After the HT- 10 years + later

[Mikey79]

Anyone here who had it for over 10 years. I have heard that the HT is forever, I guess my question 10-15years later is it the same, any changes at all. I mean I have seen short results, up to 2 years. Was hoping to see results after 10years.

[Maxxy]

Mikey79,

 

A lot of the transplants from 10 years ago used old techniques, be careful when using these as a comparison (By that I mean, a lot of transplants from 10 years ago may look thin - if touch up work hasn't been done, but it wont be due to age).

[Mikey79]

Ywah, I know they weren't as good as they are now. I guess I wanted to see some reassurence, ya know. I mean all we know is what we been told ( bla bla it good for the rest of your life) how true is it??

[Maxxy]

People have been having hair transplant in whatever form since the 50's/60's, the hairs still grow, however, the results were of course very poor.

[Stimpson]

I had one in 1994 from the dreaded Bosley and one in 1999 and also 2007 from Parsley. All the transplanted hair is the same (even the stupid Bosley mini's). What has changed dramatically, however, is the rest of my native hair. Basically, it is abandoning ship. So, to answer your question, yes, the transplanted hair has remained as promised. However, the results are not as good as they were because I have become more bald with time.

 

Stimpy

[Mikey79]

Simpson, I have a couple questions for you:

1. since the HT have you used any rogain or any other shampoo's? If yes was it helping, any side effects?

 

2. Since it's abandoning the ship, you need to have another HT? or did you already had another one?

[Stimpson]

I have been using Rogaine and finesteride (propecia) for about a year now. I started kind of late. It seems to be working pretty well.

 

Yes, I will need another HT. I am going to try to do the biggest one possible next time.

 

Basically, unless you are at or near your final balding stage when you have the HT, there is going to have to be more than one HT involved, because your hairloss will most likely continue (although meds can really slow this down). I am close enough now to what I think is my final balding pattern that I hope one more session (much larger than the previous ones) will finish me off. However, even that is annoyingly uncertain, and I will always be prepared for future touch-ups, etc. Once you embark upon the HT road, you are kind of a slave to the process depending on your future hairloss. Note, though, what I am going to do across hopefully 3 HT's (the 2 by Parsley plus the one I will get next year, I don't count the Bosley one), many people do across 2. I have perhaps done it in stages a bit more than most people. I think a lot of people get by with 2 procedures. It kind of all depends on where your hair loss is at when you have the procedure. Ironically, the ideal candidate for a really kick ass HT is old and bald.

 

Stimpson

[Mikey79]

Thanks, that did cleared up some things for me. If you are almost sure that it is your final stage, why take meds?

[Eman]

Meds help maintain what you have and add years until you may need another HT.

 

With your level of loss, you will most likely need at least two procedures. In your case, the doctor will probably build the front two-thirds of your dome for the first procedure. The second procedure will probably be done to add some density to the front, soften the hairline, then add the majority remaining to the black hole called the dome.

 

Make sure you choose a doc that is comfortable doing larger sessions so you get the most from each. In ten years, if you go to a top doc, there should be no evidence of a HT. Whether you have one or three procedures, each should be what is called "standalone". In other words, should you decide you only want one procedure, a skilled doctor will design the transplant in a way that even with additional loss no one would know that you had a procedure.

[Stimpson]

Thanks, that did cleared up some things for me. If you are almost sure that it is your final stage, why take meds?

 

Because I still have a fair amount of native hair in the mid-scalp and crown, it's just that it's sparse and thin enough that I can clearly see the outline of a NW 6 horseshoe. I hope that for the next HT enough can be transplanted among this native hair that as the native hair finally vanishes for good, the transplanted hair will be there to create some reasonable coverage. I am taking the meds in an attempt to hold onto the native hair as long as possible, and also to hopefully keep the horseshoe from lowering (although I don't actually think it's going to). So, I guess, in summary, I can SEE what appears to be my final stage, but I am not actually there yet. But I think I am there enough for HT purposes to hopefully knock it out with one more procedure.

 

I don't dispute Emans 'stand-alone' HT restriction above for 'some' cases, but if you are young and still balding it is not always possible to do that, especially with people who start with just temples or something (although looking at your picture it looks like you should be fine and one should probably be able to stand alone). I saw a HORRID example of an HT that did NOT stand alone at Dulles airport in Washington yesterday. Some sorry sap had the most APPALLING HT I have ever seen. It was a rediculous band of extremely dense hair about an inch and a half in width that stretched from temple to temple in a very low hairline. SLICK bald in a NW6 behind it. The worst I have EVER seen. It was no doubt great when he had hair behind it. That was just bad planning. I don't know if he ran out of money or what, but damn it was bad.

 

Stimpson