All-

Thank you for the responses. To be honest FUE is not an option I have been considering at this time. I have researched FUE, but with the size session I am contemplating having and the results being relatively unknown with the larger FUE sessions, I will be having strip.

Bspot is dead on as scar is a concern, considering I do like to keep my sides at a 2 or 3 clip. The other concern is needing additional surgery in the future--what does my hair loss future hold? Essentially these are my only two concerns with having a HT.

I am not one who currently hides under a hat. I am not one who avoids social functions. I just want to look at myself in the mirror, whether at home or in a bar/restaurant and not see all the acreage of forehead!! I want to be able to have a picture taken of my profile (reference the side shots above) and not think about how bald I am.

I appreciate all those that I have spoken to whether by PM or on the phone. I want to be sure sure as there is no going back. And I really enjoy hearing everyone's thoughts.

Eman

Being that hairloss is progressive and unpredictable, a one session done all is close to an illusion I am afraid.

First of all further hairloss causes many guys to get a follow up treatment.
Secondly, hair gread is certainly a factor that gets many guys push the envelopes.

A one and done is very rare if you have anything but "minimal" loss; an example of (a potental) one and done that springs to mind is http://hair-restoration-info.com/eve/forums/a/tpc/f/2566060861/m/6081032753

As for FUE or strip, one possiblity which I haven't seen dicussed much on the forums, but I've thought about and talked with a couple others is: having a bunching of ~1k+ sessions of FUE spread out. ...scheduling and cost seem to be the biggest detriments to this (aside from having to figure out if you are a good candidate during the beginning of the op). But, nonetheless, this is something that I'll seriously consider in the future.

I am really hoping to never need another one but if I do, I certainly won't hesitate! This has been an absolutely thrilling experience for me.

Eman,
Just tuning in.
I find this discussion very interesting as I have very similar (almost identical) loss pattern.
My hair color, and weight is also very similar.
My main two fears are the same.
One being the scar, because I like my hair short and quite honestly it is easier to deal with hairloss when you keep it shorter, and the second being the thought of having to go back again for a second surgery.
I dont think I will ever be a NW7 as my family history does not point in that direction, but then again as others have mentioned, who knows how far your loss will go as it can skip generations. It is very frustrating to look at my dad at 60+ and see him with more hair, to see my brother looking like a freaking chia pet with so much hair, knowing all grandparents dies with fuller than full hair, and my mom's brothers have elvis type thick hair. What happened to me?. I think this points to a conclusion that genetics do play a role but there may be quite a few other factors that just arent known. I am about a year or so away from where you are now. I am not on propecia or minox as I didn't like the side effects. Using nizoral and vitamins with decent results. I too am curious about FUE.

Eman,
One HT is possible, but its like an illegal drug, you might be addicted to it, ask Falc, he wants a FOURTH!!!

HTinthefuture- both my grandparents had full heads of hair. My dad has lost a little in the crown, his hairline has been recessed as long as I can remember, but still has a decent head of hair and he just turned 60. It is frustrating as I seem to be the only male, including cousins and uncles, that has more significant hair loss. It sucks. Now the question is do I move ahead with a HT or live without it.

FYI HTinthefuture- Finasteride has strengthened my crown significantly as I have been on it now for about ten months. The side effects for me seemed to be more mental and in the first three months, but then they passed.

Jo- Falc is a perfectionist and his results speak for themself!! I am too but do not want four HTs. I guess I could swallow having a second 15-years down the road, but not more than that.

I am now at a point in my career where I can take off the time (my company was just bought and looks like the majority of us will no longer be employed--fun times) to go ahead with a HT now that I have some time off. I just need to make the call.

"Jo- Falc is a perfectionist and his results speak for themself!! I am too but do not want four HTs. I guess I could swallow having a second 15-years down the road, but not more than that."
---Eman

Just as a side note, Falc's first two transplants were a few years back. If you do scalp exercises and go to an aggressive clinic (H&W) you could probably get as many grafts in a single session that MANY used to get (and still do) in 2-3....

One positive I think about regarding getting a series (2-3) of HTs, especially at a youngish age and in fairly close proximity, is that if your donor:loss ratio is good enough, you can be pretty much set for life afterwards and won't have to worry about losing those hairs again....if you get like 8k (just for example) grafts well distributed when you are 40 or w/e and a good portion of people is just starting to get hobbled by MPB you can be cruisin' right along.

To Eman And Htinthefuture, How old are you guys? I just turned 39 years old and I did not start loosing my hair until I was about 31 years old? My family background is the same situation as you 2 guys. Everyone on both sides have or had great hair. My by far has been the worst. My Question to you 2 guys is did you experience any high levels of stress during the time you started to loose your hair? I myself did and thats what I think happened with myself. I also have been on the meds for about 3 months and I have seen wonders with both rogaine and proscar. Right before my procedure I almost cancelled to wait a year and see how the meds would worked on my hair. Plus I was nervous about the scar because I do where a military style cut and did not want my scar to be noticable. Well I did the procedure and you guys have nothing to fear if you find the right doctor. Have you guys ever had a root canal on your teeth? The pain of a root canal procedure is tougher. But remember that an Ht is much longer. No severe pain,but at certain times its just a bit uncomfortable. I am going to wait a year and go back and see my doc I had 2953 grafts in one session. My doc says that all I needed was one ht and I should be very happy. Well there are 2 factors that came into play that I would only need one ht procedure. 1st my hairloss was gradual for a late bloomer,2nd the meds work great on me with no side effects. I know myself and after 1 year if things go the way I am thinking. Its going to really look nice,but if I need some touchups on my hairline itself to just bring it back a little lower,then im all in for the 2nd procedure,because its not bad guys and its not what you think. Just go to a top notch Doctor. The doctors who seem to know what there doing on this site is of course my doc Dr. Jeff Epstein,Dr. Hasson and Wong and feller. One of the reason I went with Epstein is because he has a great port folio and he is a facial plastic surgeon,so he looks at the face and his determination is for more natural than a low hairline and he is huge on a small donor scar that is very minnimal line. Lst reason he does not shave your head. I went into his office on the day of the surgery witha buzz cut #4 just to play it safe with not being noticed from others after the surgery. Amazing not one person has asked or noticed that I had an Ht. I plan on taking new pics on my 1 month post op. So we are at day 15 and wait till my pics come up in 2 weeks because I am going to shave my head to a #2 buzzer. Then I will really get to see how my procedure came out.

Eman
Jotronic & Spex as always provide clear realistic insights into the whole process as does Bill (Falceros). I found this to be the case after reading this site for well over a year and as I had mine done 5 weeks back I can now in fact validate much of what they say. That isn't to marginalize anyone elses contributions, many are superb, I've simply found those 3 in particular get right to the nuts of the matter and they've been there and got the t-shirts so to speak especially on the 'one pass' option and its meaning.
In my case, I initially was under the impression that I might be able to get the whole area I wanted done covered in one pass given the capabilities of the top surgeons today.
After much reading here and detailed consults with the surgeon I realized that simply wasn't going to happen given the area of hair loss to be worked on, the size of a strip that could be safely harvested in one session, my expectations and the surgeons standards.
Once I knew it was going to probably take 2 HT's to be beautiful again the surgeon and I spent a lot of time going over how we were going to proceed. The 1st session was a successful 'one pass' (I'm taking the Docs word on that) in that we got the maximum in the front 70%, leaving the crown and any added density in the front 70% for a 2nd and my donor area is ample for the job.
As I'm not obsessed about my crown one may do the trick however chances are if all goes well with the 1st one the crown will bug me and I'll need a 2nd.
Knowing that I'd probably need 2 for optimum results going in was invaluable information and many posts on this site provided much of that information.