3,500 FUE w/ Dr. Armani

[something]

Becuase if he was really hampered by "constantly dealing with his follicular issues", then judging from his pre-ops, it might be a case of BDD, not MPB.

 

I think that Armani is a cheat, plain and simple. Hair Transplantation is not the same as all cosmetic surgery. It is a progressive disorder. If the man had no issue of MPB, then great for him. But if he does, then this is clearly unethical for a 27yo.

 

Also, why would you exchange your natural god given hairline, and his looked about having 80 to 90 percent original density, with a transplanted one. You can never recreate what was first natural. It might look cosmetically appealing, but it will not compete with a full natural hairline. Sorry, but thats the truth.

 

People get Hair Transplants becuase they do not have hair, where once there was. Rarely do people get transplants for pure cosmetic reasons, ie: lowering an already full hairline. But when they do, there should be very little risk because a: they do not have MPB, b: they are at the right age where the balding stopped. BTW, taking propecia does not mean that balding disappears, sorry but thats the truth, it is in the literature. MPB will continue, albiet a bit slower, but its still around.

 

I hope the poster the best, but if it is an obsession for this man, then nothing will make it better. BDD seems to be more prevelant in these forums with younger posters, ones who are especially intersted in Armani.

 

The man(Armani) is making lots of money, doing procedures that are not necessary in the first place, and decieving the younger patient.

[hairme07]

Hairme clearly understands the procedure and is willing to accept the *potential*, down-the-road problems; he is placing a premium on his current and upcoming years and feels a strong desire to get the absolute most out of them and not be hampered by constantly dealing with his follicular issues....at the same time, future & long-term problems are mitigated by the very real chane that another breakthrough will occur.

 

thanatopsis_awry,

Couldn't have said it better myself brother. Thanks for chiming in here and helping me explain to others.

 

OK, here's are some questions--do you believe what your doctor has to say about your donor reserves? Or were you willing to overlook the hype because of the pictures you saw of other guys on the Web? My sarcasm has a point which all of the thin-skinned Armani kids are always glossing over: why is hope and sincere belief about what you hope will happen in the future part of your master plan? More than likely you've already used up half of your donor on a head that shouldn't have been transplanted in the first place.

 

L'Anonyme,

 

1) Yes I believe he is closer than your estimate (7,000 grafts.) I believe I have at least 12,000 grafts total for use. But this depends from person to person. I have thick donor hair. I saw a patient while in Toronto that had 10,000 FUE extracted. My donor hair was thicker than his and his extractions were undetectable! He was a Norwood 6 or worse before his operations.

2) Armani does have hype attached to his name, but I would like to think for good reason. I know this board is a little more conservative than the other hairloss boards, that is why I love this place. People actually care about helping one another. I have seen around 6-7 patients of Dr. Armani. Not once was I not on awe. His is a artist. That is the best way to put it. He has more art skills in designing natural looking hairlines in this business.. I don't think anyone will even argue with that. But another thing, you know what I notice as a common trend? People that have met with, spoken too or seen other Armani patients love the guy. Most of the people on here that despise him haven't even seen a patient from him. It is a downright sin that he isn't in the coalition of surgeons on here. But I understand the argument to why he isn't. What some people are forgetting is, these hairlines that people are getting are what they want. I have researched for years about my choice of surgeon, this was not a uninformed decision. I didn't really want to bring this up, but I for one had the surgery for business reasons. I am going into broadcast meteorology. Do you notice a common trend amongst weathermen? Different people have them for different reasons. I think it is smart to plan for the future, but in my case I wanted while I was young for all kinds of reasons. There are so many things happening at my age, You are looking for an attractive mate, job opportunities, interviews etc. A good hairline gives me confidence, in return this shows others (women, possible employers) that I am a confident person.

3) Hope and sincere belief is part of my master plan because of timing. I am amongst the age group that is at the cusp of a cure. Do you truly believe there will not be something in 10 years from now? Be it BHT, cloning, meds. So many things are unfoldinf right now that in my eyes, the odds of all of these things stiking out is like 5-10%. I am playing the odds. Lets think where I will be in 10 years. At the age of 37, I will be married and already have chosen the career that I will most likely have for the rest of my life. I know older people will argue this, but isn't having hair in your youth a little bit more important than in your elder years. People are just more accepting to older people balding than people my age and especially people 8-10 years younger. Don't take this as a stab, I feel for all balding me. Balding isn't right. It can really take a toll on an individual emotionally.

 

Something,

 

Armani is not a cheat. He doesn't plan for the future as well as other docs, thats a given. But don't we want to at least have the choice, have the choice of getting a hairline back that we once had?

You can never recreate what was first natural. It might look cosmetically appealing, but it will not compete with a full natural hairline. Sorry, but thats the truth.

 

This is where you are incorrect. He gives you the same density and if you please, the exact same hairline you had. I have seen his dense hairlines, they are amazing. Pictures do not do these hairlines justice at all. They are thick and designed beautifully. My hairline has a bit of receeding crafted into it. Rarely does Armani give anyone a perfect hairline. And the 80-90 percent density you see in my pictures is really 40-50%. I am a diffuse thinner. Luckly for me though, Dermatch works wonders with the hair behind my hairline. That is the single only good thing about diffuse thinning, concealers work well with them... With a strong hairline and Dermatch I believe I can wait out a cure. Call me optimistic, but I am laying all my chips that there will be a cure in the near future!

[NervousNelly]

Hairme07,

 

You have thought things thru well and I believe have made an informed decision. I respect you for that. You have made some very valid points that hopefully some of us conservatives on this forum will at least see both sides of the topic. One thing for sure, you will get one hell of a HT and several years of increased confidence and that is invaluable.

 

NN

[something]

Hi Hairme07,

 

I didnt mean to be critical towards you (Armani i believe is a cheat, i have researched this enough to garner my opinion of him), but regardless of density, it a transplanted hairline will never look like your original hairline.

 

It will look nice cosmetically, but never the same. Almost all cosmetic surgeries are the same however. A boob job or a nose job can look nice, but they will never be as nice as a god given nose.

 

I have seen these Armani hairlines in person, and yes they are thick, but they are not the same as your own. I'm sorry, but this i believe to be true. And a few i have seen that look like very thick wall of hair transplated hair.

 

A hairtransplant with 80-90 percent density is not the same as your own hair at 80-90 percent density. They might come close, but they are not the same. Anyone trained to spot it can.

 

There was also a poster, BigKuash who went to Armani, and came to the conclusion that a transplant will never give you what nature did.

 

Good luck nevertheless, and hope it turns out like you wished. If however you have been or are obsessed with your hair in ways that seem to be extreme, please i advise you and others to look into BBD.

 

From reading these forums, it seems that this is never addressed and i certainly think that a number of people fall into this catergory.

 

I also think that maybe your pre op pics created this confusion possibly. But from what i can see, it looks like you just traded a nice hairline with a tranplanted one. With the density transplanted, many native hairs will be transected. It looks like a trade of, and this is why i have a problem with Armani.

 

Like B-Spot said, half the number of grafts would have gotten you to the same place with your native hairs in tack.

 

Anyways, of course its your life and your decisions, so

 

Best of luck.

 

And i think that its going to look nice when its done.

[hairme07]

NervousNelly,

 

I couldn't agree more that confidence is invaluable.

 

Something,

 

I also hope my response wasn't one of these "if you don't like my ht go burn in hell." I like input be it negative or postive. I don't think everyone on this forum knows how much I appreciate all the information that you guys bring to the table. The only reason I am keeping a blog of my progree is b/c I feel I at least owe this forum that much. Keep up the great information (and I agree on the transected hairs bit, but I don't think it will be a graft for graft trade off or Armani would be out of business!)

 

Best, Hairme

[calvinmd]

Before MPB really kicked in, I probably couldn't even have picked out my own hairline out of a lineup. I (and the rest of the world) was just looking at my gorgeous HAIR.

 

I say SCREW the tiny differences between a natural 90/cm hairline and a transplanted 90/cm hairline. Just get something visually-resembling your hair's orignal density back, get something visually-resembling a normal-looking hairline, and get on with your life. I guarantee you that nothing else will matter or even be noticed as long as that "fake" hairline is growing awesome real hair out of it.

 

 

No offense to anyone in particular, but some of these hairline discussions make me wonder if the entire HT community is a little body-dysmorphic.

 

 

-----------------------------------------------

[thanatopsis_awry]

Something (or others),

 

can you explain what you mean by "BBD"?, I'm pretty intrigued.

[L'Anonyme]

Hairme, Thanks for your very thoughtful responses. I think Nervous said it best--you've obviously given this a lot of thought, and I hope it all works out for you (and that you're right about an imminent cure!).... Just out of curiosity, does Armani use densitometry to assess your actual donor density before the transplant? I ask this b/c you said you had thick donor hair, but sometimes appearances can be deceiving (not implying that's true in your case). Someone like londonlad, for example, appeared to have a very poor donor but his densities ended up being off the charts (130-150 FU/cm2). I know a lot of doctors just inspect the donor by sight and don't know actual densities until they cut you open. How does Armani determine these donor estimates?

 

Thanatopsis, I think people are referring to body dysmorphic disorder (BDD).

[hairme07]

L'Anonyme,

 

You know that bugs me that I didn't ask him about this. I am sure he has to use something for his strip surgeries but with my FUE he didn't measure my density. That is one of 3 questions I have found out I sould have asked that I didn't. I also wasn't very proactive in the hairline design stage which at first I wish I was but now I am glad I kept my mouth shut b/c I am sure I would have designed something that looked very unnatural. My hair used to dull scissors at the barber shop, My hairdresser use to complain about this all the time, my donor hair is still this thick. When the doctors were extracting they kept commenting on how good my donor was (given this could have been just small talk.) But I would like to have my donor density measured in the near future just to see how many grafts I could possible truly have for transplantation (which in all honesty I have no clue what the number would be.) I was amazed at Dr. Armani skills wit numbers though. WHen he was making the implant incisions. We had a full conversation for the entire 20-30 mins of the 3,500 cuts. I asked if I was messing his count up. He said he doesn't have to count individually anymore. He counts by the hundreds. HE can look as 100 incisions and just know that they are 100 incisions w/ out counting. I was impressed when he nailed the number 3,500 exactaly on the nose.

[mohamed]

hy .. plz i wish to know the price per grafts (fue ) with dr. armani ??

[Stingray]

hy .. plz i wish to know the price per grafts (fue ) with dr. armani ??

 

Trust me... you don't want to know. Do some research on these boards. There are numerous accounts of Dr Armani's poor results (mine included) and many many more patients who have not come forward with their bad results.

 

Avoid!

[superice]

Trust me... you don't want to know. Do some research on these boards. There are numerous accounts of Dr Armani's poor results (mine included) and many many more patients who have not come forward with their bad results.

 

Avoid!

 

Hello Stingray,

 

Can you please be more specific with regards to your bad experience with Dr Armani

 

Thanks man

[SkinUpPinUp]

Hello Stingray,

 

Can you please be more specific with regards to your bad experience with Dr Armani

 

Thanks man

 

Click on the link on his signature. Or look at his previous posts. I'm pretty sure he's gone into detail on this and various other forums.

 

Just trying to save him having to repeat himself.

[superice]

Thanks

[Reverse the Curse]

stingray

good to see you protecting the newbies. i see dr b has helped with fixing your hairline. i haven't been on in years & happened to see this.

 

i'm still happy with my results from dr hasson & propecia has helped to keep what i have left. i'll try to keep up with your progess.

good growing

 

rtc

[Jotronic]

RTC,

 

Holy Moly. A blast from the past!!! I'm glad to see you back:)

[john148]

Did you start taking propecia immediately after the HT??

[Balboa]

Stay away from Armani trust me too i also got butchered and left with nothing but a hole in my wallet.

[Stingray]

stingray

good to see you protecting the newbies. i see dr b has helped with fixing your hairline. i haven't been on in years & happened to see this.

 

i'm still happy with my results from dr hasson & propecia has helped to keep what i have left. i'll try to keep up with your progess.

good growing

 

rtc

 

 

Hey RTC

 

Only just saw your post today. Nice to hear from you. Glad to hear your hair is still looking good.

 

Yes, Dr Bisanga has pretty much fixed me up. I am 3 and half months out of my second FUE procedure with him and things are looking pretty good.

 

SR

[Balboa]

bump* Stay away from armani!

[sunset]

Hi Balboa,

Do you still check this? I had a poor result from Armani too. Would be good to chat. Please message me. Cheers