biscuit

I consider my transplant "moderate" coverage because I had 4400 grafts over a large area. In the brightest sunlight it can look thin at times, but so does most peoples' hair if you look close in those conditions. Some people could interpret the attached photo as looking thin, others would be ecstatic to have that much hair. I never think my hair looks obviously thin.

Enjoy your baldness for the next few months guys :-) Then the fun starts! All of you will have great results.

You can cut up some 10 sq cm pieces of paper and see how many it takes to cover the bald area.

I haven't really looked into this for about 4 years, but here are some articles that came up on google: Propecia, Infertility Link Suspected http://www.renalandurologynews...cted/article/104651/ Finasteride-associated male infertility http://biblioteca.universia.ne...arams/id/304968.html Safety info (talks a little about what kind of testing has been done) http://www.otispregnancy.org/pdf/propecia.pdf 59 pages of interesting feedback on Propecia, some of the comments are pretty funny. http://www.askdocweb.com/propecia59.html

I would go with Dr Wong's suggestion for how long to keep the staples in place. I found that I could relieve the slight tension by using my hand to stretch the skin on my neck toward the scar. Kind of like a neck massage in the upward direction only. Make sure you are not putting tension on the scar. Never stretch it away from the scar.

It looks like you're heading to at least NW5 with that much hairloss at your age. Meds may help but you've already lost a lot of hair. Check the male family members on your mother's side of the family, that's usually a better indication of where you're heading than your father's side. Shoot some outdoor photos in sunshine of the front, top, sides and back. Maybe use those to do a few online consultations with the top HT clinics. Don't rush into anything, spend at least 6 months researching your options here on the forum and on the web. There is a lot of helpful information here. Best of luck.

Fertility is an issue, but my main concern would be avoiding birth defects and health problems with the child. I'm not saying that I know of any issues with propecia and birth defects. But it's reasonable to say that you have less risk if you aren't taking a bunch of drugs during conception.

Like I said, it's a complicated issue. On one side you have fear mongering, on the other side you have marketing hype from billion dollar corporations who want you to use their product for the rest of your life. Somewhere in between is reality, it's up to each individual to weigh the benefits/risks and determine their priorities. Spex, regarding reproductive complications, I'm talking about limiting risks. Being a parent myself, I would do anything possible to reduce the chance of a birth defect. No smoking, no drinking, no drugs. Hairloss medications are serious drugs that affect your entire body from head to toe. The majority of the research and studies on propecia/finasteride were done on people well past child-bearing age, which is fine because it was developed to treat enlarged prostates in older men. But that doesn't necessarily mean that they've determined that it poses no risk to young men starting families. I'd like to see more studies on young men, and more studies on drug interaction, but that probably won't happen because they've already met the requirements for approval. A lot of people assume that since it's approved it's safe.

Prior to my HT I made the decision that I was not going to take meds. Dr Wong took that into consideration when placing the grafts. If I had decided to take meds he would have placed fewer grafts in my crown, those grafts would have gone up front. My "success" case is not that common. I'm lucky that I have super strong donor hair at 50 years old. I can easily get 4,000 more grafts if I need them. I had already lost most of the hair on the front of my head, so meds wouldn't have helped much for me. Most doctors will recommend that you take meds. It's a no-lose situation for them. If the meds work everyone is happy. If you get side effects they tell you to stop taking them. If you get long term side effects it's the med manufacturer that takes the heat. The med manufacturers say the numbers of problem cases are very small. Lots of people are happy with the results and experience no side effects. Search the forums for success cases and see if your hairloss pattern is similar. But there are people who have had short term and long term problems. Spend some time reading forums like this one and http://www.propeciahelp.com/forum/ and do a google search for "propecia side effects". Read the manufacturers claims and warnings carefully. Other factors worth researching: Blood testing. If you decide to take meds you should have frequent blood analysis to make sure your levels are correct. Get a baseline test before you start taking anything so you have something to compare. Drug interaction. If you take meds other than for hairloss you should do some research to find drug interaction studies. Long term immunity to the drugs. It's not uncommon for people to lose the benefits of the meds after around 5 years. If you have banked on the hairloss drugs lasting forever you will need to alter your strategy. Lifetime commitment. If you ever decide to stop taking the hairloss meds you will quickly lose everything that you gained. Ask yourself how commited you will be at 40/50/60/70/80 etc. What is the likelyhood that you will continue to take hairloss meds if you develop a serious medical condition (heart problem, etc) and the doctor recommends that you stop taking the hairloss meds? Family planning. If you are going to be starting a family soon, do some extra research on reproduction complications. It's a complicated decision. Take your time. Do a lot of research and make your own decision. - - - Disclaimer: I'm not against drugs. I have no problem with anyone else taking hairloss drugs. I hope everyone that takes them has success and no side effects. I am not a doctor. Most of what I write is my opinion, not scientific facts. I decided to not take hairloss drugs for my own personal reasons that apply to my case. I understand that other people have their own goals, and they're entitled to make their own decision.

As an example, I think Dr Wayne Dyer looks better completely shaved than when he had some hair in back. http://www.awakening-healing.c...ayne_Dyer(Small).jpg

Drew, you are in great hands with Dr Wong. I was very impressed with his skills, staff and facility. But you've got a lot of real estate to cover and the very real possibility that you'll lose more hair in back. I believe your goal of "full coverage" is not possible to achieve, so be careful with that. I recommend starting out with a very conservative hairline. Have you tried shaving your head completely? It looks to me like the shape of your head is very good. Best of luck.

Yes, there is definitely a chance to "screw up" the grafts while placing them. The best clinics have techs with a lot of experience and the facilities to ensure that the grafts are split apart correctly, stored in the right environment, then inserted with the right tools at the right pressure and depth.

The original poster already has a lasermax, so the scam issue is not a factor for him. I assume he wants to know if it can do any damage or help. The power output is so low that it can't really damage anything. For the results, hard to say, that's why I suggested only using it on one side of his head. If that side ends up with more hair then it's a success. If you try that spin266, make sure you take lots of photos to document the progress.

Sutures can bunch up the scar and cause it to be raised above the level of the surrounding scalp. I think the term is "baseballing" due to the resemblence to the seams on a baseball. Staples apply a very uniform tension so the scar heals at the same level as the scalp.

I think if you get a fairly good HT people quickly forget what you used to look like. I'm at 4 years post-op and when I show people my old pre-HT photos they are shocked that I used to be bald.

I wore baseball hats at work for the first 4 months. You can see from my Week 11 photos that I would have looked really funny without a hat. By Week 17 I had enough overall coverage to pull off a buzzed look.

You can check my gallery for photos from start to finish. There's no easy way to hide for the first 4 months unless you can wear a hat. I don't think 1800 grafts is enough if you're a NW3/4. Twice that would be better. Do lots of research here on the forum before you make a decision. HT's are tricky, if you don't choose wisely it's easy to make a mistake that you'll have to live with for the rest of your life.

spin266, you can try the laser on just one side of your head. If you see or feel no improvement you can stop using it. If you see or feel improvement start doing both sides. The same technique works on topicals.

The scar tissue in the donor area can take more than a year to fully develop. It will generally look best at around 3 months to 6 months when the pinkness fades and matches the surrounding scalp. But the scars are still forming under the surface and often turn out a lighter shade when fully developed. The same holds true for FUE and Strip.

I've noticed that some of the slow growers have pink scalp for a lot longer than quick growers.

I try to shoot outdoors in sunny conditions. Hold the camera at arms length and don't use flash or zoom. Take more photos from each angle than you think you need because you don't always get the focus or framing perfect. I've been using a little Casio EX-S10 camera, works great... 10MP, big LCD screen, long battery life, super small, under $200.

How old are you? Looks to me like you have a big area to fill. Tough case. You're probably looking at strip, maybe 5,000 grafts to give you a high hairline and medium/thin coverage.

Looks nice, another good result from Dr Alexander. Can we see some outdoor shots in the sunshine?

Nice progress so far UK.