quote:

Originally posted by JO20:
Another pic

You should be going for minimum 2500 grafts.
The question is what will you do when you lose more hair. The head's donor hair are limited in number.

Ya, your right forum moderater. My bad. But I am starting to get confused. I have people telling me do u even need it and then i have people telling me i should go for 2500 minumum. THis sounds like a lot of grey area in there. I feel like people are looking at 2 diff pictures.

I definitely understand your confusion. There's not a lot of grey area - there's enough grey area to cover a few football fields. The field of hair transplantation is rife with misinformation, false promises, and misleading patient photographs. That is the reason these forums exist - so actual patients and hair loss sufferers can help guide each other and watch each others' backs. We all have the same goal in mind and we all have similar interests.

There have been many young guys - guys younger than you - that have been taken advantage of by less-than-ethical hair transplant physicians. They get misleaded by doctored "after" photos or "after" photos of work that was not performed by the physician that they were going to (yes! this sketchy tactic is still being used!).

They are taken in, filled with hope that their affliction will now be over, only to find that the tiny sessions that they underwent has done more harm than good. The small area that few hundred grafts filled looks unnatural and the shock loss that resulted from it made it look ten times worse than before. So what does the misinformed patient do? He schedules another appointment for another surgery. It's a vicious cycle without a happy ending. Precious donor area hairs are wasted. Scar tissue builds up. There can be pitting and cobblestoning occuring in the recipient area - the list goes on and on. That's not even mentioning the THOUSANDS and THOUSANDS wasted chasing the elusive hair.

THIS is why it is important to pick a truly great physician the first time around.

Now, the reason most are cautious about hair transplants for younger guys is that your hair loss is not stabilized. Think of this: you go and get a large session that gives you your teenage hairline back. Your hairloss is continous. That isn't a maybe. It is. A few years down the road you start to recede behind all of those grafts. You can argue that you will just go back in for another procedure, but sooner or later you WILL run out of donor hair. Simple math will bring you to the conclusion that there isnt enough hair that can be excised from the small "sweet spot" on the back of your head to fill the entire top - it just cannot be done.

My advice (take it or leave it): If you are dead set on pursuing a hair transplant, do yourself the favor of consulting with only the most reputable and ethical bunch of physicians that are out there. You mentioned Dr. Ron Shapiro. Well, Jo20, you cannot get anymore ethical, and reputable than Dr. Shapiro. Do a consult with him. Get his professional opinion. A reputable doctor will not perform surgery on you if it is not in your best interest. This is fact. Whatever he advises, take it to heart because it pretty much will be gospel as far as hair transplant surgery is concerned. This is your best bet at coming to a conclusion that you will be able to live with today and 30 years from today.

Good luck and keep us posted.

-Robert

Thanks for all that good information. Will the hair transplant cause hair to come out from shock that would have never came out. I will defintly take your advise and send Dr Shapiro the pictures he requested from me and see what he has to say about them. I do realy hope he will help me out. I dont want to wear a hat till im 28 and a Docter things im ready.

J020...do you have any clearer pics that we can see your hair? Honestly...I think a lot of the confusion here and the different posts are because noone can really tell your level of hairloss. Personally, I can't see any thinning in your hair whatsoever. In my opinion, from the pics I see, you don't need any grafts, but get on Propecia ASAP to prevent further loss! BUT...if you have clearer pictures, we may be able to decipher it easier for you. BUT, anything anyone says here...shouldn't be regarded as gospel. Schedule some consultations with docs, or even do virtual consultations...BUT, get more clear pics if you are going to do virutal consults! Cheers!

---Edit ----

About shockloss....there is always a risk for shockloss...which is one reason why I don't think it's worth going under the knife if you still have pretty thick hair. BUT, in theory, only the hairs that are destined to fall out may not come back with shock loss, the rest will come back.

Falc

JO20

Yes your travel will get the price down to the 4.50 range. And you will get discounts at the hotel and free transportation to/from the clinic. As far as how long to get there--with a direct flight about 1 hr in the air.
Best of luck, Matt can help on your travel arrangements.

Here are more pictures. In these pics i tryed to get more light and my hair is wet. THe sides are dry and the part in the front that is thick is also dry. This makes the hair lose look far worse then it is. U can see my original pics at the start of this conversaition. Now what do u guys think.

Head_5.JPG (17 Kb, 75 downloads) Left Side

Top

Head_6.JPG (21 Kb, 53 downloads) Top

Vertex

Head_7.JPG (21 Kb, 53 downloads)

Right Side

Head_8.JPG (20 Kb, 47 downloads)

Hey J020! Thanks for the updated pics. I see what you mean now...I can't see it clearly, but I do see hairloss....well, welcome to the club...and good luck on your HT. I forget if you said this already, but because you are so young...make sure that you get on Propecia to prevent further loss...because there is a good possibility that you will lose a lot more. My only fear for you is you'll get an awesome HT, it will look good, then you will begin to lose more hair, etc...and have to fill in the areas. But we all gotta start somewhere. Just start using the meds that will help prevent further hairloss if you are not.

Falc