Going for HST now! Need some feedback.

[censur]

Hi everyone,

I am now finally going for my first procedure: a HST of about 1200-1400 grafts with HASCI in London, with dr Deborah Smaall, this coming monday!
Because of the extreme importance this has to me, I would really appreciate some feedback before I do the surgery.

Here is my old thread describing my hair loss and showing some old pictures:

http://www.baldtruthtalk.com/showthread.php?t=11147

I have disclosed some new pictures in this thread, to show you the current state of my hair. Here my hair is without any hair products. I have also dyed it a bit darker, which I think makes the miniaturized hair on top actually look a bit more healthy than it actually is.
Also, when I use Toppik and/or Dermatch my hair actually looks much, much better. But putting on that crap, and trying to get it good, is becoming harder and harder all the time as the hair loss progressess.

Do you think these before-pictures will suffice?
Some are with and some are without flash. I could perhaps be able to take some more before I leave, if they are not good enough.
I think the picture may have lost some quality as the size of them was decreased as I uploaded them this way.
My ambition is of course to update this forum on my progress if that is interesting for you guys, perhaps it can help those who are considering going for this themselves.

I am thinking alot about the grafts placement for example.
It is a bit scary that I will actually be doing some pretty permanent changes to my appearence in a couple of days, and I really don't know about the specifics of the grafts placements etc until I am actually there.
This first procedure will focus on the hair line.
I have actually given up my chances of having a low hair line, so I think my grafts could be of better use if I keep a "mature hair line" pretty much as I have it today. What do you think about this?
Considering that my grandfather on my mothers side is about a NW7, I am pretty much expecting a high NW in the future, and fear that I will eventually lose much of my hair on top.

Also, the density of the grafts placement has to be decided. Let's say they are able to extract around 1400 grafts, could it be better to place the grafts over a bit larger area, or try to focus them as much as possible in the same area? I know that may be very hard to answer, but I feel very novice about this myself.
Do you think these approximately 1200-1400 grafts will make a major difference to me, considering my hair loss, or do you think they will be merely a drop in the ocean?

Always very thankful for help from the experts on this forum!

[NeedHairASAP]

I think they'll probably concentrate on your front, rather than some on your crown and some on the front. This is easier for them. I think it'll make a difference.

You could look for people with thinning hair but strong forelocks, print out some photos, and bring them with you for when they draw the hairline.


forelocks shaped like the one below are conservative, look natural, and frame your face.

[hellouser]

Awesome! Another case we can potentially document!

Take some close up before pictures.

[censur]

Awesome! Another case we can potentially document!

Take some close up before pictures.

What do you think about the ones I have taken so far?
If I should take new ones, I need to do that now, because I am leaving for London in just a couple of days.

How should I take them?
It's pretty hard to do much more close up than this.
Do you think I should focus on photographing the donor area or the hair line?

[hellouser]

What do you think about the ones I have taken so far?
If I should take new ones, I need to do that now, because I am leaving for London in just a couple of days.

How should I take them?
It's pretty hard to do much more close up than this.
Do you think I should focus on photographing the donor area or the hair line?

I'll need to dig up a guide I wrote in another thread, but essentially the best photos are macro shots that shot hair regeneration from your donor area. I'll post in a little bit, hold on!

[hellouser]

Found the original post, here it is;

I've probably mentioned what needs to be done, but here are some key points;

- Lots and LOTS of lighting is required for this purpose
- Use f/5.6 or higher (not lower, we need everything in focus)
- Use a low ISO speed to reduce noise levels in final photograph (800 is absolute max but 100-200 would be ideal, 400 is typically fine)
- Use as fast of a shutter speed as possible to reduce motion blur from hand-shake

General rule of thumb is if your shooting at 100mm, shoot your photographs at 1/100 of a shutter speed, any less and you'll likely encounter blur from handshake. Low aperture settings like f/2.8 or f/4.0 will cause the subject to blur out continually as it extends further back. We need absolutely everything in focus. But when shooting at f/5.6 or f/8.0, the opening of the glass is very small (and continually smaller as you go higher up to f/11 or f/16) which is why you need a LOT of light in the first place in order to achieve the fast shutter speed, otherwise the photographs come out dark. Use soft lighting, don't use an exposed light bulb that casts strong shadows. This is also why taking portrait shots during cloudy days is best, when the sun is behind the clouds and diffuses the light. My bathroom at home has long tube lights which are behind a semi-opaque plastic which gives a very soft shadow; this is the very best kind of lighting you'll want.

Essentially what we want to know is donor and recipient, both regeneration and growth so general shots are the most important.

However for proper and best documentation we'd also require macro shots. Most point and shoots these days have a macro mode which is typically the little flower icon located on the dial in/on the camera settings (some are on screen other using a knob). For the very close macro shots, you'll need a ton of light for this as from my experience with point and shoots.

Make sure to find a spot at home that gives consistent lighting; practice taking some shots and try to recreate the same results every time. You'll need to know all the camera settings for this and shoot in MANUAL mode (if possible, point and shoots dont typically have manual mode) because if you shoot in Auto, the camera will give different results each time. Hence, controlled lighting and manual control will give you and us the desired results.

Also, and equally important are temperature settings (white balance). The camera does a best guess at this as well, but any camera with manual control will allow you to change this. Ie; tungsten lights produce a bit of a yellow tone, but the camera can add a bit of a blue hue to compensate so white walls actually look white rather than yellow. This can play into how dark (or how 'brown') your hair may appear though it shouldn't be a factor if its kept buzzed. I suppose that will depend on you.

Basically, note down:

ISO Speed (ISO 100? ISO 200? ISO 400?)
Shutter Speed (1/100th sec? 1/200th sec? 1/320th sec?)
Aperture f/5.6? f/8.0? f/11?
White Balance See camera setting (click here for chart)

Don't use the same camera settings in different lighting conditions. Photography is *all* about light... hell, it derives from the greek word 'foto' which means light. But if you take your photos in the same place, same lights, etc. you shouldnt have to use different settings. For example, taking pictures at night with no ambient light but only washroom/bedroom/etc lights will give you the same lighting conditions as before (unless a bulb goes out and buy new less/more powerful ones). Use a tripod if youre on your own. If you have a buddy that knows his/her way with manual settings on a camera, ask them to help you out.

If you follow these steps, you should end up with photographs that all look roughly the same except for hair growth/regeneration at which point you should be organizing the pictures by DATE in order to NOT mess up which photographs were taken at which stage post-op.

And there you have it folks, the right way to take consistent pictures.

[gc83uk]

Censur, what camera do you have?

I don't know if you've noticed, but we were quite surprised by the recent photo of the contents of the petri dish with the 200 graft test recently done by Hasci.

If you could take a handful of close shots of the petri dish then this would be useful, in fact it would be awesome.

As for the head shots, will you be shaving your head before you go? You can safely buzz your hair down to a number 1 all over a couple of days before the procedure, I don't know if buzzing your hair is something you often do, but it would be the only real way to monitor donor regrowth.

Same for the recipient shots, you really need to get a lot closer than you currently are. When I take shots with my crappy camera, I just make sure I have the flash on, with the flower icon (macro mode) showing on the screen and snap away from approx 5 - 10 inches away from my head.

Any further away than that and it's likely the photos will be almost unusable, unless you have a high spec camera.

[JJJJrS]

I think they'll probably concentrate on your front, rather than some on your crown and some on the front. This is easier for them. I think it'll make a difference.

You could look for people with thinning hair but strong forelocks, print out some photos, and bring them with you for when they draw the hairline.


forelocks shaped like the one below are conservative, look natural, and frame your face.

This is a good point that I've always believed. A turning point between mild and severe balding, in my opinion, is when the forelock begins to thin. A little temple recession isn't a big deal but losing the forelock can really weaken the frame for your face. Someone like Jude Law was a good example of that in the past, even Christopher Nolan, who has deep temple recession but a very strong forelock.

If it were up to me, I'd rather build-up my forelock/front into a strong NW2.5-3, than have sparse thin coverage across the entire scalp. In that case, even if you decide to buzz your hair in the future, you'll have a nice hairline "shadow" to frame the face.

Censur, what camera do you have?

I don't know if you've noticed, but we were quite surprised by the recent photo of the contents of the petri dish with the 200 graft test recently done by Hasci.

If you could take a handful of close shots of the petri dish then this would be useful, in fact it would be awesome.

Yes, please take a picture of the petri dish. That's the most important photo you can take.

[censur]

Thank you guys!

I don't really have a decent camera of my own. Just Iphone 5 and such cameras. My friend took these photos for me.
He may be able to take some more before I leave to London.

However, when I am actually at Hasci in London, I'm not sure when I would get the opportunity to photo the petri dish. I wasn't planning on bringing a camera along, but maybe I can, if it its required.
But Hasci must have a decent camera at the clinic, right?
How about asking them to photo the petri dish after the extraction of my grafts. What do you think about that?

[censur]

So what do you think I should do about the petri dish photo guys?
I leave in just one day.

And also...what are your comments on my hair loss this far?
Do I seem like a lost cause? :/

[Dees Dab]

So what do you think I should do about the petri dish photo guys?
I leave in just one day.

And also...what are your comments on my hair loss this far?
Do I seem like a lost cause? :/

I don't think you are a lost cause, stay positive. Only you can decide, I think it's a good start to do the front third of your scalp now. Decide how low your hairline should be for your age and go from there. You could use a concealer for the back half and in 1-3 years we'll have more options for hair loss.

I doubt the iphone can create those close up shots people want so if possible buy a cheap/decent camera with macro mode like gc has.

My suggestions

1) Buy camera
2) Buzz to #1
3) Take close up pics whole scalp but especially the donor, upload pics here
to prove you learned to take clear close shots. People will advise if needed. Please do this before you leave.
4) When there take pics pre-op, post-op and close-up of petri dish.

Thanks in advance and good luck.

[gc83uk]

If you can do as Dees Dab has suggested, then great.

But if you can only do 1 thing, then I would simply ask you to take a photo of the petri dish.

I did this on the sly, if I had asked them I'm sure they wouldn't have cared less. However there aren't many opportunities to take one!

The only chance I had was after they made the extractions, it was lunch time! Whenever I've had my extractions, after sitting upwards again I always feel slightly light headed, at least for a couple of minutes! They will leave you in the room for about 5 or 10 mins whilst sipping your well earned water It was at the point I took a pic of the petri. I didn't think it was that important back then, however I wish I had taken 3 or 4 pics, as the one I did take was slightly blurry and not good enough to make out how many hairs was attached to each graft. This is what we want to see.

BTW for the petri you can probably do this with your iphone as long as you take a few pics. It's unlikely you'll get it right on your first pic, and take the picture about 5-10 inches away from the actual dish, anything further away and it's blurry mess and a waste of time!

Make sure the flash is on as default, helps big time even especially with crap cameras.

Good luck!

[534623]

The only chance I had was after they made the extractions, it was lunch time! Whenever I've had my extractions, after sitting upwards again I always feel slightly light headed, at least for a couple of minutes! They will leave you in the room for about 5 or 10 mins whilst sipping your well earned water It was at the point I took a pic of the petri.

Exactly - I did the same during lunch time ...




BUT, as you can see in the 1st photo above - I had a big problem ...

During lunch time, they stored the 2 petri dishes on the tray table in the middle and not on the tray on top - as they did it during the extraction part. That makes taking photos of the grafts difficult; at least, I could only take the photos "blind" - that means, without seeing the digi cam's display and all these photos were, unfortunately, too blurry.

But there are other problems:

Gho's storage medium is basically a clear liquid (like water) - you can see this in the empty petri dish section #3. But the longer the storage time of the grafts, the color of the storage medium changes from rather bloody red to "bleached" red (rather orange) - you can see this change in the 2nd photo above. But bloody red or "bleached red" - it doesn't matter; the change from a clear liquid to a colored liquid - the grafts in the dish can appear in photos more "fleshy" than they are, especially in case if the photos are of poor quality.

All these problems suggest to take photos of the grafts also after around 100-200 extractions or so; doing this is basically no problem at all, if you simply ask during a short break.

[gc83uk]

Hey Censur, how did it go?

Did you manage to get a photo of the petri?

[aim4hair]

the problem with taking a pics of petri is that the grafts will be soaked in the preservation medium which will make them hard to see.
you can see the pics i took when i went for my op.