Whats the worse that could happen?

[MAGNUMpi]

Hi Guys,

I've been on here for a while and am thinking seriously about getting a HT to repair my hairline and frontal third.

As you can see in the pics my hairline is pretty shot. Also notice the diffuse thinning in the frontal region behind the hairline.

 

Facts:

*I have NW 5A in my family history and I suppose I will eventually follow.

*Been in Propecia for the last 7 years. It has slowed the loss.

*I am 43 years old.

*My hair caliber is thin to med/thin. (this worries me a bit)

*Laxity is "normal" but feel a bit tight to me.

*I was quoted at needing around 2500-3000 grafts

*This will be my first HT.

*I want it to look NATURAL. That is my main concern.

 

I do have good volume in my hair so I can effectively wear it forward and it still does a good job of covering my loss.

 

My questions are:

 

1. Could I potentially lose my good hair volume if the front is reconstructed?

 

2. I have "salt and pepper" hair (white hairs mixed in with the brown) and getting whiter as I age. My donor hair is definitely darker. I think it would look strange if the front was suddenly dark around a whitening sideburns and temple points.

Can the doctor cherry-pick some white hairs from the back to blend in?

Any thoughts on this?

 

3. I am going to do a HT and not tell ANYONE. I'll write about my experience and let you all know how it works out. I wont tell my best friends. I wont tell my girlfriend. I wont tell my family…..EVER. crazy? we'll see.

 

 

I am thinking about either going for Dr. Erdogan for FUE or Dr. Konier for FUT.

 

Dr. Erdogan: I have been very impressed with his amazing FUE results lately. He seems to be getting great yield and also does hairline designs that I really like. Amazing prices and no linear scar.

My reservations are regarding the subtlety and fine artistic placement of hairs that makeup a great HT. Can he (and his techs) do it with FUE?

 

Dr Konier: I love his hairlines and very refined work. He is the one doctor that I have liked since I first started my research a few years ago and still consider a top choice. His results seem so natural and his hairlines are exactly what I am looking for.

My reservations are regarding the linear scar. After years of research I have seen many cases from people who have gone to top docs and still ended up with stretched scars in need of repair. I don't want this to happen.

 

I don't want to regret getting a HT.

 

I know some of this is unanswerable but I would really appreciate all opinions. You guys are great and I really enjoy this forum. I have learned so much in the last few years and enjoyed talking to many of you on PM.

Thanks, M.

Edited August 18, 2013 by MAGNUMpi

[Spanker]

1. Could I potentially lose my good hair volume if the front is reconstructed?

 

I think you could temporarily, but not permanently.

 

 

2. I have "salt and pepper" hair (white hairs mixed in with the brown) and getting whiter as I age. My donor hair is definitely darker. I think it would look strange if the front was suddenly dark around a whitening sideburns and temple points.

Can the doctor cherry-pick some white hairs from the back to blend in?

Any thoughts on this?

 

Yes, when Dr. Konior did mine, I know he his techs separated the finer 1's and the thicker caliber 1's to give a more natural look. I see no reason why he could not do the same with greys if there are enough in the donor.

 

3. I am going to do a HT and not tell ANYONE. I'll write about my experience and let you all know how it works out. I wont tell my best friends. I wont tell my girlfriend. I wont tell my family…..EVER. crazy? we'll see.

 

For the most dense outcome, you will need to shave your head. If you wanted to do a 2 stage approach to prevent chock loss, you could probably get away with it. I have a teenager and she knew nothing about it. My family knows nothing, but my wife does. If you live with your girlfriend, I would tell her. If not, you can probably get away with it.

 

 

I am thinking about either going for Dr. Erdogan for FUE or Dr. Konier for FUT.

 

Dr. Erdogan: I have been very impressed with his amazing FUE results lately. He seems to be getting great yield and also does hairline designs that I really like. Amazing prices and no linear scar.

My reservations are regarding the subtlety and fine artistic placement of hairs that makeup a great HT. Can he (and his techs) do it with FUE?

 

I have seen some good results posted here from him, I would consider looking at his youtube results and his patients that post online. Someone may be able to point you to some turkish websites where you can see more patient results.

 

 

Dr Konier: I love his hairlines and very refined work. He is the one doctor that I have liked since I first started my research a few years ago and still consider a top choice. His results seem so natural and his hairlines are exactly what I am looking for.

 

I can't disagree with you here. I researched for a long time, and as you know, I chose Dr. Konior. I am not disappointed. Like you, my number on concern was that the transplant was natural and a micro level. The size of the grafts, the angle of the grafts, the caliber of the grafts, the blended density. These things were very important for me.

 

My reservations are regarding the linear scar. After years of research I have seen many cases from people who have gone to top docs and still ended up with stretched scars in need of repair. I don't want this to happen.

 

This is true. I have seen some stretched scars from top docs. The harvesting method for me was less important the placement. At 43, I think that you are at a great age for a hair transplant. Do you think that you will ever want to shave your head? If I were you, I would have an in-person consult to check your laxity and see what the doctor thinks. Maybe even Dr. Konior, I don't know where you live. It seems like you are in a really good position. If I were your age with your hair, I would go for it.

[MAGNUMpi]

Thanks for the helpful answer Spanker.

 

Do you think that you will ever want to shave your head?

I never plan to shave my head. It looks terrible shaved (head too small). My hair looks best grown out a few inches.

 

Yes, when Dr. Konior did mine, I know he his techs separated the finer 1's and the thicker caliber 1's to give a more natural look. I see no reason why he could not do the same with greys if there are enough in the donor.

Nice.

 

The size of the grafts, the angle of the grafts, the caliber of the grafts, the blended density. These things were very important for me.

Yes me too. The small details that really make up a undetectable and refined HT.

At 43, I think that you are at a great age for a hair transplant.

Yea, it feel like the right time. Be looking and feeling good as I go into my 50's.

Thanks again for the answer.

[greatjob]

I'd say you are in a great place to get a HT done. Your hair behind the recession has a lot of body to it, which will only help with your final result. I think after 2500-3000 grafts you will look fantastic! If you go the strip route I highly doubt you are going to be able to keep the procedure a secret from your girlfriend unless you can disappear for a couple months. I didn't really look like I did preop until after 3 months, and even then my hair was much shorter than I normally wore it. With fue it will be less noticeable, but you're still going to have a problem concealing it from your girlfriend unless the doctor doesn't make you shave down.

[hairthere]

magnum,

My one bit of advice would be to go conservative with the hairline and to be prepared to chase your hairloss with more surgeries.

[Spanker]

magnum,

My one bit of advice would be to go conservative with the hairline and to be prepared to chase your hairloss with more surgeries.

 

The hairline placement will really depend on his donor availability, Chasing hairloss is an issue with almost all ht patients, so all should be aware. That said, would much much rather be in his shoes than someone ten or twenty years younger. Hairthere, I think that your hair is slightly unusual as you lost so much so fast as a later age (which I think was due to getting off fin IIRC.)

 

Hope you are doing well and looking forward to seeing some more of your results.

[hsrp10]

The worse that could happen according to what all surgeons admit and make you sign a waiver to accept is permanent shockloss of existing hair in some cases. But this is rare. Otherwise people with existing hair would stop getting HT's if this was a large risk.

 

And if you are going with Dr. Konior for FUT and agree to shave down the recipient area, I think the chances of this are on the low end. Though some temporary shock loss could happen.

In terms of scars, he also seems to be one of the best and uses both staples and sutures.

 

So the issue you face is that in order to avoid the worse that could happen, you will have to take a measure that will make it more obvious (shaving down the front).

However with Dr. Konior's clean work though you may be able to disguise the procedure as "a bad haircut" initially, if you can get a few weeks downtime. His post op results are not bright red and bloody in the recipient area as you can see on this forum.

[MAGNUMpi]

Thanks for the input Guys.

I have no problem shaving down if it helps the final result even in the smallest way. Ill look crazy for a few months but that's just part of the game.

If you go the strip route I highly doubt you are going to be able to keep the procedure a secret from your girlfriend unless you can disappear for a couple months.

Ha! yea, I'm going to have to plan this one well.

[MAGNUMpi]

My one bit of advice would be to go conservative with the hairline and to be prepared to chase your hairloss with more surgeries.

hairthere. Thanks for the good advice. The one thing I dont really understand about "chasing the loss" with other procedures is that the hair that a person loses is hair that would have been lost naturally at that point anyway so a person with a HT is still better off because they have more hair up front than they would have, right? Am I missing something here?

Is it bacause a thinned out HT looks strange and noticeable and all you can do is move forward into another surgery instead of potentially shaving your head?

[Spanker]

hairthere. Thanks for the good advice. The one thing I dont really understand about "chasing the loss" with other procedures is that the hair that a person loses is hair that would have been lost naturally at that point anyway so a person with a HT is still better off because they have more hair up front than they would have, right? Am I missing something here?

Is it bacause a thinned out HT looks strange and noticeable and all you can do is move forward into another surgery instead of potentially shaving your head?

 

 

I think some people chase the perfect head of hair and some people chase normality. It depends who you are I guess.

[fueonly]

Magnum please check the price and result of other doctors also if you are going for fue?

[hairthere]

Spanker, You are correct, I do attribute my getting off fin with the chase. The problem with hairloss is that it is unpredictable, and although family MPB history serves as an indicator where you might end up, it's impossible to predict how long it can take to go from NW1 to say NW5. There's also no way of knowing if/when fin becomes ineffective.

 

Magnum, My concern for you is that you seem to have a lot of hair in the mid/vertex/crown areas. So, you plant a nice hairline, suddenly MPB advances, you're going to want more hair to balance it out. Now, I'm not trying to discourage you at all from getting a HT. Quite the opposite; I think you'll look dynamite with a solid hairline. Just want you to be aware of the realities.

 

Regarding the strip scar, sure it's possible it can widen. Mine has. However, I can still buzz down to a number 3 if I wanted to. The whole point of getting a HT for me was so that I could wear my hair longer and I suspect you have the same goal.

 

Have you consulted any docs in person yet?

[Spanker]

Spanker, You are correct, I do attribute my getting off fin with the chase. The problem with hairloss is that it is unpredictable, and although family MPB history serves as an indicator where you might end up, it's impossible to predict how long it can take to go from NW1 to say NW5. There's also no way of knowing if/when fin becomes ineffective.

 

Magnum, My concern for you is that you seem to have a lot of hair in the mid/vertex/crown areas. So, you plant a nice hairline, suddenly MPB advances, you're going to want more hair to balance it out. Now, I'm not trying to discourage you at all from getting a HT. Quite the opposite; I think you'll look dynamite with a solid hairline. Just want you to be aware of the realities.

 

Regarding the strip scar, sure it's possible it can widen. Mine has. However, I can still buzz down to a number 3 if I wanted to. The whole point of getting a HT for me was so that I could wear my hair longer and I suspect you have the same goal.

 

Have you consulted any docs in person yet?

 

That's true, but isn't that the case with all hair transplant patients? I try not to live in fear of chasing my hairline but I know I will was a few minor touchups behind the transplant eventually. If the bottom drops I would be devastated, but hopefully I will have the money and grafts to even things out. I am almost 35 now and didn't want to wait another 10 years to get a transplant. I think as long as I can look natural, I will still be happy I took the plunge.

 

I actually think that Magnum is in a better position than 95 percent of the guys on here when you consider his age. I also doubt he will just be addressing his hair line, as he has some loss throughout the midsection as well.

[hairthere]

"That's true, but isn't that the case with all hair transplant patients?"

 

Not really. If a guy is slick bald NW5-6 he won't have to worry about when the rest of his native hair might go. It's one of the reasons I decided to get off the fin. I had a feeling my hairloss was going to be progressive just based on the way it was falling out pre-transplant. So, I just wanted to let it go and replace with HT. I prepared myself financially and mentally for it. And believe me, it was not easy; on both counts.

[Spanker]

"That's true, but isn't that the case with all hair transplant patients?"

 

Not really. If a guy is slick bald NW5-6 he won't have to worry about when the rest of his native hair might go. It's one of the reasons I decided to get off the fin. I had a feeling my hairloss was going to be progressive just based on the way it was falling out pre-transplant. So, I just wanted to let it go and replace with HT. I prepared myself financially and mentally for it. And believe me, it was not easy; on both counts.

 

I just can't do that. What if fin were to have done well for you for another 15 years? By then there will be new techniques and therapies. I guess that was a personal decision, but when advising fellow sufferers, is it not best to say to keep all that you can for as long as you can? You are right that the very advanced patterns don't have to worry (except for their sides or crown dropping), but they are never going to have as dense of a look as someone who held onto their native either. That took a lot of balls to do that. I am sure I will advance, I have a stripe right down my head that is miniaturizing on a CVG "lump thingy", which tells me that it is likely that hair is sensitive to DHT, which sucks, I know I will advance, but how far I don't know. No one really knows what their future holds with hair. You have great characteristics and I don't think most people would be able to pull off what you have done. I probably would have shaved my head and moved on if I were you, but you really stuck it out and it paid off.

Edited August 20, 2013 by Spanker

[hairthere]

Spanker, I agree and would not advise anyone to follow my course unless they were a) fully prepared financially and emotionally, and/or b) experienced sides with the meds. It definitely made the past 5-6 years of my life difficult especially since very few people knew about it. The upside is I no longer have to worry about it.

[Spanker]

Spanker, I agree and would not advise anyone to follow my course unless they were a) fully prepared financially and emotionally, and/or b) experienced sides with the meds. It definitely made the past 5-6 years of my life difficult especially since very few people knew about it. The upside is I no longer have to worry about it.

 

 

I agree about the sides....and the money :eek:

[MAGNUMpi]

I actually think that Magnum is in a better position than 95 percent of the guys on here when you consider his age. I also doubt he will just be addressing his hair line, as he has some loss throughout the midsection as well.

Yes. I was thinking that the doctor would probably want to address my midsection also (somewhere between these 2 recipient patterns below).

 

http://www.hairrestorationnetwork.com/eve/171876-dr-ron-shapiro-%96-hairline-result-nw2-%96-2581gr-5280-hairs.html

 

Hair Restoration Social Network - Hair Loss and Transplant Photos

 

 

I had a feeling my hairloss was going to be progressive just based on the way it was falling out pre-transplant.

My hairloss does seem like it will get down to a NW5 in the next 10-15 years. I can see the pattern for sure. I might be a lot closer now had I not started Finasteride so long ago and stuck with it. I dont know that I will be financially prepared if things go really south and I need a 2nd big transplant to look normal. It is something I have to consider more and factor into the whole idea.

[fueonly]

Hair no one an predict I have seen people lost their hair in three months some in 3yrs and some in 5 yrs.lot depends on your sweating on scalp the more oil it secretes the more you loose.

Finasteride works to a some time in some patient and then loose its efficacy again depends on patient.one thing is sure if oil secretes on head more the more loss and more sooner you will be bald.fiasterise is not for any other part of scalp rather then crown.you should go on and read literature on finasteride.hair no one can predict that I will loose in 10yrs.no doctor in world will tell u that finasteride is going to stop your genetic or destined hairloss.if you are destined to be bald you will be and ht can be alternative to that.

[MAGNUMpi]

Regarding the strip scar, sure it's possible it can widen. Mine has

hairthere. Did your scar widen in the first few months or was it over a period of years? What I mean is can they progressively widen?

Can you see a line in the back of your head when you are at the beach with wet hair etc.? Thanks.

[hairthere]

My scar(s) widened over time, although I can't be sure how long it took. (Keep in mind I have two scars and both widened.) Even though they are wide, the only way you can detect them is if you lift the hair up and look closely for them. They are both flat and white. They are not visible when hair is wet. I do have very thick donor, though.

 

Looking at your pics, I'm sure whoever you choose will plant grafts beyond your hairline to bolster the area should further loss occur.

[greatjob]

Hair no one an predict I have seen people lost their hair in three months some in 3yrs and some in 5 yrs.lot depends on your sweating on scalp the more oil it secretes the more you loose.

Finasteride works to a some time in some patient and then loose its efficacy again depends on patient.one thing is sure if oil secretes on head more the more loss and more sooner you will be bald.fiasterise is not for any other part of scalp rather then crown.you should go on and read literature on finasteride.hair no one can predict that I will loose in 10yrs.no doctor in world will tell u that finasteride is going to stop your genetic or destined hairloss.if you are destined to be bald you will be and ht can be alternative to that.

Pretty much everything you have said here is false.

[1978matt]

Pretty much everything you have said here is false.

 

Indeed. As I was reading it I was expecting the next line to say "..wearing a hat makes you go bald..."

[MAGNUMpi]

Hey Spanker/hairthere/guys,

Do you think this hairline was drawn too low?

Am I hoping for too much?

I need to draw one with wet hair slicked back and send it in for consultation. This was my first attempt. What do you think?

[Spanker]

I would raise it just a tad maybe. If you only had an A type pattern I would say you are on point. You are close enough that if that is what makes you happy go for it. Try putting a dollar bill across your forehead. Start at the very top of your eyebrows. Make the lowest point of your making a cm to a half cm above that and see where you are at.