Have an appt with Dr. Konior in 2 weeks (pics of hair)

[beginnerbaldy]

Hey guys! I live 5 mins away from Dr. Konior's office, and seeing how he is one of the best, I booked an appointment. Some things about me and questions:

-I'm 24 and I've been balding since I was 16. The pictures show what I lost over 6 years.
-I started propecia at two years ago at the "late" age of 22 and it completely stopped my hair loss.
-I am obviously a diffuse thinner (although my hairline thinned the most), but toppik easily hides it. My main concern is my frontal third because it's a pain in the a** to apply hair concealer and style that area. I don't care about my crown and don't mind if I'm in my 40s with a bald patch on top--that's quite normal for that age.
-I want to enjoy my 20s and 30s, so a HT is absolutely necessary.
-How many grafts do you guys predict I will need for just the frontal third to get thick density?
-Do you think the doctor will operate on me?

Thanks!!

[arfy]

You don't seem to be an obvious candidate for HT, in my opinion. You're a diffuse thinner, which is not good (it's better if you have a limited area of hair loss). You still have a lot of original hair left, and you would be adding grafts into areas where you still have hair. So if you suffer "shock loss" after surgery (telogen effluvium) and the the original hairs don't return (or only some return) it could be a big disappointment, or worse, a big disaster. You might end up with less hair after your hair transplant than before. That's a real risk for guys like you. Since you say your hair loss has stopped while using Propecia, that's good. But still, there's no guarantee you won't have a problem with shock loss.

Your hair doesn't look bad right now. If you had been a Norwood 7 and you were showing this hair as your HT "after" pics, people would say your doctor did a great job. My point is that HT don't look perfect, and they usually won't look better than the hair you have right now.

Is your major issue that concealers are a pain to use? Maybe you should stop using concealers... gradually use less and less over a period of one or two years. When your hair is long, it seems to look good (photos can be deceiving, I know - in person it might look worse).

-I want to enjoy my 20s and 30s, so a HT is absolutely necessary.

I don't think you should be so certain. You don't look like an ideal HT candidate to me. If I were you, I would keep using Propecia and think about other styling options (go even shorter, or go longer). You don't need to do anything. The potential benefits of a hair transplant for someone like you would be small, but the potential risks are big. Shock loss is the biggest risk for you, and something to be concerned about. If Dr Konior says it won't be a problem, ask him if he will guarantee it in writing.

[beginnerbaldy]

https://www.baldtruthtalk.com/threads/18264-Raymond-Konior-MD-%C2%96-Chicago-%C2%96-3665-Graft-Hair-Restoration

This was a diffuse case and it turned out well from Dr. Konior. Thoughts?

[arfy]

https://www.baldtruthtalk.com/thread...ir-Restoration

This was a diffuse case and it turned out well from Dr. Konior. Thoughts?

He had less hair than you before his surgery, so there was less of a risk for him. His "after" photos don't look any better than your "before" photos. You probably have more hair (I didn't do a side-by-side analysis, to be honest. Your opinion?)

For you, the risk is that you spend a bunch of money, and end up with the same amount of hair that you have now, or even worse, you end up with less hair than you have now. Then you're out 'X' amount of dollars, you've accelerated your hair loss, you've very likely made a commitment to get more surgery in the future, and a big percentage of your limited donor supply is spent... just so that you can exchange transplanted hair, for the hair you already have.

Do you think guys who get HT don't have problems when styling their hair? Do you think guys who get HT never need to use concealers? Of course they do.

Not trying to give you a hard time, but I think your opinion of your current hair situation is too negative, and your opinion of what a HT can achieve is too positive.