hair strategy question for falc

[Guest josh - b]

hi Bill and other esteemed members of this network,

 

I've just been reading topher91s post looking for reasons as to why he shouldn't have a transplant. He's obviously been researching quite a lot and like the rest of us is very impressed by Bills ht journey and end results.

The general consensus for somebody in their twenties is that you don't know your future hairloss pattern so therefore its best to hold off as long as you can and get on the meds,but if u do decide on a procedure then be conservative especially when it comes to your hairline. Sound advice.

my question to Bill is this. Obviously your hairloss was quite rapid at a young age and there is no doubt that you were headed for complete baldness. In fact you were almost there. But your end result is fantastic ,complete with a very youthful hairline.

You have the highest profile here and when people like topher91 see your results it certainly causes them to think..'well if Bill, who had such extensive hairloss so young, can achieve such a great result with a youthfull hairline then so can i',

My question, Bill, is there any reason why you were able to to opt for a relatively youthful hairline with such extensive hair loss?

[Guest josh - b]

hi Bill and other esteemed members of this network,

 

I've just been reading topher91s post looking for reasons as to why he shouldn't have a transplant. He's obviously been researching quite a lot and like the rest of us is very impressed by Bills ht journey and end results.

The general consensus for somebody in their twenties is that you don't know your future hairloss pattern so therefore its best to hold off as long as you can and get on the meds,but if u do decide on a procedure then be conservative especially when it comes to your hairline. Sound advice.

my question to Bill is this. Obviously your hairloss was quite rapid at a young age and there is no doubt that you were headed for complete baldness. In fact you were almost there. But your end result is fantastic ,complete with a very youthful hairline.

You have the highest profile here and when people like topher91 see your results it certainly causes them to think..'well if Bill, who had such extensive hairloss so young, can achieve such a great result with a youthfull hairline then so can i',

My question, Bill, is there any reason why you were able to to opt for a relatively youthful hairline with such extensive hair loss?

[EmuSteve]

Whoa. Great question. =)

[MrJobi]

I think the point Bill is stressing is the fact that getting a HT prior to stabilizing your hairloss is dangerous. Example. You have a HT at 26 with a good result. Then you hit 30 and have progressive hairloss. Your HT is a waste as you will have an awwkward look. Propecia is not guaranteed to hault hairloss so you could end up wasting donor hair due to the fact you are losing your native hair around the HT..

[NervousNelly]

Josh,

 

There are 3 things that I would like to say to your question:

 

1. Bill appears to have donor density like a mink or beaver pelt--water probably beads off off it. I have joked about that in the past. Few of us are so lucky.

2. His donor extraction is slightly more risky as it goes very high on the sides. He was informed of the risks however.

3. Bill spent approx. $25,000 so people better be prepared to do so. This is not an easy task. I make a good living and when you have mortgages, car payments, retirement savings, etc. that is a lot of jack.

 

 

Although Bill does have fantastic results and it is tough to find any fault nor should I try, but with any HT there is always the trade off between lower hairline and density. With a higher hairline, likely there might not be any scalp visible in his overhead photo of the midcore region. It is possible that Bill could have looked like Harry Connick Jr.

 

Also, and this is key, Bill is still a very young man. Yes, he looks fantastic right now but he is likely to keep losing hair in the future because he is young. What will things be like in 20 years?? An unknown.

 

Bill--I know you are no idiot and you are aware of any possibilities so I apologize for the above reality but its all for the benefit of the young guys. Sure you understand.

 

 

NN

[Aquarius]

NN; Well stated per usal

[nobuzz4me]

I cannot add much to NN as he is spot on. It is all about the donor density, hair shaft quality and laxity. Bobman is a good example to of that "beaver pelt donor". Those with thin donors cannot acheive Bill's results.

 

Aquarius!! WTF, glad you emerged from your bunker! Good to hear from you.

[NervousNelly]

I just wanted to add that by no means do I mean that Bill went about things with reckless abondon. He researched like hell and planned accordingly. The big difference between Bill and many of the young guys posting is that Bill was looking like he was surely headed towards a NW5-6. The poster on the other thread (Topher)is unknown. For things to look good at current state he would likely have to dense pack the hell out of the frontal hairline to match native hair. That was not a concern for Bill so his frontal area is not a wall of hair and is a natural transition to the rest of his hair. There is a big difference between Bills case and Tophers case.

 

NN

[Bill - Seemiller]

josh,

 

Great question and so far everyone gave you some great advice.

 

I cannot add to the general advice given because it was dead on, but I will answer personally.

 

Clearly there was a trade off. With a lower hairline came a lack of hair density in other areas such as my crown and forelock.

 

That being said, the reason why I opted for a more liberal hairline was because when I started my hair restoration journey, my hairline was already in this position. So ultimately I wanted to keep it in the same place. Some of my choice initially was ignorance (believe it or not I wasn't born knowing all that I do about hair loss ).

 

That being said, if I was to do it all over again, I'd probalby opt for a slightly more conservative hairline and more density in the back.

 

But clearly it is a choice before everyone to make. There really is no right or wrong answer as long as you have the long term game plan in mind.

 

Best wishes,

 

Bill

[Guest josh - b]

Guys, thanks for your responses.

 

NN, well answered.You've cleared that up for me.

Please understand, i'm not comparing Bill to topher or anybody else i was merely playing devils advocate for all the young guys on here who see Bills results and think well if he can, i can, without realising that Bill has exceptional donor characteristics.

Lucky bugger !!

[Bill - Seemiller]

Josh,

 

Believe me, the question is a great one.

 

It looks like we posted at the same time, so look above for my answer if you missed it

[Guest josh - b]

snap i think.

Bill, thanks for your reply.

The hairline placement is something i have to decide on myself soon, so i'm trying to gobble up all relevant info in the interim.

[Topher91]

Good question!

 

And here is the issue. I have seen Bill go from relatively nothing to a great head of hair. Yes, it's not perfect, but its hair he'll have for life and it looks awesome.

 

Personally, I'd rather have a good hairline and some thinning in the back than the other way around because I don't have to look at it or see people looking at my upper forehead during a conversation - I hate that!

 

For the record, I still think I have better donor hair than Bill haha. It's thicker and denser.

[Dr. Ricardo Mejia]

The decision for where the hairline should be placed varies in my practice from patient to patient. There are many factors that I consider and a patients risk for significant loss is always a great concern as well as there expectations for the future. At a younger age, most patients want to maintain their youthful hairline and you have to balance the donor area, the head and skull proportions and the expectations. If you are motivated, you will do the number of procedures necessary to give you maximum density over time as Bill has done. In my experience, if you achieve over 6000 grafts total, you have alot of hair. This is what you need to anticipate if you want to achieve maximimum density and if your donor area will give you 7000-9000 grafts over time. Younger patients in my practice also need to be committed to propecia and rogaine to maintain and prevent future loss. Remember, Your hairline is not just where you want it today but where you want it when you are 40 or 50.

Best of Luck.

Ricardo MEjia MD

[Guest josh - b]

Hey there topher,

Hopefully you've good enough donor density to turn yourself into a gorilla if needed !!

Glad to see that you're going to hold off and give the meds a chance.

I'm 8 years older than you and at your age i considered myself bald even though i had minimal hair loss. This was because all of my friends had full heads of hear.

I've only progessed to a norwood 3 while many of my full haired friends have now lost more hair than me. Thats the unpredictability of hairloss. I'm glad i held off and got on the meds. My hairloss has completely halted so now i'm going to get my hairline worked on.

The meds will probably work very well for u too and in a year or so if u still want to thicken up your hairline then go for it.

 

And in the meantime keep posting here.

Its choc full of wise owls !!

[Guest josh - b]

Dr mejia,

Thank you for your response and very sound advice.

[Bill - Seemiller]

Topher,

 

I hope you do have a thicker donor area than me!

 

Keep in mind however, that donor density is only half the battle. The other is donor laxity which is equally if not more important. The two of them combined will ultimately determine how many follicular unit grafts can be extracted.

 

Cheers,

 

Bill