Take a look at my pics!

[izzy]

Hi All,

 

i'm planning on getting a hair transplant very soon, and as i've explained I will not be shaving the recipient area and will have the transplant as my hair look in the photo's i've attached. I want to findout as i'm kinda a diffuse thinner am i a good candidate for a transplant and how many grafts do you think i need cover most of the thinning area - am i looking around 3500-4000 grafts. Should i try and get as many grafts as possible from my first ever transplant So my hairline looks good again and we can get good coverage?

 

All comments welcome. Great site! Thanks

[corvettester]

Izzy,

 

In my opinion, you look like a good candidate and you have favorable hair characteristics to end up with an excellent result. Of course, consult with a few recommended physicians before making any decisions.

 

I'd estimate 500 in the crown and 2,000 in the midsection and frontal third for a total of 2,500 graft FUT... and I'd start Propecia immediately if I were you.

 

 

Corvettester

[NEWHAIRPLEASE]

Izzy

You do look like a great candidate, I would say at least 3000 grafts total.

[izzy]

Corvettester, thanks for the info! As you only have so much hair one can transplant on top of the head, don't you think i should try and get as many grafts from that one strip they take from the back of your head? So if i can reach 4000 or 4500 grafts then i should go for it?

 

I am taking Propecia but it's the generic brand called Finpecia....however i do not know how effective the generic brand is!

 

NEWHAIRPLEASE....why do you think i'm a good candidate for a HT?

 

cHEERS Guys

[corvettester]

Corvettester, thanks for the info! As you only have so much hair one can transplant on top of the head, don't you think i should try and get as many grafts from that one strip they take from the back of your head? So if i can reach 4000 or 4500 grafts then i should go for it?

 

Not necessarily. It all depends on your particular needs. If you don't need 4,000 grafts, then there is no reason you should aim for that many. I think you should aim high, but not that high.

 

If 2,500 isn't enough, you can always go back for a second pass, but I still don't think you'll need much more than that. Besides, you have to consider future loss. You're only 30, right?

 

I took the conservative route. I'm glad I did.

 

 

Corvettester

[gillenator]

izzy,

 

Be careful where you buy your finasteride if you are purchasing online or outside of the US. I have heard of many substitute products which vary greatly in the amount of active ingredient. Not all drug manufacturers are honest and some are made in markets that escape regulation. Many guys I know including myself purchase Proscar and then dissect the tablets into 4 seperate pieces.

 

IMHO, your hairloss situation is progressing into Norwood class 5a with diffusion/miniturization evident throughout the top of your scalp including the crown. Do you know in fact if your hairloss has stabilized? How long have you been on finasteride?

 

Are you aware that you run the risk of shockloss with a diffused thinning pattern? You'll be okay once everything grows out. But you run the chance of permanently losing that finer hair in the thinning zones. It's on the way out anyway. Your timing is good because you have received the benefit of some coverage for many years. Now, what remaining diffused hair that is left has lost so much caliber, that visual coverage is diminishing.

 

Graft count? Keep your new hairline in a mature location and you'll look absolutely awesome when everything grows out. Yes it's good to consider a larger session if it's within your budget but don't get too aggressive. There's really not alot of visual difference in coverage between 4,000 and 5,000 grafts with average hair shaft diameter in your donor hair. And remember to consider the yield factor within the surface area that is being restored. The more incisions there are, the more trauma that is caused. The more trauma, the less yield. That's the theory.

 

The best of the best docs utilize very incision specific tooling and instrumentation to create the recipient sites. That in itself can reduce the potential level of trauma. Many of them use custom sized blades and subsequently their highly trained surgery techs trim down the grafts "to size". The best techs are extremely proficient in trimmimg grafts under microscopic dissection. The frontal one hair grafts in the hairline design are created many times with a .5mm blade and so the corresponding grafts are cut to that exact circumference before placement. No pitting; no cobblestoning; very little visible scarring if any. Awesome huh?

 

You appear to have an average degree of coarseness (hair caliber). Actually, hair shaft diameter is the single most critical factor to be considered when achieving the illsuion of coverage. Many new patients think it is an increase of hair density that is needed to achieve a look of restoration. But believe me, surgical hair restoration is anything but replacing hair that is lost, "stand for strand" or every hair for hair. The goal should be "the look achieved", not necessarily the "density level" achieved. Does that make sense?

 

Some years ago, the buzz in online hairloss forums was to attain a certain level of FU per cm2 in such extremes such as, "I am going to get 80 FUcm2 when I go in for my procedure". Yet these patients have absolutely no idea of what that would potentially like, before the procedure grew out! The general rule of thumb is: Attaining 50% of original density will achieve an "illusion" of restoration.

 

I would recommend at least 2500-2800 in the first third through midscalp and then 500 in the crown. You'll look amazingly transformed my friend. You'll see.:cool:

[mattj]

You have a fairly uncommon (but not abnormal) thinning pattern where the greatest loss of density is concentrated in quite a narrow region from front to back. This could be seen as both good and bad. Good in that you have a smaller area to cover, and bad in that if the balding area widens after your transplant due to further hairloss, the sides will drop further and will need filling in.

 

It all depends on how far your surgeon wants to go into the areas of diffuse loss surrounding the thinnest area in the middle. I think this is something you should focus on discussing during consultations. I'm sure it won't be anything a good surgeon can't handle.

[izzy]

Thanks for the input guys,

 

i'm on something called Finpecia and i get it from India been on it for 7 months now. You are right cant be too sure whats in it so i may buy the proper Propecia from my doctor!

 

Thanks for the advice. Yes i do have weird deffused hair loss. And I won't go for 4000 grafts as I may need to have more transplants. How many transplants can one have?

 

I will go for 2800 to cover the diffused thinning part at the front and top and do some crown work...

 

i hope its a good transplant its knocked my confidence loads.....also i cant show i've had work done so not going to shave recipient area

[mattj]

Potential for future work isn't really measured in the number of possible procedures. It's all about donor availability - density of hair in the donor region and the laxity of your scalp. Patients with very tight skin in the donor area (and who can't loosen it up with stretching exercises) can't undergo too many strip surgeries.

 

Your donor region looks like it's quite thick, but don't take that as gospel as it's hard to be sure on the basis of that one photo.