Effect of a Hair Transplant over a period of 5 years

[Guest]

Hi

 

I Have been reading posts on this site since 6 months. It has been really very useful. Very informative.

 

I am trying to understand the after effects of a HT. Say over a period of 5 years. From what I have read on this forum, a single HT is generally not sufficient for most of the people over a period of couple of years.

 

I understand that going for second or third hair transplant is totally based on indvidual aspirations. However, even after a successful HT the non transplanted hair will be lost over a period of time. Wouldn't this create a patchy effect and force people to go for more hair transplants anyway.

 

I am considering a HT and would like to believe that If I do it once and use propecia or other medication ever after, I will not need anything else. But I know I am wrong.

 

Would the experienced guys throw more light on the HT experience over a period of 5 years.

 

Excuse me for the convoluted questions.

 

cheers,

beachboy

[Guest]

Hi

 

I Have been reading posts on this site since 6 months. It has been really very useful. Very informative.

 

I am trying to understand the after effects of a HT. Say over a period of 5 years. From what I have read on this forum, a single HT is generally not sufficient for most of the people over a period of couple of years.

 

I understand that going for second or third hair transplant is totally based on indvidual aspirations. However, even after a successful HT the non transplanted hair will be lost over a period of time. Wouldn't this create a patchy effect and force people to go for more hair transplants anyway.

 

I am considering a HT and would like to believe that If I do it once and use propecia or other medication ever after, I will not need anything else. But I know I am wrong.

 

Would the experienced guys throw more light on the HT experience over a period of 5 years.

 

Excuse me for the convoluted questions.

 

cheers,

beachboy

[Guest]

You didn't say your age, which is critical to your question. It all depends on the "stability" of your pattern. If you're 50, your pattern is probably very stable. But, if you're 30 and still losing your hair, you will progress to a larger pattern. Also, some people lose it all when they're still young, and some lose it into their 60s. It's best to assume that it will progress, and plan accordling. A good surgeon can help you with that.

[Guest]

Thanks for the reply Gary.

Let me add more information about myself. I am 29 . Hair loss started when I was 21-22 years old. I lived with it for around 5 years.

 

Before 2 years, I went to Hair Club for Men and started with one of their "Plans" with minimum knowledge of what I was getting into. I was *stupid* and they were *smart*.

I am still using their Hair Systems and would like to get out of it.

 

I had a consultation for Hair Transplant to figure out how many grafts I needed and was told that I needed around 1800.

 

With lot of research and some luck I might be able to get a good HT in the next 6 months.

 

What concerns me is that, when I am 35 I might need another HT and 38 another HT and so on.

 

Seems to me that I should be prepared for 2nd or 3rd transplants as the worst case scenario since I am only 29.

 

The other alternative is to throw the hair piece be bald and accept it.

Sounds very easy. Tough to do.

 

 

Thanks anyways.

 

beachboy.

[arfy]

Beachboy

You are asking the right questions! More guys should be thinking about what will happen 5 years down the road.

 

What Norwood level are you? Because 1800 grafts is not going to cover a huge area. You might need a series of surgeries just to accomplish your immediate goals.

[Male Top Model 2 NW]

this is very similar to the other post in this forum, I repeat what I wrotte about having HT when you are young or wait for the future...

 

good opinions but...

 

every person is a different world. We're always speaking about " because in the future, it will happen... " and I wonder if a man who is bald in his twenties will mind and be worried to be bald 30 years later.

 

Who are us to say a WELL INFORMED and DOCUMENTED pacient that him not to have the surgery ??

 

Can we decide by others, other desesperated men, worried, with a depression and tell'em " hey guy, keep with your depression and problems and get a HT when you to be absoulutly bald at 50 y.o. " ??

 

" and what happens now ?? " he can ask...

 

Are we sure this pacient is going to be 50 some day ??

 

Well, I hate the baldness, but I prefer to be BALD at 50 y.o. in spite of be BALD at the twenties, don't you ? so... HT is ethical and NECESSARY ( I repeat: wether the pacient is very well informed and documented about the present and future ).

 

If a pacient KNOWS all the risks and what will happen in the future, the DECISION is ONLY taken by him. He is going to get bald. He is going to have a HT. He is going to live his future.

 

If you are 18, and you are very worried, you are bad at classroom or work due to your bald, you do not feel happy, you do not like to go with girls cause you are afraid not to look cute... why not to do it ? well, if you don't, you will feel bad NOW in the future.

 

If you get a HT you will feel GREAT NOW and if you are getting bald, BAD in the future, but having more HT, to be GREAT again.

 

This is the same if you are losing your teeths, and you begin when you are 18.

What would you do ? waiting for losing all your teeths and get another 32 new ones, or to replace every teeth you lose ?

 

I prefer to have my best look at 18, 22, 26 years old, when I have all my future ahead and I must take the most important decisions in my life, finding my future wive, buying my own flat, choosing my final work... and I want to be safe of myself in this stage of my life with the look I feel confortable.

 

Getting bald at 48 is terrible too, but life does not mean the same, it's important too, but

unfortunaly, we do not live forever, and what it's worse: we do not live forever young.

 

So, choose your best look when you are going to need it, and choose it wisely, ONLY YOU, ONLY YOU AND DON'T OTHERS , KNOW WHEN.

 

" Life only can be understood looking back, although only can be lived looking ahead. "

[arfy]

Male Model

Here is the problem with your strategy, with your suggestion that the young man should "do it now"...

 

A young man will not look right, or be happy, with a hairline that is mature and recessed. However the mature and recessed hairline is the correct choice when getting a hair transplant. For one thing, if a guy is losing his hair at a young age, his odds are very high that he will become totally bald. Since there is not nearly enough donor hair to cover a totally bald head, this young person will possibly end up with a BIZARRE appearance, as his hair continues to fall out over the years. He will have a low "young man's hairline" as an older man, with a huge thinning area (or baldness) behind it, and it will look weird. Nobody should bet their entire future that Propecia or any other drug will work at stopping hair loss forever. Yes, we can all hope that Propecia does work forever, or that new treatments will become available. But it would be foolish to bet your future and your appearance on it!

 

It would also be FOOLISH to trade 5 or 10 years of "looking good" in your twenties, for spending the rest of your life with an abnormal appearance. Guys who gamble with their appearances are being fools, in my opinion. And doctors who allow this, or carry out this wish, are reckless and irresponsible, in my opinion. Agreeing to create future problems in a patient is malpractice, in my opinion.

 

Male Model, if you personally had a hair transplant to restore a young "perfect" hairline, that is your choice. I would NOT recommend it to other people. And you should not tell guys it is the right thing to do, without warning them of the serious risks involved.

 

Someday you will realize that life doesn't end at age 30 or 40, and neither does your desire to look normal!

[NW]

Male model,

 

I too, have had hair transplants am 41 yrs old, and I am very happy with the results. Arfy makes great points, most of what I would agree with is

 

Go Conservative, and all FU.....2 keys to longer term happiness..

 

Niether of my 2 HT's were planted low or abnormally forward, thanks to the advice I rec'd on this site,

 

A healthy HT that results in a NW 3 is very nice hair and grows out real well, I am appx a NW2+ to NW3 "after" the HT's...and the frontal hair is all single FU's lightly feathered naturally backwards. A healthy all FU nw3 that grows well will look outstanding through later years.

 

Had I went to a teenage hairline I would feel like an actor out of "Planet of the Apes", I am a proponant of a nice conservatively placed HT if done right. I am anti HT if too agressive or pluggy. Pat the site host is a great example of a nicely placed hairline, looks great now and will look great for years to come, Dr Shapiro nailed his hairline design rather perfectly !!

 

Be careful guys, good choices = good results. Poor choices = a life of hell.

[Male Top Model 2 NW]

well, it's right but... I said " IF THE PATIENT IS WELL INFORMED " and he knows what happens in the future.

 

I suggest HT for people who is pretty bald ( my words come from a post who the man who asked was 20 y.o. and 5 NW ).

 

 

And I am according with low-high hair line in most of points. The best election is not very low hair line.

 

I have not said that life ends at 30 or 40, else tweenties are much more important than therties, and thirties much more important than forties, and forties....

 

and above all, the patient must know all risks, what he expects to archive, WELL INFORMED !

patients should be read forums like this, and posts before getting HT, but my main strategy is ... if you are young and bald, what can you lose ? your future look ? well, you are losing your actual look now.

[Guest]

beachboy,

Listen to what Arfy is saying. It is true, and I know because I am in that situation. I had HT's in my early 20's in the hairline area and the doctor never metioned what would happen when I lose the hair behind it. Well, I'm 34 now, and I'm scraping to get together the money to have another surgery so I won't look like a freak when that hair falls out.(it's thinning out quite a bit). I did have some years where my hair looked pretty good but I wouldn't have done it if I knew then, what I know now. Not to metion, alot of guys have their head shaved or buzzed these days and it looks pretty cool.

[NW]

ts808,

 

Thanks for sharing, definately a conservative hairline that has nice new healthy grafts can be grown out and will offer very nice forehead and temple coverage anyways. I am so glad I went conservative, I owe that to Arfy's advice and a few others..after 2 ht's I now really believe him, hell just having decent hair at 41 is pretty nice...no need to have a boys hairline.

 

ts808 hopefully you have real strong donor to keep things in place.

 

Merry Xmas to all !!!!!!

NW

[Guest]

NW,

Thanks. It will happen for me in 2003, I'm just getting my ducks in a row (what doc, strip vs fue, and how much of my head to do). Anybody else in this situation?

[Guest]

At 29 you will most likely have a lot more hair loss, so if you get surgery now you must plan for what you will do when you lose more hair. I would not necessarily rule out surgery at your age (as some others here would), but I would proceed very cautiously. I would pose the question to all surgeons you consult with, and see what you feel comfortable with.

One other question you need to answer for yourself is how much density you will be happy with. I'm probably about a NW 6, and 2100 grafts gave me thin coverage that looks fine for a guy my age. But, only you can say whether that would make you happy.

[csofrank]

I am a nw2-3 with hairline receding very very slowly and have not yet had a HT.

 

After reading all the postings, I totally see where you are coming from. I rather for myself to look nice for the next 10-15 years, than to suffer the next 10-15 years just so my balding is stable. And if unfortunately, I ended up looking ridiculous when I am 40, then I will just shave my head at that time. (I wonder will my donor scar still be visible after 10-15 years.) I can accept myself to have a shaved head when I am 40 versus having a semi-bald looking head before the age of 40. My thinking is, if I ever decided to give up and shave my head, then HT can probably delay that decision. In that case, then why not?

 

 

And who knows, maybe newer technology will have come out by then that gives people unlimited amount of donor hair.

 

Anyone with different views are very welcome to share their thoughts.

[vocor1]

Good point about upcoming technology. IMO hair cell cloning will be a reality. There is certainly demand for something like that (read: unlimited hair supply based on time). They can clone animals and maybe humans soon. I think that eventually, hair cells will be cloned as well for the explicit purpose of hair restoration.

Of course, you'd have to donate some hair to have it cloned. The technology and how it will be done is so much in its infancy, I shouldn't even speculate how long it'll take to develop a technology the public will buy in to.

I do believe, however, that the market is there. And we all know that most of the time a demand does indeed produce a supply. I guess we'll see.

[Guest]

Take a look at what I'm dealing with now, at 38 in this post (What to do? More HT or get rid of it all? See pics).

http://www.hair-restoration-info.com/groupee/forums?a=tpc&s=5696015661&f=3466060861&m=2096016502

 

I advise the following:

1. Continue to educate yourself on what's available now, what is being tested for approval, and on the future research direction for this field. This will aid your decision-making.

 

2. Get opinions only from the best doctors, many of whom are carefully reviewed here. One thing is apparent on this site - that one can get latest-technology service at a decent price, whereas going to one of the HT "syndicates" tends to result in lesser quality and at a higher price.

 

3. Play devil's advocate with the doctors (don't be rude, though). Essentially, approach the problem from all angles before deciding that HT is the solution.

Again, review my photos and those of others with my extent of hair loss. At 20, I was incredibly concerned about my appearance, and never dreamed I would lose so much hair. Now at 38, I realize that what's IN MY HEAD has gotten me where I am, professionally and otherwise.

[Big It Up]

you have to think down the road....I have had 6 HT's done...the most recient was to fix the old 1990"s lack of FU's HT's. you are gonna always want more but you have to think when I am 40 or 50 am I gonna look right!? I think I look good now, or at least as best as possible..as long as my hair isnt wet!!!!!.only go FU no mini or micro grafts....they are the 8 track players of HT's...listen to us guys that have spent tens of thousands already...after a while you run out of donor hair...it does not matter that I still have lots of $$$ to spend.... good luck

[bizzybiz]

wow ...this was so informative and making me 2nd guess my choice to bring my hairline down and lighly sprinkle hair where there is already some while slowly losing (i'm in very early stages age 29..n3vertex...probably end up a n5a)

 

this is very informative for younger stages...thx for all the posts on here