Help please! Strip transplant good idea?

[sapcote]

i'd really appreciate any help/advice i can get. I've been suffering from hairloss since i was about 23, and i'm 34 now. I was on propecia for nearly a year about 8 or 9 years ago, but decided to come off it as i had pain in my testicles - can't remember if the pain was caused by the propecia use but i associated it with its use so i stopped taking the drug.
I had a consultation in bangkok, thailand with dr prath at the start of the year, he said i had v.good donar density and said how many grafts i got (he only does FUT) would depend on me, but i could get somewhere in the region of 4-5,000. I'm concerned with the side of my head and the back - as can be seen in the pictures i am losing the hair on the right side of my head and also at the back a little. As the hair to be transpanted comes from these regions, wouldn't the fact that it's thinning there reduce the success rate of the transplant?
what kind of success can i expect from a transplant? Is strip surgery the best for me as I have a large area to cover, I don't wear my hair short, and due to the more reasonable cost?
I read that you should go on propecia at least 6 months BEFORE surgery? Is this true? I hope to either have the transplant feb-april 2012, or if not then it would have to be the following year at the same time. shoud i start propecia now, 4 months before the possible transplant, or wait another year whilst being on propecia?
i'd like to do it the transpant this winter and get it over with - hairloss is sucking the life out of me!!
what kind of hair could i reasonably expect to have after the transplanted hair has grown in, as can be seen in the picture, when i brush it all forward and spray it down with A LOT of hairspray, it looks ok, but it can be pulled apart revealing the bald scalp . i don't want to be able to pull it apart and reveal the bald scalp.....i'm less concerned with temples receding and lowering the hair line....

[Mr. 4000]

that is going to cost a lot of money and will take multiple surgeries. Don't think of a second one will do the trick.

Strip is flawed and always will be. FUE is overpriced but at least you will not have the ton of sides that go with strip.

Shave your head weather you want to or not and get a feel for your natural look with a one or two guard.

go from there......you are looking at 20,000 minimum in surgery alone, not to mention the other costs.

[sapcote]

thanks so much for your reply, what do you mean when you refer to '20,000'? dollars?, grafts? I can't shave it down, wish I could, I have a round face and i'm not tall, it's either transplant or a wig...as you can see from this pic, when it's brushed forward and sprayed down, it doesn't look too bad, better than shaving it all off i think.........from seeing all the pics, do i look to be a good candidate for a transplant? is strip better than FUE for me? it would have to be because of the price! should I give propecia another go? I think i should.....if i had 4,000 grafts done, would could i expect from this realistically, it would be a start wouldn't it? would it give the illusion of having hair, as in the pic here, with it all brushed forward, but with the added bonus of not being able to pull it all apart as i can now............or am i kididng myself and would 4,000 grafts be a waste of money? i've seen pics of people here who have similar amount of hair loss to me and people said they were a good candidate for strip surgery...the doc in thailand did say i had good donor density, though i do know they probably say anything to get you to have the procedure

[Delphi]

Mr. 4000 had a bad experience with his hair transplant so he has been campaigning on the forums trying to get people to think twice about having a strip. I can’t blame him but his experience is not the norm. There are so many people who have been very satisfied with their strip hair transplant. Look at this thread http://www.baldtruthtalk.com/showthread.php?t=3668
Don’t rush into anything but don’t let Mr. 4000 scare you off either. Just take your time and do a lot of research and talk to more then one doctor.

[Mr. 4000]

thanks so much for your reply, what do you mean when you refer to '20,000'? dollars?, grafts? I can't shave it down, wish I could, I have a round face and i'm not tall, it's either transplant or a wig...as you can see from this pic, when it's brushed forward and sprayed down, it doesn't look too bad, better than shaving it all off i think.........from seeing all the pics, do i look to be a good candidate for a transplant? is strip better than FUE for me? it would have to be because of the price! should I give propecia another go? I think i should.....if i had 4,000 grafts done, would could i expect from this realistically, it would be a start wouldn't it? would it give the illusion of having hair, as in the pic here, with it all brushed forward, but with the added bonus of not being able to pull it all apart as i can now............or am i kididng myself and would 4,000 grafts be a waste of money? i've seen pics of people here who have similar amount of hair loss to me and people said they were a good candidate for strip surgery...the doc in thailand did say i had good donor density, though i do know they probably say anything to get you to have the procedure

all i am saying is that it will probably cost you at least 20,000 to get a result you will be satisfied with, and it most likely won't be one procedure.

If you look at all the patient gloating about their results they all have a few thing in common.

They spent over 20,000 easily, and had more than one surgery.

There are very few that were one and done.

I can't tell by the pictures but your donor looks very good by what I see. I am not the person to ask. Its help a lot

4000 grafts would not be a waste if they grow, which most docs don't back if they don't. Once you start however there is no looking back. The scar is there for life, the scalp is stretched for life, which thins out the exiting hair, the temple areas will be more pronounced from closing the donor in the back, which will lead to more grafts needed in the temples and hairline.

It is a tough game to win

[Mr. 4000]

Mr. 4000 had a bad experience with his hair transplant so he has been campaigning on the forums trying to get people to think twice about having a strip. I can’t blame him but his experience is not the norm. There are so many people who have been very satisfied with their strip hair transplant. Look at this thread http://www.baldtruthtalk.com/showthread.php?t=3668
Don’t rush into anything but don’t let Mr. 4000 scare you off either. Just take your time and do a lot of research and talk to more then one doctor.

that guy you posted is one of the best people in the industry that is not a doctor.

I respect him across the board, his honesty is second to none and the doctors he works for have a great clinic. If they weren't in canada I would have gone there.

That said ask him how many surgeries and money he has spent. That is all I am saying. That didn't happen with one pass. and 10k. A lot of people think they can get that with one pass.

[Still-Researching]

Hi there sapcote,
Thanks for sharing your situation with pictures. I would give you a few advises that are general, but nevertheless very useful for your situation:

1) Slow down, do not jump into anything. Do lots of research minimum 3-6 months on these kinds of fora.
2) Check your own family history for balding - if they are mainly NW5-6 i.e. very significant levels of balding, be sure to understand that you will need multiple surgeries
3) It would not be wise to go ahead even at 34 (I am 37) with a HT without using Propecia or Proscar, as you will for sure then continue loosing hair.
4) Do not know the doctor mentioned (not a good sign), but do not choose him based on price or convenience, you need to have seen some good quality work from him. You have to understand that if someone do a 4000 strip surgery on you, and you have little growth, you will have wasted app. 50% of your donor hair and you can never shave your self down to a 2-3 clipper again. So your are in a much worse situation than now (not even mentioning the money you have wasted)
5) Go on Propecia/Proscar now and wait at least 3-6 months to see the effect, if you do get side effects reduce to every second day or even half the doses.

Good luck, and PLEASE do not rush into it.

[Tracy C]

Mr. Sapcote, I am not a doctor but I need to be honest with you. Judging from the pictures you provided, you do not look like a good candidate for any form of hair transplant surgery. Maybe you do have good donor density - but it doesn't look very stable. It would be best for you to take a year (or two) and try to stabilize or possibly improve your condition with non-surgical treatments before considering surgery.

Take a year or two and use every non-surgical treatment available; Propecia (or generic Finasteride), Rogaine (or generic Minoxidil), Nizoral shampoo and the laser comb. Take good photos every two months to help you determine if your condition is improving. You will need really good quality photos for this, so get someone to help you take those photos. When I started treating my hair loss, my sister was happy to help me take my photos. You will be surprised to see how much you can change in only two months yet not notice the change.

If you see improvement after a year or two of non surgical treatment, then you will know you are a good candidate for hair transplant surgery. If after a year or two of non-surgical treatment your condition get worse, you will know that you are not a good candidate for hair transplant surgery - but at least you will have saved yourself a big pile of money.

Treating hair loss is a painfully slow process. It takes a really long time. Time that is measured in months and years... Hair transplant surgery does not expedite the process as much as you might think it does.

[ParraPhil]

The scar is there for life, the scalp is stretched for life, which thins out the exiting hair, the temple areas will be more pronounced from closing the donor in the back, which will lead to more grafts needed in the temples and hairline.

Hey Mr 4000, could you expand on this part of your comment above, re the temple areas being more pronunced ...

[Tracy C]

Mr. 4000 is describing a worst case scenario bad strip transplant...

When a strip transplant is done properly and done well...

The scar is barely noticeable - and very difficult to find even if you know where it is when you are looking for it. I've had two strip transplants at 2500 grafts each. My stylist has trouble finding the scar even when my hair is wet - and she knows where it is.

The scalp does not get stretched out as much or as bad as Mr. 4000 claims. Most of the flesh goes back into your scalp with the grafts. Think about it... In time the scalp normalizes and you don't even notice it.

The temples are not more pronounced and the hair line does not move back. My doctor did a wonderful job restoring a feminine hair line for me. When he did my second strip transplant to add more density he didn't need to do anything more to my hair line because he got it perfect the first time.

My doctor had the added challenge of restoring a feminine head of hair for me after I had lost a lot of hair. This is a bigger challenge than restoring a typical male head of hair. In spite of that, I don't have any of these problems Mr. 4000 is claiming as typical. Most strip procedures done by a really great doctor are typical of my experience described above. The problems Mr. 4000 is claiming are not typical.

[ParraPhil]

Tracy,

are you less likely to have severe stretching / temple side effects from having 2 smaller surgeries (2 x 2,500) than say 1 larger surgery (1 x 4,000).

[Jotronic]

Mr. 4000,

Thank you for your kind words when the OP referenced my thread. It's appreciated.

Sapcote,

You are a questionable candidate at this time. Why? Because you have indicators for aggressive future loss and you are not on Propecia. Yes, you should first see about getting back on Propecia and ease yourself back into it slowly. This is to give your body time to absorb it and get used to it.

Your donor area looks merely ok to me. The problem is that the hair is kinda messy so it's difficult to see the true density BUT my gut feeling is that your density is not so great. It's not horrible, just not great and your hair is fine. Fine hair means that you need MORE hair than the next guy to get a good result. If you want the best result you may need two surgeries to get the proper appearance of fullness but that is difficult to ascertain.

[Tracy C]

Tracy,

are you less likely to have severe stretching / temple side effects from having 2 smaller surgeries (2 x 2,500) than say 1 larger surgery (1 x 4,000).

I just realized that this might be a question. When I first read it, I read "you are" not "are you".

Anyways, I do not know the answer - but it does make sense that smaller procedures would prevent such an effect.

[ParraPhil]

Thanks

Us Aussies speak a bit different down here

[sapcote]

i think i'll wait for the transplant for a while. thanks for all the comments/suggestions, much appreciated.....lots of contradictory info though - some say i appear to have v good donor area, others say a fairly weak donor area! i'll give propecia another go, considering i had side effects before, is it advisable to start by cutting the pill in half for the first month or so to ease myself into it, or should i start on the full dosage and then only cut in half if i get the side effects?
nizoral shampoo seems to be the shampoo most recommended., will try and give that a go too