My Story - hair transplant journey

When someone who only needs 500 grafts posts their before photos everyone screams foul that they did not have enough hairloss to be operated on, or that the patient should have been on meds and not had a procedure.

You can’t have it both ways.

Dr. Armani does larger sessions to completly restore a zone. If you want a smaller session just to have enough done to make you happy for the next 6 months or so that is your peragative for sure and we wish you the best.

» Dr. Armani does larger sessions to completly restore a zone. If you want a
» smaller session just to have enough done to make you happy for the next 6
» months or so that is your peragative for sure and we wish you the best.

What are you talking about? how can someone be happy for 6 months and then suddenly be unhappy?He will either be unhappy because 500 grafts its not enough for him or happy because it was enough!!!

After reading your story, I wish you all best. The whole process of losing hair is awful and hopefully you can once again be truly happy.

I also wanted to put my word in on the discussion about Dr. Armani only doing 2500-3000 grafts. From my experience Dr. Armani is a very talented doctor and does whatever he thinks neccesary to make his patient leave satisfied.

In my FUE with Dr. Armani I only received 2200 grafts. He looked at me on an inidvidual basis and never once told me I had to get 2500. I went into the consultation with what I expected and was told I needed less for the results I was looking for.

I definitely agree with Pat for the reason…
For those of us who lost hair or losing hair…our hair looked like this patients photo’s or maybe different depending on the thinning area…The patient seems to be losing hair and I agree with pat that this patient requires more grafts to get the job done for years down the road rather than going for a smaller session and ends up needing more.
I never thought I would end up NW6 my hair started to thin in the front and later on to the back…but I am very happy with the job that Dr. Armani has done he knew exactly how many grafts needed to get the job done.

Good Luck and hope everything goes well for u.

» "if / when the patient’s hairline continues to recede " EVERYONES case is
» different. Example . I only needed 2 procedures 1100 grafts that was over
» 6 years ago. Still happy not lost anymore hair and I am 46. Am I done for
» life? Probably not. But why pack more grafts in a area when one does not
» need them and have the risk of big shockloss or not having all the grafts
» grow? Again everyone’s hairloss is different.

» When someone who only needs 500 grafts posts their before photos everyone
» screams foul that they did not have enough hairloss to be operated on, or
» that the patient should have been on meds and not had a procedure.
»
» You can’t have it both ways.
»

soon you’ll be telling us that armani is doing this for non-profit…he’s running a business where the idea is to make $$$$ … if you can’t make as much money doing 500 grafts,why not try to convince the patient they need more…

why is armani telling patients that stem cell will resolve HT donor area??

I would be concerned that any doctor is recommending to get a procedure done if you only need 500 grafts. That seems like a little bit of bait and switch to me. If you really only need 500 grafts, then you honestly do not have the kind of loss that most hairloss sufferers would be concerned about.

Seems like the, “you only need 500 grafts” ploy gets you committed to a procedure, and then a year down the road once you’ve already taken the plunge and aren’t happy with your results, you are much more committed to continuing on with more and more procedures. That same doctor will be there recommending another 500 to 1000 grafts to keep you coming back.

Lets be realistic, most people with visible hairloss are not going to get coverage they will be happy with using only 500 grafts. The problem is, most people new to the industry do not understand that.

I think you are making a wise decision to go to Dr Woods. He is not one of those hair transplant mills like the other clinics. His transection rate is very low. He does not use a legal disclaimer and does not pay patients to shut up when there is a poor result. You will get one on one doctor to patient attention which ensures you that he does the entire process. You will not be patient number 2 or 3. You will be the only patient. I am still undergoing corrective surgeries with him and so far I am very pleased. I am not entirely done yet but will only go with him because he has only made improvements. I went to those big name clinics in the past and they are just that. Trust me you never see the many, many poor results. The pictures and patients are hand picked. There should be over 1000 photos from these big name clinics and all you see is 10 or 20- thats peanuts. I am sure in the end you will be pleased with your results. Perhaps 500 grafts will do it and perhaps you will need more. But rest assured he will give you a great yield from the number of grafts you get. 2000 or 4000 grafts are of no use if the transection rate is high and the growth is poor. I wish you all the best. I do not post or read these forums because unfortunately they are polluted with sponsors and sales persons. Good Luck!:slight_smile:

» I want to know that my doctor is willing to stop at 500
» grafts for my own good even if it means less money

»
» » That’s outrageous, this is not the first time I heard that some doctors
» » have a minimum charge, they are supposed to be acting in the best
» interest
» » of the patients, pushing patients to get 2500 grafts when they only
» need
» » 500 is a crime IMO. I think you made a good choice going to
» Dr.
» » Woods, read his posts, I don’t agree with everything he said but it
» tells
» » you a lot about his personalty, what he stands for and the quality of
» his
» » work.
»
» A smaller transplant of 500 grafts is not in the best interest of the
» patient. Sure it will mean a smaller procedure and less money in the
» beginning, but as the patient continues to thin and recede the patient will
» end up chasing his hairloss. This will end up costing the patient more
» money and much more time in the long run. He will be chasing his hairloss
» for years and years.
»
» A lot of clinics do smaller procedures like this so the patient has to
» keep coming back for more. I have spoken with countless hairloss sufferers
» who went this route and they ended up needing 7 or 8 smaller procedures to
» get the coverage they needed, when they could have received the same
» coverage and density from one large procedure. Going the route of smaller
» sessions wasted years of their life.
»
» Dr. Armani’s philosophy is to do a particular area right the first time,
» so the patient is happy for years and years.
»
» If a client needs work done in the front Dr. Armani will not just do the
» minimum grafts needed and HOPE that the patient doesn’t lose anymore hair.
» He will do the entire hairline, including temples and behind the hairline
» (zone 2). This way if / when the patient’s hairline continues to recede he
» is still happy and not thinning out behind the transplant needing to come
» back for yet another procedure a year later, costing him more time and
» money.

I don’t want to waste time arguing, just want to say that is some very twisted logic for getting your patients to do large sessions,I hope I am not the only one who feels that way

» After reading your story, I wish you all best. The whole process of losing
» hair is awful and hopefully you can once again be truly happy.

The whole process of losing hair is, in the end, one most wish they had of allowed to just happen and not intervened with doctors who tell stories to generate revenue, not their skill and time to deliver a result that will withstand your own opinion of it as well as stand the test of time.

In the end, that is usually the lesson learned, and losing ones hair no longer seems so awful as what you have done to yourself and wish you had not of

Newstart,

Thanks for sharing all that.

Your story has familiar chunks & sentences that keep coming up over and over again in one form or another. We are all having a lot of similar experiences with hair loss and attempts to correct it. It’s just not the kind of thing that guys like to talk openly about in person much.

The HT industry has a lot more bad clinics than good ones. People disagree about which ones to give top billing but everyone agrees that it’s way too easy to get burnt. Just be thankful it’s not 20 years ago when there was no internet. Back then a lot of non-ethical bad HT docs were scarring up the heads of 19yo guys without telling them that their hair loss would even continue much more. The HT industry has literally ruined a lot of lives with this stuff and it still goes on today.

You didn’t get what you originally wanted but for what it’s worth you could have ended up a lot worse. It sounds like you still basically feel that you can salvage some kind of tolerable appearance out of your situation even if it does mean throwing too much money & time at it. There are thousands of guys who have been rendered hairpiece wearers for life because of bad HT work that they blew most of their meager savings to get.

As for doctors, I agree with your choice of dr. Woods, I agree that Feller might have been decent too, and I agree with your uneasy assessment of Dr. Armani’s ethics.

  • cal

P.S. You seem to be financially comfortable enough to spend some more money on hair loss. If I was you I might look into using topical RU58841 to help prevent further loss. It’s a long story but basically this is a man-made drug that offers Finasteride-like effects topically and does not have system-wide effects on the rest of the body like the oral pills can.

It would probably help prevent your continued loss better than Finasteride alone, but it’s not cheap and it’s a pain to use. It has never been approved by the FDA or any other similar govt agency anywhere else (no company is selling it as a commercial product.) Some guys in the hair loss community like to buy batches of the raw powder from a Chinese pharmacy and mix it themselves.

The stuff has been around for years and there’s not any real concern about safety or anything. The general feeling is that the owners of the patent just have not wanted to invest the millions of dollars into the full drug approval process because Finasteride has cornered much of the market for it already.

Finasteride blocks type#2 DHT and that is the majority of the problem we have, but Finasteride doesn’t block Testosterone itself and Test still has some negative effect on hair. Topically using RU58841 covers this additional base. It’s also very useful if you want to quit Finasteride entirely; RU seems to be the only thing that even stands a chance at making up for the loss of Finasteride/Dutasteride pills.

I had a good doctor who took out minimal grafts and I was shocked at how non surgical the whole procedure seemed. I came back home after a week and then spent months indoors making up excuses about being too busy with work to be able to go out. All I was doing was sitting in the house waiting for the hairs to grow, looking in to a mirror every chance I could and just driving myself crazy. I did get decent results and started to feel some relief but then I began to lose again in another area so decided to go back and speak to this company.

I really do hope the best for you and I hope your are more then happy with your upcoming procedure. But the statement above is exactly why smaller sessions create more hardship for the patient. A small session of 500 grafts may satisfy the patient for a very short time, but the coverage is minimal and as soon as your hairloss progresses even just a little you have to go thru the entire procedure over again,just as this patient did. Including going thru the months stuck inside as you mentioned.

Does Dr. Armani do larger sessions? Yes. He has performing surgeries for a long time and feels this is the best strategy. The patient comes in ONCE, to have the hairline and behind all covered wiht high density, and the patient is happy for years to come. This way the patient does not need to come back 4 - 5 times just to create good density for the front third of the head.

Again, a smaller procedure may be cheaper in he beginning, but will often result in 4-5 surgeries for adequate coverage.

» » I went to see Dr Armani recently and he told me that he only
» » works with a minimum of 2500 – 3000 grafts and that I don’t have to
» » worry about my donor area because realistically there will soon be
» » something else like stem cell research success which will find a new way
» of
» » dealing with hair loss
. I am no scientist but does anyone know for
» sure
» » that the next big thing is only a few years away? Is ‘its only a matter
» of
» » time’ enough of a reason to ensure you look above average for now? I
» want
» » to know that my doctor is willing to stop at 500 grafts for my own good
» » even if it means less money for him.
»
» if armani told you that, he should be ashamed of himself… the guy sounds
» like a used car salesman

Sorry Vivace67, but I have to say, I am very shure that Armani never would say this. I am shure because of 2 reasons:

  1. I have been at Toronto for 4 HT at Armani Clinic. Dr. Antonio Armani never told me such nonsense. He is a very honest guy with a strong commitment to his medical profession. I like him very much.
  2. If you are watching his Homepage, you can read about that theme, that stem cell research is far away in getting results in the near future. I don’t believe, that he tells you personal something different than he writes on his website…Never…
    I think, there are not many guys in this forum, that have been at Armani 4times. (2004-2009) So I would say, I can judge, what you guys are talking about. It is not the first time, I find guys on thsi site, that seems to be interested in saying negative things about a doctor. The most important thing for me are the results, that a surgeon can perform. If I judge about this point of view, I could honestly say, that Armai is one of the best clinic for HT in the world. Or why should I fly 4 tiomes from germany to Toronto, if there are a lot of good surgeons in Europe. I also made my research in 2004 before I start with HT about clinics in Turkey, Poland, Greece, also Germany.
    But after a long time of research, I found, the best clinics are in North Amerika. So I made no compromises and started with an appointment at Armani in Toronto.

I am at a good stage now and I am going to try and be grateful that I did end of up with 2 at least decent doctors accidentally despite using such a shockingly money minded and uncaring company , but my hair is still not manageable. I will only be having a small procedure done from Woods (500 -800 grafts but he will know better when he sees me in person). I am hoping this will be enough to correct the situation making it easier to live with my hair on a day to day basis so that I can begin to turn my life around and make it up to all those people I have hurt or ignored. My family all think I am too busy for them and don’t care enough to make time for them and I need to change all this before it’s too late and I ruin yet another thing in my life. So I hope that I have made the right decision and that this next step in my life will bring with it a change of fortunes for me. Wish me luck!

Newstart,

Best of luck to you with your upcoming procedure and I hope you attain the results you have been striving for all along. It sounds like you have put your life on hold for quite some time and even avoided the people who care about you the most, your family. Hopefully Dr. Woods will recommend a graft count which will keep you out of a HT clinic for many years. I can only speak to my personal experience with my HT and 500-800 grafts seems pretty low to restore your hair to a point which yields complete happiness. It sounds like unless you have a full head of hair you will not be happy and there is only one way to reach that goal - have a larger session. I look forward to seeing your results a few short months down the road…

There is such a thing as an FUE session that is larger than 500 grafts but smaller than 3500 grafts. I know it sounds crazy but I swear this has actually happened a few times.

»
» Sorry Vivace67, but I have to say, I am very shure that Armani never would
» say this. I am shure because of 2 reasons:
» 1. I have been at Toronto for 4 HT at Armani Clinic. Dr. Antonio Armani
» never told me such nonsense. He is a very honest guy with a strong
» commitment to his medical profession. I like him very much.
» 2. If you are watching his Homepage, you can read about that theme, that
» stem cell research is far away in getting results in the near future. I
» don’t believe, that he tells you personal something different than he
» writes on his website…Never…
» I think, there are not many guys in this forum, that have been at Armani
» 4times. (2004-2009) So I would say, I can judge, what you guys are talking
» about.

4 transplants in 5 years?there is a whole debate from pats about the strategy of putting too many grafts so that the patient doesnt have to come to the clinic every once in a while!!!

You know what forget about it, i hear so many controversial stuff in these threads that i am actually bored…

» Newstart,
»
» Thanks for sharing all that.
»
» Your story has familiar chunks & sentences that keep coming up over and
» over again in one form or another. We are all having a lot of similar
» experiences with hair loss and attempts to correct it. It’s just not the
» kind of thing that guys like to talk openly about in person much.
»
» The HT industry has a lot more bad clinics than good ones. People
» disagree about which ones to give top billing but everyone agrees that it’s
» way too easy to get burnt. Just be thankful it’s not 20 years ago when
» there was no internet. Back then a lot of non-ethical bad HT docs were
» scarring up the heads of 19yo guys without telling them that their hair
» loss would even continue much more. The HT industry has literally ruined a
» lot of lives with this stuff and it still goes on today.
»
» You didn’t get what you originally wanted but for what it’s worth you
» could have ended up a lot worse. It sounds like you still basically feel
» that you can salvage some kind of tolerable appearance out of your
» situation even if it does mean throwing too much money & time at it. There
» are thousands of guys who have been rendered hairpiece wearers for life
» because of bad HT work that they blew most of their meager savings to get.
»
»
»
» As for doctors, I agree with your choice of dr. Woods, I agree that Feller
» might have been decent too, and I agree with your uneasy assessment of Dr.
» Armani’s ethics.
»
»
» - cal
»
»
»
» P.S. You seem to be financially comfortable enough to spend some more
» money on hair loss. If I was you I might look into using topical RU58841
» to help prevent further loss. It’s a long story but basically this is a
» man-made drug that offers Finasteride-like effects topically and does not
» have system-wide effects on the rest of the body like the oral pills can.
»
»
» It would probably help prevent your continued loss better than Finasteride
» alone, but it’s not cheap and it’s a pain to use. It has never been
» approved by the FDA or any other similar govt agency anywhere else (no
» company is selling it as a commercial product.) Some guys in the hair loss
» community like to buy batches of the raw powder from a Chinese pharmacy and
» mix it themselves.
»
» The stuff has been around for years and there’s not any real concern about
» safety or anything. The general feeling is that the owners of the patent
» just have not wanted to invest the millions of dollars into the full drug
» approval process because Finasteride has cornered much of the market for it
» already.
»
» Finasteride blocks type#2 DHT and that is the majority of the problem we
» have, but Finasteride doesn’t block Testosterone itself and Test still has
» some negative effect on hair. Topically using RU58841 covers this
» additional base. It’s also very useful if you want to quit Finasteride
» entirely; RU seems to be the only thing that even stands a chance at making
» up for the loss of Finasteride/Dutasteride pills.

Cal is right, Propecia alone is not enough, you need to throw in a good topical. As for your choice of doctor, in my opinion Dr. Woods is hands down a far better fue doctor than Feller, no doubt about that.

Hi Newstart,

First and foremost I completely understand how you feel, as well as how sensitive and difficult hair loss is. I had a 4000 FUE procedure done with Dr. Armani. And I can tell you that it was the best decision that I have made thus far in my life. I know this because before my Armani surgery I had a FUSS procedure done of about 1500 grafts with another physician in California. When I compare the two surgeries, it’s like comparing night and day. Dr. Armani convinced me that the FUE method is excellent. Like Pats said, doing 500 grafts for a minimal area really doesn’t make much sense. However, I’m not undermining your opinion and feelings. I feel that 500 FUE’s isn’t worth it because it will only cover a very small area on your head. You will continuously have to go back for more procedures. Dr. Armani drew a complete plan for me, not only for the present, but for the future as well. My hairline looks amazing, and so does the rest of my hair. Furthermore, I understand that everybody’s situation is different. But hair restoration is an investment. If you are going for the best results it might cost you more money, and in the end Dr. Armani is a great choice.

Newstart…

First off … I would like to thank you for sharing your story. Im sure that your emotional roller coaster hit home some some people and I’m sure that they were happy to see that they weren’t alone. To those people who said something along the lines that this forum isn’t for talking about these types of feeling… thats rubbish. This forum is an open canvas to be painted whatever colors one wishes as long as it pertains to an HT. Whether it be the emotional or the physical things that may happen to someone concerning either a decison or a reult of an HT is 100% fair game.

Now…

Let me start by saying that those of you who are stating that a Dr. whom implies either a company minimum or that has proposed to the patient a larger amount than another doctor is either bad business, in any way inferior as a Dr. or even more so are questioning his business tactics are being completely childish and are obviously uninformed to say the least.

I see it as COMPLETELY the opposite.

Allow me to explain.

This gentlemen following the evaulation/advice of his first Dr. did only 500 or so grafts (which based on his photo… needed at least 1500 - 2500 depending on expectations to get a nice head of hair)

He went through a recovery (both mental and physical of lets say an average of 4 months until they have fallen out to a small regrow stage) stage 3 differnt times. Now in his case he went through a very rough mental, physical and as a result a bad financial time in his life as a result of the minimum results that naturally you would see from a very small procedure as 500 grafts. Then he went back AGAIN FOR ANOTHER SMALL PROCEDURE!!!

Yet again a second set of the same/worse emotional, physical and financial problems with ANOTHER RECOVERY TIME.

And then a THIRD and now a fourth!!!

Now if he would of been advised by a Dr. who would of considered his mental, physical and financial recorvery mind… a GOOD BUSINESS SOLUTION to his situation would of been… LOW MENTAL STRESS, LOW PHYSICAL RECOVERY/PAIN, and LOW FINANCIAL
LOSS. Not 3 separate ones!!!

You see the recovery of all three of these emlemts for 500 grafts or 2500 grafts is roughly the same. So why because that very day he might of (according to the Dr.) needed only 500 (which i COMPLETELY DISAGREE) would he have proposed only a temp and VERY TEMP solution to his patient knowing VERY WELL what is entailed in recovery and the future.

PLUS there is the X FACTOR that I call it that a good sales rep will pick up on which in my case Chad @ Armani did flawlessly. I am an emotional guy that took my loss in a devastating way, and he evalauted that I would be better
off seeing my results really change me rather and how a small temp/cheaper (less grafts) change would of only prolonged my depression and sad state.

One shot, one recovery timeline, one day and BOOM. A result that changed my life.

People are free to conduct business in ANY WAY THEY LIKE and it seems like the Armani clinic and any other clinic that doesnt really do smaller procedure would like to focus on results that changes lives rather than a temp solution. That in my opinion is better business than someone who would scrape whatever business they can even WELL KNOWING that you would have to come back VERY SOON in order to get the full result.

What do you tell a guy with one black eye?

NOTHING!!!, somebody already told him once.

In this case a fellow poster has 3. not including the emotional suffering that he endured.

A Dr. no matter what kind is responsable for a patients WELL BEING. Not just his physical end result but the mental and lifestyle well being as well. And whomever suggests in your case 500 grafts is not making in my opinion a good
assesment to help your life. Its dragging it in a physically and mentally painful way.

I own 2 of the most influential and most revolutionary recording and post production studios in Canada at 28 with zero help from anyone. I have worked on everything from 70 million dollar hollywood number one hits in both film and music to miniscule budget indy films. And I must say that my bsuiness model it that of quality and honesty. A rare quality in my field as in the medical im sure as well. At 28 years old now I think ive proven that my way of doing business is FAR SUPERIOR than the rest that have been in business for 30 years yet I am MORE EXPENSIVE at the initial state yet if 20 feature films comes to Canada, ill get 15.

Why?

Because in the end my model is ROCK SOLID. I dont underestimate jobs. I properly evaluate. Someone will come in saying that they can get the job done for 1000$ but yet I now after years of experince know that I wont get involved with people who are completely set in their ways and brainwashed by a bad evaulation from another sudio thinking that they can get the job done in the timeframes that other studios claim they can. Its how you get reeled in. And its how in the end a customer will end up being billed DOUBLE to get the result he really wants and because he didnt listen in the beginning.

Thats why Armani and some other clinics im sure wont do smaller procedures. In their experience they know the complaints and headaches that will come with small sessions UNLESS the customer just needs a touchup I GUARANTEE that Armani and any one else would do it.

But frankly…

YOU NEEDED MANY MORE THAN 500.

A very famous man who is a client and now my mentaur and dear friend for 6 years now taught me an expression about business and life …

Pay me now… Pay me later… You are still going to pay me.

You needed many more than 500 from the start and 500 was a horrific evaluation.

As you see, you have paid the eqivalent of 1500 or so grafts and are nowhere near happy.

You have endured hell in many ways and I feel youyr pain. But in some way… A better initial decision would of avoided all of this.

DOnt make the same mistake again brother…

Like some posters on here I have my own story… and it really hit home woth a lot of people and if you have any questions, like most posters are… im here to help.

But dont make the same mistake again.

You going to pay more in the end in many more ways than one.

Cheers my friend. Head up

MoM

In the end its all theories in here.we each say our own opinion and what we learned either from our doctor if we had a transplant or from years of reading forums and seeing peoples experiences. The bottom line that is on paper some things make sense more than other things but i am sure we all understand that there are so many variables that this thing cannot rely on theories.

Every case is different every patient is different and every doctor is different. there are so many controversies and so many approaches.What to do with the theory (even if i agree to an extend)that more grafts is better so that you can have less surgeries when there are happy patients that had 4 procedures in 5 years even from doctors who promote this theory!!!What to do with 500 perfectly grown grafts when i will not be pleased and i will want more again.

Its only speculation in the end you have to trust your gut and look for the truth behind all the nice and easy theories. What has become to me more apparent in all these years is in this business you cannot trust anyone but your self and your own mind and eyes, dont let frustration and despair be your guide.Dont let people you meet online guide you…there are so many shills, so many dellusional people that act like puppets that is so hard to find real people who are genuinely sharing their journey and are totally honest. There are even people who ve been in pain for years and they post only their best pics just to avoid getting any negative response that might ruin their psychology.

Its not easy it needs a lot of reseach and years of experience in reading and meeting people in person to finally decide what you will do

In 2 days, under 12 power magnification, I found it difficult to place 750 follicular units without causing permanent scalp shock and destruction .

Newstart allowed me to film, and he watched almost every single graft inserted

He soon was aware of what constitutes a follicle, how it should be placed , and just how intricate the procedure is.

The video will be up soon

I believe that 500 grafts ( approx 1000 hair) done correctly is far superior and gives greater results and coverage, and infinetly less damage than 2000 megasession follicles, where you see nothing, sign frightening disclaimers and are sucked in by slick advertising

There is a huge untold story here, but there is too much money at stake

Luckily, many of my clients are business men, who know BS when they see it.

Others are repair patients. And some just are smart enough to work it out

Dr Ray Woods