I am new to this forum, and I have to say you guys are great. Ive been looking for something like this to vent for a long time. I am 23 years old and I have a decent amnount of balding in the front of my head. I have to say it ruins my life. I feel terrible about it. I am getting married in june, to a very good looking women. She thinks my hair is fine, but i know it's not and i feel like i look terrible compaired to her. I need to do somthing. I have been on propecia for about 3 months now and I have been in to see a doc tessler here in michigan. He said he could help me no problem with about 1300 to 1600 grafts. The price was around 5,200 to 6,800 depending on how many grafts he needed. Do any of you know if this sounds good, or know anything about doc Tessler. I got all of his info from the book THE BALd TRUTH. I want to go through with this but seeing as insurence doesn't cover any of this procedure and im getting married in June funds are tight, but I am determind to find a way to make this work.

Any advice would be great!

thanks

Chris

Hi ceballac,

Welcome to the forum. First and foremost.....take heart. Hair loss sucks.........no doubt. However, it sounds as if you've found someone who could truly care less which is a wonderful thing...........all women are not this way.

Great to hear you've started on Propecia. At your age and stage of loss, you may be a good responder and even regrow a little. At the least hopefully it will help you maintain over time.

The price quoted is around $4.25 per graft which is decent. Dr. Tessler is recommended here so I'm sure his quality of work is good, but I haven't seen too many of his patients post there results here. Just ask to see as many before/afters from him as you can...........it would be a bonus if you could arrange to meet some of the people he's worked on. Many clinics try to stay in contact with those who are willing to do this.

You're pretty young so I'd advise you to take your time. If the Doc has recommended 1300-1600 grafts for you the loss must not be too bad because that really isn't very many grafts if you have much area to cover. Do you know where you are on the Norwood scale? If you could post a few pics it would really help give you a better idea of where you're at.

Again...........slow down, do the research, and, if you're going to do it, do it right. Take time in selecting a surgeon and, while I'm sure Dr. Tessler will do fine work for you, I'd get the opinion of a few of the recommended Coalition Surgeons here. Don't let location determine who does your HT. In most cases, clinics will provide a 2 nights hotel stay for you and cover your airfare. These results will last you for life so be sure it's what you want and that you develop a reasonable plan that will get you there.

It's likely, at your age, that you will go into this knowing you will need to have another session or two in the future if the meds don't help you keep what you have............plan accordingly.

Hope this helps.

Thank you very much!

I'll second Hairbanks advice

1- Stay on Finasteride, to save money and when it's time to renew you can try to get a script for Proscar and get the generic, you take 1/4 pill a day, you'll save a lot of money this way.
I would wait at least 6 months if not a year because you're young and you might get very nice regrowth with Finasteride.

2- Take pictures of your head, front, top, sides AND back. Jotronic posted the best way to take pics on his site. Follow this link
www.hairtransplantmentor.com

and look for the chapter on taking pictures

3- Post your pictures and keep asking questions, you'll find many qualified veterans here.

i am taking finasteride now, i was taking propica but it was way too expensive. Now I just divide the pills. Are you guys doc's or have you just had alot of HT experence? This is a great thing you guys have going. Its nice to talk to people who are going through the same types of things. I always feel like people think of me as less of a person because of my hair. Sometimes i just want to say screw it and shave my head, but I have an office job and thats not the most professional look. (sorry im just venting now)

thanks again guys

No............the vast majority of us posting here provide opinions based on what we've seen or experienced first-hand, or what we've seen and heard via other posters here (with pics or other proof) or from surgeons themselves sometimes. Any of the surgeons that post ususally try to identify themselves by an "MD" after the name.

No problem venting.................we all do it now and again. Hang in there, do some more research and put your efforts into developing a plan that you can live with.

Go ahead and vent away, if not on this forum then where??? We're all in the same boat here.

i am taking finasteride now, i was taking propica but it was way too expensive. Now I just divide the pills  

Please explain, what is the name of the Finasteride product you are taking exactly?

not shure ill look when i get home, its the off brand to propecia.

Ceballac,

Be careful with generics...many of them are not legit, and you don't know what you are buying. If I were you, I'd get Proscar or the generic version of that (that is legit), split the pill into quarters, and take a quarter pill daily.

Falc

i found out its called finasteride. Doc Tessler gave me the script and said that this is cheeper than propecia and that it was the same thing all I would have to do is dive the pills.

It's likely generic Proscar, also Finasteride, and is the 5mg variety of Propecia which is 1mg. Several (including me) quarter proscar with a pill cutter to save costs.

Ceballac,

I'm from Michigan and did a consult with Dr. Tessler. I believe that he is a skilled surgeon and a very nice man but unfortunately there is very little available about his work. He really has very few pictures to show.

I have not ruled him out at all but if I were you I would consult with others also. I do know that Dr. Ron Shapiro (who is argueably one of the best in the world) has great things to say about Dr. Tessler.

Post some pics of your hair and fiance for us so that we can give you some feedback. Just kidding ofcourse but I do want you to smile and understand that you got a good thing going and losing your hair really isn't the end of the world. Trust me, I realize it sucks but there are so many men out there fully comfortable with less hair and chicks still dig them.

Before diving into a HT you have to understand that there is no reversing things. If you later decide to shave your head there will be a visible scar on the back of your head. Possibly you will have to spend more money on future HT if you continue to lose more natural hair. And it is possible that you can never achieve the desired look or density of hair that you want. Just things to think about.