egghhhhhhhhh....

Im so tired of arguing over Armani.
-He makes outragous claims w/no evidence to back them.
-He has no ethics.
-He's now in the practice of wasting a sig. % of one's finite donor, so he can conceal the lack of yield in his mega FUE.

if all that sounds sexy to you
-OR-
if you don't believe any of that,
then----go ahead and go to Arnami.

why are you limiting yourself to 2 docs? if i were you i'd definitely do a consult with h&w. in fact, with your level of balding they would be my top choice. you're definitely gonna need, imo, 4k grafts. but i'd say you don't want to be an armani guinea pig or pay that hefty price for an ht.

Itsaboutime,

I personally like Rahal. He essentially is Armani without all the bullshit. If you are in Toronto, Ottawa is what-3or4 hours away. Very short distance. The price is much cheaper and he is an exceptional guy. Yes this site is going to be biased towards Rahal, but I truly believe that my opinion is not swayed by anything. I love Armanis work and believe he is likely the most talented HT physician on the planet but there is a lot of bad press and I think that he earned most of it.

Fue is not proven yet for sessions of that size. If you are in a hurry to have work done I really think that the smart choice is Rahal.

I have to admit, Armani is good at telling people what they want to hear. Unfortunately its not reality.

quote:

Originally posted by HT55:

quote:

Originally posted by itsabouttime:
I did book with Armani but have not left a deposit...yes I agree about his consultant, I'd think more fondly of Armani if I did not discuss anything with that kid...Armani's only hurting his practice with that individual...anyway.

Sounds like you met Shane, lol

Actually Chad Cooper, almost as fakely named as Alvi Armani...in my opinion anyway, I'm sure their names are actually legit.....

Anyway, yes it seems the strip may be the best way to go now, FUE is a little premature for that degree of work.

Guess I'm just getting a little hesitant, hard to think you're gonna fork over so much dough, and come otu the other end still with some scalp showing perhaps....just seems nuts.

What can you do.

itsaboutime, i think you need to back off a little and do further research and not let your emotion get in the way of making the right choice. If your interested in fue, there is dr Umar in california who does the whole procedure himself. He doesn't do mega fue but can break it up into several days if your set on 4000g. Take your time and research.

quote:

Originally posted by Anouar:
itsaboutime, i think you need to back off a little and do further research and not let your emotion get in the way of making the right choice. If your interested in fue, there is dr Umar in california who does the whole procedure himself. He doesn't do mega fue but can break it up into several days if your set on 4000g. Take your time and research.

Interesting, he does BHT too, I have a ton of that....will have to look into this. Thanks.

You should check out Shapiro in MN, Feller in NY and H+W before making any decisions.

Strip will save you a lod of dough.

HT's are not fun and take at least a year to grow in fully ( mine took 18 months)so I would get as much work done in one shot as possible.

I bet if you try the Propecia/ Rogaine Foam combo you will get some regrowth.

Ye it seems for the first big procedure strip might be best, but not sure if I really wanna be scarred like that...maybe it's not that much of an issue.

Will look into the other guys thanks.

Still seems like the strip procedure is my best bet at this point for a big first sitting. Would rather not waste any donor supply with potential FUE mishandling.

Of all the strip doctors I've reviewed so far, Rahal seems like the best bet, although I haven't spoken to H&W yet.

quote:

Originally posted by itsabouttime:
Still seems like the strip procedure is my best bet at this point for a big first sitting. Would rather not waste any donor supply with potential FUE mishandling.

Of all the strip doctors I've reviewed so far, Rahal seems like the best bet, although I haven't spoken to H&W yet.

If I were you I'd take a step back, take a deep breath and give it a little time.

Consult with a several docs and see what you come up with, have you spoken to others besides Rahal and Armani? Yes, H&W for sure, Shapiro and many others could safely harvest the numbers you're looking for and do great work.

As for the Rahal and Armani debate.............personal choice. "My" personal choice would be Rahal. I've frequented other sites than HTN and Armani's ethics will always be in question to me. Many twentysomethings come out of there with 4000 grafts in the frontal 1/3. There's NO WAY to tell in many cases what your balding pattern will be at that age unless you've already hit NW6 in which case you can't load the front with 4000 grafts and come out looking normal.

It's your call and whatever you decide, as a fellow recovering bald guy, I wish you the best!

I would use the foam and Propecia for a year while you research Dr's. At that point you will have a much better understanding of what you want and which Dr you want to do it plus you will have all of the regrowth you are going to get from the drugs and that could save you $$ and grafts

itsaboutime,

You state you are a NW4 and are 25. This could mean that you have a NW4 pattern starting, or it could mean you are slick bald in the crown with a little bit holding on in front.

You need to understand that hair transplants are not generally successful in raising the density of areas that already have alot of hair in them.

You say that zones 3 and 4 are pretty bad, but if they are at half original density, you may not be able to improve much upon this. At such a young age, I think ethical doctors would be hesitant to spend 6K grafts building your crown back to full density given that your front will likely disappear in the next 20 years. (Sorry for the honesty here.)

Armani is the most agressive "give you what you think you want" HT on the planet.

Rahal is well respected but he is also quite agressive.

You might give H&W a look. Doctors Hasson and Wong have done 6-7K+ sessions on individuals with the right characteristics (london lad comes to mind). This many grafts might be required to give you the density tha a 25yo expects. Older guys who have gone completely bald are generally happy to see a bit of hair framing their face.

There are many good choices but I would at least consult with H&W because they will either give you a huge session or turn you away if its in your best interest.


Good luck! Hair loss at 25 SUCKS!

I agree w/ HT55 about using the foam and propecia for a while, especially with where the hairloss is centered. At but 25, and working in the crown region, it's kinda tough...but I would say you'd want ~4k, at least at this point in time.

Definitely keep on the minox and fin, and get a bunch of quotes/prognoses from various clinics....would be interested to see what they recommend.

Well, after another week of nonstop research, emails, consults, discussion and reflection, I have decided to go with Rahal after all.

I looked around all the boards online and saw umpteen results. FUT is definately the way to go for this procedure, and Rahal is one of the best choices.

Procedure is booked for May 15th for 3000-3500 grafts starting from the front and moving towards the back without wasting too much on the crown at this point. 4000 grafts FUE for mainly crown work with Armani was just a ridiculous consideration for so many reasons.

Anyway, now I wait in anticipation.

Will definatly get a blog started etc when the time comes to contribute to the community as results are great to see when doing your research.

Thanks for all responses and care.

Good Choice. How much are you paying per graft ?

From what I have seen strip gives much more density than FUE

About $3.5/graft.

Ye from all the results I've seen here and on other forums, FUT graft usage seems to be a lot more efficient at this point.