Norwood V or VI seeking information as well as rating the surgeons I've seen.

[Cuttlefish]

Hey all,

 

First time poster here, and like many of you I'm beginning the long and eye opening journey of hair restoration. Upon my visit to a few doctors, I believe I'm in the Norwood V to VI range. I'll post pics at some point. Right now I'm trying to get myself to temper my expectations in regards to coverage and what I can achieve with a hair transplant. Currently I do minioxidil 5% twice a day, plus a vitamin supplement (terrified of the side effects of propecia, but slowly breaking on that one if I'm considering a hair transplant).

 

I've seen three doctors to try to give myself the best possible options when it comes to choosing the best surgeon as one thing I've heard from many HT patients is RESEARCH, RESEARCH, RESEARCH. So being close to the DC Metro area, I figured I had a plethora of doctors to go and see, and get information from. The main factor in these visits is I wanted to look for consistencies from all three doctors that I could use to help make my best judgment. I first went to go see Dr. John Kiely in the Towson area (very close to home ). I booked an appointment with him about a month ago, and saw him a week later. Very nice older gentleman, who had an easy going manner, and a good amount of information. He classified me as a Norwood VI, and showed me a lot of photos of patients with similar hair pattern to mine. I am a MPB sufferer and being 30 years old, I think my loss pattern has stabilized enough to where I have a good idea of where it will be in 10 to 15 years. After that, who knows. Dr. Kiely uses an older method called "Micro-grafting", I believe its the original version of FUE. He said for the cost of about 3k we could do a session that would yield about 600 follicles.

After the visit (which was very informative...no cost either) I decided to see if I could research further. I then found a doctor not much further away in Lutherville by the name of Dr. Jeffrey Shcreiber. First off, let me say, he's got a FANTASTIC OFFICE! Really helpful and courteous staff, and Dr. Schreiber himself is a pleasant and very positive doctor. He gave me a very in depth look at what my hairloss has progressed too, and he also echoed Dr. Kiely's comments about being a Norwood VI. He guestimated about 2500 grafts would create a new hairline and help add density to my middle and crown area. We joked pleasantly for a while, and he gave me a rundown of what to expect after the surgery. I had some concerns about propecia and shockloss, both of which I fully expect will have to happen for this to work, and he was very honest with me about what to expect. He said that I may experience some shockloss, but he didn't think it would be a too bad, he also said that there are side effects to propecia, but it varies from person to person and that only I can judge. After the exchange I met with his patient coordinator who gave me the cost outline for either FUT or FUE (FUE was obviously more, but not by much and he also uses a Neograft tool for it). If anyone in the Baltimore area is considering a HT, I would recommend going to see Dr. Schreiber just for the experience itself. Great and easy going guy, nice manner, and very informative.

My journey was going well, I've been given some great information so far, but I wanted to get a chance to meet a third doctor to round it out (everything sounds better in three's). So after extensive research, one name kept coming up over and over again. So later in the month, I booked an appointment, gathered my things on a half day off from work, and made my way to the hallowed hills of McLean Virginia to go see the man...the myth...the legend...Dr. William Lindsey.

Upon deep research (mainly thru this form) I've constantly had Dr. Lindsey's name come up as one of the top Hair Surgeons to see. I've read a lot of his blogs, comments and videos and figured he would know what he was talking about. After navigating my way thru hellish DC traffic (no seriously....its hell) I found myself in his very small and cozy office. Dr. Lindsey himself came out to greet me, sporting a cast and a crutch (he had ankle surgery earlier). Immediately I found him to be very pleasant and very easy to get along with. We sat down in his office and showed me a lot of pictures of patients. He specifically showed me the transplants of patients who's hairloss was similar to mine, his guess right off the bat was that between 2500 and 2800 grafts would provide adequate coverage for the front portion and a restored hairline. He also theorized that a second transplant would be necessary to cover the mid-section of my scalp, then stating plainly "and when we get to the crown...I'd say lets stop." He characterized me as having fine hair, which means that a FUT procedure would yield more results and would allow greater graft survival rate. My initial fear with FUT was obviously the scar on the back of my head. But when explained that FUE would not be good on a patient like myself (Dr. Lindsey plainly stated I have a big head...and I couldn't agree more), FUT would be better for coverage and a dense packing approach. After this, Dr. Lindsey took me to the belly of the beast and let me see an actual procedure being preformed. I got a chance to speak with the patient as the techs were placing grafts in his hairline. A cheery and funny fellow who was obviously feeling the effects of the anesthesia, but straight forward none the less. We then went back to the office and he fielded questions from me for more than 30 minutes. His straight forward, pragmatic and no-none sense approach was something that I really appreciated. He really challenged me to think about this and reminded me that "No one ever died from going bald". But also, should I want to move forward, he would be more than happy to take my case and provide me with the best results he could.

 

So I've done my research guys, and I've thought about this long and hard...my question to the group is, what should a Norwood VI expect when it comes to a HT? Anyone out there had great results? Bad results for that? Out of the three I think I will go with Dr. Lindsey, not discounting the other two, specifically Dr. Schreiber. Anyone else think of things I may have missed? Sorry for the long winded story, but I kind of just got into it .

[Blake Bloxham]

Cuttle,

 

Welcome and thank you for sharing. I agree: you've done your research. Out of the three physicians above, I am only familiar with Dr. Lindsey. I must say, I'm very, very pleased you were able to consult with him. Dr. Lindsey is an excellent hair transplant surgeon, and it sounds like his passion and expertise shined through during the consultation. He comes very highly recommended by our community and I think you're very lucky to have easy access to such a qualified doctor.

 

A quick word on the "micro grafting:" while this term is vague and could refer to a few different things, I believe the doctor was describing an older method of hair transplant surgery. Before individual follicular unit grafts were extracted and used in Follicular Unit Hair Transplantation (FUT) via strip and FUE techniques, surgeons transplanted larger grafts made up of several follicular units. These grafts were often called "micro grafts" or "mini grafts," but despite differences in name, they had one thing in common: the larger, more bulky grafts do not mimic the way hair naturally grows in the scalp. Transplanting these larger grafts, therefore, can lead to a less natural, more "doll hair-like" appearance akin to the dreaded "hair plug" procedures of yesteryear. This is why the technique is no longer used and has, instead, been replaced by follicular unit grafting.

 

Please, let me know if you have any additional questions. Good luck!

[Spanker]

I honestly haven't seen a lot of nw6 cases from Dr. Lindsey. I'm sure he was able to show you some and I do remember a couple. If I were a nw6 I would probably look into H and W, as I don't think that anyone does mega sessions like them. I know that is far from home, but if your density and laxity are right, you may be able to get it done in one season, which would be far far better.

 

I agree that nobody has died from being bald, and encourage all, especially young or advanced, to try the shaved head thing first. Hts can be great, but you should really study and youtube video of high nw cases with fine hair to see if it will net your expectations.

[Cuttlefish]

Future: Thanks for reading. This whole process has been full of anxiety, and new discoveries about what I think about my appearance. Dr. Lindsey's honesty and straight forward approach is exactly how I want to go about this endeavor. I immediately ruled out Dr. Kiely, as I agree with your assessment of the doll's head look from Micro-grafting. Dr. Schreiber is appealing me to because he said he would be able to cover the frontal area, mid-section and crown. Although I believe he would be able too, the result would probably be cosmetically, not that much different from how I look now. Although I've read rave reviews of his work on a couple of Patient experience websites, I haven't comes across anyone on this forum who has seen Dr. Schreiber yet. Dr. Lindsey's statement of "First go around we hit the front portion and re-build the hairline....and I'll pack the #$%! out of it" seems like a good starting point....I'd love to pack the #$%! out of the hairline...as I haven't seen it since I was 22. Future, just for more research purposes, what other doctors would you personally recommend within a 4 hour driving range of the DC metro area?

 

Spank: Very true about trying the shaved head look, while I haven't gone full on Stone Cold with a razor yet, I've cut my hair close enough to the scalp where I don't like the way it looks. It adds about 8 to 10 years on me, which I'm not very comfortable with. I think I fall into that area where my head is a little too big and pronounced to look good bald...but that's just me. Your advice to look into Hasson and Wong has resonated as their mega-session approach is really appealing. As many have stated on here before, I'm not letting distance or price be a factor here. I'm more than willing to fly anywhere (within the US...I don't want to go too overboard:D) and pay whatever price (again within reason) in which I can achieve good cosmetic results. Currently I use toppik everyday to thicken up the hair, and while its been good, my hair has thinned to the point now where when I put it on, you can kind of see the fibers fighting to stick to whatever hair is left. I figure by this point its time to try a different approach.