Ok you experienced guys, here's a question for you: As many of you know, I still have a small but decent amount of forlock hair that goes down pretty far to a widows peak. It has thinned out though over last few years. Behind that is that very thinned out area that creates a line between the front and middle (that was the thing that suddenly caught my attention last year as to my anti-happiness of my growing baldness). Then behind that line on the direct top of my head, it has thinned out also, but mostly only to the point its not noticeable without feeling it or looking for it. Remember my temples dropped back to where they are now by the time I was 23 or so. Everything stayed fairly good for so long that the temples just weren't a big deal. Overall I'd say I have always had very straight and fine hair and actually my density even on the sides is probably a little low (Dr. Hasson will be able to tell me if I'm correct I'm sure)

Ok, now to the question: with this fairly slow loss, decent health and thickness of existing hair in balding areas and having been on propecia for a year, are the odds against me as far as permanently losing a lot of my existing hair during the transplant due to shock loss? I've spent all evening reviewing photos. I do see quite a few who had existing sad little whispy hairs in the transplant area that clearly grew back while waiting on the transplanted hairs to grow in. Most of mine look quite a bit healthier than much of theirs. Are the odds on my side? Can you tell my surgery date is getting closer? Semester starts back up the week after surgery so I need to go shopping for some hats! Man, all I want is to bring those massive bald temples back under control, thicken up the middle line enough that its no longer seperated from the rest of my hair, have a PERFECTLY natural hairline placed PERFECTLY in the correct direction and angle of growth with tons of density to grow it long and messy! That's not asking much is it?

Oh, by the way, I started to do a photo album but put it here instead of in the photo album pages. Can someone delete that for me please?

Anyway, what do you think about the permanent surgical shock loss?

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Hey Pushing,

Ah, now I see why there was no information or photos on the other page...gotcha.

You ask some good but difficult questions. Unfortunately, there is no real way to tell what kind of shockloss you will have, but I know Dr. Hasson uses minimally invasive instruments making custom cut incisions that automatically reduce the risk of shockloss. Surgery, however, does possibly speed up the hairloss process. Any hairs that were going to miniaturize and die may not return after surgery. But remember...regardless of whether the surgery speeds up the process, those hairs would have died and fallen out anyway. I would venture to say, however, that even if you did lose some of the hair due to permanent shockloss, when all is said and done (8-12 months later), you will have a pretty decent net gain in hairs rather than a net loss.

I hope this helps.

Falc

My thoughts on Shock Loss Prevention (in order of importance)
1) Technique & Instrumentation
2) Technique & Instrumentation
3) Technique & Instrumentation
4) Adjunctive hair growth treatments (propecia/minox)
5) Healing accelerator treatments (hyperbaric oxygen, low level laser therapy, copper-peptide)
6) Good nutrition (adequate protein intake)
7) Early identification & treatment of infection (if applicable)

--Dr. B.

Thanks for the reply doc. I would have to agree with you. The only topic not mentioned was that of shaving down your head. This has been somewhat of a debate lately but I would have to say that especially for procedures of 1000+ it has to be a factor. Thanks again.

DrBauman,

Thank you for your thoughts. I'm not sure that everyone would agree that "healing accelerator treatments" can help minimize shockloss, however, it does scientifically have merit. As NervousNelly pointed out the debate, I would argue that shaving the recipient area would also play a roll in shockloss prevention. BUT, it may tie into your first 3 very important (but same ) points. I believe shaving the recipient area makes the use of instrumentation easier therefore making the technique easier to perform without having to move any hairs.

Falc

Well, if it looks like technique can be a major factor with shock loss, at least I'm in good hands right?

pushing,

You are the best of hands IMO. If you look at my first and second surgery, I experienced a good amount of shockloss. My third surgery with Dr. Hasson, I experienced virtually none. Now, that doesn't necessarily mean anything...look at Bushy...he had MAJOR shockloss but it is a wooley mamouth now at 7 months :P.

Falc

pushing 40-

There are always going to be unknowns when it comes to shock loss and whether or not it will be permanent. There's really no way for a guaranty one way or the other.

Yes - you're in the best of hands and that's really 95% (as Doc Bauman said, technique and instrumentation) of what you can do to control it. I'd chalk the other 5% up to preventatives like Propecia or Minox which may strengthen your existing follicles help stave off the shock.

As you know I had my 6 procedure 1 month ago and have never experienced shockloss like this session.
I had the 1/3 front head done and wow it really thinned out alot but it has somewhat tapered off now thank God.
Hair feels very dry that remained. This is all transplanted hair which was htere before the surgery as well.