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This question is directed to Dr. Glen Charles. I am in a situation where I have had relatively poor growth in a recent transplant. I have met with my doctor and she offered a touch up of 100 grafts FUE. In your experience, do you find that 100 grafts are enough or is it better to go with something a little more to fix a poor transplant yield. I have pics in other posts if you care to see my current situation. Thank you in advance for your input.

It will be 8 months in September and I trust that Dr Keene wouldn't do it if she thinks it could harm the existing graphs. Eventhough, I might wait to do it in October to ensure the risk is minimal.

Thanks for the reply. Just to be clear she was going to do FUE and not strip. I agree and would never get cut open for only 100. With that said, I know everyone said to give it more time but there are clearly places in my transplant that are noticeably lacking in growth that Dr Keene even recognized and thus she offered up the 100 FUEs. I do see myself getting another major transplant sometime down the road but for now to make my transplant look presentable I think the 100 to 200 grafts would help. Does anyone have a similar experience? Would doing a small number of grafts abrupt growth for the other transplanted hairs?

Hi all...quick update. I met with Dr. Keene last week and she offered to do 100 FUD grafts to fill in some areas above the hairline. I think I might ask her if I can do 200 and I will pay for the additional 100. I figure if I am going to do it I might as well go for more. Anyone have experiences with mini FUE sessions?

Thanks for the response hair technician. I appreciate the professionalism of Dr. Keene and her staff and have an appointment scheduled to discuss. My concern really springs from a slight linear area right above my left hairline. In this area, there is a very noticable lack of hair growth that even my wife has pointed out as looking strange. I agree and understand that seeing the full results of the transplant will not be seen until at least a year so I am remaining optimistic. I am not in disagreement about Dr. Keene's choice in going FUT vs FUE. After having a good discussion with her on this we were in agreement that this was the best choice. My only regret was that we didn't go a little more agressive on the graft count. I was in no way under a budget so I would have been open for more graft if she felt that would accomplish my goals. Now as it stands I probably will most likely need a second procedure which I really wanted to avoid. In this second procedure I will probably want to go FUE because I do not want to put my scalp under additional trauma of a scar. I am sure we will discuss this further in my appointment. Thank you.

Is a low yield the result of a poor transplant by the dr staff or can someone just have poor hair genetics tht don't transplant well? I ask because I am contemplating whether to continue with a second surgery or do I cut my losses and go with the buzz cut and get the tattoo pigment procedure (can't recall formal name).

In my consult with Dr. Keene I didn't have any limitations on money. I actually wanted to do FUE at first but she recommended strip. She said I should be able to get the result i wanted with only 1800 grafts. I should have went to get a second opinion but there aren't a lot of options in Tucson. I figured I was lucky to have a coalition surgeon in Tucson so didn't think twice. In hindsight I wish I did maybe 2200 or more. Now I'll probably have to go under the knife again but maybe I can get 500 FUE grafts to fill it in where needed.

Appreciate the candidness and honesty. I spent many years researching and went back and forth on this decision. I felt that getting a subpar result was minimal given the advances of surgery. I had thought that as long as you pick a great doc then you should be ok. This goes to show you can still get poor results from a reputable doc. I also followed the instructions to a T. I used rogaine and hair vitamins. Saline solution early on. I babied the hell out of my head to give myself the best chances and this is what I got instead. There is no way to go back. Now I need to commit to follow up sessions just to get myself to not look freakish. The only concern is whether I will have poor results no matter what doc I pick. Am I just genetically inclined to have weak hair that doesn't transplant well? How much of this was doctor technique versus my hair predisposition?

Hi All. Here is my 6 month update. Overall I have to say I am not happy with my results but again will continue to wait and assess at my 1 year mark. The things I am specifically unhappy with is first off my density which seems very sparse and uneven. As you can see in the pic there is clearly a high density area in my right side. I have heard that eventually this all evens out but at 6 months I would expect that the difference would not have been so dramatic. Also there seems to be very visibility places where there is no growth. Some areas that are probably about a centimeter. I am also going to send these pics to Dr. Keene who in my last visit told me that anything that will grow will have done so by the 6 month mark at which point the hair will just thicken up. Suffice it to say I am probably looking at doing a second transplant which I was hoping to avoid. Right now I would say my look is worse then it was before. A completely bald head would have been better than a head of patchy and thin hair. It just looks very unnatural and freakish. I wish I could just go with the shaved look but I can't because I have a nasty scar across the back of my head which by the way isn't even straight because there is a 45 degree angle at a point where the doctor had to open me up again and cut out some more skin because someone didn't accurately get the right amount of hairs before she first closed me up. I will continue to provide updates, however if you are looking at this forum to make a decision I would suggest you don't take the decision lightly. You can select a highly reputable doctor and still not achieve the results you would expect and may find yourself regretting the whole thing as I am now. I have been a long time lurker of this forum (probably reviewing results for about 4 years before going for it) and felt like the technology and advances pretty much assured a satisfactory result. I am proof that good results aren't always guaranteed. - SROD

Hi Bill...thank you for your reply. As a long time viewer of the forum, I respect your insights and knowledge you have shared over the years as many who like myself have questions about expectations. I agree Dr. Keene and her staff have been great and perhaps my expectations were too high in terms of the growth I expected to see at this point. I have to keep telling myself it will eventually grow. My growth has been very patchy and uneven. Is this common in your experience? If so when does the growth generally even out? Regards, Steve

Hi all...hoping to get multiple perspectives from experience here. I'm one of those "late bloomers" and haven't had the best growth when compared to others at the 5 month mark so I'm holding out for big things this next month. I met with my doctor (Dr. Sharon Keene) 2 weeks ago and she said that pretty much at 6 months any hair that is ever going to grow will have done so by 6 months. After which it is all about maturity. This seems a little different then what I read from various folks on this forum. I keep hearing that new hair growth continues through 8 months. Can someone share any of their personal experiences after 6 months? Thanks.

I am righ there with you man. I am at the 5 month mark and getting impatient myself but unfortunately we are just in that group of people who are the late bloomers. Try not to compare with others. I did that and felt sick to my stomach. We all grow at different rates. Also my doctor told me that all the hairs will grow out by month 6 and from there they mature but I hear people on here say that they still see some new ones sprout out up to month 9. I also read on this forum that in terms of new hairs (not maturity of hair) there is about 70 to 90% growth by 6 months so you can expect more.

Hey thanks Rod. I met with Dr. Keene and she said I might just be a late bloomer. She also said that all the hairs I will ever grow will come out by 6 months so this reaffirms your post about the 6 month mark. Does this mean right at 6 months or when the 6th month is complete?

Hi all...thanks for all the responses. Reading them put my mind at ease and special thanks to Taking the Plunge! I saw your hair blog and it gave me a lot of hope...your hair turned out great. I also miscalculated the month. I was actually in month 4 and now just shy of month 5. I have seen a little more density and new hairs are sprouting up here and there. See updated pics. There does seem to be a bit of patchyness but I'm confident it will grow out soon. I go see my barber later this week and have contemplated whether I cut it down supershort to match the growth or should I leave it long to cover up the growth. Also what do you guys think of the density. THanks again guys!

Thanks for the reply gillenator. I catch a number of your posts on this forum and you always have some good knowledge. I was very close to shaving it down but my wife said I just need to leave it alone because I could be cutting the little hairs that are sprouting and not giving them a chance to grown. I have been using rogaine foam ever since I got the procedure done. Trust me I have been taking hair supplements, bought expensive thickening shampoo, etc etc. I am just really bummed out right now with the whole thing. I have done so much research and really pondered doing this for years. I thought for sure that by 5 months I would be happy with my results and now I just wish I would've went with the bald look. Another thing that is weird is that the place where the hairs were transplanted have always had a red hue. In other words there seems to be a lot of blood flowing to the area and you can especially see it after I have sweated from a workout. I wonder if I might have lost a lot of graphs and this is an indication of that. I really don't know. I am meeting with Dr. Sharon Keene later this week to get her opinion on things. Have there been any other late bloomers out there? I would love to hear if there are other experiences similar to mine. Also if things don't pan out is there a way to reverse a hair transplant? I really would prefer a bald forehead instead of a forehead with low density hairs. It would be one thing if there were in the back of my head but its really tough because it is right front and center. Thanks again for any other replies.