Decison Making Time FUE for me

[FauxHawk]

Hey whats up everyone, well this is going to be first actualt post on the site. Ive been a long time lurker of the site for years, and its finally come down to pulling the pin for a transplant.

 

Im looking for everyones guidance to help me get through the process. Im gonna lay it all out for you guys. Im 28 years old, Im Italian and Norwegian, I have been very slowly thinning and receeding over the last 5 years. I began taking Fin/Minox/Niz for the last 4 years with great success (maintained). I just finished going through a pretty nasty shed about 2 weeks ago. The shed lasted roughly 5 weeks and came to a complete stop (usually happens twice a year).

 

I would really like to get an FUE transplant, I feel im a good canidate and have very nice thick donor hair. I would like to do some hairline and temple work up front. I think my real problem area is the crown, which is thinnest area on my head. I would just have it down, and take a month off from work (Law Enforcement). So here comes decision making time, Dr. Feller who im about 30 mins door to door from, but at $10 a graft your talkin atleast $25k which is way over my budget (I know cost shouldnt be in my head). Dr. Shapiro in Minn who I think is going to be my answer his price is great, reputable, and ethical.

 

Im going to attach some pics of my hair, there is a drastic diffrence of my hair wet and dry. The crown shot was at its worst about 2 weeks ago. I want to put up a few shots of my hair dry, but dont have the time now that I just wrote this novel.

 

Please let me know if I left anything out. Im still waiting to here from Kelly from Dr. Shapiros office, I sent out my pics and have heard nothing since.

Edited February 25, 2011 by TakingThePlunge

[moses0324]

Thanks for sharing your story...here is my take, remember this is just my opinion. I dont think you are ready for a HT for a couple reasons (some of which are good reasons)

 

1. You don't have enough temple recession in my opinion to warrant work. I think your hairline actually looks good. It's matured and suits your age. I would leave it alone.

 

2. You are correct you are thinnest in your crown. Problem is you will have a hard time finding an ethical surgeon that will do your crown at 28.

 

At this point it's your best interest to wait.

[FauxHawk]

Moses thanks for your response. So you think I should just wait it out completely for the crown as well. I mean i can get by with some Toppik on the crown for a while, but I was just hoping to restore it. The reason I was going to just go for it was becuase my hair hasnt really changed to much with being on the big 3. I will take your advice into consideration but if its possible can you just elaborate on my crown a lil as far as not touching it.

 

Thanks

[moses0324]

To elaborate...many HT patients feel as though the hairline is the most important aspect of appearance. It helps frame the face and it's the first thing people see. As a result it has the most dramatic effect when undergoing surgery. The reason why many docs won't touch the crown area until much older is because they want to ensure you will not recede any further in the hairline area. For this reason they dont want to use precious donor hair on the crown where people seem less interested later on. In addition I have read many instances in which people have had trouble growing in the crown. I think you look great as is. I urge you to continue using the big 3 with concealers. Let me know if you have any other questions.

[Spanker]

I have to agree. I can not see your front very well, the pic is small, but I would not do anything right now. I know it sucks to be thin in the back, but the problem is that it is a fairly large area. You would probably experience shock loss to your recipient area making you look much worse for some time, and at your age, you are sure to have additional loss eventually. I think crowns are ok to do work on, but IMO, they should have to be pretty bald, so the difference is noticable. If you take a bald crown and add hair, it really improves appearance, but it is much much harder to improve the appearance of a crown with as much hair as you have, especially as you age, because you will loose more native hair.

 

I would really reconsider, but I kind of doubt that they are going to work on your anyway, as you are just not a great candidate at this point IMO....I think you might do more damage than good.

 

But then again, they may beef it up a little.

[FauxHawk]

I just wanted to say thanks for all of the advice, I guess I'm just going to hit the big 3 hard maybe add some spiro up in the hairline and some tricomin to the crown. Well like I said thanks again, I'll keep updating my hair I'm gonna thicken up a bit now that this shed is over. I'm not sure if you can answer this but how long do you think I should wait for.