SMP in Seattle

[vandelae]

This is my first post, but I can promise I have absolutely no affiliation with any person or company in the hair restoration field, that seems to be an issue sometimes here. I'm a 52 yr old man with hair loss beginning around 25 years ago, and I have been shaving my head ever since.

I've been curious about SMP for about 6 months, and as luck would have it, hair clinic had a little open house this past Friday in Seattle where they have recently opened an office in a downtown medical building. So I went for a consultation with, who was in town for the open house.

His head looks pretty darn good. He told me his last touch up was 7 years ago. My first glance at him, when he entered the waiting room and I did not know who he was, had me thinking his hairline looked natural. It frames his face the way a real hairline would. Upon further close examination, in the consultation area, I retained a very good impression of what the SMP treatment looked like. I had to look very carefully to see where his actual hair started and the SMP stopped. I think Ian is probably a 6 or 7 on the Norwood scale, which is what I am also.

Did his head look absolutely, perfectly, like a shaved head with a full head of hair? Almost, but not exactly. I didn't see individual hair follicles in the treated area of his scalp so much on very close examination. Still, it looked pretty natural to me. It looked like you would not know unless you were told and you looked very carefully. It looked like it would fool at least 99% of the casual observers you might come across. And since he had his done so long ago, I'm hopeful that my treatment will be as good or possibly better, since they've had lots of time to improve their techniques and tools.

One thing I regret is that my girlfriend could not make it due to work. I was dying to get a second opinion from her, she has a great eye and is very skeptical of this SMP thing.

I also got to see a guy in the treatment room getting his head done. He was only 30 minutes or so into the treatment and I asked him if it hurt. He said it stung a little bit but no big deal. I wished him luck.

So I'm almost sure I'm going to go ahead with the SMP procedure. I'm not really desperate about solving my baldness, I've lived this way for a long time already and life is good. But this seems like it will make an improvement to my life and I'm all for making improvements.

Anyone want to talk me out of this? I'm all ears. I don't want to do something I regret. But if seeing is believing, I'm now a believer. I'll post some before and afters if I do the treatment. And if anyone has any questions I'll be happy to do my best to answer them.

Aaron

[Kayman]

This is my first post, but I can promise I have absolutely no affiliation with any person or company in the hair restoration field, that seems to be an issue sometimes here. I'm a 52 yr old man with hair loss beginning around 25 years ago, and I have been shaving my head ever since.

I've been curious about SMP for about 6 months, and as luck would have it, HIS hair had a little open house this past Friday in Seattle where they have recently opened an office in a downtown medical building. So I went for a consultation with Ian, who was in town for the open house.

Ian's head looks pretty darn good. He told me his last touch up was 7 years ago. My first glance at him, when he entered the waiting room and I did not know who he was, had me thinking his hairline looked natural. It frames his face the way a real hairline would. Upon further close examination, in the consultation area, I retained a very good impression of what the SMP treatment looked like. I had to look very carefully to see where his actual hair started and the SMP stopped. I think Ian is probably a 6 or 7 on the Norwood scale, which is what I am also.

Did his head look absolutely, perfectly, like a shaved head with a full head of hair? Almost, but not exactly. I didn't see individual hair follicles in the treated area of his scalp so much on very close examination. Still, it looked pretty natural to me. It looked like you would not know unless you were told and you looked very carefully. It looked like it would fool at least 99% of the casual observers you might come across. And since he had his done so long ago, I'm hopeful that my treatment will be as good or possibly better, since they've had lots of time to improve their techniques and tools.

One thing I regret is that my girlfriend could not make it due to work. I was dying to get a second opinion from her, she has a great eye and is very skeptical of this SMP thing.

I also got to see a guy in the treatment room getting his head done. He was only 30 minutes or so into the treatment and I asked him if it hurt. He said it stung a little bit but no big deal. I wished him luck.

So I'm almost sure I'm going to go ahead with the SMP procedure. I'm not really desperate about solving my baldness, I've lived this way for a long time already and life is good. But this seems like it will make an improvement to my life and I'm all for making improvements. For treatments in the Seattle clinic they bring one of their LA practitioners up, so they don't currently have any openings until May.

Anyone want to talk me out of this? I'm all ears. I don't want to do something I regret. But if seeing is believing, I'm now a believer. I'll post some before and afters if I do the treatment. And if anyone has any questions I'll be happy to do my best to answer them.

Aaron

Welcome to the Forum. It's a bit of a mixed bag on this site when it comes to the opinion of this kind of treatment. Essentially it's a head tattoo and the most common concerns are whether the ink will fade over time (which it will most likely) will it retain shape or spread out over time and turn blotchy and lastly will it turn green / blue under constant UV exposure.
I personally wouldn't be willing to risk it, 10 years you could be happy as Larry then your scalp starts to turn blue and patchy. If it's the route you wish to go down then I wish you all the best with it and hope you achieve your desired result.

[topcat]

Yes I agree it could turn into a blob of ink over time and when it fades where does the ink go, do you know?

[vandelae]

Welcome to the Forum. It's a bit of a mixed bag on this site when it comes to the opinion of this kind of treatment. Essentially it's a head tattoo and the most common concerns are whether the ink will fade over time (which it will most likely) will it retain shape or spread out over time and turn blotchy and lastly will it turn green / blue under constant UV exposure.
I personally wouldn't be willing to risk it, 10 years you could be happy as Larry then your scalp starts to turn blue and patchy. If it's the route you wish to go down then I wish you all the best with it and hope you achieve your desired result.

I've read quite a bit of feedback similar to yours on this forum. I'm just wondering who is saying this? Are there any direct links you can give me to posts by other men who've actually had these bad experiences with SMP?

[Kayman]

I've read quite a bit of feedback similar to yours on this forum. I'm just wondering who is saying this? Are there any direct links you can give me to posts by other men who've actually had these bad experiences with SMP?

The gamble is the procedure hasn't been around long enough for people to really know. Nobody knows if in 10 or 15 years the ink starts to change color or fade drastically or become splotchy because the treatment is relatively new. I know they promise inks that dont change color but I think after several years of sun exposure (particularly in summer or if you live in a hot climate) you're going to see some sort of change. This color change or splotching issue / question seems to be a common concern on many forums. In terms of artistry HIS are a safe bet.

[vandelae]

Thanks Kayman,

It does give me pause - to consider getting a procedure like this that does not have enough time behind it to see what the actual long term results are. And while I like to believe they are actually using pigments and techniques that might be less prone to fading and discoloration, I understand there is no guarantee there will not be problems in the future with the SMP procedure, even with the best provider.

Some people have to be innovators and then some have to be early adapters for any technology, and what I'm hoping and counting on is that as more men continue to have SMP the industry will move forward and continue to evolve. This ideally means more problems will give rise to an industry providing better solutions. If there's money to be made there will certainly be more innovative, entrepreneurial folks out there working on this SMP thing. God bless capitalism.

Anyway, your advice and concern is greatly appreciated, and I'll try to go into this armed with as much information as I can possibly get.

[topcat]

The fact is the guys who had tattooing done 10 years ago posted a few years later that it turned into a big blob of either blue or green ink. The fact is that tattoo ink has been found as black gook built up in the lymph nodes of bodies that have been examined. The fact is these are very harsh statements but when there is money to be made you will not hear about from those making the cash.

Don’t expect those guys from 10 years ago to be posting as they have all moved on I have not. You could very well be posting in 3-4 years and hopefully it will not be something negative.