First of all, many sincere thanks to Pat for creating this site and to everyone else who has added to it. I am glad I finally wound up here.

I had 1000 FUE grafts done last July with a California doc who I'd like to remain nameless as I don't want to knock a guy if in 6 months his work ends up miraculously looking great. I chose him after way too little research based mainly on the facts that he was expensive and he had a slick website(D'oh!) I admit it was only a 1k graft initial op onto mostly bare scalp and it's only been growing in for 6 months but I swear it looks worse instead of better as time goes by. Please call me out if I'm overreacting as I admittedly haven't seen any other real world results close up to compare, but these grafts look super pluggy and pitted, especially in natural sunlight and flourescents, and I dropped $10k on this. So, I'm looking for a little direction in choosing someone to do the follow up FUE procedure(s) to make this the hairline that I dream of. After reading the forum extensively it does seem that the Shapiro brothers are the Go To Guys but if anyone can advise me on their or anyone else's suitability for my specific situation it would be much appreciated. I'll travel wherever, preferably in the US, and pay whatever I must. I just want the best to do this right.

I'm going to start my research by contacting Dr. Shapiro soon but I just wanted to get you guys' feedback as well.

Some questions I have:
Can you go in this soon after an initial FUE and pull and plant grafts or is the scalp still too sensitive?

Is there danger of laying new hairs on top of others that have yet to sprout from the previous op?

Would a doc actually pull out the most offensive pitted grafts or just pack around them and lower the hairline to disguise them?

Is Shapiro a suitable doc for my case? How good could someone cover this?

Thanks for your help. I greatly appreciate it!

Attached Images

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If you want FUE, you should at least look into Dr. Umar in Redondo Beach. He only does FUE and has done it for the last 7 years.

He operated on me. I'm not quite 4 months out, but things are progressing quickly and steadily for me. But there are other docs like Feller who also do FUE.

Was your first surgery strip? I can't believe a doctor charged you $10 a graft in 2009. That's ridiculous. Particularly for strip (if that is what you had).

There are world class strip surgeons who charge $4-5 grafts. And great FUE surgeons who charge as little as $6.

At least it seems you will do your research this time. Good luck.

6 months is early, so you'll probably get more growth in the coming months. Still, it does look pitted and somewhat pluggy. Sort of reminds me of myself after my first procedure. I went to Paul Shapiro for the repair/finishing work. I'm just 5 months out and am already seeing a difference for the better.

My advice. Start researching/contacting top clinics now. But hold off to have the 2nd procedure until after a full year passes from your 1st HT. You need to fully realize what you are working with. And another HT at 8-10 months post-op would be jumping the gun.

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2008 Dr. G – presumably 1,000 grafts / 2,142 hairs
2009 Dr. Paul Shapiro – 2,348 grafts / 4,258 hairs
2011 Dr. Paul Shapiro – 1,999 grafts / 3,624 hairs

My Hair Transplant Journey with Shapiro Medical Group

That front sesction of yours that is thin, will need much more than 1000 grafts. That area typically takes 3-4K grafts to restore.

I wouldnt play around with FUE. Find a good strip surgeon to blast the front with another 3K grafts. Check out Hass ond Wong, Shapiro, Feller, Rahal...

Your FUE looks to be growing, and at 6 months the hair usually looks awkward. I think your bigger problem is that there just isnt enough hair.

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My Hair Loss Web Site - Hair Transplant with Dr. Wong

Baker,

I agree with Emperor: even if you eventually get great yield from your 1000 FUE grafts (which seems unlikely, by the way), you'll still need another 2-3k to get a great result in the front. Actually, if your hair is on the fine side - which seems possible from the pics - you might even want to go > 3k. For that, it would make sense to go strip.

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My Hair Loss Website - Hair Transplant with Dr. Hasson

Baker....I also agree Emperor and Sparse....you need much more than 1000 graphs to give you any kind of destity that your probaly looking for! Shapiro is a good place to start with a consult....and of course I would recommend them as you can tell who I went with for my HT! Take some time and research Drs. and pt. results also take some time and consider your goals. In the end your may see why strip may be a better option for you! Good Luck with your desicion!

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My Hair Loss Website - Hair Transplant with Dr. Paul Shapiro

Windjc, yeah it was FUE at $10 a graft.

Good advice, everyone. Thanks.

My hesitancy with a strip is I have seen some fat scars on this site, even from some top recommended docs. Anyone see the pic of "Entourage's" Jeremy Piven last week in some tabloid mag of him at the beach in the surf with his fat red scar showing through his hair? Not that I'm going to be in People magazine anytime soon.

Also, I have seen some Shapiro testimonials of patients doing multiple days of surgery back to back. I understood these to be FUE, yielding 2000 grafts or so range. Small scars, strip equivalent yields. Any downside?

Again, thanks, gents.

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Piven's scar is awful, I do agree. But keep in mind his hair was wet and his donor density is very low.

Word on the street is that for most people, FUE just doesnt yield as well.

So if you have to choose between good coverage and a scar, or running out of hair and only getting (say) half coverage with no linear scar, which will you choose?

Due to the relentless nature of hair loss, you will learn that there is not enough hair. THrowing it down the drain with FUE may be irresponsible.

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My Hair Loss Web Site - Hair Transplant with Dr. Wong

I've looked at dozens and dozens of blogged results from H&W, and I honestly can't recall ever seeing a fat scar. I'm sure it must have happened at some point, but the rarity of it is quite encouraging. I had lots of tension on my scar post-HT since Dr. Hasson went for an aggressive 5500+ graft yield (strip of 32cm x 2-2.5 cm), and I'm still in the 1-3 mm range on my entire scar at nearly 6 months out!

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My Hair Loss Website - Hair Transplant with Dr. Hasson