Hair Transplant Research

[lougio]

Hi, I am 46, married with two kids living in the San Diego area and have decided that I am going to seriously look into a transplant procedure. About 10 years ago I went for a consultation and just wasn't ready at the time. I have been on Propecia for approx 2.5 years and it definitely has stalled the hair loss and shown some regrowth. I recently went for a consultation with Dr. DeYarman and had a very good visit. A total of 3000 grafts along with PRP and Acell were discussed. I have also made a few more appointments to round out my consults before deciding. I'm not interested in shaving my head bald. Never liked the look and don't think it looks good on even the best looking people. I don't expect a full head of hair either. I would just like to get some more hair on my head and see where it goes from there. Any information or opinions are appreciated. Lots of great information here. Thanks!

[moses0324]

i think you did the right thing by waiting until 46...at this point i say go for it. it seems like your expectations are on par. no need to hold out any longer. you are at a point in life where you are supposed to be the most financially stable. your hairloss has somewhat stabled as you mentioned.

everythign is dove tailing into a YES for a HT

[clee984]

I am by no means an expert, but your donor looks good, reasonably coarse and wavy, with a high 'halo'. I also agree with the previous poster that your expectations sound realistic, so you probably won't be disappointed.

If you decide against an HT, you don't have to shave your head completely bald, you could just crop it a little closer, that can look pretty classy.

[lougio]

Thanks for the responses. Going to see two more Docs before making my decision> I am probably going to do it and am just trying to figure out which Doc to go with. Any info on Docs in San Diego would be great. I'm gonna check out the post about researching Docs as well. Thanks again!

[RichardDawkins]

Hey Lougio, i know your case from hairsite. Even if you dont wanna hear it, a lot of those advise giving people were right and honest. You should read their arguments carefully again please, do yourself this favor

[lougio]

Richie, I am trying to read as much as I can and trying to seperate fact from opinion. But when someone tells me to get in shape and shave my head I will feel a whole lot better.. that is just their opinion. I'm not really going take a whole lot away from those words of wisdom. Now if someone said that recently had a HT and it was a mistake then I want to know about it. But for the most part there seems to be positive outcomes. I don't entertain the thought of shaving my head at all. But again I want to read everything I can and take the good with the bad. Thanks!

[lougio]

So I went to my third consult and saw Dr. Tim Carman at La Jolla Hair Restoration. The basic number of grafts to be transplanted were the same. But we had a lengthy talk and covered a lot of stuff that I had not touched on in my other two consults. We mainly talked about the procedure and Tim's philosophy on how he places the follicular units and how he would go about placing them on me. He also showed me the blades that he has had custom made and how he uses them. Very interesting stuff. He was very informative about a lot of aspects of the procedure as I would have hoped for. Tim is very well credentialed and that appealed to me from the start. He took me through his professional career and talked about how he arrived at hair transplantation. I was very impressed with Dr. Carman and am seriously considering going with him for my procedure. Does anyone have any thoughts on Dr. Tim Carman? I'd love to hear it. Thanks!

[DAVE52]

........... I don't expect a full head of hair either. I would just like to get some more hair on my head and see where it goes from there..

You probbaly won't get a full head of hair just the illusion of more hair

Where it goes from there ...you'll be either satisfied with what is doen or you'll need more procedures to be more satisfied

I understand you say you don't like shaving tiur head bald have you consdiered a short brush cut with a # 2 guard .

You might want to try that first

It's cheaper , financially and emotionally less stressful. If you don't like that it will grow back and then you can go the hT route .

It is something I often wished I would have tried first

Just trying to give you some other options before you go down the route of no return

Good luck in what ever you choose

[lougio]

Here's an update on the latest. Sorry I haven't posted in a few weeks. I went for a second consultation with Dr. Tim Carman of La Jolla Hair Restoration Medical Center on 3/30/11 just to sure up some questions that I had, contact some previous patients and to make sure I didn't leave any stone unturned. Each time I went in for a consult I wound up talking for about 2 hours. Doc Carman really takes the time to answer your questions thoroughly. I could have done a phone or email follow up but chose to go into the office mainly because I want to see the person I am talking to and it is just a better dynamic being face to face for obvious reasons.

Actually let me just reset here. I originally was thinking of doing an FUE procedure vs. Strip FUT(I hope I got that right). I decided to go with the Strip procedure after doing some research and comparing the two procedures. So I then proceded to look for qualified Docs via the internet and forums such as this. I found a few local Docs that I scheduled consults with. I figured I would start local and venture out farther if needed after the consults. I consulted with Dr. James Deyarman, Dr. Brandon Ross and Dr. Timothy Carman. I started the consult process in February 2011. After consulting each Doc I felt strongly that Dr. Carman was the best choice for my procedure.

I scheduled a date for my procedure after the second consult with Dr. Carman and after discussing with my Wife. I went in last Thursday 4/14/11 and had the procedure done. I had some anxiety going into the procedure but I had talked to a patient that had the procedure done about three weeks earlier. And while he said it was painful, he also said he was very happy so far and that he has no problems setting up a second procedure. He answered the questions I had from the patients standpoint and that call really put me at ease to where I was 99.99% sure about doing it. I don't think going into any surgical procedure that we are 100% into doing it.

I arrived at the Clinic at 8am and left around 7pm. It didn't feel like such a long day and the afternoon went by quick. Only painful part was the local anesthetic injections and it was better than what the dentist does. I let the staff know anytime I thought I could feel what they were doing and the Doc took care of it. I asked the Doc to take lots of pics and he obliged. I left a little groggy but that was to be expected. I laid off most of the drugs during the procedure because I like to be coherent when stuff is going on around me. I only kept one earplug in on my mp3 player to boot. My Wife and kids picked me up and I would be back in the morning for a wash and rinse. I left with meds, some minor bandaging and a bandana that I was to keep on overnight. I will have to resume a little bit later as I have to run at the moment. I will post some pics as well. Thanks!

[drew87]

Hi lougio,

It's been 3 years since you had the surgery. Any update you can provide? I also live in San Diego and I came across Dr. Timothy Carman in my search. Do you recommend him? Do you have any results you can post up? Please let me know. Thank you.

[ikabook]

Hi lougio,

It's been 5 years since you had the surgery. Any update you can provide? I also live in San Diego and I came across Dr. Timothy Carman in my search. Do you recommend him? Do you have any results you can post up? Please let me know. Thank you.