Another person thinking of getting a Hair Transplant

[iwantitback]

Hi all,

 

I am 26yrs old with a self diagnosis of a NW6. I have been losing my hair for the last 6-7yrs and i am tired of it. I currently need to shave my head (with a bic razor) every other day or else i am extremely self conscious about it. I saw a few HT surgeons maybe 2-3yrs ago...and both of them said they wouldn't touch me because i was to young. They wanted to see how much my baldness would progress, and/or if it would stop. Now that i am 26 i think it may be time to revisit my desire to gain my hair back.

 

So...after reading and scanning the internet for several hours i have some ideas of which doctors i would want to see:

 

1) Dr. Umar- after seeing some of his amazing work, reading about the # of grafts he is able to transplant during 1 visit, and the fact that he can do body hair and nape hair ( i think thats what the area is called) seemed really interesting to me. Also- i liked the fact that he puts up his out-of-towners in a hotel and pays for the flight (i read this somewhere, if this is not true please tell me i am wrong)

 

 

2) Hasson & Wong- I have also seen lots of amazing work from their office. Also the fact that they are able to do those mega sessions adds to my curiosity about them. I have also read that they use body hair to transplant to the head.

 

 

My expectations- I want a full head of hair. I don't want to get a surgery done, and then have a huge bald spot in the back. I don't want to have surgery done just to have a thinning look or a going bald look. I do not know if this is possible, and i guess i won't know until i have a consultation with a doctor about it. But, since many users on this website have had a HT, maybe you guys can shed some light if my expectations can be met. Maybe one of those mega sessions with a 13000+ graft will do the trick? I figure using my body hair/leg hair will do it. I hope that this will give me the fullness i am looking for. (granted im not particularly hairy...but i do have plenty to spare).

 

I don't know if i left anything out but if i can think of anything else to add i will.

 

Please let me know what you guys think. Much appreciated.

[RodG]

Hi,

 

I don't want to sound pessimistic but if you really are a norwood VI, with progressive hairloss, it is unlikely that you will be able to achieve a full head of hair. Typically a patient only has about 6000 - 8000 donor grafts that can be used with a FUT procedure.

 

If you are considering going to a hair transplant surgeon like Doctor Umar there a some pros and cons which you need to consider. Firstly, the cost of using all of your donor with with an FUT procedure and then combining it with FUE and possibly using other body hair will be very expensive. I would suggest having an in person consult with H & W and Doctor Umar and possibly widen the net a little bit and obtain further opinions.

 

I was a Norwood VI (age 51 years old) and I've had 2 procedures and in total have used about 5750 grafts. My front coverage is still see thru and I have a fairly large thinning bald spot in the crown region. Considering my age I'm fairly happy with my outcome but if I was 27 years old I guess that I would not be content with the result.

 

Good luck with your research.

 

Cheers Rod

[Raj Jayukdht]

I agree with Rod that what your looking for will cost alot of money. Having FUT will only give you about 6000 grafts, I think in what you want...its best if you see Dr Umar or other FUE Dr's.

 

Can you post few pic's.

[Northwest-Hairline]

An in person consult is the ideal, but I will say that I had good results using Dr Umar's online consultation.

 

One of the other niceties with Dr Umar's clinic is that it is relatively slow paced part of town with couple of hotels within a 5 to 10 minute walk.

 

I have a thread going ( http://www.hairrestorationnetwork.com/eve/168384-3100-grafts-repair-job-dr-umar.html ) that I will update from time to time. My procedure was done Nov 12 & 16.

[TommyLucchese]

If I were you I'd get on propecia and minoxidil, then in a year or two, consult with Hasson and Wong.

[iwantitback]

I appreciate your honesty. It's exactly what i am looking for. Also- thanks for the quick response. I was figuring i would need about $30k to get a full head of hair again and hopefully could do it in 2 big sessions. if i was 51 and got the transplant i would probably be ok with thinning areas with a transplant....but at 27 i am a rare case. Thanks again for the reply.

[iwantitback]

^ that was for RodG

[iwantitback]

Can someone also explain the difference between FUE and FUT? Maybe a combination of FUE/FUT/BHT will be what is needed to give me the full head look i want.

 

Northwest hairline- Looks like a solid job. I am looking forward to seeing the results in a few months.

 

Tommylucchese- I am completely against propecia. I know it works for most but the idea that i might not be able to use my junk scares the shit outta me. I'd rather be completely bald and be able to get solid then have a some hair from propecia and be like a wet noodle lol. Also- i tried using a product a few yrs back called "scalp med" which gave me some good results....but doing it daily and walking around with that greasy feeling got to be irritating.

[jerzig]

Definitely get on Minoxidil. I am also anti-Propecia but you are at a much more advance level of balding than I am. You may not have enough donor hair to achieve your ideal results, but with some careful placement you may be happy with the coverage.

[iwantitback]

Does rogaine contain the highest amount of minoxidil? or are there other brands out there that can provide me with a higher % amount?

[jerzig]

%5 is pretty standard whether it's Rogaine or generic. I use the Kirkland brand stuff from Costco. It's pretty affordable. There are other more hardcore ones out there that go up to %10 and higher, but I haven't tried them.