My horrid experience and help wanted

[azza786]

16 hours ago, Sam818 said:

Hey azza, thanks for sharing your story on here I know it took a lot of courage. Maybe it will help the next guy who is in his early twenties and wants to have surgery without thinking of the risks. 

      Those words really resonate with me. If I could give you any advice it would be to find a good therapist that you can talk to. Also, stop looking in the rear view mirror and thinking about what was done and just think about moving forward. When you were in your twenties you envisioned that surgeries would restore your hair and probably saw other guys have great results and that inspired you to keep trying. 
       If I were you I would look at a guy like @Gatsbyas Melvin suggested and use that as inspiration for what can be achieved if you shave your head and liberate yourself so you can move forward. If I were you I would look into putting beard grafts into your scar and then follow up with a clinic that does quality SMP work. Look at what a great surgeon can achieve with a few hundred grafts into the scar:

Whatever you decide to do please research properly. A bad SMP job is just like a bad hair transplant. A great one like @Gatsbyhas will look great on you and help you move forward with confidence. 

Sound advice brother but like you say a bad HT is the same as a bad SMP...and that's the thing having gone through what I have...it would be a huge step and as you can imagine how skeptical I am right now to think that anything can actually work for me...I don't want it to be the case of going to a good SMP clinic only to see that didn't work for me also.

[Sam818]

13 minutes ago, azza786 said:

Sound advice brother but like you say a bad HT is the same as a bad SMP...and that's the thing having gone through what I have...it would be a huge step and as you can imagine how skeptical I am right now to think that anything can actually work for me...I don't want it to be the case of going to a good SMP clinic only to see that didn't work for me also.

I completely agree with you and if you read gatsbys thread as I’m sure he’ll explain it to you he was prepared to leave Australia to get it done until he found someone reputable.

Also even though I told you to not dwell on what’s been done I just want to reaffirm that none of what you’re dealing with is your fault at all. You were a young guy dealing with hair loss and wanted to fix your situation. That took courage in itself. You chose a world renowned doctor as well who has some of the best results I’ve ever seen. It’s not like you walked into Bosley. But in my opinion that doctor failed you. I looked at your pre op pics and at just 20 years old with that aggressive balding pattern he should have better guided you by putting you on meds to see how you tolerate it and told you to come back years down the line. 

[Melvin- Admin]

13 minutes ago, Sam818 said:

I completely agree with you and if you read gatsbys thread as I’m sure he’ll explain it to you he was prepared to leave Australia to get it done until he found someone reputable.

Also even though I told you to not dwell on what’s been done I just want to reaffirm that none of what you’re dealing with is your fault at all. You were a young guy dealing with hair loss and wanted to fix your situation. That took courage in itself. You chose a world renowned doctor as well who has some of the best results I’ve ever seen. It’s not like you walked into Bosley. But in my opinion that doctor failed you. I looked at your pre op pics and at just 20 years old with that aggressive balding pattern he should have better guided you by putting you on meds to see how you tolerate it and told you to come back years down the line. 

Apparently he was on meds, but it didn’t help so he stopped taking them. Meds will do little to extreme Norwood 7s. I’ve heard a few Norwood 7s say they were still losing hair on meds. DHT sensitivity is a spectrum, which is why different hair loss patterns exist. Unfortunately, those with Norwood 7 patterns have the highest sensitivity. At least that’s my theory.

[azza786]

49 minutes ago, Sam818 said:

I completely agree with you and if you read gatsbys thread as I’m sure he’ll explain it to you he was prepared to leave Australia to get it done until he found someone reputable.

Also even though I told you to not dwell on what’s been done I just want to reaffirm that none of what you’re dealing with is your fault at all. You were a young guy dealing with hair loss and wanted to fix your situation. That took courage in itself. You chose a world renowned doctor as well who has some of the best results I’ve ever seen. It’s not like you walked into Bosley. But in my opinion that doctor failed you. I looked at your pre op pics and at just 20 years old with that aggressive balding pattern he should have better guided you by putting you on meds to see how you tolerate it and told you to come back years down the line. 

Just a bit off topic but I clearly remember at the age of 11, I had this nag that unfortunate things were to enter my life...my school life was miserable to say the least out of no fault of my own but I ploughed through mostly on my own and then this misfortune came along and though I had an instinct that whilst some young people were getting good results at the time, I wouldn't be so lucky but I still went for it being positive and hoping to be proved wrong...but we can all see what happened....

It's not been easy- period.... literally growing up with this whilst trying to form a life and identity of your own...just an interesting statistic...I have around 20 male first cousins from my mother's side and 6 from my father's side (my background is from the sub continent) and some are in their 40s and 50s and non if them have any sort of trace of hair loss ....again not comparing as such but you can imagine these thought have crossed my mind at some point...intact non of my male first cousins from both sides have any loss at all - all nw1s ...at worst a nw2 ...so when I was going through this, I took it as a challenge full on...so it adds to the pain when you try every option you can but you don't get any sort of reward apart from a scarred mind and donor area...

[Al - Moderator]

On 9/20/2020 at 1:12 PM, Melvin-Moderator said:

I have been saying this for a while, but @BeHappy who has a similar hair loss pattern, mentioned that he took finasteride and saw little benefit. I really believe that fin doesn’t work for those who have extreme sensitivities to DHT. 

I took finisteride for about 11 years from 1998 to 2009. It may have helped a bit for the first few years, but I was definitely losing more hair after about the 5 or 6 year mark. By the time I got to 11 years of using it and seeing how much hair I had lost over that time there was no reason to continue with it. Besides I knew at that point that I had to eventually try using body hair grafts as they were just beginning to be used in some extreme repairs and the finisteride was thinning my body hair.

 

[asterix0]

43 minutes ago, BeHappy said:

I took finisteride for about 11 years from 1998 to 2009. It may have helped a bit for the first few years, but I was definitely losing more hair after about the 5 or 6 year mark. By the time I got to 11 years of using it and seeing how much hair I had lost over that time there was no reason to continue with it. Besides I knew at that point that I had to eventually try using body hair grafts as they were just beginning to be used in some extreme repairs and the finisteride was thinning my body hair.

 

I read your transplant history and wow your story is incredible man, kudos to you for the mental fortitude you've had throughout this whole process.

[Melvin- Admin]

1 hour ago, BeHappy said:

I took finisteride for about 11 years from 1998 to 2009. It may have helped a bit for the first few years, but I was definitely losing more hair after about the 5 or 6 year mark. By the time I got to 11 years of using it and seeing how much hair I had lost over that time there was no reason to continue with it. Besides I knew at that point that I had to eventually try using body hair grafts as they were just beginning to be used in some extreme repairs and the finisteride was thinning my body hair.

 

See, it confirms my suspicion that fin doesn’t work on those with high sensitivities to DHT. 

[azza786]

1 hour ago, asterix0 said:

I read your transplant history and wow your story is incredible man, kudos to you for the mental fortitude you've had throughout this whole process.

Hated every second of it brother but you have to keep going somehow.

[Gatsby]

Hi azza786. I've gone through your thread and some of your earlier posts from the start of your journey. If it's any consolation, at the age of '18' I had not one, but two punch graft surgeries. It was the worst decision I've made in my entire life and I'm 53. I had both surgeries relatively close together, thinking the second procedure would hide the 'doll's hair look.' Before the first surgery I actually had no real idea of what a punch graft hair transplant would look like? I was lucky (or unlucky) in that I had long curly hair and so it would hide the plugs but the wind was always my enemy and I was paranoid that someone would touch my fringe and reveal the plugs. Then after one year I decided to have the plugs removed as they looked so 'mechanical.' I went to a plastic surgeon and over the next three years I had about 4 or 5 small strip procedures along the hair line to remove the plugs. Each strip removal was done in the attempt to let it heal and see how bad the scarring would be. Eventually I was left with a long wide scar across my forehead which I have until this day. As well I have scars in the back donor region as well. At age 25 I wanted another hair transplant as my hair was receding back even further revealing the scar running along the top of my hair line. Thank God I was rejected by a Dr Richard Shiell who performed the first hair transplant in Australia in 1967. He told me that I was never a candidate for a hair transplant in the first place and that even if I was to 'hand him a million dollars' he still wouldn't touch me (I remember those words so vividly even to this day). He suggested that I look at getting a hair system which I rejected straight away. However I did agree to come back in a week to meet a patient who was now wearing a hair system. Long story short - I ended up wearing a wig for 25 years. To be honest I actually liked the look of the hair piece for quite a while and I 'owned' it and I told all of my friends, old and new. However as you have stated it became a real drag and by the age of around 40 I just wished I could get rid of it and be free of it. About four years ago I started to do my research into SMP (as well as hair transplants) and after a year of researching I went with SMP and I never looked back. I took a holiday to Thailand straight after and it was the first time in 25 years that I went to the beach without wearing a hair system. It was like being born again.

Now that was me and my psychology in relation to my hair loss battle/s since I was 18. I honestly believe that you can get out of this and move forward with your life. One of the things I did do at around the age of 19/20 was to see a therapist. The depression, social isolation, anxiety etc as you know is relentless. Therapy really helped me to put things in perspective as well as being cathartic. There were no hair loss forums back then for advice or just to unload your worries onto. The first thing If you haven't taken part in this option is to really consider it if that's something that you are open to doing. The second thing I would do is to shave all the area of your scalp that is covered by the hair piece and just see how it looks. Are there any scars there and how do they look? Take some pics of them if you can. Before I became a full Norwood 6/7 I used to shave my scalp down when I wore a hair piece in the early days. You have a very youthful face Azza. I personally believe that with an excellent artist that SMP would not only free you from wearing a hair piece and hide your scars, but it would also take advantage of your looks and highlight things like your eyes. People focus so much more on your eyes when you have shaved your head/had SMP which is counter intuitive to what we worry that they will be looking at. I realize that this maybe something you really don't want to hear or may be a o path that you do not want to go down. The day I finished my last SMP session I put my face up on my Facebook profile and I had nearly a hundred comments from people saying not only how much 'better I looked' but also how much 'younger' I looked.

The other option would be to look at going to someone like Dr Umar and other hair transplant surgeons that have a strong body of work in repairing donor areas and hair transplant repairs in general. But personally I am with the consensus of others who have chimed in on your thread that SMP, when performed correctly with the right artist, can transform your situation. Please feel free to PM me if you would like to discuss anything and I look forward to hearing your thoughts on the matter.

Onwards and upwards!

[Ron5566]

Hey buddy,

How long after the surgery you started to wear hair system? Maybe that effected the results because of the harsh glue?

Do you think your sides are still thinning? (if your trying to pull some hairs does it goes out easily?)

[azza786]

2 hours ago, Ron5566 said:

Hey buddy,

How long after the surgery you started to wear hair system? Maybe that effected the results because of the harsh glue?

Do you think your sides are still thinning? (if your trying to pull some hairs does it goes out easily?)

Hi Ron,

So I really waited until I started using it. It really at the time was my go to resort. I don't use glue but tape and to be fair I have never experienced any scalp discomfort.

Sides maybe thinning but I can't tell if they are or because I have had 2 FUES so it's a result of that...sometime hair does come out but most times no.

[Ron5566]

Hey brother! I sent you a PM.

I know it will be behind you soon, I can send you photos of mine so you will have an idea what I am talking about.

[azza786]

52 minutes ago, Ron5566 said:

Hey brother! I sent you a PM.

I know it will be behind you soon, I can send you photos of mine so you will have an idea what I am talking about.

Hi Ron,

Really appreciate it. Will have a look.

Thanks

[azza786]

11 hours ago, Gatsby said:

Hi azza786. I've gone through your thread and some of your earlier posts from the start of your journey. If it's any consolation, at the age of '18' I had not one, but two punch graft surgeries. It was the worst decision I've made in my entire life and I'm 53. I had both surgeries relatively close together, thinking the second procedure would hide the 'doll's hair look.' Before the first surgery I actually had no real idea of what a punch graft hair transplant would look like? I was lucky (or unlucky) in that I had long curly hair and so it would hide the plugs but the wind was always my enemy and I was paranoid that someone would touch my fringe and reveal the plugs. Then after one year I decided to have the plugs removed as they looked so 'mechanical.' I went to a plastic surgeon and over the next three years I had about 4 or 5 small strip procedures along the hair line to remove the plugs. Each strip removal was done in the attempt to let it heal and see how bad the scarring would be. Eventually I was left with a long wide scar across my forehead which I have until this day. As well I have scars in the back donor region as well. At age 25 I wanted another hair transplant as my hair was receding back even further revealing the scar running along the top of my hair line. Thank God I was rejected by a Dr Richard Shiell who performed the first hair transplant in Australia in 1967. He told me that I was never a candidate for a hair transplant in the first place and that even if I was to 'hand him a million dollars' he still wouldn't touch me (I remember those words so vividly even to this day). He suggested that I look at getting a hair system which I rejected straight away. However I did agree to come back in a week to meet a patient who was now wearing a hair system. Long story short - I ended up wearing a wig for 25 years. To be honest I actually liked the look of the hair piece for quite a while and I 'owned' it and I told all of my friends, old and new. However as you have stated it became a real drag and by the age of around 40 I just wished I could get rid of it and be free of it. About four years ago I started to do my research into SMP (as well as hair transplants) and after a year of researching I went with SMP and I never looked back. I took a holiday to Thailand straight after and it was the first time in 25 years that I went to the beach without wearing a hair system. It was like being born again.

Now that was me and my psychology in relation to my hair loss battle/s since I was 18. I honestly believe that you can get out of this and move forward with your life. One of the things I did do at around the age of 19/20 was to see a therapist. The depression, social isolation, anxiety etc as you know is relentless. Therapy really helped me to put things in perspective as well as being cathartic. There were no hair loss forums back then for advice or just to unload your worries onto. The first thing If you haven't taken part in this option is to really consider it if that's something that you are open to doing. The second thing I would do is to shave all the area of your scalp that is covered by the hair piece and just see how it looks. Are there any scars there and how do they look? Take some pics of them if you can. Before I became a full Norwood 6/7 I used to shave my scalp down when I wore a hair piece in the early days. You have a very youthful face Azza. I personally believe that with an excellent artist that SMP would not only free you from wearing a hair piece and hide your scars, but it would also take advantage of your looks and highlight things like your eyes. People focus so much more on your eyes when you have shaved your head/had SMP which is counter intuitive to what we worry that they will be looking at. I realize that this maybe something you really don't want to hear or may be a o path that you do not want to go down. The day I finished my last SMP session I put my face up on my Facebook profile and I had nearly a hundred comments from people saying not only how much 'better I looked' but also how much 'younger' I looked.

The other option would be to look at going to someone like Dr Umar and other hair transplant surgeons that have a strong body of work in repairing donor areas and hair transplant repairs in general. But personally I am with the consensus of others who have chimed in on your thread that SMP, when performed correctly with the right artist, can transform your situation. Please feel free to PM me if you would like to discuss anything and I look forward to hearing your thoughts on the matter.

Onwards and upwards!

Hi Gatsby,

I really really appreciate your post. It sounds as if SMP has worked out for you well. I think for me it's the mindset reset that I need and I'm working on. Who knows.. right now, SMP has not crossed my mind as such but again it's an option.

Dr U could be an option. Did you ever consider him ?

Ta

[DrTBarghouthi]

Hi @azza786

I understand how tough this has been, especially that everything has been beyond  anyone’s control. Don’t give up, techniques in hair restoration have evolved and I think you can get a really good outcome with SMP in good hands. 
Another thing I really like for cases like yours or for botched up cases that I see a lot of in my practice is a custom made hair system or prosthesis. They are now becoming extremely natural and of a high quality. I can recommend some in private if you wish. I usually do a small hairline FUE to make it look more natural and make the measurements for the system right behind the hairline. I think your existing hairline can work well to blend with a system right behind it.  I can share some photos with you too. The point is there will always be something that can be done to get you moving on. Don’t give up!

[Gatsby]

13 hours ago, azza786 said:

Hi Gatsby,

I really really appreciate your post. It sounds as if SMP has worked out for you well. I think for me it's the mindset reset that I need and I'm working on. Who knows.. right now, SMP has not crossed my mind as such but again it's an option.

Dr U could be an option. Did you ever consider him ?

Ta

Azza I looked at a lot of Dr U's work on patients who had horrific results with scars all over their scalps and with little to zero growth. It was an option in my eyes and gave me the confidence to remain patient and keep on looking for options. At the time, in all honesty, the thought of shaving my head was something that I would never do. I was knocked back as a patient here in Melbourne by Dr Bhatti as a repair case. He offered to create a hairline so that it would make wearing a hair piece look more natural. However one of my goals apart from hiding my scars and wanting 'hair' again was to get rid of wearing hair pieces.

[azza786]

1 hour ago, DrTBarghouthi said:

Hi @azza786

I understand how tough this has been, especially that everything has been beyond  anyone’s control. Don’t give up, techniques in hair restoration have evolved and I think you can get a really good outcome with SMP in good hands. 
Another thing I really like for cases like yours or for botched up cases that I see a lot of in my practice is a custom made hair system or prosthesis. They are now becoming extremely natural and of a high quality. I can recommend some in private if you wish. I usually do a small hairline FUE to make it look more natural and make the measurements for the system right behind the hairline. I think your existing hairline can work well to blend with a system right behind it.  I can share some photos with you too. The point is there will always be something that can be done to get you moving on. Don’t give up!

Hi,

Do share pictures. I do use a hair system currently but to be honest at some point, I would like to give this up so thinking of how I can do this.

[Guano]

Fark man, can't imagine what you had to go through dude I really feel for you. If I were you man I'd just take the red pill and buzz it down + SMP.. Really hope things turn out for ya!

[azza786]

2 minutes ago, Guano said:

Fark man, can't imagine what you had to go through dude I really feel for you. If I were you man I'd just take the red pill and buzz it down + SMP.. Really hope things turn out for ya!

Thanks bud... appreciate it...I'm on my way on making a new mindset...been stuck in a rut for far too long now.

[Guano]

@azza786 It's tough man I get it but it's the only way out, think of it as a fresh start, a new chapter in your life - break yourself free of the anxiety that comes with hair. 

 

You are not defined by your hair. You got this bro, wish you all the best.

 

[azza786]

1 minute ago, Guano said:

@azza786 It's tough man I get it but it's the only way out, think of it as a fresh start, a new chapter in your life - break yourself free of the anxiety that comes with hair. 

 

You are not defined by your hair. You got this bro, wish you all the best.

 

You are right brother....

It doesn't help being reminded about it through my teens that I'm doomed as I have mpb genetically from both sides...starts to sink in psychologically subconsciously but then when it started to show first signs at the age of 15, the denial started from there very small and by the time I was 18....it got really worse....I actually remember a day after my 19th birthday where I had gone for a haircut and came back and started sobbing as I could not believe how much hair I had lost...scalp was sooooo visible 360 degrees....

It's been tough tough tough...

Trust me, this is the only place I really talk about it as I can't muster up the courage to talk about it in person...alot of guilt, embarrassment etc associated.

[Al - Moderator]

Azza,

I remember your case from back in 2007 when you had your first hair transplant. I was just becoming a member then, but I was a lurker here since the forum started. I had a very similar experience as you and it has affected my entire life for over 35 years now. I started losing my hair at around 14 or 15. I had my first hair transplant in 1989 when I was 22. I was probably between a NW 5 and NW 6 at the time, similar to where you were. I wore a hair piece for a year before I started with hair transplants as I didn't want to have surgery, but the hair piece was a horrible experience and I would never do that again no matter how bad I look.

When I had my first hair transplant I still had hair high up on the sides and thick sides and back. After each hair transplant, by the time the hair would start growing more hair than was transplanted had already fallen out and so I never got any actual improvement and kept chasing the loss. Eventually the hair loss started going past the FUT scars and all of the remaining sides and back began thinning, so all of the transplanted hair began falling out as well. I was looking really freaky with lots of visible scars and almost no hair left on top. They made a new FUT scar each session in those days, so I had about 7 or 8 rows of scars around the entire sides and back of my head. It just kept getting worse over the years. It's extremely hard to deal with. There was nothing I could really do. Some people told me I should just shave my head, but with all the scars that wasn't really an option as shaving wasn't going to make it look any better. It would look different, but not better.

Over the years body hair grafts started being used and that finally gave me some hope of getting this mess fixed and being able to have a normal life without people constantly staring at my head and giving me strange looks. I've had over 4600 chest and beard grafts done so far and while it doesn't look like a full head of hair (yet) it does look much more normal as it just looks more like I have some thinning hair all over. I still want a lot more to get where I want to be because even now I'm not quite at the point where I started. I think one more session will finally get me back to where I was at around 20 years old when I first started this. Anything I get after that will finally be improvement.

 

Edited September 24, 2020 by BeHappy

[azza786]

3 hours ago, BeHappy said:

Azza,

I remember your case from back in 2007 when you had your first hair transplant. I was just becoming a member then, but I was a lurker here since the forum started. I had a very similar experience as you and it has affected my entire life for over 35 years now. I started losing my hair at around 14 or 15. I had my first hair transplant in 1989 when I was 22. I was probably between a NW 5 and NW 6 at the time, similar to where you were. I wore a hair piece for a year before I started with hair transplants as I didn't want to have surgery, but the hair piece was a horrible experience and I would never do that again no matter how bad I look.

When I had my first hair transplant I still had hair high up on the sides and thick sides and back. After each hair transplant, by the time the hair would start growing more hair than was transplanted had already fallen out and so I never got any actual improvement and kept chasing the loss. Eventually the hair loss started going past the FUT scars and all of the remaining sides and back began thinning, so all of the transplanted hair began falling out as well. I was looking really freaky with lots of visible scars and almost no hair left on top. They made a new FUT scar each session in those days, so I had about 7 or 8 rows of scars around the entire sides and back of my head. It just kept getting worse over the years. It's extremely hard to deal with. There was nothing I could really do. Some people told me I should just shave my head, but with all the scars that wasn't really an option as shaving wasn't going to make it look any better. It would look different, but not better.

Over the years body hair grafts started being used and that finally gave me some hope of getting this mess fixed and being able to have a normal life without people constantly staring at my head and giving me strange looks. I've had over 4600 chest and beard grafts done so far and while it doesn't look like a full head of hair (yet) it does look much more normal as it just looks more like I have some thinning hair all over. I still want a lot more to get where I want to be because even now I'm not quite at the point where I started. I think one more session will finally get me back to where I was at around 20 years old when I first started this. Anything I get after that will finally be improvement.

 

Hi,

7-8 scars?? Wow...

Are you able to tell where you got your body hair transplant done from?

And if you don't mind and are able to, would you be able to share post some pictures?

 

Thanks

[Al - Moderator]

Azza,

Go to youtube and do a search for Dr Sanusi Umar Extreme Repair. You'll see what some people were able to have corrected. I didn't have work done by him, but I did have an online consultation and some follow up emails. I ended up going with Dr Dorin at True & Dorin in NY, but that was because it's not too far from me and they did not require me to shave my head which would have made it extremely hard to go back to work for a while.

 

 

Edited September 24, 2020 by BeHappy

[azza786]

6 hours ago, BeHappy said:

Azza,

Go to youtube and do a search for Dr Sanusi Umar Extreme Repair. You'll see what some people were able to have corrected. I didn't have work done by him, but I did have an online consultation and some follow up emails. I ended up going with Dr Dorin at True & Dorin in NY, but that was because it's not too far from me and they did not require me to shave my head which would have made it extremely hard to go back to work for a while.

 

 

Hi,

 

Yes I've seen Dr Us videos...seems he's like an option...a very expensive option though haha...it's ok for you guys based locally in the USA.

Do Dorin and True do repair/BHT?

Btw...has anyone come across the stem cell surgery? Think there is some advancement in it ...?