What is transplanted hair like compared to pre-balding hair?

The thing to understand is that the transplanted hair is from the donor areas so should not be thin at all once given a full year to grow in. In fact I had my first procedure in my early 30's to fill in the frontal areas that were thin. The transplanted hair was actually thicker than the native hair so it blended well. As time went on my native hair became thinner and the transplanted hair became less natural looking as it was surround by thinner hair. I've since had a few more procedures and the results are quite natural looking even to trained eyes. The point I'd like to make is if you're getting your first procedure at age 26 plan for future procedures. I started out with 4 small procedures over about a 7 year period each between 500 and about 800 grafts. This left me with several donor scars in different areas as the clinic I went to would always harvest hair from two different places regardless of the size of the procedure. Now i'm finding I need more grafts but do to the amount of procedures i've had, strip surgery is not really an option and I may have to have FUE. This means shaving my head and not only being bald but being bald with 8 or so scars on my head. I just went underwent my 7th strip procedure and the doc told me all my future procedures will probably have to be FUE as my scalp is tight and full of scars. If I could do it over again I would get as many grafts as needed in the first procedure while sill budgeting enough grafts for your future hair loss.

Thanks for the detailed response. I am certainly giving it a lot of thought before jumping into it. What was your hairloss history like when you started/how quickly were you thinning? Did you take Finasteride?

I actually didn't notice any loss at all until about age 24. I thought it was a big deal but looking at photos from back then I was over-reacting. My hair was very thick and with a low hairline but the corners and temples were beginning to creep back. I immediately started Rogaine 2 percent as that was the only thing available at the time. Hair continued to creep back but was not really noticeable to others until around age 27. At that point I started Rogaine 5 percent was out and I continued this until age 30 when Propecia came out. At 30 my hair loss began to progress to the point where it was obviously thin in the frontal areas. At 32 I had my first procedure and continued with both Rogaine and Propecia. I kept using Rogaine and switched Propocia for Avodart when that came out. I then kept up with my hair loss with small procedures of 6-800 grafts as well as the Rogaine and Avodart. I had my largest procedure just two years ago with around 1700 grafts. The doc told me I had plenty of donor hair left and I had the hairline and coverage I wanted. Thinking the Rogaine and Avodart were not doing anything I stopped both. Jump to this summer and I compared pre op pics from my 2014 procedure and realized I had less hair now then before those 1700 grafts. I just underwent a 1200 graft procedure to strengthen the hairline and restarted Rogaine and Avodart. I really think they were working and stopping them was a big mistake. Fortunately I had enough donor hair left but have learned to not to take these "prevention meds" for granted. Just because we don't see growth/results does not mean they are not effective. They could very well be stabilizing our loss and we might not know it until we stop taking them. For the cost I feel anyone is foolish to not be using these in addition to surgery. I like Avodart better as one study done shows that .1 MG of Avodart was superior to 5 MG Propecia. Essentially this means taking Avodart just twice per week would be more effective than taking 5 Propecia tablets per day

So what would your advice be to someone my age and in my situation. Started finasteride at 21 and I have been pretty stable. A bit of frontal thinning. I just want to fill in some density at the front. My consult is for 1200 graft FUE

I can't speak for you as it's your choice but if I were 26, had adequate donor hair, not satisfied with the results of the meds alone, I would move forward. Just be careful in selecting a surgeon. IAHRS is a start but I would still interview a few and get some opinions about your current and future goals. If I personally needed just 1000 or so grafts I would probably go FUE. If I needed a lot I would probably go FUT. Probably the most important thing after picking the rights doc and type of procedure would be to get as many grafts done in one procedure so you won't have several scars like I do. I double any good docs would suggest several small procedures in this day and age. This practice was a lot more common when I started with my first procedure 15 years ago.

Good luck to you!

Could you send us a photo of your problem aria? I did a FUT hair transplant about 5 months and 2 weeks ago, 1900 follicles, right now my implanted hair look a bit like pubic hair, but that will change over time as the hair is adapting. Im more than pleased with the result so far! will post a time line of my new hairline as i been taking photos every week sins day one..will probably put it up on youtube after 12 months.

GOOD LUCK!