ShavedDethMonk

This is a big concern of mine as I know once the time comes mine will be stretched. I enjoy heavy weight lifting. Using light to moderate weights does not feel like Im doing anything. I will follow the instructions to the T for not exercising for 2 weeks or so but after that it will be hard for me to keep away from the 90 lb dumbells and 300 lb bench press attempts. I know I am screwed

If you are looking for volume first off stop WETTING your hair or putting all that gel in your hair that smushs down you hair ... of course you have no volume when you wet or gel your hair life some mafia dude. Blow dry it, comb it .. get some volume in it if thats what you want. Propecia is not some miracle drug that allows you to hang onto hair that is so fragile that if you discontinue it for four days it falls our for ever. Hairs that are on the outs mostly go through some minaturization and thinning before they are gone forever. You will probably lose the vellus hair in the future so it is unlikely that you will hang onto those in the coming years. Best you can do is take your meds, check out what your other male relatives look like on their chrome at the wedding to see what might happen to you in the future, and possibly consider a hair transplant in 10-15 years if you are not happy where your hair ended up. SDM

I would continue to take the Propecia regardless as it might still be slowing thre recession even though it is continuing. A slowed balding over the next 5 years maybe a lot of extra hair on your hair compared to not having taken the recession. Remember fighting male pattern baldness is a life long commitment not a 1-2 year thing. SDM

A good start would be to check out the Hair Loss Weblogs and look under the drop down window for Dr. Rahal patients and you will see a long list of them. Additionally you will be able to find alot of "patient thread experiences' from Dr. Rahal patients. Contacting Adrian, at the Rahal Clinic, for some pictures of some repair patients that have your similar characteristics as your own may be worthwhile. I dont find that alot of repair patients post on here from Dr. Rahal, mostly first time HT patients. SDM

Im going to say 1750. If you get your surgeon to create 'surgical split ends' the percieved density will be increased I hope you more than my estimate but from your blog you stated you done 7550 grafts to date so Im going to go low and hope for you high. Best regards, SDM

After some good advice and thought I think it is in my best interest to merely call in sick for 3 days, which I can do without requiring a doctors note. This will allow me to be more discrete about the procedure and not mislead my employer. The last thing I want them to think is that I had brain surgery after being vague with the procedure I had. Though my wife mentioned her work's policy manual specifically states they do not grant CSL for elective surgery. Though my policy procedure manual at my work does not go that specific I am not really interested in asking my boss about whether Hair transplantion get me a week of CSL or not I may just take a vacation day off for the procedure with not much intention of going to work the next day. Than from the swelling and discomfort I can legimately call in to say I am sick. That way I can keep calling for the next three days while the swelling bothers me. I may opt to get a note from Dr. Rahal incase any questions arise but that would be a last resort. That way what I can do is take a vacation day at the beginning of the week (procedure) call in sick the next three days and than take a vacation day that Friday as the swelling and discomfort will likely go down by than and I would require a letter if I called in a 4th day. This might sound a bit shady and low ... Im not sure but because I have 3 weeks vacation and live away from my family being able to reserve my precious vacation days to visit my parents and brother half way across Canada means alot to me. Raphael84: Make sure you dont get yourself in trouble using any of my ideas Make sure you read any policy and procedures at your work about elective surgeries vs certified sick leave. Luckily I have 7 days paid uncertified sick leave so I may go for the limit before requiring a note. SDM

Hi Space Between, I have already put down my $1000 to secure the procedure. I am referring to the fact that I dont save money very well ... meaning that if I have $2000 in my savings account I will likely spend it on speakers or something so instead what I plan to do is once I have 2-3000$ saved I will simply make a payment on my account over at Rahal's clinic so it isnt sitting in my savings account but rather on as credit. As I save 1-3 grand Ill keep making payments until it is paid in full by Dec 1 st date where I will have paid everything off! Thats my plan anyway ... Ill be getting a sizable tax return shortly so thats when Ill plop down a couple of grand before I spend it :-) This is what you haveto do when you are like me and susceptible to impulse buys thus wasting something you are saving for longer term

Thanks Acrobaz, I will check my PM and reply there. Best regards, SDM

Hello, As a person with only 3 weeks vacation and trying to save as much as possible for REAL vacationI wondered if any HT surgeons, specifically Dr. Rahal, were fine with writing a letter for certified sick leave for a few days. Though most employers dont allow for certified sick leave for elective surgeries mine did allow for a day of certified sick leave for my laser eye surgery so I am thinking they would allow for a few for a HT, though I wouldnt mention what the exact 'head surgery' was. I wondered if Dr. Rahal or others have written vague Doctors letters stating 'So and so was at my medical clinic for a procedure and requires 2-3 days rest prior to resuming work'. This would save me 3 previous vacation days. Since Im having my procedure Dec 14th that would allow me to use 3days CSL time instead of vacation and since our work closes for 2 weeks over Christmas that 3 days could be used at the beginning of January and using a bit more vacation I could be away from work for 1 month!! Anyone have experience with this? I can see how some may be fine with this while other Drs may be uncomfortable with this. Thanks ahead of time for any insightful answers. Once I put another payment on my HT account at Dr. Rahal's clinic Ill ask Adrian, but until than I wont bug him about such a small detail. Edit: Just checked my certified sick leave bank I have 197.5 hours. Being 30 years old and healthy as a horse I never tapped (laser eye surgery only). While many of my co-workers have ended up going on stress leave, surgery, maternity/pregnancy visits, broken ankles/arms, etc. for this thus using this 'benefit'. Since I will unlikely use this unless I get into a car accident I can justify in my mind to use CSL SDM

Hello, As a person with only 3 weeks vacation and trying to save as much as possible for REAL vacationI wondered if any HT surgeons, specifically Dr. Rahal, were fine with writing a letter for certified sick leave for a few days. Though most employers dont allow for certified sick leave for elective surgeries mine did allow for a day of certified sick leave for my laser eye surgery so I am thinking they would allow for a few for a HT, though I wouldnt mention what the exact 'head surgery' was. I wondered if Dr. Rahal or others have written vague Doctors letters stating 'So and so was at my medical clinic for a procedure and requires 2-3 days rest prior to resuming work'. This would save me 3 previous vacation days. Since Im having my procedure Dec 14th that would allow me to use 3days CSL time instead of vacation and since our work closes for 2 weeks over Christmas that 3 days could be used at the beginning of January and using a bit more vacation I could be away from work for 1 month!! Anyone have experience with this? I can see how some may be fine with this while other Drs may be uncomfortable with this. Thanks ahead of time for any insightful answers. Once I put another payment on my HT account at Dr. Rahal's clinic Ill ask Adrian, but until than I wont bug him about such a small detail. Edit: Just checked my certified sick leave bank I have 197.5 hours. Being 30 years old and healthy as a horse I never tapped (laser eye surgery only). While many of my co-workers have ended up going on stress leave, surgery, maternity/pregnancy visits, broken ankles/arms, etc. for this thus using this 'benefit'. Since I will unlikely use this unless I get into a car accident I can justify in my mind to use CSL SDM

Hi Danny Skywalker, I hope they figure out a plan for you. Your hairblog was the first one that really impressed me with the results and it made me take a couple of steps back when this post came up that 2 years later you were ready for another procedure already. In your pictures I can see clearly that your forelock behind the grafts has thinned. Im curious, in your family how far have your male relatives balded? and what level of baldness did Dr. Rahal think you would achieve later in life? Good luck.

Great result Danny. It is results like this that reassure me of my decision to go with Dr. Rahal late this year. I hope to have a similar stellar result. Thanks for coming back and sharing your results.

My hairline looks much the same. Im 30 years old and have been taking Propecia for 2 years now. Some days to me, after some hair styling, it looks good and I wonder why I even want to have a HT but it only takes a bit of wind and a wrong 'whoosh' of the hair and Im reminded how much I hate the look I have (and seemingly you have). So despite some saying we have a 'great hair line' I think it is very individual as to what we would accept. Im having my HT in December and it cant wait to get rid of this hairline. Good luck and I think you made a good decision, that is going with your gut instinct as to what will make you happy. SDM

LOL .. it is garbage ads like that which waste so many millions of dollars from vulnerable balding people. That guy is an @$$-hole trying to make some quick money by trying to rip you off. The website is cheap, has no scientific backing (he supports it with his own personal account). His re-growth looks like nothing more than him adding some concealer like Topik and claiming he has had re-growth. His hair still looks terrible by the end, very sparse ... I hope he enjoys his product when he is bald and has a garage full of the garbage he is trying to sell. Avoid the scam and get a HT if you want a real solution. Stick to propecia/proscar, rogaine and Hair transplants or call it game over and shave your head.

Unless you are a HT clinic's accountant I wouldnt worry about it too much. It seems like several of the top clinics have comparable prices ... the fact being they are businesses, they are designed for profit generation along with helping the balding & baldies and they probably make a great living. Certainly the cost of HT is higher than the average person can afford. When an average person wants one, like myself, I need to save for 3/4-1 year of a year before I can have it. You are probably aware that many of the HT clinic's have price lists on them to allow you to assess whether that is something you wish to invest in.

Im not sure what your work arrangements are however I used their 1-800 number and called them while on my coffe break in my private office. Alternatively if you live close to where you work you may be able to go home and call from home. Additionally check out their hours of operation you may find that you have time while at home one day either before or after work to give them a call. It sounds like you are very anxious to get in touch with them so I am in agreement with Raphael84 ... give them a call when you have the chance that is your best bet. Good luck SpaceBetween ... you will be relieved once you have.

I dont know if taking 2 mg a day will get you better results or not but it will likely get you that much closer to getting those wonderful side effects .... -------------- In general use, the following side effects have been reported: allergic reactions including rash, itching, hives, and swelling of the lips and face; problems with ejaculation; breast tenderness and enlargement; and testicular pain. You should promptly report to your doctor any changes in your breasts such as lumps, pain, or nipple discharge. Tell your doctor about these or any other unusual side effects. A small number of men had sexual side effects, with each occurring in less than 2% of men. These include less desire for sex, difficulty in achieving an erection, and a decrease in the amount of semen. These side effects went away in men who stopped taking PROPECIA because of them. In addition, these side effects decreased to 0.3% of men or less by the fifth year of treatment. ------------ Pharmaceutical companies take drugs risk vs benefit profile ... likely there is not sufficient increased benefit to taking 2 mg of propecia vs 1 mg. The Big Pharma companies would have done the 1 mg vs 2 mg vs 5 mg vs 10 mg studies to find out what the best and safest dose. I would stick to the 1 mg. I bet adding Rogaine to your regime would yield better results than simply doubling your dose of propecia.

No problem ... thats one of the reasons we are all here, to help ... as well as to learn and be helped. Let us know how things go. You'll feel alot better once you 'make first contact'. I know once I recieved a few emails from Adrian, chatted with him on the phone and than put my reservation payment down I felt alot better because it started to feel REAL. It felt like I was actually doing something about my hairline that I dreaded seeing in the mirror. Sometimes after a shower Id look in the mirror with my hair wet and I would feel a slight sense of panic because I could see very clearly the recession and forecast the direction it would go. Now that Ive gotten the ball rolling with Dr. Rahal I no longer feel that even though I see the same thing in the mirror because I know it will actually get better rather than worse. I hope once you make first contact you to will feel the relief I feel starting the process and feeling like it is real.

I think they are booked up until some time in March at the time of me speaking with them (early January) so I would definately call and see how far they are booked solid. I know there were a few people, like me, who were booking in Nov and Dec so you better get in touch with them a reserve a date or they will fill up. Sounds like it is best to call if the email is slow going ... perhaps he is priotizing amongst people who are serious and ready to put down cash rather just generally inquiring.

When I talked to Adrian a couple of weeks ago he stated that he was getting over 200 emails a day. He apologized that Dr. Rahal hadnt had a chance to make a final online assessment on the number of grafts he thought would get me the look that I wanted though he had a preliminary look at the photos. I had already put down my $1000 deposit. I am in no rush as Im not scheduled until Dec 14th 2009 so I can wait. So you are right, they are busy.

I think this is a good question. I was wondering the same thing as I had wanted to take in a picture of Christian Bale's hairline or Brad Pitts ... not because I wanted their hair exactly but showing them an idea of height of forehead I preferred or the distance forward I wanted my temples to be brought forward and the angle I liked. I mean no name people's pictures would be fine too but since you can easily find pictures from multiple angles from these guys with great hair/hair lines I thought it might be a good idea to convey what some of us might like. Admittedly I felt a bit lame when thinking about this because I know that they cant replicate someone elses hair because of skull shape, amount of available hair, hair characteristics , etc. But I think going in with the model pictures with a realistic expectation "working towards some thing SIMILAR, not necessaryily exact" might be useful as I am leaning towards taking something in rather than having to rely on my verbal descriton and risking the surgeon mis-understanding my explaination of my descriptiona and coming out with a different hairline than expected. This would be worse than a bad hair cut because a hair cut can 'grow out' and return ... however a HT, though it will 'GROW OUT' it may grow out in a way you didnt want it to..

I am assuming from the description that it is a 'Leg raise machine'. I dont think the cute woman comes with the exercise though

Most people in North America already have flabby abs / big huge 'Rhino' guts already so there is no change in ab status pre-post surgery

LOL ... you will likely find clipping your hair down short to 3/4 inch or so about 8-15$ at a local barber while a hair transplant may cost you $8000-$20,000 (give or take a several thousand, variabcle according to # grafts, Dr, FUT or FUE). I wouldnt have been able to afford the procedure when I was 19 lets just say, luckily I didnt have any need for it then. Get your hair shaved or clippered and post some pictures of your new hair style. Do some before and after shots. That would be cool.