After discovering and spending most of the day on this site all I can say is fantastic. Thanks too all that have taken the time to send in pics, testimonies, and answer questions. It would be unthinkable of me chat about balding with anyone and this gives me a way to do so. Im exploring HT's, and have a few questions. Im 35 and have been thinning for about 5 years now. Up until recently, I thought of it as just that thinning, but natural. It wasnt until the last six months that I began seeing scalp and started thinking my god I might loose it all. Anyway, as of late I have been obsessively preoccupied with my hair. I would consider myself, forgive my lack of knowledge in this matter, about a norwood class 5, but with considerable hair in the horshoe shape that the models usually show completely bald. I would say that I have lost about half of my hair in this area. My questions are, would it be adviseable for someone like me "thinning in the Norwood-5 type" to have a minimally obtrusive procedure done to simply add more hair throughout the thinning area, or do you just have to go all out like most testimonial pics illustrate. I realize that future HT's might be necessary. Also, If a procedure did insert Hair follicles throughout the thinning area, Would that then lead to most of the surrounding original but "thinning hair" to fall out as does the transplanted hair transforming the "thinning Norwood 5" into a completely barren Norwood 5 during the 3 to four month recovery stage? Finally what is the difference between FHE and I think its called strip? Im assuming in the "strip" method the donor hair is taken as such, and in FHE the donor is taken with multiple very small incisions that leave almost no scarring and require no stitches? Other items worth mentioning are that I have used Rogaine extensively over the last 4 years, and will be looking into getting a prescription for propecia.

YMe,

If you can, post a picture.

I feel you are in the same boat I was not too long ago. I am early NW 5a and I still had a good amount of hair before I had my HT nearly five months ago. I too was worried about the rest of my hair falling out and whether or not to do a large session. I figured that most of my hair would eventually fall out anyways, seeing that almost all the men in my family are completely bald, so I just went for the largest session I could go with. My doctor did 1800+ grafts. Not huge compared to some of the 3000+ sessions other guys have done, but it's still a significant. I did experience shock fallout, but a lot less than I had expected. I thought I would be completely bald after the surgery, but if your doc knows what he is doing, then it you should be ok. During the two months I wore a hat and if I had to go out, I used a masking lotion to cover it up. Now almost five months later, it looks good and I am extremely happy with my decision. I do know that I will have to go back and do at least one more session in the future.

Here are some pics of me:

My Photos

As far as FUE and strip method, I'm sure someone can get more detailed and give you links to sites, but from my understanding – the strip method (which I did) is exactly that. They cut out a strip from the back of your head (ear to ear in my case) and then dissect it for insertion. FUE is follicular unit extraction. They cut out each graft individually from the donor area and there are no stitches and/or scars. Just a bunch of little dots that heal up nicely. In some photos that I've seen, a guy shaved his head completely bald and you could not tell anything. From what I hear FUE is the way to go, but it takes a long time, it cost a little more, and not too many docs doing it.

I'm not sure how far along you are, but if you are starting propecia and still have a good amount of hair, you may want to hold off on the HT. See how propecia works for you.

Take care.

I agree with the Propecia advice. I would give it 6 months to a year and then re-assess. For one thing, you might respond well, and decide not to get a transplant after all, which would be ideal. Keeping your natural hair is preferred to a transplant. Think of a transplant as a last resort when other things do not work. Also, if you do decide to get a transplant, having many months of Propecia under your belt should help counter the possible shock-loss of your remaining hair post surgery. Since you have diffuse loss, it is possible that you may respond better to Propecia than a fellow who has areas of total baldness that keep getting larger (although I can't say for sure).

It sounds like you are thinking about this cautiously, which is good.

Thanks JOE TRANSPLANT THANKS ARFY!! Joe Transplant you are looking looking great which coming from a humble an somewhat stoic hetero like myself is a real complement. I think Im getting in touch with my uh feminine side? God that was hard to say, but really I bet you have gone through quite an ordeal to get to this point even if everything went smoothly.

Thanks as well for the propecia advice. I going to run home and take a few pics. If at all possible try to check back in a couple of days and tell me what you think about my noggin.