal in skill, experience, and aesthetic ability. Right now there's not that many doctors doing FUE and even fewer are able to get consistent results, so in that regard your post is correct, but it all depends on picking a doctor with documented consistent results. To the original poster: Having a high rate of graft survival is what separates the competent doctors from the incompetent doctors. Getting the grafts to survive is just the bare-minimum baseline qualification, after that there are many other factors (naturalness, good long term planning, good design abilities, etc) but the doctors with poor or "just okay" graft survival should get out of the business, they are harming people.

You want to do things that encourage healing. In that regard you might try taking some extra vitamin C with meals (Vitamin C is a factor in wound healing). Don't smoke (interferes with healing). I would be careful about doing things like leaning over to pick things up, and so on... try to keep tension off of the area, even beyond the 2 month mark that Robert mentioned (that's just me though).

In my opinion, that is probably considered fair to good, as far as thickness, although he does have a bit of "train tracks" (cross hatch effect from the sutures) and suture marks beyond the main scar, which is not a good thing. It looks like it widens a bit on the left, that is typical that the sides tend to heal slightly wider. Lots of guys think their donor scar is teeny tiny, then they shave their heads and are surprised by what they see. They thought it would be smaller because when they usually saw it, it was partially covered with hair. I've seen smaller (thinner) scars but this one isn't excellent but certainly doesn't totally suck. So I say most would consider it "medium good". Note that scar length is related to total grafts needed. The more grafts you need, the longer the scar will probably need to be, in some cases going ear to ear.

I agree with robert to call your clinic (and maybe have your doctor look at you). The hairs in the grafts will go dormant, this takes a few days or even a few weeks to happen, but the grafted hairs begin growing at approximately 12 weeks later (remember you're really transplanting hair roots, the follicles themselves are a product of the root structure, so to speak). Some guys can lose some of their 'existing" (non transplanted) hair, sometimes a little or sometimes a lot in the worst cases. This all depends on the individual guy, some guys have no problems with this happening (sometimes referred to 'shock loss' and not to be confused with the normal dormant phase). Shock loss is not totally understood, but typically it seems to happen to any "at risk" hairs. So the conventional wisdom is that guys should try to halt or slow their hair loss down, before getting any surgery. That typically means using Propecia or maybe Avodart. You don't want to be in a hair loss "free fall" at the time of your surgery, to minimize the risk of shock loss. As far as losing an actual graft, sometimes they may not be seated properly, or tension or friction can cause a new graft to come out. As Robert said, it looks sort of like a grain of rice only smaller, and it is dry (unless you lose it the first night or so, then there may be a wee spot of blood). I've heard it is normal to lose one graft per every thousand, of course some guys may lose more than that and still be considered normal. What you don't want is a whole bunch of lost grafts, and I've never heard of that happening, certainly not at a reputable clinic. Hope that added some grist to the mill.

If your hair is still pretty good then I suggest holding off on surgery (I'm not sure your exact status). Your comment about fixing the temples is sometimes heard from young guys who want to use transplants to erase all evidence of hair loss. Of course hair loss is progressive and so trying to use transplants to hide all evidence of hair loss is usually unrealistic and sometimes a disaster down the road. Your comment about not expecting "a complete fix" seems sensible. Better to go in with modest expectations and be surprised, than to expect perfection and be disappointed (or extremely disappointed). Pick a great doctor, or don't do it at all, in my opinion. The great ones are rare but are worth the extra effort to find and in many cases travel to.

Good luck Bonzo!!!

I would not choose any clinic where you haven't met the doctor (lots of guys do, it's a mistake). I personally dislike salemen in a doctor's office, and after my terrible experience working through a "consultant" I won't talk to them, only to the actual doctors. Read the article here Best Hair Transplant and pay close attention to the emphasis on using microscopes to dissect the donor strip (not just magnifiers). Also notice the importance of the "all-FU" transplant as compared to inferior "Minigraft" procedures. When you go back to MHR, ask them to see the microscopes "in action". There should be a team of people using binocular microscopes to dissect the donor strip (not Jeweler's Loups, which are worn on the head). Ask them if they do an all-FU procedure there. Some clinics spend millions on promotion, so they can aford to be "nice" but choose a clinic that is using the best techniques, even if they are not as concerned with salesmanship. There's always the chance you choose "none of the above" and decide to go out of state. I recommend that guys look for the elite few "best" in the field and travel to see them if necessary. In my opinion, none of the best doctors work for a big chain or franchise clinic. Even if you think the people at a clinic are nice guys, that's not enough for you to trust them to permanently alter your appaearance.

Just make sure you research this as thoroughly as you'd research a hair transplant. It sucks really bad when you get a cosmetic procedure to improve your appearance, and it actually makes things worse.

We tend to talk about which doctors are the "best" here, not so much interest in who's pretty good, not bad, so-so, decently okay, and so on. Not that many people can be called "the best" in any one field. Think of a bell curve, not everybody can be in the upper percentage. In my opinion guys shouldn't bother with the "okay" surgeons, these are the ones who are inconsistent (and please don't gamble with your looks) or just average. In my opinion an "average" transplant looks like a transplant, and that is pointless. I personally think the number of truly great doctors in the field is very very small. I'm not suggesting any of them are infallible by the way, just saying that in my opinion the list of great ones is small... very small. If other guys think that the list of great doctors is bigger than my list, that's fine by me. Some folks may even think that the great transplant doctors are swarming all over the world. Remember that a hair transplant isn't like removing your tonsils, where there is one final result and probably only one way to do it. There's an infinite number of different ways to transplant the same guy, and it's all about the subtle details, once a doctor has risen beyond the "pretty good" level... and then there is the matter of consistency... the lack of "off" days. The ability to do great work on a wide variety of guys. Personally, I think the number of doctors who fit this criteria is small... very small. I recommend guys choose a great doctor to do their transplant (or not do it at all). Everyone should decide for themselves which doctors are great, and which doctors are just "pretty good". Choose wisely.

It's hard to cut a five-sided shape into four pieces... probably even harder to cut five pieces! It's never going to come out perfectly even, but it probably doesn't matter. What you are concerned with is a "total" weekly or monthly dose, because it does stay in your system for a couple of weeks. So small fluctuations theoretically shouldn't matter (same for timing of your dose). Somebody had a diagram online about a way to cut a Proscar into 5 pieces, I can't remember where I saw it. Maybe someone with a head for geometry can figure it out here. Get the kind of pill splitter that is a little box with a lid. Stuck into the lid is a razor blade, the box has a guide which holds the pill in place and you close the lid which cuts the tablet. By experimenting with the speed and amount of gentle force you use, you can get a pretty good (but not perfect) cut. You don't slam it shut, but be firm and decisive. I think you can replace the razor blade from time to time, at least I hope so. You can also do the same thing with a razor blade but unless you are a jeweler or higly skilled I bet the box is more accurate, plus the box stores the remaining pieces for later.

Some guys tend to thin out all over the balding area (me) while other guys have a hairline that creeps back while still maintaining density or volume beyond that. If you are a guy with a creeping hairline, the bad news is that it is very possible that it is male pattern baldness (unless it is just the normal, minor recession that creates a "mature hairline"). You will probably know in your gut if you have male pattern baldness. The good news is that type of hair loss can often tend to be better suited for hair transplant satisfaction than a guy who is losing hair all over the top of his head. My suggestion is to stop the progression as best you can, with the least complicated regimine as possible... probably Propecia or Avodart but you decide, just beware that 99% of the stuff out there is crap. Try to keep as much of your original hair as possible. You can't replace everything with transplanted hair (not even close) so the more original hair you can keep, the better off you are in the long run. If you get a transplant, pick a doctor whose work seems to be possibly the best in the world, often these doctors aren't the most expensive and in some cases they can even be cheaper than franchises (which I suggest you avoid) like Bosley NuHart PAI or MHR. Do yourself a favor and do lots of research before getting any surgery, keep asking questions and keep learning.

I think Katz may have worked for MHR in the past (?) but if so he moved on, either surpassing them in quality or possibly no longer needing to rely on their publicity machine to get his own clients (or both). I would like to think that people can change for the better, so if my memory serves me correctly then I am glad for Dr. Katz.

In my opinion, a DHT blocker like Propecia or Avodart is the cornerstone of a regimine. Everything else is secondary to that. Everyone is different, so maybe that explains it, but ususally if someone is unlucky enough to have sexual side effects from Propecia, they won't take over a year to first show up. There's evidence that as little as .25 mg of Propecia (a quarter tab of propecia... not proscar by the way) is effective. I might have recommended cutting way back on your dose, or taking it every other day (or both) rather than quitting completely. My 2 cents...

PBS occasionally runs some weird stuff, especially during fund raisers. They realized that the self-help kind of stuff was getting a good response and so that's why you're seeing more of it on PBS.

I recommend you avoid the big franchises. They pass the high costs of advertising on to you, and most of the work tends to be mediocre. You can do much better than MHR. Are you doing anything to stop the progression? Unless you stop the progression, that first surgery is just the beginning, you should expect additional surgeries unless you are a guy with no Male Pattern Baldness whatsoever, just an incomplete hair line (occasionally a guy like that will post here but they are rare).

If you're looking to check out other examples of Dr. Katz' work, they might simply not be online or on the forum. You could try asking the clinic to supply you with some names of guys in your area, and email them (or even better, maybe meet with them and check them out in person). It's a perfectly reasonable request, and many clinics are asked if a potential patient can meet previous clients. They already know you're a customer, just say you're curious to see guys whose work has grown out and matured.

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>Just out of interest - why is this inappropriate? You work for a doctor and you need this explained to you? Ever hear of the term "Black Market"? What do you suppose that means, if it isn't someone (not a pharmacist just a layman) buying drugs in one country and then turning around and selling them in a different country? Ask Dr. Jones to explain it if this explanation didn't make any sense. I would also like to know why one brand of Finasteride causes an acne breakout, but not another kind?

Sounds like we mixing up the term "shock loss" of pre-existing non-transplanted hair with the normal "dormant phase" that transplanted grafts go through. If you get a hair transplant and still have remaining non-transplanted hair too, if that hair is weak due to Male Pattern Baldness then the surgery can 'shock' it causing it to be lost (and it may or may not return). This is a phenomena that is not completely understood, to my knowledge (what causes it. why does it happen to some guys and not others). Shock loss is one risk to consider, if you want a transplant but still have a lot of "at-risk" hair in the balding area. The worst case scenario is for a guy to end up with less hair AFTER the transplant due to permanent shock loss, and not transplanting enough grafts to compensate. The dormant phase happens to the transplanted grafts, they can appear to be growing temporarily, but then go dormant and the hairs fall out. Nothing happens for 10 weeks or so, then the transplanted hair begins growing at the normal rate (about a half-inch per month). This is basic stuff your doctor should have fully explained BEFORE the surgery, when you were doing your consultation.

How about posting a link?

mss28 I recommend that you try to meet some patients in person if possible (and not just guys who might do sales for a doctor... of course they look good, that's how they got hired in the first place). Meet as many patients as possible, hopefully guys who are similar to you in age, hair characteristics, amount of hairloss, etc. That should help. You can find older patients here too, just stick around for a while.

Rogaine makes my scalp red even when I'm NOT post-op. Your grafted hair is dormant for ten to twelve weeks (average) post-op, so when did you start it (and why). Did your doctor tell you to use Rogaine post-op? If so, talk to him. I think you may have jumped onto it too soon...?

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>I'm so eager and exited to have hair that I can't see straight. My first comment is CALM DOWN. There are a LOT of scams in the "hair loss field" and if you don't keep your wits and a clear head, you might wind up getting scammed. I suggest that you go see a dermatologist or endocrinologist FIRST (ask your regular doctor who to see). There is a possibility that your hair loss is coming from birth control you use, or a medical condition you have. Hair Club sells hair pieces, they are not considered among the best in the field. They also sell ultra-expensive hair vitamins (which probably don't do much) and you can buy cheaper if you do it yourself. Hair Club also supposedly do some hair transplants. Beware! Women are often not good candidates for hair transplants, as you typically have diffuse thinning (not a stable donor area). And in addition, Hair Club and all other big franchises usually aren't good places to go for a hair transplant anyway. IF you are thinking about a transplant, then Telephone Man's suggestion is good, but just go see what they say, and decide nothing until you have done some real clear thinking about what you are getting into, the pros and cons, the limitations etc.

Glad it worked out.