HI all. First off, I wanted to say that I stumbled across this forum today for the first time & am consumed by the amount of information available.

I am 37yr old & have been taking propecia for 2yrs. I met with Dr. Konior back in 2002 & was impressed. However, I chickened out. Now I obsessed daily with my hair (or lack of) & am thinking about HT again. I was glad to see that Dr. Konior is part of the coalition. When I decide to get my HT I will go back to him.

Here is a pic of my current status. Bring on the comments, how many grafts do you think etc. Also, I have a list of questions to ask Dr. Konior but if anyone knows of a good checklist I'd appreciate it. My biggest concern is I want to keep my HT private (except from my wife). So appearance, recovery, no scarring are important to me. I am also in sales so I am in front of people all the time & dont have the luxury of wearing a hat or weeks of recovery. Do I have reasonable expectations?

Thanks in advance for the comments & great info this forum provides.

A pic? Where?

Sorry, here is the pic

top.JPG (49 Kb, 248 downloads)

Haus,

Since there is only the one photo I assume that all you need to cover is the crown area. I am not certain that I can give you a good answer because the thinning into the "safety zone" kind of concerns me for you.

You have a hairloss pattern that extends lower than many and I personally would be very cautious about a HT and future hairloss. It is possible that I am full of shit, but I haven't seen many with this pattern get work done.

It is not that it can't be done, but there is more concern with this type of hairloss pattern. Hopefully others will chime in and give some feedback. I truly don't know if my advise is good or bad or indifferent?

Haus,

At 37 years old you should be a decent candidate for an HT. I DO, however, recommend that you get on finasteride if you aren't already. Any time you transplant hairs into areas with existing hair, you run a risk of "shockloss". You CANl experiece permanent shockloss IF some of the hairs are going to fall out anyway. Finasteride can strengthen those hairs and minimize additional loss and maybe even regrow some hair.

You, however, may want to take some time off from work if you can't wear a hat of any kind. Truthfully, the first month or two, depending on shaving of the head and potential TEMPORARY shockloss, may leaving you looking less than desired...this is just the nature of surgery.

I'd say based on your picture you'd need at least 4000+ grafts in the crown and some in mid section to give you some decent density in those areas.

NervousNelly,

I'm not sure what you are referring to his "safety zone". Since his picture doesn't show his safety zone (which refers to the donor area), I'm not sure what you are referring to?

Falc

Haus,

As for questions, this link may be of interest to you and aid in dialogue with a prospective HT surgeon.

Glad to hear you're taking Propecia, at the least, it can hopefully help you keep what you have, or slow the process of loss.

I work in a professional atmosphere as well and took off 2 weeks for HT #2. Now, the top of my head was shaved (clipped all the way down with no guard) for the surgery, so, I clipped the rest of the hair to match while strategically going around the donor area to help hide the scar. You may get a few comments but I can tell you no one knows I got a HT. If you absolutely don't want them to shave the recipient area, most Docs will do the HT without it, but there are benefits to shaving such as more dense packing of grafts, graft angulation matching your original hair growth pattern, less chance of follicle transsection.........do some research here using the "find" feature, there's plenty of info. If you're having temple or hairline work, you may have some redness at the 2 week mark. Everyone heals differently.

If you can post more pics includeing front and side shots it would help.

Huas,

Wow. I am full of shit. I must have responded to your post after a couple too many Molson Canadians or something. Sorry eh!

After reading Falcs response I relooked at your pic and the title and realized that I thought I was looking at a picture of you from the back and that is why I gave the response I did. Damn sorry. Now that I have limited my pot intake and slowed on the Molson's I can see that it is a photo from above. Oops.

Go with what Falc and Hairbank had to say and I'll disappear for awhile.

Hey if you want questions to ask check this out http://hair-restoration-info.com/eve/forums/a/tpc/f/3466060861/m/5141096592

LOL Nervous. Don't disappear man . We all have our off days! Just remember....don't go skilling 2 hours after you get out of surgery

Falc

That was funny. Got to admit that would have been a pretty shitty hairloss pattern if it was a photo from behind. I'll try to stay a little more focused.

Layoff the drugs Nelly.. Give them to me

haha

Speaking of which, does pot interfere with growth after a ht?

Because if it does, that would SO suck...

I was obviously kidding cause I don't touch the stuff (not that I haven't ) but it won't effect things unless you smoke like a chimney.

Ah. Not that I do smoke (I've even quit smoking cigarettes recently to be sure everything goes ok), but it's always nice to have options

NervousNelly: Thanks for the list of questions. But I have to tell ya, you scared the heck outta me with your original comments.... ha


Falc: thanks as well. I was a little shocked about the number of grafts needed. 4000+ seems like quite a bit.

It all depends on your goals as to how many FU that you need. 4000 would pretty much give you full coverage and decent density if all of your native hair stayed. If you don't mind having a little thin look at crown you could get away with a lot less FU. Personally if I were you I would get 3000 and focus on frontal and anterior crown and see if it will suffice. You can then always get more if not satisfied.