FUE with Armani

[GMorrow]

Hi Guys...

I've been an avid reader of this forum for over 2 years. Let me start with going into my chronicles of follicular degeneration. I used to have a huge mop of hair on my head during teenage years (much like the rest of you). Started experiencing some shedding at the age of 16-17, but it wasnt anything to lose sleep over. While in 2nd year of college (20-21yrs old), I started using minoxidil (once a day, 5%) to deal with the increasing number of hair i saw on my pillowcase each morning. The real shed began during my last year of college (I was 22), and hairloss continued (if not worsened) in the years to follow. Two things REALLY destroyed my hair since graduating from college:
1) I landed an extremely stressful job with no time to eat healthy or work out (Think 15 hr work days and pizzas/burgers for lunch and dinner)
2) I started taking dutas, which DESTROYED my hairline and gave me some sides. I stopped taking dutas after four months, the sides went away but the hairline never came back.

I'll be turning 26 in a couple of months. I've worked hard and gotten to where I want in life in terms of career aspirations. However, nobody is willing to believe me when I say I'm 26 :thumbdown2: Put on quite a bit of weight and lost quite a bit of hair. The weight problem I know I can address, but the hair problem is a different matter. I've been on finpecia (1mg) and rogaine foam (5%) for almost a year now. My hair is thicker and it doesnt fall as much. But lets face it, I'm never going to get back the kind of hair I had in college (not through meds anyway). I've been doing alot of research on this website as well as on other websites. After quite a bit of research, I've narrowed down Armani for the procedure largely because of the following reasons:

1) I want most of the work done on the hairline
2) Alot of people said: "Alvi Armani is the best if you can afford him"...and fortunately I can
3) I cant rule out shaving my head in the future, so def. dont want to go the strip route

For those of you who may argue that I'm just 26, I should wait it out a little more, let me assure you that I took that into consideration. My reasoning is that what good is a transplant after you're completely bald? EVERYONE is gonna know you had work done. You're better off getting a transplant at a time when u still have some decent hair coverage so that nobody realizes you had work done. Secondly, I'm hoping that one of those monkeys at Histogen, Intercytex, etc comes up with something in 4-5 years time, and hopefully I wont have to get anymore hair transplant's after this one (Yea yea, i know that's a long shot).

Anyways, I've rambled long enough, my procedure is for 3,000 grafts (saving some for the future just in case). I am attaching my pictures below, these were taken a while ago (7-8 months), and I've been taking propecia religously, so maybe its better (or worse) now, I honestly dont know. I'll post pictures when I'm closer to D-day which is a month from now. I'm hoping to also post pictures on a monthly basis after the procedure.
[attachment=0:1cjmwk36]P1000270.JPG[/attachment:1cjmwk36]
[attachment=1:1cjmwk36]P1000267.JPG[/attachment:1cjmwk36]

 

[richlocks]

In my opinion, armani is hit and miss, and i don't think a lot of his results look natural.

If i were you.. look at HDC.. and take a look at the thread in the forum (just under your post) on HDC results.

These are amazing. I took a look at Feller, ********, Cole, and others.. just not that impressed overall with the results...

I'm dying to get work done, but think i have to go strip given the amount of loss i have.. my hair is much less uniform than yours.. thicker in some places, thinner in others.

I'm also not sure if 2,500 grafts will give you a very full look.. but if anyone can do it, i think its HDC. check them out.

Most likely i'm going to go Hasson and Wong.. but dreading that scar a bit. I know those are the only guys who can sort my situation out in one session though.

 

[PersonGuy]

Armani has had some very questionable results recently. It boils down to yield. The FUE performed by him has had a recent history of poor yield. It's not something I'd hang my hat on. There was a time where people DID consider him the best, but that time has passed. I'd go with people who are more reputable. H&W or Rahal would be my first choices. Whatever you decide to do good luck.

 

[metalheaddude]

You appear to be a diffuse thinner. I'm not sure hair transplant are all that effective on diffuse thinners. However I remember seeing a guy on Armani's website with exactly the same type of hairloss as yours and he got an amazing result. So if anyone can do it he can. He seems to be the best at navigating and placiing grafs in between other follicles without causing any damage to that follicle. But I have to say ur kidding yourself if you think Alvi Armani is actually going to perform the hair transplant himself. He has a team of cronies now along with his sister that does all the work. Armani is just a francise name now, he no longer does the work at least for the average joe. He think he does the rich and famous only who have BIG dollars. Im talking Matthew Mcconcoughy here and like $200,000 procedures.

If you have that kinda cash then u might have a chance of Armani performing it personally. Otherwise you got no hope. Sorry to burst your bubble.

 

[s.a.f]

Yeah Armani has sold out now. He was good doing strip 4/5 yrs ago.

 

[FFS]

You appear to be a diffuse thinner. I'm not sure hair transplant are all that effective on diffuse thinners. However I remember seeing a guy on Armani's website with exactly the same type of hairloss as yours and he got an amazing result. So if anyone can do it he can. He seems to be the best at navigating and placiing grafs in between other follicles without causing any damage to that follicle. But I have to say ur kidding yourself if you think Alvi Armani is actually going to perform the hair transplant himself. He has a team of cronies now along with his sister that does all the work. Armani is just a francise name now, he no longer does the work at least for the average joe. He think he does the rich and famous only who have BIG dollars. Im talking Matthew Mcconcoughy here and like $200,000 procedures.

If you have that kinda cash then u might have a chance of Armani performing it personally. Otherwise you got no hope. Sorry to burst your bubble.

Are u saying that Mcconoughy had his procedure done by Armani, or was it just an example? I must admit, his hair looks still very natural and I don't think it was a strip procedure....

 

[s.a.f]

I dont think he's saying that since nobody but MMcC really knows whats going on with his hair.
He's just saying that if a big VIP client with unlimited $$$ came along then they would be able to get Armani to do the work but otherwise its doubtful they'd get to even meet the man himself.

 

[GMorrow]

All of you make valid points. One thing I forgot to mention is that I'm actually working in the UAE right now, so I cant really go to canada or the US to get the procedure done. So that rules out H&W, Cole, etc. You must give credit to Armani though for opening up an office in Dubai, the people here are LOADED ($$$) but there's no good hair transplant surgeons here except him. Secondly, Armani actually doesnt have any trained surgeons here (yet), so I'm 100% sure that he's doing the procedure himself (as was confirmed by the office abt a week ago).

 

[richlocks]

did you make a decision?

Can't you skip out to the US or Canada to get something done for a few weeks and come back?

 

[vayder]

avoid Armani. I got a terrible result for 30,000 USD. worst decision of a lifetime.

 

[andrei_eremenko]

OH my God...how can you pay 30000 $ and to be unhappy?I'm really thinking to not make an hair transplant never...just when HM will be available...

 

[Hiker]

These are the only doctors I would consider for FUE: Woods, Shapiro, Feller and Umar. Everyone else, imo, you run the risk that your donor gets damaged and follicles destroyed.

 

[captain_que]

have you stopped your loss with the meds first?

 

[Nene]

OH my God...how can you pay 30000 $ and to be unhappy?I'm really thinking to not make an hair transplant never...just when HM will be available...

That guy with the Rocky Avatar had a horrible result, his transplanted hairs never grew. I think Armani gave him another transplant for free.

 

[andrei_eremenko]

I will rather wait for a HM or histogen and surely you'll have much more hair than spending 30000$ on a traditional transplant...I bet you will be able to do 3 implants with HM with that money when it will be available...

 

[s.a.f]

I will rather wait for a HM or histogen and surely you'll have much more hair than spending 30000$ on a traditional transplant...I bet you will be able to do 3 implants with HM with that money when it will be available...

Err I would'nt be so sure about that....
You think HM will be cheap? :shakehead:
Let me break it down for you :

Huge expense of 10+ yrs developing the technique = (investors wanting big, quick returns) + Huge demand for it (plenty of desperate and rich baldies out there) = Initial cost will be dictated by what they can get away with charging.
Obviously start with a huge price tag for it and dont drop the price until demand slows (or something better comes along) neither of those scenario's will happen for many years.

 

[andrei_eremenko]

I am agree...but think about that once they know the trick of replicate...it would be easy to make thousands of them (hairs)...how many balding guys do you think that are so reach? I think something like 20000 usd will be reasonable...I mean if they will have a good price they will get a lot of clients...
personally I don't have even 5000 dollars mine...but I would get a job and I will borrow the money from bank)...really hairloss sucks more than everything...

 

[s.a.f]

I am agree...but think about that once they know the trick of replicate...it would be easy to make thousands of them (hairs)...how many balding guys do you think that are so reach? I think something like 20000 usd will be reasonable...I mean if they will have a good price they will get a lot of clients...
personally I don't have even 5000 dollars mine...but I would get a job and I will borrow the money from bank)...really hairloss sucks more than everything...

Yeah it will be easy and cheap to do but that means nothing in business. Look at cancer treatment we're talking about saving lives but pharmacuatical companies still charge £1,000's for drugs that cost literally pennies to produce. They want a return on the massive investments.
Also we have'nt yet addressed the fact that there will be a limited amount of places that will be offering this treatment so they will be booked solid for years. Therefore they'll charge the maximum price. Lets face it even at $100,000 there will still be plenty of takers for the 'ultimate cure'. Its all about supply and demand.
But anyway even this scenario is at best many years away. :thumbdown2:

 

[andrei_eremenko]

I'm thinking that histogen can make the same thing ...i mean bring your hair back with some injections...that have to take it regulary...and meanwhile aderans will come with hair multiplications it will be something like a challenge between these two...and the prices will come down a bit!

 

[Boondock]

All of this hypothetical.

HM could be anything from $5,000 to $50,000.

It's silly to speculate. High pricing does not always mean high income; it's a balance between profit margin and quantity of sales. Which is to say, it may be more lucrative to charge less in order to get a bigger market.

We don't even know if this stuff will work yet. Forget about it.