Thank you again all.

Falceros.

Sorry I think I must have not read your post properly. The bit about Dr Rogers, I thought he was recommended here. This did confuse me as I have seen one of his patients, who was happy but I still did not think it looked 100% natural, by that I mean compared with some photos on here that I have seen. So that is one point cleared up.

This is why I realise I should have joined a forum sooner and not just sat on the side lines, much better info this way,

I think I can see that a good natural result can be got by choosing the right surgeon. My only issue now would be cost, my problem I know. The recovery time is not an issue as I do not see many people anyway. But am going to have to start a serious overhaul of my finances.

Thank you again

I would certainly recommend a good, solid monthly savings plan to help reach your goal. One other thing I think is important is to look at what you have.

In my opinion, some people (self included) automatically think "no way I can spend $10k on a hair transplant." Yet, these same people (self included) might not blink at the prospect of buying a $30k, $20k whatever priced vehicle.
In my humble opinion, your money is well spent buying a nice $7,000 car and doing something about your hair, if it's depressing.

This is a general example and I know it might not apply to you. But I'm the same way. My wife drives a Volvo SUV ($40k) and I drive a Nissan Frontier ($24k), both are within a year of manufacture, but I really was having a hard time coming to grips with spending $9k on myself for such a thing, that subconsciously I think we assume it's just for vanity purposes. But I think it's more than that.

Anyway, it's a hell of an investment and to do it again I'd sell my truck, my $1k bicycle I never ride, the 4-wheeler, whatever. I'm not recommending getting swamped in debt, but it's also bad walking around depressed all the time.

thats the way i see it too dewayne.
as for the rogers thing,i too thought he was recommended until a while back.the reason he is not at this moment is that when pat visited him last year although he was performing good work he was not using microscopes.this is part of the criteria for recommendation on this site.
apparently he has started using them now and pat/falc will be reviewing his case shortly.

Hello

Dewayne, you are very right in what you say. I have often heard and read that you cannot put a price on happiness. I would sacrafice my car to be able to walk outside and know that people are not going to talk to my hairline, unfortunately I had to give up my nice car when I changed my work, I now drive something that would not even pay for my bus fare to a clinic if I sold it.
Most of my work is on the telephone from home, I even took a lower paid job so I have less contact with people as I am sick to death of people talking to my hairline, if someone notices my plugs then that is all they seem to stare at !

But I know I have to kick myself and get on with life, there does now seem to be an answer, have now increased the number of hours I will work and also going to do a 6 day week. I know that this will be worth it as I know I need to be fixed, with this will I am sure my old confidence will return and then I can return to my profession and get my old life back.

Maybe I have my calculations wrong but it does seem that for someone in the UK it is a little cheaper to go to America and have an HT, because of the dollar rate at the moment ? With the added bonus of a mini holiday. But it still worries me about going so far for surgery. Having to come back through customs having just been operated on, but saying that I have not anything that says this has been a problem for any guys.

Never been further than France or Spain. Could be the start of a world wide adventure.

Balody

Yes, like I mentioned I did get a confused by the Doctor Rogers issue. Do you know when those guys will review him.

Thank you

I've read on here that some guys go ahead and get their repair work done before getting a full hair transplant.

For example, you might see if Farjo can take out your plugs and recycle them into FU's and replacing them in your head.

Tell him you'll do the strip later when finances allow. You'll still be thinning, but at least your old plugs won't be visible. At 42, I would have rather been bald than having a noticeable job.

Anyone have experience with doing it this way? Seems like it could be done in an hour one afternoon for $500 or so. Shoot, one tech could cut up 500 'mini-grafts' in about 30 minutes. And, the discomfort level would be real low as taking the strip is the worst part.

Hello

Dewayne, That does sound like a good plan. I would rather be bald than in my current situation.
I have now got some photos that maybe people can comment on, please. It was a nightmare trying to take a picture that really shows how bad it looks. In all my photos I took my hair looks very thin but sort of ok. I tried to camera on a close setting.
The picture does not show the lumps and bumps that the plugs caused when I had them done, the only way I can describe them is like the surface of the moon, sort of craters and risen bits.
Do you think I have enough hair to hide these if I had what you suggested.
Thank you

My photos

09052008007.jpg (35 Kb, 39 downloads)

another one

09052008001.jpg (34 Kb, 34 downloads)

i cant comment about the surface of scalp as i cant see it in the pic.
it doesnt look as bad as i thought it was going to but obviously you need to have something done.
i would have thought most dr,s would bring down the hairline slightly and "fill in" amoungst your exsisting work to add density, but dont take my word for it.you may indeed be able to redistribute your exsisting grafts as dewayne suggested.
dr farjo is capable of this as you can see in the examples i put up earlier.i suggest your next step is to actually go and talk to some dr,s for some pro advice.

Hello

balody, thank you for your comments. I am sorry about the quality of photos. I have tried with the flash on an then off, on different settings. I tried some outside but still my hair looks better than it is or maybe I think it is worse.

It may sound strange but your comment about it being not as bad as you had thought it would be has cheered me up. But also I do know something must be done.

I have been doing some calculations and looking at lots of pictures. I think it I would need 2000 grafts minimum to make a change to my hairline, maybe more. This would be about £6000 plus ? Not impossible for me to achieve but some serious savings and extra hours. But all worth it.

If I wanted to see a good Doctor it would have to be in England as going to another country would not be possible for me just for advice.

Thank you again

Hairnutter,

I've taken a look at your pics and Balody is right. I had a picture in my head of something far worse. In my opinion "from the pics" it looks like you only need additional work to fill in the voids so to speak. Im in a similar situation and have been told thats it's very easily fixed. I think if you let the hair grow out a little more than toppik can do a great job until you're ready to get the procedure.

Thanks for the pics. I also think some of your problem is in your head along with on your head.
It's not as desperate as you sounded.

I know what the lumps, etc. feel like. My doctor drained all the fluid from some of the knots and it's 100% better. My scar was also raised from my 1991 procedure, and he made that better.

Hello

Dakota3 and Dewayne.

Thank you for your replies. I must admit I am feeling much better having read your comments. Yes I agree that some of my problem is in my head. I have read about a thing called self image and I know a woman who is very paranoid about her legs, she never goes out with them uncovered, but to me they are very nice :-) But it is how she seems them that effects her life.

I think I need to have a bit more confidence in myself. When I wrote on this forum about everyone staring at my hairline deep down I did know that not everyone does. But just one person doing it can turn a nice day into a bad one where all I want to do is run for cover.

I have worked out a plan which I think will be good for me. I am going to start saving like crazy, already have extended my working hours. I will have a go with dakota3 advice and grow my hair and try topik. I should be able to save about £5000 in about 8 months if I am very careful.

I have searched for Topik and also found another thing called Nanogen. Can anyone recommend which could be better and also the best place to buy it from.

Thank you everyone.

Hairnutter,

Do a search on yahoo or google. Just type in the name of the product you are looking for. I've read 1 review on nanogen and it was positive. I have personal experience with toppik and it worked wonders for me. The trick w/ toppik is not to apply to much and brush as you're applying. I never had 1 person look agt me funny when i applied it. Hope this helps!

BTW you can call Dewayne and I the Bobsey twins! LOL! Dewayne will get it.

I used to use concealer all the time and it can work wonders - took a bag of tricks everywhere - the best one i found was a combo of Toppik and Courve - Good luck and make sure you do lots of research before committing to anything HT wise!