Firstly, I must say kudos to the folks here for putting together an awesome forum! Until last Friday I had no clue as to what was causing my hair-loss, the options I had for restoration and tons of other stuff that I now feel I am better educated on Great work guys!

My questions is at the end but first some background on my situation --

I always felt my hair-loss pattern was weird - if someone were to look at me from the front, they would not know that I had any issues with hair-loss. A top-view and rear-view would tell the true picture I could never understand where in the NW scale I fell and that was frustrating!

Finally after reading some good literature on Dr. Shapiro's website, I have come to this conclusion -

1. My "hairline zone" is intact and has not experienced much loss, reltively speaking

2. The "crown" and "frontal core" area has significant loss - that would be a bald crown and significant loss on frontal area.

I consulted with Dr Lawrence Samuels in St Louis (reccomended on this board) and he reccomended about 1450 - 1500 molecular FUT's and said he would work mainly on the frontal core area and not do anything on the crown since there is not a significant donor base to replace that. He even felt nothing needed to be done in the front.

Now that was a long explanation but here is the question - is it worth travelling far to get this procedure done with the best in the business if no "hair-line" restoration is needed? Based on my research here (and I am less than a week old), I feel Dr Samuels is a good fit for my needs and budget.

I am 34 and feel I have reached a point where my hair-loss has not stopped but slowed down significantly.

Do not let location play a major consideration in your decision -- even if you aren't getting a hairline job.

I would do a few consults (live or online); compare and contrast the prognoses, and if there are differences between them this means you need to investigate further, pinpoint the disparities and decide which makes the most sense for you.

You should also ask to see clear, grown out cases that approximate what you would be getting done -- ideally, see before/immed-postop/after pics.

welcome to HTN Bugs

as "thanatopsis" said,Location should be your least consideration if you are looking to get a decent HT.I went to Canada for mine !

Also,though hairline requires a more artistic surgeon,the nature of the HT is still the same regardless where you need hair:

Hair removal from back to the where it is needed

So don't think that since you don't need a hairline job,anybody can give you a good HT !

finally, my logic is this: if you are willing to pay lets say 6-8 K to get it done,then a 300 to 400$ for a ticket and hotel shouldn't be a big factor for you on you decision.

I traveled all the way to Canada from the southwest (USA) for my recent HT.

Thanks for your responses gentlemen.

Thanatopsis - I like your suggestion; will consult with some of the reputed docs mentioned on this board and analyze their prognoses before coming to a decision...

Peaceful_Lion - I agree; location is not a consideration but the surgeon I mentioned is reputed and reccomended on this board...

Based on my initial consultation with him I found his work to be high quality although I did not know then, what I know now so my questions were very naive (and geared towards costs etc.). I think a second consultation would be more appropriate.

I came in thinking that I will go with the "best deal" I get as cost was a big factor in my consideration... but after reading posts here I now see why that ought to be the least concern. Finding someone who can do a high quality job ought to be the top priority... the posts on this site has had that positive impact on me right away

Bugs--what was the cost for Dr. Samuels for 1500 grafts?

If you don't mind.

Thanks,
Jason

Bugs,

In my opinion, it's best practice to consult with 2 or 3 first-rate surgeons in addition to doing diligent online research to learn about hair transplantation and the physicians performing it.

Dr. Samuels is recommended for performing high quality follicular unit grafting. It is my understanding that he has a preference for doing smaller surgeries of under 2000 grafts in a single session. There is nothing wrong with this strategy but depending on your degree of baldness and hair restoration goals, it may take more sessions to reach the same end result as fewer sessions from surgeons who do larger sessions.

Dr. Samuels does not have a lot of patient posted results on this forum. I've encouraged them to get more involved months ago, and though I believe their intentions were good, they never got around to posting. Sadly, it makes it much more difficult for patients seeking to see recent evidence of the quality of his work. In the coming months however, things are going to change around here and I am confident that there will be a much larger percentage of our physicians posting.

Be sure what you can't find online that you find offline.

Best wishes,

Falc