Turned Away by Dr. Rahal

[win200]

I can't really see the loss you're talking about, but the pictures aren't great and I assume you know your own hair better than I do. Ignore the people giving you a hard time; they're being petty, and what matters is that your hair is bothering you.

But here's the thing; every hair transplant is risky, especially when performed on someone with a thick, reasonably full head of hair like yours. Like jamesst11 mentioned, shock loss is a real thing, and the risk is more pronounced when you're transplanting alongside thick native hair. Dr. Konior once told me, when I was considering a transplant akin to what you're thinking, that "things get broken." He wasn't trying to be glib, but rather to be realistic about the fact that when you have a great head of hair, you stand to lose quite a bit by going under the knife.

You know one thing for certain now: even with the loss you feel you've experienced, you have a GREAT hair of hair. It's full, thick, and textured. If you have a procedure that goes sideways, you stand to lose a lot. You're not like someone who's a NW5 at 26 and is going to look pretty awful without a procedure. It's the one bird in the hand versus two in the bush scenario. I had a transplant at 29 with a bit more recession than you, and that was the ABSOLUTE youngest age I'd advise anyone getting a transplant without significant loss (I was a NWII at worst). There's no harm in consulting, but you could end up truly miserable if you have someone operate on you now.

And, for what it's worth, I think Dr. Rahal is your guy. He specializes in relatively aggressive, dense procedures on younger guys. As others have said, the fact that he turned you away speaks volumes. He accepts somewhat more aggressive cases than many others, so I would take his verdict EXTREMELY seriously.