NW 7 Repair Using Only Body Hair - Dr Robert Dorin

[Fox243]

On 2/21/2024 at 3:38 AM, Al - Moderator said:

 

I am trying to wait at least a full year before going back for a consultation because I want to let everything grow and heal as much as possible to get a proper idea of where I am at with everything including how many grafts I can still get as well as where I need them the most. I'll be setting up a date soon. I'm planning on going back for the actual surgery sometime around November. I'd rather not be in the ugly duckling phase through the Summer. I'll post here for sure when I go.

 

Sorry for bothering you about this again -- I am just following a very similar path to you so am extremely interested. Did you go for a consult and ask about what the doctor thinks is possible?

[Al - Moderator]

16 hours ago, Fox243 said:

Sorry for bothering you about this again -- I am just following a very similar path to you so am extremely interested. Did you go for a consult and ask about what the doctor thinks is possible?

 

It's not a bother. I did say I was going to set up a followup consultation, but I haven't done so yet. I really just needed a break from it all. Going every year for a hair transplant was starting to get to me mentally, plus I am still gaining new hair growth all over my body as I get older, so I felt it was better to wait a while to see how much new growth I can get on my chest, so I'd get more grafts out of it. Then there is the cost factor. I was spending a lot of money every year on this and I needed to do some renovations on my house, so the money is going towards that lately. But now that you reminded me, I'll try to call them this week.

 

[Melvin- Admin]

@Al - Moderator

You used to have a really cool blog with your whole story and pictures of you as a teenager in the surgeons chair. Whatever happened to that? It was so powerful. 

[Al - Moderator]

On 6/20/2024 at 6:52 PM, Melvin- Admin said:

@Al - Moderator

You used to have a really cool blog with your whole story and pictures of you as a teenager in the surgeons chair. Whatever happened to that? It was so powerful. 

 

I think it got lost somehow in a forum update years ago. I really need to take some time and put together everything through the years with a lot of pictures.

 

[Hair_Drakoon]

Sad and emotional story, i had maybe 9 hair transplants. The first 7 with same results that you had. Now after long time i have my hair back in front... I spent all my life to save money for hair, i was lonley, without money and paid hair mills... I feel like your brother

[Fox243]

10 minutes ago, Hair_Drakoon said:

Sad and emotional story, i had maybe 9 hair transplants. The first 7 with same results that you had. Now after long time i have my hair back in front... I spent all my life to save money for hair, i was lonley, without money and paid hair mills... I feel like your brother

wow, i just saw your results. they look pretty good for body hair.

[Hair_Drakoon]

17 minutes ago, Fox243 said:

wow, i just saw your results. they look pretty good for body hair.

Yes, AEK clinic in Turkey saved my life. I was thinking about biofibre a while, but i never seen results from this plastic hair. Feel fe to send me an message. 

 

[baddecisions]

What a story. During your journey, haven't you ever considered doing a hair transplant reversal by moving back the hair in the recipient to the donor in order to fix the scars?

[Al - Moderator]

On 7/4/2024 at 2:15 PM, baddecisions said:

What a story. During your journey, haven't you ever considered doing a hair transplant reversal by moving back the hair in the recipient to the donor in order to fix the scars?

 

No. My original transplants were from 1989 to 1994. FUE didn't exist, so there was no way to remove them without creating more scars. They would have either had to do 1500 or more 3mm to 4mm punch outs or create a bunch of FUT scars all over the top of my head. Transplants in those days were permanent as far as once you did it you had to live with it. It wasn't like today where you can punch some out and replant them.

Besides that, I already had scars over the top of my head from 5 scalp reductions and several hundred punch outs that the did to try to reduce some bald spots between grafts. Those were being hidden by the transplanted hair growing over them, so there was no way to reverse the hair transplant without making it worse. 

Once FUE really got going, it made the idea of using body hair a possibility, so why reverse it then? Even if I could have had it done with no scars, I'd still be bald. If that was an option to me, I wouldn't have gone for a hair transplant in the first place.

 

[Broni]

On 1/4/2022 at 4:57 PM, Al - Moderator said:

 

I'm at 4 weeks and 1 day. The right side is almost completely cleared up except for couple of lingering pimples, but the redness is gone. This was the better healing side from the beginning.

 

Now here is the left side. This is mostly cleared up as well, but there is still a slight bit of redness and some very minor pimples. Right now I think it looks more like I had a bad shave with an old razor rather than looking like something was done. It's not bothering me at all at this point. Nobody has asked about it the entire time, but if they did I would have just passed it off as having dry winter skin and the shaving cream really drying it out when I shave.

 

 

 

Is it possible that the redness would not be present if you hadn't shaved?

[Al - Moderator]

16 hours ago, Broni said:

Is it possible that the redness would not be present if you hadn't shaved?

 

Yes. If I don't shave for a couple of days the redness is just about gone. Shaving seems to irritate it in the first month or so. Past that time though, it doesn't matter as much. I always had a sensitive beard area though, so I would get some redness from shaving sometimes even before I had any grafts removed.

 

[Fox243]

C

On 7/19/2024 at 1:27 AM, Al - Moderator said:

 

Yes. If I don't shave for a couple of days the redness is just about gone. Shaving seems to irritate it in the first month or so. Past that time though, it doesn't matter as much. I always had a sensitive beard area though, so I would get some redness from shaving sometimes even before I had any grafts removed.

 

Curious if you've thought about taking oral minoxidil to make your body hair grafts grow thicker

[Al - Moderator]

2 hours ago, Fox243 said:

Curious if you've thought about taking oral minoxidil to make your body hair grafts grow thicker

 

I thought about it, but minoxidil gave me very bad side effects when I used it long ago. My heart was racing and I had chest pains and felt like I was going to have a heart attack and die. This happened a few times before I realized that it was the minoxidil, so I don't plan on using it again. I have thought more about trying topical minoxidil and rubbing that on my chest daily, but I've been reluctant to do that too. I should probably try that for a few days and see how I feel and decide if I should continue it or not.

 

 

[Fox243]

10 minutes ago, Al - Moderator said:

 

I thought about it, but minoxidil gave me very bad side effects when I used it long ago. My heart was racing and I had chest pains and felt like I was going to have a heart attack and die. This happened a few times before I realized that it was the minoxidil, so I don't plan on using it again. I have thought more about trying topical minoxidil and rubbing that on my chest daily, but I've been reluctant to do that too. I should probably try that for a few days and see how I feel and decide if I should continue it or not.

 

 

Yeah, I think rubbing minoxidil on your chest, beard, and head could be worth trying.

[Al - Moderator]

I changed the title since I had several procedures in this thread.

I have a followup consultation scheduled in early October to see what we can do next. I'm at 18 months post op from my last session. I'm glad I waited because I was still getting some improvement well past the one year mark. That's making it easier to see where I really need grafts. I have a limited amount of donor left, so I want to make sure they go in the right places where it will make the most difference. I mostly need some all over thickening. I'm hoping to be able to squeeze out 700 grafts. I'm thinking I can get in the range of 300 more from my beard and 400 from my chest. If I can get those numbers I think I'll be able to get all the areas covered that I'm thinking of. Small improvements in certain areas will make a nice difference. If I can get to where I look like I only have some minor thinning all over then I'll be in good shape. I can settle for some crown thinning as long as I can get the area to look a lot smaller.

So my plan is to get roughly 300 grafts throughout the frontal 3rd and 400 grafts in a band around the sides and crown, similar to what I had on the last session. Trying to build on that a little more. Basically just trying to get the thinning area to be smaller, so it's easier to cover.

I may also ask about trying to use some arm hair, perhaps for some temple point work, but I don't know yet. Dr Dorin suggested trying a test of arm hair once before, so that's why it's on my mind.

I'll let you guys know more in October after I meet with Dr Dorin. Hopefully he doesn't just flat out turn me down for any more which is a possibility if he doesn't think he can get anything worth it out of my beard and chest.

 

[Hair_Drakoon]

On 5/11/2024 at 12:14 AM, david c said:

Can any1 recommend a good clinic in Turkey for bht iv got smp and want 2 just add 2 it with hair but keep a shaved  head.

 

I did all BHT at AEK Clinic in Istanbul... Really great! 

[Fox243]

On 9/10/2024 at 3:13 PM, Al - Moderator said:

I changed the title since I had several procedures in this thread.

I have a followup consultation scheduled in early October to see what we can do next. I'm at 18 months post op from my last session. I'm glad I waited because I was still getting some improvement well past the one year mark. That's making it easier to see where I really need grafts. I have a limited amount of donor left, so I want to make sure they go in the right places where it will make the most difference. I mostly need some all over thickening. I'm hoping to be able to squeeze out 700 grafts. I'm thinking I can get in the range of 300 more from my beard and 400 from my chest. If I can get those numbers I think I'll be able to get all the areas covered that I'm thinking of. Small improvements in certain areas will make a nice difference. If I can get to where I look like I only have some minor thinning all over then I'll be in good shape. I can settle for some crown thinning as long as I can get the area to look a lot smaller.

So my plan is to get roughly 300 grafts throughout the frontal 3rd and 400 grafts in a band around the sides and crown, similar to what I had on the last session. Trying to build on that a little more. Basically just trying to get the thinning area to be smaller, so it's easier to cover.

I may also ask about trying to use some arm hair, perhaps for some temple point work, but I don't know yet. Dr Dorin suggested trying a test of arm hair once before, so that's why it's on my mind.

I'll let you guys know more in October after I meet with Dr Dorin. Hopefully he doesn't just flat out turn me down for any more which is a possibility if he doesn't think he can get anything worth it out of my beard and chest.

 

Curious if you have any updated pics. Also, how many total grafts have you had so far and what has been the breakdown (between scalp, beard, chest)

Edited Sunday at 10:03 AM by Fox243

[Al - Moderator]

1 hour ago, Fox243 said:

Curious if you have any updated pics. Also, how many total grafts have you had so far and what has been the breakdown (between scalp, beard, chest)

 

I'll put some pics up in a few days after I cut and dye it. I don't have an exact total because I forgot to get the ending total and breakdown for one session, but it's in the area of 6475 grafts with roughly 3350 from my beard and 3125 from my chest. I'll try to ask for an exact total and breakdown when I go.

 

EDIT: I have not used any scalp grafts other than what was used years ago from the original transplants. The last transplant I had that used scalp grafts was in December 1994.

 

[Gatsby]

I will be thinking of you @Al - Moderator. I went back and read your journey from the start. We must be the same age and we began hair transplants within a couple of years of each other. I was at the tail end of punch grafts with FUT just a year or two away. Inspite of all of the surgeries and scars, looking back there are a couple of advantages. At least you didn’t have a low hairline created which would make the repair work even harder. Also with the use now of beard and body hair your results won’t be subject to the ravages of DHT. 
It was a barbaric time back in the mid/late 80’s for young men who wanted their hair back. You have come so far since then Al and I know you will get the coverage you so deserve. 🙏

[Al - Moderator]

Yes @Gatsby. I'm 57 years old. We both had similar experiences except I tried the hair system route first and hated it. I looked at hair transplants starting at 18 or 19, but I didn't want to do surgery. I got suckered into a hair system by the marketing that said it wasn't a hair piece. It was the strand by strand method where they bond real hair to your existing hair, blah blah blah. I actually walked out of the first place I went to after I realized what it was and lost my deposit. Then went to another place that insisted theirs was different, but of course it was the same thing... a hair piece. I hated it more than being bald and I knew I was never going to shave my head. This was the 1980s when shaved heads was for neo nazi skin heads. I was not going to do that! So at that point I knew I had to go with a hair transplant as there was no other choice. So I went with hair transplants, but I didn't just go in without researching it. There wasn't mush info around back then or very many HT clinics, but I did a consultation at 2 different places which both gave me similar graft estimates. One was for 1 scalp reduction and 360 grafts and the other was 2 scalp reductions and 300 grafts.  So I figured it was similar enough with the extra scalp reduction saving 60 grafts. I also read a medical book section on hair transplants that said hair transplants can be used to eliminate scars. That made me comfortable with their claims that there would be no scars. How could it cause scars if it eliminates them, I thought. Made sense to me.

So I went full speed ahead with hair transplants as fast as I could. I was losing hair fast and my first two HT sessions were only 50 each and the third one was 60 grafts. I was losing hair faster than it was growing in from the small HT sessions.

You mentioned FUT started shortly after you had the punch grafts. Yes. I was told the strip method was new and it was so much better because it would double the amount of hair in my donor area and I'd have so much hair afterwards that I'd have enough left over to do an entire extra hair transplant. They said they'd give me the same amount of hair as I had with the hair system. When I didn't believe them they offered me a guarantee that they'd redo the entire transplant with all the extra hair I'd have from the new transplant procedures if I wasn't satisfied. They charged me something like $1500 extra for the guarantee. Then I paid $750 for each scalp reduction and $18.50 per graft. And this is in 1989 dollars. It wasn't cheap!

 

[Gatsby]

Yes I remember my two punch graft surgery costs in 1985. It was $800 a piece. Then I spent the next ten to twelve years having small plastic surgery procedures to remove a thick hairline of plugs. In all I think I had about seven of these correction surgeries. Each one aimed to remove a small strip in the hope that the final scar would be as thin as possible. After each one it was a twelve month wait to see how the new scar looked (did it stretch, how many plugs were remaining, etc). We didn’t have the luxury of having a 1mm punch back then to remove the hairs individually over only two or three sessions. They were horrible memories for me. If I never went down that initial path after the first cut I most would never have had surgery today. However as you said shaving was just not an option back then. Yet when I see young guys in their early twenties today with nothing wrong racing off to a Turkish hair mill I get it completely. My ‘fear of losing my hair’ back then left me in a huge depression that I thought I would never get out of. I decided to seek professional help at the time. Thank God I did. Looking back I was in hindsight body dysmorphic. Here is a picture of me six months prior to my first surgery if you can believe it. My long fringe hid my minor temple recession.