thanatopsis_awry

Hmmm. I think if I were to touch the crown, I would likely look to allocate a very nominal # of grafts to achieve modest coverage/density to then be able to achieve an easy look of total coverage by using nanogen. I think you should be able to achieve this aim while truly beefing up your hairline. You've mentioned wanting this to be your last procedure for a while, and the number of grafts you thus need to reach to be able to truly satisfy yourself. That said, especially since you're wiling to travel, and this being your 3rd op, I would go to a clinic best versed in being able to meet your needs so you don't end up going through a 3rd procedure only to feel the immediate need for a 4th. Any major reason why you are leaning towards Mohmand? vs. going back to DeVroye?

That's just what I was referencing, Raph -- their work looks universally excellent, but deep down I've always been pretty skeptical about their documentation, including lighting, angles, wetting hair, hair length, and meds. I hate to cast an aspersion since in part it is but my instinct, and they do patently good work, but while I've long felt a lot of their results are top notch, they are nonetheless...."manipulated"...and thus seem super-human.

Doesn't get better than this; truly shows the power of a HT. Love the pre-op/post-op pics and you took a guy getting ravaged by baldness to a slick, lush head of hair.

I would strongly echo everything Aaron just said. Even if you end up going with Dr. Path -- by all means -- but I agree that you' be doing yourself a serious injustive not to consult with Hasson+Wong, Ron+Paul Shapiro, and Feller. I say this not that Dr. Path does not do good work; but, I feel for you for having been butchered like this and dealing so painfully with the results, that I would leave no stone unturned. You are a unique case because being such a repair patient, and given the ringer you have already been put through I only want your next HT to be the *absolutele* best for you. Different doctors can have different opinions; this is the time where it is on you to consult with a nice variety of docs and make sure the prognosis you end up with is the one you truly want and is the best for you.

Very nice, and I suspect he even has some nice maturation of his hairs to continue in the coming months! It's a lot grafts, for sure, but with his age, donor, and pattern of loss I can see it being OK assuming the patient is well-versed in that he will -- potentially -- have less grafts at his disposal to densepack a different region down the line. I would love to see more videos of your work, Dr. Arocha, whenever possible, since you seem to consistently do session sizes that can range in the uppermost-tier of extraction #s, and thus density/coverage.

Aaron, that "goosebump" effect is something it seems Balboa has to deal with, though perhaps to more advanced degree. Just as I'm more than confident that your 2nd, *world-class* HT will undo the damage while propelling you forward, I'd strongly encourage Balboa to look into a repair session himself. I fully understand if he wants to stick with FUE, especially if Armani didn't screw up his extractions, and even with just FUE he certainly has some excellent options at his disposal both in and outside the U.S.

Shlomo, you are looking fantastic -- the head of hair Hasson has given you has clearly revitalized your life and resulted in much improvement. You really do look very thin and lean now; dare I say even moreso than even your youngest youth! About that time you stop thinking about slenderizing and think about beefing up that newly minted frame of yours.

It's mainly just dependant on your actual density density (hairs/cm) and your scalp contrast (dark hair, light scalp would be the most worst). I think the majority of world-class HTs hold up quite well, though not perfectly, especially if you are talking about a very high NW. But many world-class HTs do just fine under harsh lighting. I hold up fine under a bright sun and most conditions; however, under very harsh flurescent lighting, and especially up close, my hairline can be a bit see-thruish these days. But I'm not sure I'd even go so far to say it looks bad.

I think age and an assessment of your donor and your likely/potential balding pattern would dictate whether I'd do FUE in your shoes. Honestly, in all liklihood, I probably tend towards a top-notch strip session where you can get the perfect number of grafts and the perfect yield and not have FUE infringe upon eithr of those things. Other than cases where age, type of loss, rate of loss are in great sync, I think FUE's benefit can often be negated by needing so many future operations, and/or you ending up getting strip anyways at some point. I really think FUE can be great if you really want to and/or would be very comfortable buzzing down your head.

I agree w/ what Forrest's said. You're a young guy, you have pretty advanced MPB; you can't mess around. You need a flawless prognosis and surgical plan along with exceptional yield. Out of the Dr's you've mentioned I would only seriously consider Dr. Feller and True. When you do your consults be real candid if not blunt -- don't leave out any questions, and get to the heart of what each clinic can and *is* offering you. Compare and contrast, etc. I'd cruise the clinic posted and patient posted results sections in this forum; cruise, and run searches on the doctors you are considering. I'd also post some decent pics for the forum and get some extra feedback and assurance.

I have no clue if this actually happened, but hypothetically he fear would be someone who is a NW6 at the age of *17* is in incredibly dangerous ground and primed towards some extreme hairloss. I have no idea what the actual liklihood looks, like, but I'd imagine that NW7 seems is as much of a shoe-in as can be. That aside, I just would question what you could truly give a 17 year old kid who is a NW6, and what could actually become an improvement. Bic'ing and doing the usual life-improvements seems a lot safer in a lot of ways, barring carpetbombing 8k+ grafts which he hopefully would have (and even then...)

That's a tough decision, for sure. I guess I'd just echo that until/unless you feel totally confident to just wait things out. In your shoes, I'd get as many opinions as possible, especially from docs who do strip *and* FUE, *and* are proponents of FUE. That said, I would 100% do a consult (online or live) with SMG and Feller. I think you really need to weigh how much and how badly the recovery and wait of strip and FUE respectively will have on you, vs. simply living with what you got and living it up. My gut and what people have told me who have gone strip --> FUE, would be that I'd def lean towards doing FUE, unless you really feel that your strip scar is a big hinderance at this time. Of course, you could do FUE into the scar or a revision later on if you do a big session of strip.

I'd co-sign with every single Bill mentioned above. Personally, in an albeit short period of time with a small sample size, I've seen more impressive FUE work from Dr. Keser than the majority of strip-known docs who also perform FUE. I would certainly feel *much* more secure in ever reccommending Dr. Keser, though, if they had already been thoroughly vetted and greenlighted by this community as a whole.

I agree, wylie; at least in principle. Just given the dynamics already in play, it'd def behoove Dr. Panine, particularly, to try to get some HTN-original patients. A doctor and clinic can only do so much to expedite the process; and time alone consisted of high quality results and involvement can certainly do the trick.

May as well contact Pats/Armani, just don't take anything as gospel. Down the road once your result truly comes in and you are over the healing process I'd get a 2nd opinion regardless by a pro -- SMG, e.g.

Jupiter has been MIA for a while; his hairloss wasn't too bad and it seemed like he ended up responding well to fin and minox. My guess is he is living it up with the Moptopussy on top his head -- I remember he had pretty wild hair. Eman was a quick grower and his true result came through pretty quickly; it was indeed very nice. He got pretty perfect coverage. My guess is that he is off the forum as he's too busy trying to tame his hair and master the art of styling.

I would think your options would be two-fold if you go the route of a HT: work with your existing hairline as the basic framework; laser hair removal to then get a HT and go with a fully customized hairline. I would send these pics to some clinics and get their opinion; I think Hasson+Wong, Feller, Ron Shapiro would be excellent people to speak to and get their world-class advice.

Interesting. Thx for the disclosure. I wonder if your extrordinary reaction to fin on the positive end is in any way tied to your ultimate end with it. My friend who spoke with Dr. Hasson reported -- unequivocally -- that Hasson said they have had but a small handful of cases of people reporting appreciably weakened efficacy (and they've been prescribing since the beginning). When I go see Dr. Feller I'll have to get his data-opinion. Anyways, you indeed did get quite the carpetbombing so now you just have to assure balded bozos like myself still grappling with things like propecia.

That sucks, Sev, and it's always troubling to hear that happen. I'm coming up on my fourth year right now.... If I could just squeeze another couple years before I have to carpetbomb myself in grafts I'd be so grateful. In your experience or research into fin, have you found the losing of its efficacy to be very rare? I know some doctors who have been prescribing it for like a decade report but a handful of patients saying that it lost potency to an appreciable degree.

I'm also curious as to what the plan included; I think Azza at 19 is the youngest patient I know of who underwent a HT. Just to add to the thread...I began to thin at 17 with what would be very aggressive MPB. It was even pointed out to me in jest my junior year of highschool (christ lol). I couldn't even fathom that I could be experiencing baldness, particularly since my hair was *the* thing that I most associated with my attractiveness and what I focused on the most as a metric for my aesthtic self. At 19 it really hit me that I was balding and became very obvious to the point I had zero recourse for concealing it. By the time I was 20 the sht hit the fan and I was a ~NW4, with a totally recessed and ravaged frontal 1/3rd that left me almot entirely barren, as well as a thin crown. My hairloss crippled me and I became obsessive; thankfully, my obsession did lead me to this site, and I began to research quality options while informing myself. I had just turned 22 when I had my HT. It's very much uncommon to have to experience what you're experiencing, especially if it is aggressive MPB. But adversity breeds rare power, and you simply must work through it. You have options, regardless; more than you'd think. Shoot me a PM if you/anyone wants to emote or get direct feedback on routes to take in getting through things and adapting to one of life's more difficult curveballs.

John, especially with one failed HT in your past, I can certainly understand the sheer anxiety and feer that your 2nd HT will not be the "salvation" you had invested in. And not being a quick-grower -- let alone being a slow-grower -- is a recipe for a lot of psychological duress. BUT, in my opinion, you are truly just reaching *the* mark where your true growth boom will occur. The result you have now likely will be nowhere close to as nice as the *actual* result you will get, and be able to enjoy for the rest of your life.

One of the finest hair restorations I've ever seen. Possibly the best. I remember seeing his pics a few months back and it was horrifying to see what he has had to endure, and I was hopeful but nervous for how far he would be able to come, let alone in one single session. This is truly remarkable, and the 'ne plus ultra' of all a HT can be.

Since there's been a lot of talk lately about all things "styling", I took some shots earlier after simply using my clay conditioner and shampoo, blowdrying, and using Dirt: Just hammer home the point once more that taking care of your HT to optimize it *isn't* some insane process, and the use of multiple products is totally optional, insofar as you have an idea of what you're doing and the products you do use are the right ones.

It's interesting you mention HDC/Dr.Mikelas....I've always been *extrordinarily* impressed by their results that have been posted; yet, in my gut I've always felt that something seemed off in their documentation, which is a bit odd since the picture quality is always so pristine.

LOL! That was surprisingly funny to read. I agree w/ hairthere, though -- that's the route I'd ideally like to go, too.