thanatopsis_awry

Just mean that "we" sometimes just tell guys to do bicep curls and shave their head; shaving the head is the cool thing to do these days....I actually think this advice carries some truth and non-truth. The truth is that the shaved head *is* in...and it *can* look good (very good). A' la Brad Pitt in fight club....or pretty much any non-MPB guy who shaves his head, is in solid shape, etc. That's what I'd consider "legit hairline/decent coverage"-shaved head; I'd contrast this with the look of people who have untreated MPB and shave there head. Particularly, when they lack the outline of a hairline. IMHO, a lot of the time it's just lateral movement....if not backwards movement...in terms of the look people get, and actually ridding ourselves of the "bald aesthetic", which is ultimately we want...distance ourselves from the self and societal induced stigmas and emotions of losing our hair....but ya, with even a modest FUE session to establish an artistically designed hairline and such, geared towards structuring a nice look for a guy to buzz down....I think this can and does make a world of difference. I'm especially curious how an intelligent doc would go about such an FUE session with this in mind..... Personally, when I buzzed my head post-HT, especially once I got the length right and the scar concealed, I looked infinitely better than when I had tried buzzing my hair pre-HT. Anyways, I do totally agree with you...and think the two camps are go about a route as detailed by yourself, or max yourself out and go for it by way of strip + FUE....essentially, the latter is what I've signed up for...for me personally, I'm still pretty confident; but if I had worse donor....even just mediocre donor.... I like the route you'll be taking, and it seems optimal for your lifestyle. (and I honestly think it's a route that'd be extremely appealing to most any younger guy....cost being the main drawback; but, let's be real, if your young and get a HT you basically better have the financial means to back up a series of HTs to achieve a boatload of grafts...and likely less grafts than you'd need to go the FUE route, so...) edit -- btw, js, some of the top strip clinics have also expanded into mastering FUE, and offering both options to patients; likewise, there are "FUE clinics" who just do that, whom I don't trust at all. I'm a joke with geography, but I think SMG (shapiro medical group) is in Minnesota, and I think that'd be your closest and best bet...as always, though, don't let geography totally dictate your decision, and you should do several FUE consults (off the top of my head I'd recco SMG and Feller in the U.S....there are more docs offer it, but I believe that within the U.S. those two stand at the vanguard of keeping on top of FUE and its rapid evolution...Feller, of course, recently came out with a new tool designed to further enhance FUE)

I asked this before because I think it will give you the best peace of mind on this experience, and give more context to the situation. Did you reveal your shock/horror/disappointment to Dr. Feller in any way? I would be equal parts mystified and disappointed if I was in your spot and the process as a whole went down as you described above; and I know that if I didn't seek out direct answers for resolution it would only fester in my mind. I remember when I had my first consultation and was given a low graft target and expectations inferior to what I had deemed my "salvation" -- I was extremely angry, if not devastated. Things turned around when I got resolution by finding out why I was told what I was told, and, at the same time, looking into *other* options...1 doc's opinion isn't necessarily the be-all/end-all of your fate. I have no idea how accurate this interaction between you and Dr. Feller is: (DR FELLER: I would never do just 500 grafts on such a large area. It will take at least 2000. A hair transplant is the cure for you. Make an appointment to see me and get repaired. Stop wasting your time with junk that doesn't work and do something about your hairloss. DR FELLER: If you don't want to be repaired it proves you are a fake and a phony. Who wouldn't want to be repaired in your situation? I've seen your pics. I know I can fix you up. Come one in and we'll document it, take photos, and show the forum an awesome change. DR FELLER: See? He's a phony. Doesn't want to be cured even when I tell him I can do it.) But it seems pretty black&white and extreme, and I have a very hard time believing Dr. Feller actually took that approach and positioned the situation as such. If it's true, or you believe it to be true, it's more obvious why you'd feel such anger and disappointment once you took a leap of faith only to have your faith nuked in a matter of moments. I only recollect vagueness about the threads I think you're referencing, but I'm sure Dr. Feller has his own recollection of things. Also, while I feel Dr. Feller's reputation deserved the backup that he got, and he should not be maligned for any of the circumstances you stated, I can say I'm disappointed you weren't met with better empathy in this thread at first. I stand by all that I initially said, and feel it's in your ultimate best interest, but I do wish I offered an additional angle of support for your situation as a whole, which I held back at the time I posted.

Power corrupts; absolute power corrupts absolutely. And everything in between corrupts to it's respective extent, with a constant trend "upward".

I couldn't agree more. This is exactly would I often recommend younger guys do when they have bad donors + extensive loss (emphasis on the bad donor, though, since extensive loss can reveal itself at nearly any time). He doesn't post her that much anymore, but "youngsuccess" was the first person that I ever heard advocate this approach...it was based off him seeing this pro soccer player who had an aberrant balding pattern that would more or less mimic what we would be looking like. I still have some reservations about whether this route places a sacrifice on your ultimate ability to harvest as many grafts as possible (just based upon conflicting things I've heard from well-respected clinics). But it gives you so much flexibility while buying ample time to evaluate future options. It's pricier, potentially a lot pricier, but this way truly does merit serious considerations. To be frank....I might have gone this way had I known what I know now.... Right now I still deal with the occasional fretting over my scar; being pseudo-confined to being anal over how I style my hair; and already thinking over an imminent procedure to play catch-up. I feel like if I went this other route, I would not be dealing with *any* of these things. And, ironically, I think I look quite good when I buzzed my head post-op, and in shape + well dressed I'd be pretty curious about how good I'd feel that way. A *non*-balded shaved head is a *radically* different thing than a dude with a legit hairline and seemingly decent coverage buzzing their head. The former actually can look ridiculously cool on a lot of people, especially if you work a certain look.

You're talking about doing strip + FUE in the same "session", right? Dr. Mikelas (spelled wrong) of HDC Cyprus has done a good deal of combo work. I think Bisanga has, too, but not sure on him. I can't think of any other clinic that springs to mind, but I have a vague recollection that SMG has considered this, as well.

Nelson The Bald Guy II -- really regal sounding name, like a powerful czar from years past...or one of the U.S' many new czars. Curly hair is actually quite good for a HT; it should help boost your illusion of density. Curly/wiry/wavy/thick are all good characteristics for your hair to have in aiding in the perceived density of your transplant. I would prolly steer clear of any doctor whose supposed claim to fame is their supreme mastery over the curly or non-curly haired HT!

Hmmm...he looks a lot better to me, for sure, and the quality of pics is as usual first-rate. Could you post some examples of your higher density work in the future? I always think your results look nice, natural, and nicely documented, but they never seem to be high-density cases, of the type I'm sure you're able to perform.

B-locks, I'm pretty sure in either case, as is the standard, the doctor would be handling the surgical extraction of the grafts, as well as the making of the "slits" in the recipient zone; the techs would then do the "planting" of the grafts themselves. Dr's Konior, Cooley, Lindsey immediately spring to mind as docs who will engage in part of the planting, as well. IMO, this is one area where either approach is fine (re: techs doing all or just part of the planting). Basically, it's a fundamental part of the process connected to the yield of the grafts; in FUE, of course, the harvesting of grafts from your donor is an extremely delicate part, too. But ya, as long as the clinic in question has found the best way to maximize yield I don't see why it matters whether the doc does 0%, 1%, or 100% of the planting. Also, you have quite a tough decision, and I didn't mean to imply that's it's a cut-and-dry decision, though it's obviously a good thing if you can see grown out cases that resemble yours. SMG will no doubt have these in due time. I'd def take Bspot up on the chat -- you'll get very honest, very informed answers with no pressure!

I've seen manymany excellent HTs performed by way of lateral slit on Asians; and I've never heard of the lateral slit technique being ineffective or inadequate just because its being performed on an Asian. I believe Wong developed it, and has indeed used it successfully on many Asians himself, along with Hasson and many others who have adopted it.

Drew, my initial reaction to tricho in this thread has been similar. Maximizing donor is the #1 name of the game to me -- this aim is precisely what every "breakthrough" and "future breakthrough" is all about....allowing us to harvest more grafts. Sure, some would still prefer to do tricho from the start and lose the grafts in the hopes of producing a better scar; but, especially for people who will likely be getting multiple procedures, not doing tricho seems to be very appealing. Maybe I'm mistaken, but you definitely save more grafts; in turn, you won't necessarily get the scar you want or an appreciably better scar using tricho (?). But, even if the scar would be absolutely superior, each patient would have to determine whether they value the potential grafts saved or the potentially better scar.

Btw....you should talk with both clinics...and also on this forum you can PM or start a thread asking Spex or Bspot to help you and post a bunch of cases. (I know Spex recently did this for someone else, I'll try to find that thread for you and link it here).

In a sense, you need to decides whose strip work you like better -- hairline/crown artistry, yield, aftercare, etc.....over the backdrop of who you trust more for FUE, since it's an entirely different ballgame with regard to yield *and* session size. And if you don't feel strongly way one or the other, let price be the decider. SMG is very new to FUE, and it's widely held that experience with FUE is integral to honing the technique to produce greater session sizes with higher yield. Feller wins in this category. But, while I haven't seen much from SMG by way of FUE, I'd have a good deal of faith in it just based off their near-impeccable history and philosophy on hair transplantation and a commitment to excellence. I'd want to see a bunch of FUE cases that would be approximating whatever session size your looking at before making a final call -- on either doc.

Is this a grown out result???

Looks good n' dense; except it seems like there's a pretty noticeable gap on his right-hand side on the outter area of the recipient (?)

Looks solid; and a nice hair count. But 3200 in 4 sessions!?!

"For anyone who says Dr Feller really cares about his patients, so far I don't see it. I see a lot of his hype and talk on the forums, but he didn't seem to care about me at all. He just simply expected me to be glad I went to him..." "Oh and I should also add that for all his talk about how a HT is a cure, the guy is still bald. His HT would not be acceptable to me... and from what I can tell it wouldn't be acceptable to most others here either" I agree w/ TC. Way too hostile, and I think this anger is ultimately doing yourself a further injustice. You said you've had *25* procedures...that's pretty atypical, even as far as brutal repair cases go. You can't make an honest comparison of yourself to other repair patients that you see receiving ~2k or whatever grafts and getting a big turnaround. It's not fair to the doctor, and it's not fair to yourself, either, since you will be setting yourself up for unncessesary failure and letdown. I'm sorry you've been butchered so bad; but when different doctors can't right those wrongs to your express satisfaction, it isn't really a reflection on them. You seem to be extremely emotionally invested in the salvation of a new doctor's "repair". If Dr. Feller didn't give you the news you want, consult with different doctors and see whether other options appeal to you. Hopefully, you get a better prognosis, move forward, and end up satisfied. You compared Dr. Feller's prognosis to being "exactly how (you) got to where (you) are". This simply isn't the case, and you're projecting past wrongs onto Dr. Feller is a very unfair way. Dr. Feller's "gloomy" news was obviously a major dissapointment for you; did you communicate this with him, and see how he responded to your feelings on his prognosis?

Do you have any other pics, or immediate post-ops? I can't get an honest feel for this with the pictures being so far away...it looks like his hair is wet in the pre-ops, too, but the pics are so far away I'm not sure.

Srry Raphael...trichophytic (spelling?) closure....in a nutshell where hairs can/will grow through your scar, henceforth obscuring it further. Dr. Mejia explained it in greater detail here. Thx for the informed writeup, doc! I guess if tricho closure can hinder harvesting abilities in future transplants, I personally am surprised it is *so* consistently done; even though it clearly can create superior scars, given how often patients go back for multiple transplants at some point, I'm surprised at the very least more patients wouldn't opt for non-tricho in their early procedure(s).

I'm also convinced (at least emotionally) that I go through sheds, which can range from mild to unnerving and scary as (@. I *think* Dr. Feller once told me that my theory on shedding wasn't unfounded. It's so difficult to have the conditions for proper examination right, though; like TC, I never truly know if its unfounded paranoia or a mild overreaction to a very substantive change in my hair.

Tricho has indeed become revered and looked upon as the "gold standard" of closures in a lot of circles. But what long-term effect is tricho having on our harvesting abilities when it is performed on a virgin scalp? Specifically, what is its effect on people who in all liklihood will be coming back for one...two...three...more procedures down the line, who had tricho on their first, and their ability to squeeze out grafts in the next procedure and, most importantly, their overall donor #. A poster (Drew) recently mentioned that Dr. Wong forgoed tricho closure because the patient would undoubtably be returning for a subsequent procedure (this subsequent return being the norm for the vast majority of patients).

I'd have to agree. This def looks good for 3200, and I'd suspect he may have some additional thickening in store in the coming months. He was a pretty bold NW6, and his hairs look fairly fine, so not the easiest case. Another procedure weighted towards the front and he should be looking pretty sharp. But even as is I'd say he's taken a big step forward.

I'd agree w/ Dr. Ross. It's true that you shouldn't research trying to find the best "bargain"; but it's also true that you shouldn't seek out the pricier guys, as if that directly reflects the quality. Personally, I would just be extra-cautious whenever you encounter an extreme that stands out..e.g. Armanis of the world...e.g. the guys who run Super Duper $1/Graft Specials.

Looking really good Mike, really good. Might very well get some additional thickening in the coming months, too -- you look great right now, and will only improve to round things out. The blonde locks seems to have been a great idea, too -- I might try that myself.

Looks good. He really looks radically better in each after comparison shot. Classic boost from a great framing of the face.

Look at you go GQ, dishing out fancy, too-cool-for-school emoticons!