Little help please, advice badly needed!

[careabouthair]

Hi there folks,

 

Finding this site a great resource for my will I or wont I HT research! So fair play to all of you that contribute, should know how much you are helping people!

 

Anyway, i am a 25 year old male and have been considering HT for couple of months. Think I have pretty much decided on the surgeon I will use but was hoping for views/opinions/experiences on:

 

1. Work and people!

I don't have long hair and it is clear I have a receding hairline, it is already significantly receded (see pic attached). If I were to have a HT I would not want to shave receipient area (is this possible, can hair be placed between existing hair?). How long should I be taking off work to be in a position to go back without people noticing HT?

2. Money

If I have an operation (probably as many as grafts as possible to frontal hairline and back towards crown) am I resigning myself to an ongoing expense in that one opeartion is rarely enough? As it is a bit of an expense I'm sure those of you that had one will admit!

 

All feedback greatly appreciated, pics are attached!

 

Cheers

[careabouthair]

Just another pic, would only let me add one to each message! Sorry!

[mmhce]

Welcome to our community!

 

"is this possible, can hair be placed between existing hair?"

 

Yes. But many people believe that it is easier/quicker work for the surgeon to work on a closer shorn scalp.

 

"am I resigning myself to an ongoing expense in that one opeartion is rarely enough?"

 

MPB advances in everyone afflicted with it. You will need more transplants. Megasessions are more applicable for those who are megabald (NW6).

 

If your like me NW3, you will need about 3000 grafts. As a general rule you will need 1000 grafts per degree baldness on the NW scale.

 

Additionally donor supply is finite and needs to be used sparingly.

 

Though you don't have a lot of angles from your pics, you have temple recession so you will need to have that reconstructed too.

 

Check the NW chart and see where you stand, and then multiply the degree baldness by 1000.

[careabouthair]

mmhce thank you very much for such a speedy response and advice, I will definitely check the Norwood scale and use that as a guide to the amount I need!

 

I would be reluctant to shave my head for the transplant due to my job and as I want to hide the transplant from people and put any new growth down to the meds! Can only hope there is not much shock loss. I will see what the surgeon thinks of my intentions to not shave my head! Have you heard much about Dr Jean Devorye in Belgium? Had to cancel a HT with him due to family bereavement and have decided to use the opportunity to be fully educated on it before rescheduling it again!

 

Do you know much about the scar and its impacts? I have read that it tends to stretch? Does the amount that can be taken from a donor area also depend on the individual or is there a general amount of transplants you can take from the back of the head?

 

Thanks again!

[Raphael84]

Care about hair.

 

I believe ourselves to be similar hairloss patterns and are each 25 years of age. I suggest that you continue to research as much as possible. Especially if you are reluctant to shave your recipant area, then you must find out which docs will undergo surgery in these circumstances. Some docs definately do, whilst many more insist that the area is shaven. Also, dont allow your location choose your doc for you. Many Northern American clinics are cheaper than European clinics and will also reimberse you for much of your travel expenses.

 

Having said that, Dr Jean Devroye seems to be a real gentleman. He is very helpful and has all the time in the world for you, whilst definately having the patients long term plan as his main goal. I have never met him personally but have many e-mail correspondance and a few personal telephone conversations. For me, I just needed to see more patient results.

 

Good luck on your path!!!

[mmhce]

I have chosen to do my transplant with a non-Coalition doctor, because the I have seen the patients operated on and the results are good.

 

You may opt to go without a Coalition doctor if you so desire, but the majority of responses you will get on this forum will be against such a move.

 

The standards for acceptance of a surgeon on this forum is VERY high (as it should be).

 

ALL scars stretch with time, but ALL scars DO fade. There is a difference.

 

The amount of follicles that can be extracted does vary from person to person and is dependent on density of the donor area as well as scalp laxity.

[careabouthair]

Thanks again for this!

 

Raphael have you gone through with the surgery? And if so what surgeon did you use? As we have similar circumstances I would be interested to know your experiences! I met with Dr Devorye for a consultation and you are right, gives a lot of peace of mind and is very professional!

 

Mmhce thanks for all the advice! I would certainatly be also interested to know your experiences as I think getting to know other peoples experience and advice is the best way to make an educated decision! If you have a blog on here you might let me know as I dont see one. If not then thanks for all the advice! It is great to see that this site demands such a high standard in their surgeons!

 

Cheers lads

[MrJobi]

Hi

 

I think you will need much more that 3000.. In my opinion 4000 for a restoration .. You could get it done in one shot if you are an ideal candidate .. I would be careful in who you choose..

 

Do your research ,you only have 1 set of donor hairs

[Raphael84]

As of yet, the answer is no. Im just waiting for a confirmation of a date with Dr Rahal of Ottawa. Scheduling for maybe November time this year. Check out some of his results. He is achieving some rave reviews right now. My current pre HT pics are in the results from patients section, if you would like to check out my pattern and compare. I will for sure keep you updated in the months ahead when I a have undergone surgery.

[latinlotus]

careabouthair:

 

 

1. A few doctors from the Coalition are not requiring you to shave, Cooley, Keene, Shapiro etc...When can you go to work unnoticed? depends on your healing, but if you don't have to shave, a week should be ok. My HT with Dr. Cooley was largely unnoticeable after 3 or 4 days. However, my hair loss is a bit less than yours.

 

 

 

2. With your hair loss, i would expect that one HT may be ok. Maybe another one might be required in 10 or 15 years. Make sure you take finasteride to keep the remaining hair. I think you will need at least 3000 grafts.

[Zup]

Hello Careabouthair,

 

First, in that hair loss does not discriminate, every patient reports back somewhere after doing this procedure and keeping it quiet is not unique to you. You will not need to cut your hair, you are clearly thin enough to work down betweeen the hair no differently then if we were to shaved it, the space is sufficent. If your self concious, which again most people are, you are not the exception. You take off approximately 7-10days you should be fine. The first week it looks like a crew cut with a rash, but very clean, at 6 days with shampoo on the scalp you can start with mild pressure rubbing in a circular motion this will generally take off approx a third of the debris a day, usually by 9 days nothing look surgerical and you can wean back into work. In your case, in that you would not need to shave, you could comb the hair forward and be in pretty good shape.

 

In general, anyone persuing transplantation should always prepare for more work. You can hope you don't need more work and do things to hedge (use meds to work against progression and do as much work as you can safely per session) against more work, but you always need to prepare as if you may need more and if you don't that's great.

 

In your case because you are thin enough to distrubute through at least the whole front half, if you did go on to lose all the rest of your native hair the work could stand on its own. It would look as if you just went bald on your crown and retained hair in the front, this is a natural pattern that occurs in nature. You may not like this pattern, but it is natural.

You would not need more work, but you may want it...it would be your choice.

 

Last, because of your age and the possibly to have excessive hair loss, in that this is common with men that start thinning young. I would be a bit cautious in being to aggressive with your donor...3000FUs would provide a night and day change from what you have now. You would move from no frontal foundation to an establish frontal foundation, with nice shape, structure, symetry, a uniform foundation that will hide the scalp and an established hairline that would frame the face. You can allows beef it up a little more, with out using anymore hair then you have too. Don't get a head of your self. I use an anlogy: in a third world country their not looking for the BIG SCREEN TV, they want food, shelter and clothing. When you don't even has a base or a foundation, don't think about maxing out and pulling out all the stops. As much as we would love to get you back hair for hair to where you were before thinning, because of the major valuables this is not feaible. So the objective is to achieve a result that looks natural now and down the road and prevent you from ever looking bald, because that very likely is the alternative??¦.Regards

[careabouthair]

I realise I have said it already folks but really can't thank you enough for sharing all this advice!! Many thanks for taking the time!

 

Raphael that would be great, I would love to stay close to your progress since our situations are so similar. I do want to research the area a lot so am unsure as of yet when I will be going ahead with it but should I end up doing it before November I will be sure to share my experience! Do you plan on shaving the receipient area out of interest? Based on the posts on this thread it doesnt seem to be necessary which is great!!

 

Latinlotus I love the blog! Great pics and a lot of information! Great to see it appears to be coming along very well also! I am in Europe (Ireland to be exact where there is no real choice in this area so might be going with Dr Devorye in Belgium). Is Dr Cooley in the states? I would be eager to go with a doctor that does not require shaving of the receipent area and the quicker the healing the better! Looks like Dr Cooley is very good. I think some surgeons in the states also refund travel expenses.

 

Zup thanks so much for the very detailed post! Lot of very useful information there. I plan on taking 3 weeks off post surgery as I have a lot of holidays built up anyway! That should allow a lot of time for things to go back to normal or at least to a stage where it is easily covered by native hair. Also agree that would be prudent to assume another surgery will be necessary and then if thats not the case then I will consider it a bonus! I am just happy once I dont pay a lot of money for a surgery only to have to have another a few months down the line when I wont be in a position to afford it. As it stands I have enough set aside for a HT of about 3000 grafts plus travelling expenses! I do like the anology though, and its useful in a situation like this! I am happy at the fact that I currently have enough for 3000+ grafts so I can opt to go with that full amount if I choose too. I will agree this and consult with the surgeon on this as well as I would hope to have a lot of input form them on what they feel will work best for me.

 

What should someone considering a HT look for in a surgeon? I have seen a great deal of before and after pics from the one I am thinking of going with but am not sure what else I should be looking for. He is also a coalition member and Pat on this site went to see him operate and was very impressed with his work. Should this be enough evidence to consider him a very good surgeon? Which is what I am looking for!

 

Thanks again folks.

[Zup]

careabouthair,

 

We know Dr Devorye very well, his techique is state of art in regard to instructmentation and detail, he hosted a major conference last year and displayed his work with a live surgery. If you consult with him and you like what he has to show you, what he has to say and your comfortable, I would say you could stay put in the UK and feel confident with his work. And, mention Shapiro Medical says, Hi...REgards, Matt