The beginning 🤞

[Bigred87]

Hi sorry to start a new thread but I'm stressing out.... So I've contacted a few clinics and I've settled on HDC..... a few other clinics advised me not to have surgery at all due to lack of donor.

I'm not looking for a full maine of hair, I'm after coverage with a hairline and plan to have smp in the future as I wanna keep my hair buzzed at grade 1 all over. I have a few questions that I need help with. 

I'm starting on fin and min tomorrow, at the moment I'm wearing a hair system... I'm taking that off tomorrow which is a huge thing for me and would like to shave my hair down to grade 1, is this ok with minoxidil as in I'll be buzzing it every few days?

I've been having skin fades for as long as I can remember around the sides and back, the pics I'm going to attach are 2 weeks post fade. My hair has multi tones and is fairy course, does it look like I have enough donor for a hairline, bit of filling through midscalp and some for the crown? 

Is it likely I will be able to improve the hair on top with the meds baring in mind it's been suffocated for 12 years with glue and a system.

I've also attached a picture of a smp/fue patient with the results I'd like.

Thanks 👍 

 

 

[Ryan Rap]

Hi @Bigred87, Hope all is well. Have you considered FUT first in order to maximize your donor?

[Bigred87]

Hi Ryan.. I haven't really given fut much thought, I've always been put of by the scarring etc... 

[Gatsby]

Congratulations on liberating yourself from a hair piece. I wore one for 25 years and I'm so glad that it's almost five years since I finally got rid of it. However it helped my situation for many years having said that. Having a buzzed head will only assist with applying topical minoxidil as it won't be competing with a lot of hair to get to the scalp. I would give finasteride up to a year (at least) before deciding on surgery. You may be surprised in how well it may not only halt your hair loss but regrow hair in the crow and revitilise those miniaturized hairs on top also? To be honest when it comes to buzzing down a hair transplant to a number one all over I think you might be better off just having SMP. You will have FUE scars all over the donor region that will be visible. Yes you can use SMP to hide them but personally I don't see the point. Have considered having consultations with surgeons who utilize beard grafts to add to your donor supply like Eugenix, Dr Mwamba, etc?

[digi23]

6 hours ago, Bigred87 said:

Hi sorry to start a new thread but I'm stressing out.... So I've contacted a few clinics and I've settled on HDC..... a few other clinics advised me not to have surgery at all due to lack of donor.

I'm not looking for a full maine of hair, I'm after coverage with a hairline and plan to have smp in the future as I wanna keep my hair buzzed at grade 1 all over. I have a few questions that I need help with. 

I'm starting on fin and min tomorrow, at the moment I'm wearing a hair system... I'm taking that off tomorrow which is a huge thing for me and would like to shave my hair down to grade 1, is this ok with minoxidil as in I'll be buzzing it every few days?

I've been having skin fades for as long as I can remember around the sides and back, the pics I'm going to attach are 2 weeks post fade. My hair has multi tones and is fairy course, does it look like I have enough donor for a hairline, bit of filling through midscalp and some for the crown? 

Is it likely I will be able to improve the hair on top with the meds baring in mind it's been suffocated for 12 years with glue and a system.

I've also attached a picture of a smp/fue patient with the results I'd like.

Thanks 👍 

 

 

If I were you I would be worried about not getting full coverage with decent density. Your donor looks below average and you have a big area to fill. You had a hair system aswell, the density would not even be close to that considering how big of area you got to fill with a limited donor.

I am not so sure you are a good candidate in my opinion. Would be good to hear what @Doron Haratifrom HDC says.

[Z--]

Not sure the transplant route is a good idea; the donor isn't really there (looks like most of it has thinned and there's only a small workable region). Which doctors rejected you for lack of donor? I'd check with H&W, Konior, Eugenix, or any other ethical doctor -- I think they should be able to accurately tell you if it makes sense to do a transplant.

[Doron Harati]

6 hours ago, digi23 said:

If I were you I would be worried about not getting full coverage with decent density. Your donor looks below average and you have a big area to fill. You had a hair system aswell, the density would not even be close to that considering how big of area you got to fill with a limited donor.

I am not so sure you are a good candidate in my opinion. Would be good to hear what @Doron Haratifrom HDC says.

At this stage, the paitent should treat his hair without using a hair system for 2-3 months, it's more diffuse Alopecia than normal male hairloss pattern, then he may consider HT, will need 2 procedures with good preservation.

[Ryan Rap]

@Bigred87Going off of what others are saying…if you do want to go the HT route I would possibly consider looking into FUT first in order to maximize donor. It looks like you will need all the grafts you can get. Try seeing what H&W say. Look forward to hearing what they say

[ciaus]

16 hours ago, Bigred87 said:

I'm not looking for a full maine of hair, I'm after coverage with a hairline and plan to have smp in the future as I wanna keep my hair buzzed at grade 1 all over. I have a few questions that I need help with. 

 

Hi I understand you're really stressing, just be very careful at this point. There's not much wiggle room for mistakes if your long term goal is keeping your head buzzed. I've seen some very impressive results concealing hair transplant scars with SMP, but no one is going to be able to guarantee you a result like that.

You should reach out to some ethical SMP artists and get their input as well. We have two top tier SMP artists that are forum members here and they post their results over in the SMP section too:  @hairthere and @EnhancedScalp

I'm linking some recent topics below relating to addressing scars and high norwood loss with SMP. In case you don't want to click on the topic links, I'm copy/pasting this great reply from @hairthere about guys wanting to do hair transplants and SMP together and the potential downsides: 

I've had quite a few people ask me about this very approach lately, but there are some  issues you should consider. Firstly, you will be PERMANENTLY scarring your scalp. And not just the donor zone. You will create scar tissue in the recipient area too, which can sometimes cause issues with the pigment (retention mostly). I know FUE is being aggressively marketed as "scar-free" or "scar-less" surgery--this is simply not true--as is evidenced here on this forum. The followup I get is, "Well you can then fix the scars." But why create a problem that needs fixing? SMP can definitely help conceal the scars, but it's not perfect. 

Secondly, while current transplant technology/methods (FUT and FUE) do produce ultra-refined grafts, they will NEVER be as natural as your native hair. And what I most commonly see is ridging along the hairline when the grafts are shaved down. Like everything else in life, you must weigh the risk versus the reward of this approach. In my opinion, if you're going for a shaved/buzzed look (zero guard), forgo the surgery and just do SMP. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[EnhancedScalp]

I don't want to burst your bubble op, but in my humble opinion I don't think you will be please with a hair transplant.  Your donor area isn't strong and I don't tink you'll get the desired results you'd be looking for along with all the scarring that comes with that.

I'm not just saying this because i do SMP either, this is from experience. (I know transplants quite well.) =

Whatever you decide, I wish you luck and hope it turns out well.

 

Edited January 1, 2022 by EnhancedScalp