H
Hairforever
Valued member
I just thought I'd introduce myself and give you a bit of background to why I'm on this site. I have booked a hair transplant with SMG on the 14th July. It will be my seventh hair transplant procedure but my first with Dr Ron Shapiro. I wish I had come across this forum before I had had my previous five hair transplants but better late than never and I am hopeful Dr Ron can work his magic on me. I met Dr Shapiro and Janna in London a few months ago but had already booked my procedure by then. It was good to talk to other guys there who had had hair transplants, one of whom was Big Mac who shares with me the very unpleasant experience of being ripped off by DHI. The DHI disaster was my sixth procedure - a story I'll save for another time.
My previous 5 were with Dr May at the Wimpole Clinic, the first of which was in 2002 when I was coming up to 41. At that time I didn't know these forums existed but had come across the clinic's website. By this time I had very little hair on top. I'm afraid what I have to say will show my ignorance but I didn't even know my Norwood number, nor did I want to know. For a long time I had been deluding myself about the extent of my hair loss. I'd combed my hair forward and adopted a low parting (I'd have looked like Donald Trump if I'd had enough hair). I suppose I was a Norwood 5 but I never asked and was never told. And it didn't seem to matter since I was going to get hair in places where it had ceased to grow. The other embarrassing admission is that I didn't take much notice of the number of grafts I'd had from the 5 strip procedures with Dr May.
When I see Dr Ron in July I shall ask him if he can estimate the number of grafts I have had already and to tell me my Norwood number. I do know that the five procedures with Dr May were relatively small sessions as he does not perform maga sessions (obviously I wish I had had a couple of large sessions with Dr Ron as apart from his expertise, my donor site would have been in better shape). Having said that, I was pleased with the change in my appearance - it gave me more confidence and I could look in the mirror again! But I didn't know there were much better surgeons out there who could achieve more natural results with greater hair density, and so I returned for further procedures another 5 times.
I am hoping that Dr Ron can thicken up my hairline and thicken up the hair behind it, going back to my crown, and if by a miracle there are any left-over hairs to put those in my crown. He has a fantastic reputation for natural-looking hairlines and I am hoping he can repair mine so that I will no longer have to hide it by combing my hair forward - it would be great to comb it back off my forehead and to be able to sport a more contemporary style without having to worry about people staring at a strange- looking sparse hairline.
This has been a long journey for me and I sincerely hope it has a happy ending. Some people seem to be able to cope with losing their hair but I have never been one of them. I 'knew' I was losing my hair from the age of 17, in 1979,
and was diagnosed with male pattern baldness a year later. I was about to go to university and it crushed my confidence to a pulp. I withdrew inside myself and didn't make the most of the opportunities open to me as a student during the next 3 years. My hair loss was gradual during my 20s but by my late thirties I'd lost a lot of hair on top and had lost my hairline completely. I tried rogaine in 1991 and stuck with it for 10 years but it didn't seem to do much for me and I had side-effects from it. I started on propecia in 2001 but by then there wasn't a lot of hair to save and very little new hair grew. I continued with propecia for five years but suffered horrible side-effects (I'll save the details for another time), so quit using it in 2006. Then came the DHI 'experience'.
Now I will be travelling to Minneapolis Airport with hope in my heart, confident that I will be in the capable hands of Dr Ron Shapiro. I have no pictures to show you of my previous procedures but will ask Dr Ron to take some before as well as after shots which I can then post on this site. I hope I haven't bored you too much with this post!
My previous 5 were with Dr May at the Wimpole Clinic, the first of which was in 2002 when I was coming up to 41. At that time I didn't know these forums existed but had come across the clinic's website. By this time I had very little hair on top. I'm afraid what I have to say will show my ignorance but I didn't even know my Norwood number, nor did I want to know. For a long time I had been deluding myself about the extent of my hair loss. I'd combed my hair forward and adopted a low parting (I'd have looked like Donald Trump if I'd had enough hair). I suppose I was a Norwood 5 but I never asked and was never told. And it didn't seem to matter since I was going to get hair in places where it had ceased to grow. The other embarrassing admission is that I didn't take much notice of the number of grafts I'd had from the 5 strip procedures with Dr May.
When I see Dr Ron in July I shall ask him if he can estimate the number of grafts I have had already and to tell me my Norwood number. I do know that the five procedures with Dr May were relatively small sessions as he does not perform maga sessions (obviously I wish I had had a couple of large sessions with Dr Ron as apart from his expertise, my donor site would have been in better shape). Having said that, I was pleased with the change in my appearance - it gave me more confidence and I could look in the mirror again! But I didn't know there were much better surgeons out there who could achieve more natural results with greater hair density, and so I returned for further procedures another 5 times.
I am hoping that Dr Ron can thicken up my hairline and thicken up the hair behind it, going back to my crown, and if by a miracle there are any left-over hairs to put those in my crown. He has a fantastic reputation for natural-looking hairlines and I am hoping he can repair mine so that I will no longer have to hide it by combing my hair forward - it would be great to comb it back off my forehead and to be able to sport a more contemporary style without having to worry about people staring at a strange- looking sparse hairline.
This has been a long journey for me and I sincerely hope it has a happy ending. Some people seem to be able to cope with losing their hair but I have never been one of them. I 'knew' I was losing my hair from the age of 17, in 1979,
and was diagnosed with male pattern baldness a year later. I was about to go to university and it crushed my confidence to a pulp. I withdrew inside myself and didn't make the most of the opportunities open to me as a student during the next 3 years. My hair loss was gradual during my 20s but by my late thirties I'd lost a lot of hair on top and had lost my hairline completely. I tried rogaine in 1991 and stuck with it for 10 years but it didn't seem to do much for me and I had side-effects from it. I started on propecia in 2001 but by then there wasn't a lot of hair to save and very little new hair grew. I continued with propecia for five years but suffered horrible side-effects (I'll save the details for another time), so quit using it in 2006. Then came the DHI 'experience'.
Now I will be travelling to Minneapolis Airport with hope in my heart, confident that I will be in the capable hands of Dr Ron Shapiro. I have no pictures to show you of my previous procedures but will ask Dr Ron to take some before as well as after shots which I can then post on this site. I hope I haven't bored you too much with this post!
