I´ve been silently lurking many hair loss forums in the past years, read a lot, learned a lot (i still am), also researched, however in stealth mode.
The reason why i decided to post (i´ve been thinking about doing it for weeks in fact) is related to quite a controversial matter, for which i have to be cautious because my intention here is not to get involved in a never ending discussion with any forum member.
My intention here is to try and help by sharing information, i´m not specialized in medicine, hm, ht…etc but i think i can share my 20 cents with my specialization.
(FOR THOSE WHO FIND THIS TOO LONG…JUST SKIP TO THE LAST TWO PARAGRAPHS)
I just want to point that ALL ht surgeons say people need to have real expectations when heading for surgery, and i´ve also seen many ht patients dissatisfied because maybe their expectations were too high.
The thing is, however this matter is not the only one to address a final result, it´s almost the cornerstone for choosing a surgeon as money and traveling should not be the reason for choosing a specific surgeon.
Let me clarify…after leaving out of the equation money and traveling, i´d choose my surgeon out of RESULTS and CONSISTENCY.
I´ve seen great results in many formus, the exact same results i´d want done on my head if i went for a HT.
After i had narrowed my choice to a couple of ht doctors i started looking at MANY more results from them (no names will be shared) and found many great hairlines and transplants in general were in fact not that good and not that oftenly achieved after running a little test.
In those cases, the fact that the patient had expectations too high, or “that’s all you can get with such amount of follicles for that NW level”, started to apear…
I know the diameter of the hair shaft, it´s quality, color and characteristics would give the appearance of more coverage…but…come on…other patients with same or similar hair characteristics and amount of grafts had ended with at least a decent result.
The deal was and is in many cases with LIGHT (i´ve also seen many people complaint about pre op pics with good lighting conditions and pos ops with poor lighting).
So…here come my 20 cents (thanks Photoshop) many people know (many don´t) you can change some lighting conditions with this software…so i did and i found out that the amazing hairline i had seen was filled with gaps…sometimes shadows over the hairline created the illusion of at lest a 0,5 cm further hairline…a delightful head of hair had turned into a see through head of hair…etc
In my opinion if post op pics were more accurate people would then have real expectations or at least…closer to what they can achieve with “x” amount of grafts.
So those high expectations are not always the patient’s fault , or those unachievable results…many end up unsatisfied with their results, because they had higher expectations, but because of non accurate pics. (yes, i also know you should check those results in person, it´s a must, but some people like me, who live in countries where there are no respectable ht surgeons, we just have to rely on pics)
I must say i´ve not had a HT. I was/am considering one in the future…but i´ve seen a lot of this going on and i wanted to state my point…and also offer some help, isn´t that the forum for?
I wont post pics of pre ops, post ops (quite dark) and post ops enlightened by me unless i am given permission.
What i CAN do if the forum mods allow me, is to teach you guys how to do it. It´s very very simple, anyone can do it…it´s just 1 or 2 minutes which will later become just seconds. However if possible i´d like to do it myself because the parameter for “how much light” to add would differ in every forum member and my intention is to have a good consistent criteria.
What´s good consistent criteria? forum members, mods, ht surgeons be the judges.
I do this because many people complain about poor pics and never get those “straight” pics they ask for.
I see threads communicating both ends, patients and doctors, but i only see one end speaking regarding pics if you know what i mean.
People are allowed to speak their minds and be refuted afterwards, could it be the same with pics?
I can do this because i know how to and wish you too knew how to, so you can make a better judgment.
And also in return for all the information, confidence and support i´ve gained in this forums.
If you are still reading…thanks for your time
Glad to have shared this…
PS: sorry for my bad english and spelling mistakes, it´s not my native tongue.