hoose

it is hard to tell from the pics but the work appears to be refined and clean; however, I honestly don't think you needed a HT; I think you should have tried (if you had not already) propecia/rogaine combination for a year or so before decideing on a ht and see what results you got with that; I know they aren't as affective in the frontal area, but with your loss in the early stages you may have responded well to that;

dbk, 7 months is definitely too soon to have the final results; there is definitely more maturing/thickening of the new hairs plus maybe some more to sprout; however, at 7 months you should have an "idea" what the results are going to be and also have a cosmetic improvement. Dr. Epstein is a coalition doc who performs sound work and has a good rep from what I understand; are you on propecia, to halt further loss? If you are not on propecia, you could be losing native hair; also, we will need pics to observe; also your age, NW level etc..

IMO, I would of rather seen a more mature (higher) hairline, allowing dense packing of the grafts in the frontal third; the frontal hairline height IMO is low; with the hairline that low, it makes it harder to create a lot of density, especially when the grafts were placed over such a large area on top; IMO that low of hairling with sparse density is somewhat unnatural; there are some individuals who keep their hairline and diffuse but it is not the general rule; don't get me wrong, the patient definitely has a cosmetic improvement, his face is framed, and it doesn't scream "unnatural", just my thoughts.....

People in previous generations did not have access to finasteride; I think finasteride can be effective long term in maintaining the crown/vertex and donor areas, especially since those area are less sensitive/resilent to dht than the frontal area; I'm realistic that propecia will not maintain the temples/hairline/frontal zone over the long term, 10+ years--it will slow/stabalize but not totally prevent the progression; those people you mentioned seeing that were "nw 8" are genetic freaks; I feel as a general rule, if somebody is on finasteride the chances of them going to a NW 8 or the donor area drastically thinning is slim; I know finasteride is relatively new still as far as studies; most studies for MPB have not gone beyond 5 years; also I know there are no guarantees and we all have to consider are genetic predispositions etc..these are just some of my thoughts; comments....

philippos, HT surgery is serious surgery; this is your head we are talking about; you need to listen to the above posters; I would cancel and do more research; trust me, you want to get it right the first time; waiting a year for the results and not being satisfied or meeting your expectations, or worse, receiving outdate techniques would be very depressing and will effect the quality of your life; in the big picture, waiting 6 months doing research is not a lot of time; you will be better off in the long run;

smith, first, I would get on finasteride to keep as much of your native hair as possible; thus, if you go the HT route in the future, this will make you a better HT candidate and enhance the overall results; I'm glad you don't mind wearing a hair system; it definitely isn't for everybody; It isn't for me; I think over time it becomes a hassle--the maintenance, the anxiety in social events, you almost have to plan your life around it; I would run as fast as you can away from HCM in regards to getting a HT; I would recommend a coaltion doc; it sounds like HCM has alterior motives, ie money, in their best interest over you, the patient; the coaltion doc are patient oriented and will not steer you in the wrong direction to make a buck; like I said, good for you that you like the system, but do not use HCM for anything more than that; also, definitely get on finasteride even if you decide to wait on a HT; it will most likely maintain your existing hair and give you better options later in regards to HT's; so in summary don't let them touch your head

it definitely shows a cosmetic improvement; approx 4200 grafts in that area should provide a lot of density--and it appears there is; would like to see some pics exposing the hairline and behind to see the true density; that hairstyle creates an optimal illusion of density;

latinlotus, as far as that patient, as Bill and hairbank mentioned, and I also agree, it appears that the patient lost most of his native hair in the frontal receipent area; the patient also mentioned that he stopped taking finasteride--that would accelerate the loss of the native hair; so there is no relevance IMO between that case and Charlies....

at 25 days your grafts are anchored solidly; you would have to remove them by surgery at this point; it looks like you are lighter complected and have sensitive skin, which I am, and your skin gets red with any irritation; for example, shaving etc. makes my face red for a little bit; so my point is all your "friend" did was irritate your skin; he did not damage the grafts.

dewayne, definitely listen to what Bill said; there would be marginal cosmetic improvement with 800 grafts distributed over your area of loss; you need to go to a doc that does strip megasessions, like a H &W, and aim for as many grafts as they can get, hopefully 4000+, depending on your donor; you need to plan on spending 15,000 though; I know from experience that it is not worth the downtime/recovery and wait for a small number of grafts, then realize it and go through the process again--it is very painful psychologically;

not trying to defend any doc/clinics etc.. but looking at they guy's pics he looks awfully young, early 20's; it almost appears he lost a lot of native hair after surgery and he has aggresive MPB; I don't know all the facts, just wondering if that was a possibility;

if your genetically predisposed to MPB, steroids will accelerate the process; if you are not predisposed, aka Jay Cutler, you can pound all the anabolics you want and it probably will not cause hariloss

rambler, as its753 said, some pictures showing you hair zoomed out will give a better perspective of your situation; also as its said, today, even bad hts can be repaired buy the top docs; also if you are not already, i would get on finasteride to prevent future loss

I question the doctor's ethics to do a surgery with only 400 grafts--FUE or Strip; maybe you have a unique circumstance; but in general, as everybody else said, it is not worth the trouble for a minimum cosmetic change; for strip a small sesson is 1500--for someone with minor loss to refine the hairline;

I would definitely not use a hair piece just for the event; first a good one will cost a lot of money; in addition, I'm assumming you will see people that know you well and they would definitely notice it on you if you have never worn one before; I would not cut your hair again until after the event; in 3 weeks of growth, the scar should be concealed well so that shouldn't be an issue; a Concealer could be used for the top/front safely by that time to help hide the redness from the receipent area; also I'm not sure what extent of hairloss you have; if you don't have a lot of native hair than the concealer won't be as effective in creating the illusion of fullness; you will have to experiment and see how it looks; also, have a story prepared if somebody says something if you want to keep it a secret; sunburn from a vacation etc....IMO I think the main concern at the 1 month point will be redness in the receipent area that people will notice. other than that, you should look relatively close to pre-op conditions depending on if you had any shockloss or not.

dark, As of right now, it is what it is...; however, I ve had 2 ht's and I didn't think the "ugly duckling phase" was that bad. I had a lot of native hair to hide where the grafts were placed so that definitely helps in hiding the surgery; if you go to a top doc, the surgery is inevasive; also, keep your hair long enough to cover the donar scar and nobody will be able to see it; as spur said looking wierd for a few months is worth it in the big picture; nobody was able to tell I had surgery; I was out in public a few days after the surgery hiding it with my native hair; I say don't let that hinder you from moving forward; a year from now, you will be saying to yourself that I should have done it and second guessing yourself; there are definitely reasons to not get a HT, but I would say the waiting period should not be one of the reasons

phoneguy, I did a search and it appears that Dr. Fisher does good work and is ethical; here is a quote from Pat, the publisher of the community, that I found dating to last Feb.: "I visited Dr. Fisher's clinic this summer when I was visiting hair transplant clinics east of the Mississippi. Unfortunately the day I was there he did not have a hair transplant case. But we had a lengthy discussion and I viewed many of his patient photos. He also showed me how he makes his own tiny custom blades. My impression is that he is ethical and conscientious about quality. His credentials and level of experience are also impressive. However, I do not believe he has the capability of doing real large sessions of densely packed grafts. But from my research I'm confident that he is the best in Tennessee and that he does solid follicular unit grafting with good esthetic judgment." However that pricing seems awfully high; 4-5$ per graft is the norm; also, the price per graft drops to around 2.50/graft after 2000 grafts for a lot of docs. I would continue researching; do not let travel determine where you go; the doc I went to paid for my hotel stay; some I think will even help with airfare;

i looked up your past posts; i take it was dr berg? never heard of him

sorry about your HT; do you care to share the docs name and show pre and post op photos? this can help future patients so they do not have to go through what you experienced;

latinlotus, I would not go that low on the temples; Actually I don't think you should lower your hairline much at all; I would have the doc focus on adding density in the hairine area and reinforce with grafts working back where it is starting to thin; also, get on propecia to stave off further loss;

ng2gb summed it up; temple points do add a finishing touch and definitely play a role in framing the face and need to be considered in the hairline construction; what i mean by need to be considered is if the patients temple points are reeceded and due to donor limitations does not have them addressed or addressed minimally then the hairline height needs to compensate for this; it is natural for someone with reeceded temple points to have a higher, more mature hairline; however, it is unatural for someone with reeceded temple points to have a lower, more aggressive hairline; so in summary, temple point construction isn't necessary but adds a finishing touch and further frames the face; and the doctor needs to make sure the hairline and temple points complement one another;

ng2gb, diffuse thinners with a lot of donor hair left are typically good responders to propecia; I would get on it ASAP; also as far as crown loss goes naturally some guys lose hair in their crown and keep their hair line fairly intact; after bobman's first surgery he covered the frontal 1/3 and left the crown alone; I thought it looked natural; the main thing was his face was framed; I know I keep bugging you about it but if you get on propecia I don't think major crown loss will be an issue anyway.....

what ng2gb said summed it up; also, I don't think I would consider an "overly dense packed hairline" as "wastage". As a general rule, more density is better if your individual situation allows--it gives more stying options, is more cosmetically pleasing etc...

with a HT, the main concern with working out is the scar stretching; the grafts are not an issue for they are achored after 8-10 days; so if you had a FUE surgery the scar is a non issue; I would say you could go at it; I would excercise caution and common sense, for the areas are still healing; but I don't think you can hurt anything at this point;

ng2gb, As far as looking like a "freak" when the native hair miniturizes; if you are on propecia it happens very slow, so worse case it just looks like you are naturally thinning a little; it is not drastic, where you all of a sudden look like a freak with dense HT hairs and nothing behind it. Therefore, it gives you time to have another surgery to add more density and nobody will really notice. My last doc, Dr. Avonovitz added density at the hairline between my native hair and nobody was able to tell i even had surgery; my girlfriend who i saw 4-5 days after the surgery forgot I had the surgery and didnt' even mention it; so what i'm trying to say, if you need to go back a few years later to add density without recontstructing the hairline, it is easy to hide as long as the doc doesn't shave the receipent area; so don't let that prevent you from moving forward; it is a non issue;