Hello Everyone

[huawei]

Hey, I'd give fin a go, start off with a small dosage and taper up to see how you handle it. Giving minox a go as well might be of some benefit.

Personally, I'd wait a year before investigating getting a ht simply because fin/minox may regrow some of your hair or at least stabilize the loss leading to a less intense ht needing to be done.

[Artista]

Hi DLB550 , Thanks for the great information on your country cities.
We will definitely go to Bristol ..The Balloon Fiesta (Festival) sounds like fun.
I promise you that we will have a bite at your family restaurant once we are there bro!
We are currently in the process of moving to a new home and so I haven't had much time for anything else ,,lol.
Those are good photos that you've posted, I feel very strongly to advice that you give Finasteride a try.
Your at a great age for it and your hair loss is not 'terrible'.
Im sure that in your eyes your hair loss is very disturbing for you but from a 3rd persons point of view , you should be grateful that it isn't much more progressed.
Finasteride takes time so be patient.
Look into the use of Minoxidil too. I personally dont use that but a lot of others do.
I do use in addition to my Fin', Biotin @ 2500mcgs and Nizoral Shampoo 1%.
I got to run mate but Ill be back on later,,hi ALL.

[DLB550]

Hey Guys,

Thanks for the responses. I will ask about Fin and see where I can get it.

My only thoughts about reducing how much of a transplant I might eventually have to have is that if I stop Fin or it stops working that I would need another anyway?

Again guys your thoughts on this would be appreciated.

Cheers,

DLB550

[gc83uk]

Hi David,

I've had 5000 grafts so far costing me approximately £20,000 over the course of 2 years. I know to many people that will seem like an obscene amount of money, but I'm literally buying happiness!
Hair grows at approx 0.5mm per day / half an inch per month.
So if you're off work for 2 weeks then you'll be around 8mm or 9mm by then I would guess, because they buzz it down to like 1mm with some fancy clippers.

I also work in an office and shaving my head was a radical change for me, I didn't enjoy it when people asked me what have I done etc, but I decided the easiest response was to just say, 'I fancied a change', which helped to play it down and killed the conversation. Nobody really cares that much, you'll soon see.

Could you not gradually cut your hair shorter and shorter to the lead up to the HST? That way nobody would batter an eyelid. The good thing about HST is after 7 - 10 days nobody will know you've had anything done.

About the 3 procedure thing, that's not really true. Some people might be done after 2 procedures, others 5, 6, 7, I really can't answer that because each person is different, each person has different amounts of donor available.

As for donor regrowth rate. This is a big talking point! Hasci claim to be able to get 85% regrowth. If you're asking me for my honest assessment then I think it's closer to 50%. There are lots of reasons for this, which I won't bore you with.

The problem is the grafts which they implant in the balding area are slightly thinner, basically for every graft extracted in HST they implant around 1.4 hairs average, whereas regular FUE is closer to 2 hairs per graft (the hair shaft itself is not thinner, its the same as the rest of your hair).
I can live with this because of the donor regrowth. So this 50% feels more like 35% overall (compared to FUE) if you get what I mean. I can explain more about that if you need me to, but it gets deep and its somewhat controversial.

Hasci will suggest a bare minimum of 1400 grafts, 1600-1800 grafts is common, 2000 grafts in one day is the highest I've heard from anyone on the forums.

If you are hoping for a full head of hair, then you won't get it after 1 HST unfortunately. I reckon you'll need to go 3 times, but it's hard to know for sure with those photos.

There is also a good chance that you'll continue to lose hair on top so getting on fin is probably a good idea! I don't know much about fin, but some of the guys on here will tell you everything you want to know about it.

You've also got some loss in your crown, might be an idea to just focus on the front & mid scalp for your 1st HST, putting grafts in your crown is like a black hole.

What are your expectations? And what's your donor like? Your donor looks thick on the photos.

If you're not interested in donor regrowth and want something more instant, there are some amazing FUE surgeons around, if your donor is in good enough shape then you could probably have 3000 grafts done in 1 go, but it won't be scarless.

The other thing with HST is you have to wait 9 months between each procedure and like I said earlier you are limited to 2000 grafts max, but the procedure is scarless, so if you decide one day that you've had enough of transplants and battling hair loss, **** it, then you can shave your head or buzz down to a #1 without worrying about white FUE scars all over your head. That alone settled it for me.

[DLB550]

Hi Gaz,

Thanks for coming back to me.

Is that 5k grafts over 4 sessions then, I think you're on to 4 sessions currently?

For the past few years I've shaved my head on a #4 and then earlier this year on a #3 for a while, my friends say I look better with hair so hence why I've recently started growing it back again. I could start shaving it down again in the new year I guess, then at least it won't be as much of a shock to people if/when I have the treatment.

Do you have a set of pictures in chronological order to show exactly where you were and are now, including donor/recipient area, I would be very interested to see that.

I thought HASCI say they implant more than that in terms of the average hairs per graft, I don't know why but I have 2.5 per graft in mind? I guess that's the marketing spiel..

I think you mean that because the average number of hairs per graft compared to FUE is less it doesn't give the same coverage as FUE?

I wasn't hoping for a full head of hair after one treatment, and I thought I would be borderline 2/3 treatments as I would still like to try and fill my crown at some point, I know this might seem greedy to some people but I would really like to get back to as close as I can to a full head of hair, and as like you Gaz this is essentially me buying my confidence back.

What's the reason why you don't take Fin, if you don't mind me asking?

My expectations are for the first session to fill in my receding area and the forelock at the front to most specifically make it look like I've got OK hair at the front and frame my face properly in any photographs and perhaps to get a bit more thickness just behind this area... I don't know if you think this is realistic or not I could be wildly off target here with my hopes would appreciate it if you could let me down now if that won't happen! :-)

I would say my donor is in good shape but I'm no expert, I could try and take a few more pictures if you think that might help?

Would you say you are still happy with your donor area even with 50% regrowth and 4 sessions now?

How many more sessions are you planning?
Has anyone been on who's lost hair from the recipient after X number of years?
Have you heard about the work being done by the Columbia and Durham university professors recently? Looks interesting but so far away still!
How have your dealings with HASCI been, and what have they said at your last session?
I am meeting Deborah, Is that who you see?
Do you take time off work after each session?
Are you happy with your results overall?

Sorry Gaz loads of questions but I'm very intrigued!

Thanks for all your time.

David

[DLB550]

Sorry Gaz another question that popped into my head after I sent that response!

Say you have your first treatment but want some more density in an area at a later date, are they willing to do this for you?

Thanks,

David

[DLB550]

Another question Gaz, when you go for treatment how do you get there, get home etc? I am driving tomorrow so will park close by but obviously this is expensive if I would be there for the entire day!

Thanks,

David

[DLB550]

Hi Gaz/Everyone,

Just a quick update as I went to HASCI today.

I was late for the appointment as the traffic was horrendous, took me 5 hours + to get there and I set off at 5 this morning!

Anyway, what Deborah said. She said they would recommend between 1200-1400 on an initial session at a cost of approx £7k and they could take more on the day depending on how well the grafts come out when they start taking them.

She said my hair has good density in the donor area apart from just coming on to the sides which are a bit less so they would leave this area.

She also said that my hair is straight which helps a lot when taking the grafts out, so I guess this is a good thing.

She said they wouldn't do my crown though as my hair is still there but the number of hairs per graft are reducing, so they are somewhere between 1-2 per follicle where they are normally more like 3 per follicle.

She said they would do one area at a time, starting with the forelock and temple area, then they would do the main scalp once they have reviewed the donor area again before going again and potentially adding density.

I am not sure entirely why but I must admit I've come away feeling a bit down really, she didn't really say what exactly they could do for me and mentioned again about the 2-3 procedures and reviewing after each session.

I'm not sure why I'm feeling down but I've come home and shaved all my hair off on a #4 as I looked at myself in the mirror and thought who are you trying to kid!

God this is depressing at times, all I want is my hair back! :-)

Gaz, could you please point me in the direction of your pictures, will take a look at your results so far. :-)

I think I may go ahead with the first session anyway to a least see what they do in that session and perhaps review after that.

I looked at Fin and saw you can get at a good price from UK Finasteride, has anyone used them before as it seems a bit dodgy I must admit?

My concerns/questions with Fin are.

Once I start taking it I guess I'm then on it for good?
Has anyone suffered from any of the sides?
Has anyone had regrowth? Deborah mentioned it's only in the crown area generally..
If you wanted to have children would you need to come off it? NHS website seemed to say not but wondered if anyone knows for certain?

Thanks again guys for all your help I really appreciate it.

Cheers,

David

[gc83uk]

Hi David,

Chin up mate, you've taken the first step, that's what matters.

Take a look at this post from Iron Man who summarised it so far.
The post is dates 5th October, which is about 4 weeks after my 4th HST, so the last HST is still growing in, even now. BTW I had scarring alopecia from a young age, hence the mess I was in before I started this journey.

http://www.baldtruthtalk.com/showpost.php?p=151082

Here is a link to a set of photos I taken of my donor a few weeks back. I've got a few scars in my donor from before I even started HST so try to ignore those. https://www.dropbox.com/sh/j1ag43wtblahccp/xOap-8TrJb

Re: fin
Can you not get that for free from a G.P?

I live in the Northwest too, I usually stay in the Marleybone hotel the night before and then train it back from Euston after the procedure. I put a cap on always. They don't advise you do that but if you're really careful it's no big deal, plus there is no way I'm walking outside with my head in a mess lol. If you are flush with cash then stay another night at the Marleybone. I always stay at the hotel because litterally a 2 minute walk from the hotel and if you book the room a few weeks before you'll get it at a decent price. (decent for london anyway)

I think what Deborah has told you is spot on, focus at the front first and see how it goes in later procedures. You've already got some hair on top (see yourself as lucky), so with that plus 2 or 3 HST's you'll be in cracking shape pal, stay positive and definitely look into Fin to protect the native hair you have in the MPB areas.

[gc83uk]

Sorry Gaz another question that popped into my head after I sent that response!

Say you have your first treatment but want some more density in an area at a later date, are they willing to do this for you?

Thanks,

David

Yes they will. They usually implant 35 grafts per cm2 on the first pass and take it upto 50-60 grafts per cm2 in subsequent procedures.

[Arashi]

Gaz, can you mail me Deborah's email ? I want to ask her if she's ok with doing a 100 graft test on me. Thx.

[gc83uk]

Gaz, can you mail me Deborah's email ? I want to ask her if she's ok with doing a 100 graft test on me. Thx.

Done!

When you thinking of going?

[Arashi]

Done!

When you thinking of going?

Thx bro. Not sure yet but thinking about feb.

[cocacola]

I usually stay in the Marleybone hotel the night before and then train it back from Euston after the procedure. I put a cap on always. They don't advise you do that but if you're really careful it's no big deal, plus there is no way I'm walking outside with my head in a mess lol.

LOL i stayed in maastricht for 2 more days and walked around no headgear . First day u get looks, but people dont even know its a transplant. Literally, i was in a bar and the guy asked me what are you doing in maastricht because he saw im not from there. I said i came to do a hair transplant, he was like what hair transplant. The only problem is that i was worried about the sun, didn't want to burn the precious grafts, so i walked around with an umbrella before i could put a cap on.

[Artista]

David DLB550 , Im glad that you went through the process of having a good clinic evaluation.
Thanks for sharing that experience with us all.
You said that it was estimated that you should have about
"1200-1400 on an initial session at a cost of approx £7k"
Thats around $11,400 American
Not that I intend to focus on hair surgery costs.
I know that HASCI has done some great things in recent past.
Dave I hope that you will be setting up consultations with other clinics as well.
Good luck bro,,by the way my first name is DAVID too!
Cheers