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Background
I am a London based 30 years old Indian guy. My father is a diffused NW5. His brother and brother's son are both diffused NW5. But on my mother's side - every male has a full head of hair. My brother, 27, has a full head of thick hair. Large part of my hairloss in the recent years has been due work related stress. I would classify myself as a NW5.
Hair Transplant History
I started loosing hair at 19. I made a mistake and got a strip HT at 21 at Apollo in Delhi.
HT1 - 2006 - 500 Strip at Apollo
The doctor was a plastic surgeon and he build the hairline quite low/young. Very few grafts grew, they were quite sparse. Luckily he did not mess up on the donor scar. The scar is 2 inches long and very thin, it matches the colour of my skin very well and is barely visible.
HT2 - 2006 - 300 FUE at Dr A's clinic
Primarily to fill temples, results were ok.
HT3 - 2009 - 700 FUE at Dr A's clinic
To fill areas behind temples, results were ok.
HT4 - 07 & 08 October 2014 - 2230 FUE at Dr A's clinic
Work was performed by Dr Ruby. She placed 1500 in the hairline and areas behind the hairline at medium density. 700 in the crown. Large part of the crown was left un-touched as I am not sure how bald i will be in the future. I did not want to use up a lot of donor in the crown and then not have anything to plant in mid scalp when it goes. Overall, i would have liked my hairline to be 1 inch up, i prefer a mature hairline. But i was advised that if old hairline grafts are removed, there is a risk of scarring. Its a risk i did not want to take, I plan to balance the more graft usage in temples/hairline by settling for a thinning/balding crown. I love nanogen and so long as i have 'some' hair on the crown, i can style it such that the crown doesnt look so bad.
Plan For the Future
Mid scalp is thinning already, its just a matter of time. At low density, i estimate ill need 1500 grafts to fill it up. Small circle in the hairline thats left will probably need 300 grafts, so total requirement is 1800 for the future (if i become a full shiny NW5/6). These estimates do not include the crown.
Dr Ruby felt that 1500 scalp FUE can be harvested in future sessions, and we could use beard + chest for the rest. But i am not very keen on taking out more scalp donor hair, it already feels kind of thin. And there maybe some natural thinning of scalp donor with age.
Special thanks to Topcat, Mikes23, Calvin and Skywalker from hairlosshelp forum for advising me to not get a strip done. I had planned to go for a 4000 Strip and just fill it all up. But they argued that i should not touch crown to save grafts for mid scalp and also argued that if i become an NW6, i would have the option of shaving my head (if i do not have a scar). Although i dread the thought of shaving my head, a long scar would be even more dreadful. I am glad i went with a 2230 FUE session.
I will post pictures every month. I would love to hear your views on my strategy (explained above) and pictures (posted below).
Thanks
I am a London based 30 years old Indian guy. My father is a diffused NW5. His brother and brother's son are both diffused NW5. But on my mother's side - every male has a full head of hair. My brother, 27, has a full head of thick hair. Large part of my hairloss in the recent years has been due work related stress. I would classify myself as a NW5.
Hair Transplant History
I started loosing hair at 19. I made a mistake and got a strip HT at 21 at Apollo in Delhi.
HT1 - 2006 - 500 Strip at Apollo
The doctor was a plastic surgeon and he build the hairline quite low/young. Very few grafts grew, they were quite sparse. Luckily he did not mess up on the donor scar. The scar is 2 inches long and very thin, it matches the colour of my skin very well and is barely visible.
HT2 - 2006 - 300 FUE at Dr A's clinic
Primarily to fill temples, results were ok.
HT3 - 2009 - 700 FUE at Dr A's clinic
To fill areas behind temples, results were ok.
HT4 - 07 & 08 October 2014 - 2230 FUE at Dr A's clinic
Work was performed by Dr Ruby. She placed 1500 in the hairline and areas behind the hairline at medium density. 700 in the crown. Large part of the crown was left un-touched as I am not sure how bald i will be in the future. I did not want to use up a lot of donor in the crown and then not have anything to plant in mid scalp when it goes. Overall, i would have liked my hairline to be 1 inch up, i prefer a mature hairline. But i was advised that if old hairline grafts are removed, there is a risk of scarring. Its a risk i did not want to take, I plan to balance the more graft usage in temples/hairline by settling for a thinning/balding crown. I love nanogen and so long as i have 'some' hair on the crown, i can style it such that the crown doesnt look so bad.
Plan For the Future
Mid scalp is thinning already, its just a matter of time. At low density, i estimate ill need 1500 grafts to fill it up. Small circle in the hairline thats left will probably need 300 grafts, so total requirement is 1800 for the future (if i become a full shiny NW5/6). These estimates do not include the crown.
Dr Ruby felt that 1500 scalp FUE can be harvested in future sessions, and we could use beard + chest for the rest. But i am not very keen on taking out more scalp donor hair, it already feels kind of thin. And there maybe some natural thinning of scalp donor with age.
Special thanks to Topcat, Mikes23, Calvin and Skywalker from hairlosshelp forum for advising me to not get a strip done. I had planned to go for a 4000 Strip and just fill it all up. But they argued that i should not touch crown to save grafts for mid scalp and also argued that if i become an NW6, i would have the option of shaving my head (if i do not have a scar). Although i dread the thought of shaving my head, a long scar would be even more dreadful. I am glad i went with a 2230 FUE session.
I will post pictures every month. I would love to hear your views on my strategy (explained above) and pictures (posted below).
Thanks
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