Having FUE surgery next week and really need advice !!!

[jake88]

please delete

Edited May 12, 2014 by jake88

[Jotronic]

You may only be concerned with the front for now but you WILL be concerned with the back when, not if, it goes. That is why Propecia is important now, not later. Not to mention, the fact that if you let your loss continue then you won't have enough donor to return the back to it's current state regardless of how you feel about having additional surgeries.

 

You mentioned you are having the temples done, what about the area behind the forelock? This area is thinning from what I see in the photos and in my opinion you'll need more than just 1100 grafts. I think you'd need at least 2000 to fill in all the gaps of the front, not just the temples.

[jake88]

You may only be concerned with the front for now but you WILL be concerned with the back when, not if, it goes. That is why Propecia is important now, not later. Not to mention, the fact that if you let your loss continue then you won't have enough donor to return the back to it's current state regardless of how you feel about having additional surgeries.

 

You mentioned you are having the temples done, what about the area behind the forelock? This area is thinning from what I see in the photos and in my opinion you'll need more than just 1100 grafts. I think you'd need at least 2000 to fill in all the gaps of the front, not just the temples.

 

so you think it's pretty bad behind the forelock too ? My surgeon said that he couldn't transplant any hairs in between my existing hairs. Is he wrong ?

[Jotronic]

No, I don't think he's wrong. If he says he can't do it then he can't do it. However, this doesn't mean that another doctor can't. No offense to the doctor you've chosen but I clearly see large gaps that can be filled in between the existing hairs. Your hair is already shaved so with magnification one need only pay attention to the angle and direction of the native hairs and make the new incisions parallel to the native hair. This is where truth is separated from fiction because some doctors will say they match angle and direction but only through action can this be proven, of which, you are a perfect example.

[hsrp10]

temple corners are a critical part of the hairline, and not all docs do it well

who is your surgeon?

 

hope you are going with a recommended and respected surgeon, after viewing past temple corner work by them

[jake88]

temple corners are a critical part of the hairline, and not all docs do it well

who is your surgeon?

 

hope you are going with a recommended and respected surgeon, after viewing past temple corner work by them

 

For privacy reasons I'd rather not say the surgeon's name but I can PM you if you'd like. And I haven't seen any past temple corner work from him. I will say he is part of the international alliance of hair restoration surgeons.

[hsrp10]

no worries if you want to keep it private

 

if you're going in for primarily temple corners, why not go with a doctor who has considerable published results in this area?

[Jotronic]

Agreed. You need to choose a doctor that has multiple examples of what it is you are trying to achieve. If you want temple work, find a doctor that has lots of temple examples. If you need coverage, find a doctor that has multiple examples of good coverage. Density? Crowns? It's all the same.

[scar5]

Are you willing to bleach your hair?

 

I say this because a transplant to your temples and hairline will NEVER, in my humble and distorted opinion (IMHADO) achieve a smooth transition to your minaturized zones behind. It will be blatant, exposed and nasty. Furthermore, you will kill through shockloss, a lot of weak hair which will further highlight the contrast between the course transplanted hairs and the soft feather weight hairs behind.

 

However, enter a bottle of bleach and suddenly you will be more that passable. It is as simple as that IMO.

 

You won't take fin. Fair enough, but I'm sorry to say, by focusing on the front lines and neglecting the interior, the partisans behind the lines will do their work and they will smell blood through the trauma of a transplant. Of course, I recommend FIN and a bottle of bleach and a series of FUE transplants after 12 months of FIN.

[win200]

Are you willing to bleach your hair?

 

I say this because a transplant to your temples and hairline will NEVER, in my humble and distorted opinion (IMHADO) achieve a smooth transition to your minaturized zones behind. It will be blatant, exposed and nasty. Furthermore, you will kill through shockloss, a lot of weak hair which will further highlight the contrast between the course transplanted hairs and the soft feather weight hairs behind.

 

However, enter a bottle of bleach and suddenly you will be more that passable. It is as simple as that IMO.

 

You won't take fin. Fair enough, but I'm sorry to say, by focusing on the front lines and neglecting the interior, the partisans behind the lines will do their work and they will smell blood through the trauma of a transplant. Of course, I recommend FIN and a bottle of bleach and a series of FUE transplants after 12 months of FIN.

 

I really disagree with most of this. First, bleach is pretty tough on hair and could exacerbate your shedding. And your claim that a hairline can never be cleanly integrated into the miniaturized areas behind is completely disproved with the thousands of published results that recommended docs and patients have put out there. And shock loss can be minimized or outright avoided by choosing an expert, careful surgeon who knows how to carefully transplant between existing follicles.

 

Don't be terrified of shock loss. Be terrified of choosing a surgeon who isn't a leader in his/her field.

[scar5]

Bleach doesn't hurt your growth. It damages the hair in a good way. It makes it thicker by cracking the outer layers of the hair. It diffuses light as it absorbs and reflects it according to the tiny cracks and scars the bleach damage does, giving you more apparent volume and sparing your scalp the spotlight as well as reducing the color contrast. All in all, bleach is a friend not a foe.

 

As for shockloss, it is nothing to do with the surgeon's skills. True, a hack will transect good hairs, damaging them or killing them, but that is transection , not shockloss. Shockloss is non-specific trauma to the area, such that is caused by a knife, a punch, or a a blade being inserted to a good enough depth to remove or accommodate hair bearing tissue. There is no gentle way of doing it, no way for a good doc to caress the follicle out or in. And shockloss is under reported as you would expect.

[hairthere]

Scar5 is on point: shock loss can and does occur even with top surgeons. It is only permanent if the native hair was already so weakened and miniaturized by DHT that it was going to fall soon anyway.