Gorpy

Hi Userdefined, To add things to your signature, click on the "Go" button at the top of the page, highlight "personal zone", and then click profile. In there click on view/edit complete profile. There you will see a Signature section. Just add your stats there and Submit.

Another way to get rid of stubborn scabs is to place a little neosporin on them at night and in the morning they'll be extremely soft. They'll come off with your morning shampoo.

Hello Bayer, Thanks for posting your pictures. I have to tell you I'm a little surprised at the level of redness and what appear to be scabs at the 24 day point. Also, at the 48 day point. Redness is common but scabs at that time are quite unusual. 3500 grafts is a lot of grafts for a relatively small area, so I can understand that you would get quite a bit of shock loss. Do you have any post op pics (like one or two days)? Thanks

As usual Hairbank makes some great points. How many of those would go into the crown? I think you could easily put 2700 in the front only. I had 2700 on my first HT. Then recently went back for another 1000. If I had it to do over again, would I opt for 3700 in one session? Surprisingly, probably not. I liked my more conservative approach. I was more comfortable with it and it allowed for a strategic follow up that worked out well for me. I have fine hair characteristics. So 3700 naturally occurring FU's most likely would not have made me happy either. My second HT we strategically placed many multi-haired Fu's to add more density. The point is, it's a little more complicated that just numbers alone. Dr. Epstein's strategy is a valid strategy. But I would ask him how many are going into the crown and how conservative he is going to be with the hairline, any temple closure, etc.

Clinics will only post their best results. Anyone that thinks otherwise is being naive. Personally I think Dr. Keene produces the most natural results of any doctor, even Dr. Shapiro. I know that is a bold statement, but I believe her hands on approach to graft placement works to achieve a more natural result. Dense packing is not the only factor in producing great hairlines (obviously). I think everyone would agree with that. So what is it? It's a combination of artistic placement, transition into the temples (critical) and yes, graft placement into the proper incision and at the proper angle. Some would say a graft is a graft and it can only go in one way. Not true. Of course this is just my opinion. But as you can see from my posting history, I usually try not to overly promote Dr. Keene. I don't want to seem like her personal salesman. But, I felt like expressing my opinion on this one. Gorp

Yes, graft counts would be helpful. Could you also provide a breakdown of the hairs per graft, i.e. number of 1's, 2's, 3's and 4's. Thanks

Generic Proscar comes in a perfectly cylindrical pill that I find very easy to cut into fourths with a pill cutter. Yes, the non-generic proscar was difficult due to the non-symmetrical pill.

Ms.Nguyen, If your insurance will cover you at one doctor, it will probably cover you with another doctor. Have you looked into that? As others have stated, be very careful in your choices.

One thing I am noticing is that there is a definite effort to please the customer with harder, thicker hairlines. You see doctors bragging about 50, 60 and 70 or more grafts per cm2. They are obviously talking about 1 and 2 hair grafts at that density (I think it is virtually impossible to plant larger 3 and 4 hair grafts at that density), and of course, you would only use 1 and 2 hair grafts in the hairline area. As the need for 1 hair grafts rises with rising density demands, doctors have no option but to split more of the larger grafts.

Hmmm... I wonder what you could mean?

Pushing 40, That looks great. I think we'll have to start calling you Pushing 30 now.

Hi Glock, You had a relatively small number of grafts covering a large area. You will have a bit of a thin look with that. Especially if I understand you correctly, your doctor split your 3's and 4's to create more coverage with 1's and 2's. It is typical to have a rapid explosion of growth early (for some people) and then it appears to slow down after that. You are still early, and should expect more growth. It probably won't happen as fast now. You'll slowly thicken over the next 6 to 12 months.

I am 51 also. My hairline was brought down to 5.5 cm. At that distance it is still far from a 25 year old's hairlne. It just depends on your level of hair loss and how much donar you have to spare.

Yes, 7 days is a good time to start. It won't hurt the transplanted hair and will probably help them somewhat. There have been varying opinions on Rogaine. You'll just have to try it and decide for yourself.

Rogaine is a vascular stimulator and the idea is that it "jump starts" the new hair growth. I think it would have this effect in the hairline/temples as well as other parts.

I had the exact same thing happen. It did eventually all even out.

I knew you were being funny NN and that was my lame attempt at being funny in return. HT and hotties... it has a ring to it.

I think so. There are some extenuating circumstances. It's never a straight yes/no answer. I've seen some HT's placed high on the head due to donar limitations and baldness levels, yet, they appeared too dense with a hairline that was too hard. Placement of the hairline along with softness play a key role. Of course, other factors like age come into play.

Thanks Neptune. You have quite a bit of existing hair. Are you on Fin or Minox in attempt to preserve it? Looks like Dr. Epstein did a good job of going in between your hair so as not to create too much shock loss.

Hi Neptune, That looks nice. I like the overhead shot. Your hair kind of looks like mine. I like Dr. Epstein's work. In the coming weeks, if you get a chance, could you query Dr. Epstein for the breakdown of how many 1, 2, 3 and 4 hair grafts you received?

NN, please tell your wife that was very insensitive ... can you post her pics anyway Hey, let's start a trend. I posted a picture of my wife in my photo album.

That's it exactly Folica. Bushy, your hair looks great. Pushing 40, yes, you were right about your wife BTW - my wife is a hottie too.

Hi hairtechnician, I'm glad to see that Dr. Keene is updating her site. Those new pictures look very good. It's amazing what can be done with fewer grafts in todays over commercialized HT industry.

Thanks Pat. I was starting to feel like a punching bag. The whole issue got off track. The Shapiro clinic has set the standard for providing detailed hair counts. Will other leading clinics like H&W step up and do the same? If they would, I'm sure the lesser known clinics would also be pressured to do so. I hope to see that.

To quickly answer that question, Dr. Keene throws in the few extra at no charge (like all docs do), so they were really not even counted. It's kind of like, well, we've got 45 extra here, let's find a place for them. Since Dr. Keene is there placing all the grafts, she can quickly do some stick and place. That's a good topic for another thread - how do any of us know how many grafts we really received? It is time for this thread to die. In the interest of peace on the board and out of respect for Jotronic, I am going to say that the conclusion I drew was based on the data at hand. That data was inadequate, so my conclusion was probably erroneous. If we can get more data in the future that would be much appreciated. Until then I am going to agree with Joe's statement that my conclusion was wrong. Thread closed.