Elite Coalition Member
About
Well I first noticed thinning in the front in my early 20's. I sometimes wonder how much of that had to do with how much BS I did with my "rocker" hair style back in the late 80's lol, but oh well. I actually had a consultation with Bosley when I was around 21 which was in 1994. They of course were more than willing to do a transplant, but thank god I did not go through with it at that time since I thinned out a lot since then. I have always taken care of myself, eating well and working out religiously, so it really sucked to be losing my hair. No matter how good my diet was and how much I worked out, losing my hair was nothing I could control. I always tried to avoid a hair transplant, hoping that one day there would be some medical miracle that would fix everything for me. Well when I was 29 I thought I found a sort of "miracle" and got suckered into what was basically just a rug. I regretted it almost immediately due to the unnaturalness of it. I had it on my head for about 3 days and panicked and had it removed. The problem was by not waiting a while to let my hair grow out so I could cut the hair I had and remove it more easily, it ended up pulling a lot of my natural hair out with it. The weak hairs in the front never grew back, so it ended up making things worse. This also resulted in a very uneven hairline in front. I always thought it would grow back and got immediately on Rogaine and Propecia, but after a few years I finally admitted to myself that it's not coming back and I F'ed it up. There were a lot of sleepless nights over that realization. If I did not have such an odd shaped head I would just sport the shaved head look, but I just look goofy with a bald or buzz cut look. I finally came to the conclusion that the only thing that really works and would fix or at least even out my hair line would be a hair transplant. My first choice was back to Bosley, so I made an appointment for a consultation. The weekend before my appointment I decided to do some searching online one Sunday morning to see what information was out there and came across this website. I spent a whole Sunday afternoon reading all I could on the forum, especially about Dr Konior. Monday morning the first thing I did was call Bosley and cancel my appointment and immediately made one with Dr Konior. I could not do it for a few weeks due to his schedule, but I figured it was a lot better to wait and do more research than jump into something I would regret like I already did with the "rug". I met Dr Konior prepared with a list of questions that I could not find answers to online. He answered everything and examined my head and we discussed realistic expectations. I was not looking for miracles or the hairline of an 18 year old. I mostly wanted more density and to even out the front hairline. Also to bring it down a bit. We also discussed about holding off on my thinning in the crown area for now. Dr Konior and Tom were both very helpful with questions that later came up when I emailed them. I ended up not going through with the procedure for 2 years after I had the initial consultation mostly due to my work schedule and waiting to late to try to schedule something with Dr Konior during the xmas holidays. Seems like a popular time. I figured around the xmas holiday is the best time to take a long vacation (3 weeks in my case) and not have too many questions from coworkers and friends on what I'm doing or where I'm going. The weird thing about when I was not able to do it the first 2 years was that I was sort of relieved in a way, but after a few weeks disappointed that I would have to wait another year. I have always had major concerns about going through with this and then regretting it, especially after what I went through with the "rug". After reading a lot more online about other peoples experiences and seeing a lot of before and after pics, it really set me more at ease with the whole thing. The numerous emails back and forth to Tom and Dr. Konior really helped too. Well here I am, I still can't believe I actually finally had it done, and after the last week at work before the vacation/procedure, I thought I was going to have to put it off again. All that stress with work really cut down on the stress of the actual procedure that I had for weeks leading up to the big date. Even the night before I slept fine and was actually looking forward to finally getting it done. Now I wish I could just jump forward a few months.
Regarding the actual procedure, it could not have been more relaxing. Everyone at Dr Konior's office really put me at ease with everything. It was a long day and I slept through at least 80% of the whole procedure. I arrived at 6:30am and I think the last time I looked at the clock when things were done was around 8:45pm. I was slated for 2000 grafts and Dr Konior said he ended up with around 2600, which amazed me. I was hoping for a couple hundred more but did not expect that much. The month and a half of scalp exercises I did prior to the procedure might have helped with that.
I just typed this up sort of quick so I will probably edit it and will add more pics as time goes on.
My Surgical Treatments to Date
12/14/2009 - 1 Strip Session 2600 grafts
My Non Surgical TreatmentsRogaine for a couple years but stopped due to the hassle
Propecia since around 1999 and still on
A "rug" for about 3 days and removed
Bald Class
Norwood class 4
Characterized by further frontal hair loss and enlargement of vertex, but there is still a solid band of hair across the top (mid-scalp) separating front and vertex.
Loss of self esteem. I felt I looked a lot older than I was and felt.
Well if everything goes as planned with my hair transplant, I'm sure this will be the treatment that has worked the best.
So far, but it's only been 1 week.
Depends on your age and level of hair loss.
I will let you know in a few months.
Do a lot of research. Do not base your decision on the cost or "deal". This is definitely something you do not want to take a cheap route.
