The FUTURE...

[Eman]

Looking for thoughts about the long term ramifications of having a HT. Not necessarily the "It changed my life..." comments, but more of what people's thoughts are for where they will be in the future (10 or 20+ years down the road) with regards to their HT.

 

Yes, many HTs look awesome today and people feel as though their loss may have stabilized. But, then you see pictures of celebrities specifically those that had "seemed" to have solid heads of hair through their twenties, thirties and even forties only to become NW5+. I understand many hid their loss prior to going out in public or had make-up artists hide it for movie roles, shows, etc,.

 

I just feel like if I go through with it now, I am a NW4v or so, I will have this island of hair in the front 2/3 of my head at some point and have gaps on the sides where it has subsequently receded (not even talking about the crown. I can look at family history and both grandfathers, who I knew, had great heads of hair as did two of my great grandfathers that I knew (basically all the males in my family have little or no loss). My dad, however, is the only one with any kind of loss, not even his brother has any.

 

So, what are your thoughts about the future of your HT? I know, possible hair multiplication may be the answer, but what if they are never able to do accomplish it?

 

Eman

[Bill - Seemiller]

Eman,

 

Great topic and thanks for starting it.

 

Hair loss is progressive and unpredictable, no doubt about it.

 

Your very concerns are exactly why it is extremely important to keep an available donor hair supply in the event that additional hair loss continues.

 

The implication here is that those who think their hair restoration journey is completely over may be kidding themselves. Future hair transplantation may be needed if/when additional hair loss occurs.

 

I am contemplating a third hair transplant but have been reluctant simply because I MIGHT need to keep my available donor hair for the area below the crown in the event that Propecia stops working for it.

 

Great discussion.

 

I'd like to hear additional input on this as well.

 

Bill

[fixing-it]

Bill,

You stated you are contemplating a 3rd HT,Didn't you already have your 3rd one in 2006.I guess since you are now over the hill your'e memory is slipping.

 

P.S. only 2 more weeks until I see Hasson.

[balody]

shouldnt that be fourth Bill

[fixing-it]

Hey Balody,

Dont forget Bill recently turned 30,Now he's an old timer like a lot of us on here,thus old & forgetful.

[Bill - Seemiller]

Whoops! Did I say 3rd? I meant 4th .

 

I am getting old and forgetful, what can I say?

 

Bill

[balody]

fixing it,tell me about it!the times i read a week old post and think "ill comment on that" only to find i already did a week before!but seriously i think Bill can be excused the odd hicup with all the defending of this great site he is having to do lately.

keep up the good work Bill,i think most of the posters on here know the score.

[stevo]

Yep good topic Eman.

 

I have had 5600 grafts planted over the entire top of my head and I should'nt have to worry about any of that hair falling out. But the problem is for me as Bill has said is if you lose any more hair ie under the crown or even if the horseshoe of hair gets smaller. I have about 1000 grafts left in the bank and these will be getting kept for a rainy day if this was to happen.

[its752]

Eman, It really comes down to one thing: Using your donor hair efficiently over the years and a great doctor knows the importance of that. The doctor has about 7000-8500 grafts to work with and that definitely goes a ways and in the worst scenario if you're left with some area slightly missing, for me, that would be a small price to pay for having hair on your head the majority of your life, don't you think?

[Eman]

I agree its752, I would rather have hair on my head for the majority of my life. But what if my "stabilization" rapidly deteriorates in ten years? Once you go down the HT road one needs to be prepared for additional surgeries, which I am kind of fine with. But do I want to do this again when I turn 40? I don't know. That is why I want to hear thoughts like yours and others that have had a HT and their thoughts on the future of their HTs.

 

Any other thoughts...

[its752]

Eman, First of all I want to let you know that the journey in and of itself is the fun and exciting part!! You may look back on this post some day and laugh at the idea that you thought you may not have the energy or care at 40 to want to get another HT, but I'm letting you know, unless you just throw in the towel completely on living that won't be the case at all!!

[Aquarius]

Great thread starter E . Normally a doctor would provide you this but eh.

No where else my brothers.

Eman , keep asking intellegent questions because inquiring minds need to know.

 

P.s. Bill are you getting to the gym at all? sitting on your ass all day will cause those bresticusiz to shrink and give you a fat arse ala Jotronic. Kidding to both as jo is now absent that funny sob and no doubt upto 285 on the bench. Heads up!!

[notgoing2gobald]

Eman, great topic. This is something that has worried me too (ending up with an "island" of hair on top with moats of bald skin around the sides) and NEVER seems to get discussed on here.

 

As you say, in the best of possible worst events this would happen later in age (i.e. 60's +) BUT, BUT, what if it happened way earlier? I don't want to end up looking like a circus act either.

 

Some individuals end up with such extensive hair loss that they are not even candidates for a ht. Whose to say who will end up that way and when? I wish there was a poll conducted among men who were NW7's and have extreme loss which stated their hair loss progression relative to age progression (i.e. NW4 by 30, NW5 by 40., etc, etc...) Never heard of any such thing but think it would prove to be VERY useful/insightful to say the least. I know guys in their late 50's to early 60's who are so bald on the sides and back that NO doctor could pull ANY damn grafts out of their...

 

I was VERY concerned about this very issue in the past and even posted on it, but NEVER got any decisive or conclusive responses....too bad.

 

All in all, I think that in the worst case scenario that you go forward with a ht and end up with an island of hair on top and extensive baldness it will more then likely be in your golden years (60's+). So the benefit is worth the risk in my opinion.

 

Would really like to hear from some docs on this one though.

[Bill - Seemiller]

P.s. Bill are you getting to the gym at all? sitting on your ass all day will cause those bresticusiz to shrink and give you a fat arse ala Jotronic. Kidding to both as jo is now absent that funny sob and no doubt upto 285 on the bench. Heads up!!

 

I'm pleased to say that I am indeed getting to the gym, but not as much as I'd like. It's time for me to get serious again soon .

 

By the way, my max bench was 335. Though I am thinking it's more about 295 right now.

 

Sorry...back to topic!

 

Bill

[Dewayne]

Good thoughts by all. It's sort of like the Lasik surgery I had on my eyes about 6 years ago. A few months post surgery, I was seeing at 20/15. I could read a memo posted on a wall 40 feet away! I was 35 when I had my eyes fixed, and my vision was 20/450 or so.

 

Fast forward six years, and again I find myself squinting to read a road sign. I'd guess I've fallen back to 20/50 or so.

 

The biggest difference is I can go and get my eyes fixed again. I'm 42 so God I hope I won't keep losing what I've got.

[Al - Moderator]

This is exactly what happened to me, so it is something that you need to watch out for especially if you're younger.

 

I was a NW 5 when I had my first HT at age 22. I was losing hair rapidly, so for the next 5 years I had to keep having surgeries to try to catch up to the loss. I was losing hair faster than it was being replaced. At the end of those 5 years I was a NW 7 at age 27 with a small sprinkling of hair all over the top of my head and hairloss on the sides and back that progressed past the donor scars.

[hairdude83]

gud post

[flyby]

While we don't ever know exactly what the future holds, the ones here who actually think about the long run are already on the right track. None of us know what our future holds but based on our own loss and looking at family you'll usually have a decent idea of your worse case scenario. And obviously with propecia/rogaine you can usually slow the worse case scenario. I'd love to hear from someone in their 60's whos had a recent transplant about their feeling on how a positive image of themselves compares at that age as opposed to 40. I know at 38 I still have just about the same desire to look good as I did when I was 22.

 

Hi BeHappy. I've checked our your story. Sounds like you've been through alot and my heart goes out to you. I would imagine that you would much prefer if you could go just go back in time and never have started the ht procedures and lived life with a buzzed melon correct? Do you ever plan on having a correction procedure. Best of luck to you!

[Eman]

Thanks for some of the replies. I would still like to hear other's thoughts. I also agree with notgoing2gobald and would love to hear from doctors or some of the patient consultants who frequent the site.

 

Eman

[Al - Moderator]

Originally posted by flyby:

Hi BeHappy. I've checked our your story. Sounds like you've been through alot and my heart goes out to you. I would imagine that you would much prefer if you could go just go back in time and never have started the ht procedures and lived life with a buzzed melon correct? Do you ever plan on having a correction procedure.

 

 

I had some "corrective" procedures long ago. They removed some of the largest plugs, cut them and spread them around as smaller grafts. All it really did is make the area where they removed those plugs have less hair and it's where my part is. I went back later to have it filled in, but all they put in was 30 mini grafts.

 

After that I was pretty much turned down by 4 different Doctors/clinics. Two different doctors at University of Pennsylvania Hospital said they couldn't do anything. Nuhart offered very minor refinement in the part area. Another Dr who I can't remember the name (I'm thinking it was Rassman. Did he practice in NY in the 90's?) also offered only very minor work. But both of those required them to take more hair from my donor area which is what I was trying to fix, so in other words they were going to make worse the areas I wanted corrected.

 

What I wanted to do was take hair from my underarms since I have thick, long hair there. It grows so long I have to trim it once in a while or else it gets almost to my elbows. I thought that hair would be perfect to put on my head, but I got told it was a crazy idea and would never work by each of the doctors I went to and yet some Drs are doing body hair transplants from areas that will have visible scars and the hair is short and fine. I don't get it.

 

I know body hair isn't proven. Perhaps it's because the areas are too mushy to get good grafts in those areas with FUE as Dr Feller says even happens on areas of a persons head sometimes. Perhaps it's because the short, finer hairs just don't grow well on your head. Perhaps it's because FUE simply doesn't work as well. I don't know, but it seems to me if you do a strip surgery on a patients underarms you eliminate all of those potential problems. You don't have to remove the hair by FUE. Take a strip of hair that grows long and thick from each underarm. I don't see why it would be different from using a strip from your head other than you won't get quite as many grafts. But there's no visible scar, no problems with FUE, no problems with hair not growing long enough to provide coverage, etc. Am I the crazy one!? If a Dr will do body hair, why will they not take it from that area?

 

Ugh!!

[Guest eyebrow]

Regarding underarm hair, I know Dr. Devroye, an elite European doc on this site, uses underarm hair for female eyebrow transplants. (Originally, strip and now FUE for cosmetic reasons.) I don't know if he uses it for scalps, too. It can't hurt to contact him and find out if he does and what kind of results he's achieved. Or, if he doesn't, what the logic is... I'd be interested to know!

[Aquarius]

I don't think I would like to do butterfly kisses to a hottie and smell her pits but hey. Is he in France or something ?