stinger99

Reminder of graft placement immediately post op

I thought I'd also share this pic at 6 months outside a five o'clock in June , bright natural light. At this point it was looking promising. Not sure why things haven't really improved.

Pic taken next day in front of window with bright sun shining in. This gives the close reality and u can see how thin it is.

Pic taken, hair just cut to number two on top, taken in front of window on cloudy day

Ok guys so I finally got time to put some updated pics. I'm currently 9 months and one week. This has been the most difficult month for me so far. Mainly because I find my hair has actually got thinner over the last month instead of thicker. Not sure if I had a shed or what's going on. Nevertheless it certainly is discouraging and not what I expected from a 3200 graft op from a top clinic. That bring said I will still give it a full 15 months before making a final conclusion. The few good things, are, 1- my donor looks really good and can get another 4000 to 4500 grafts, 2- sl has been a constant support, 3- Dr bisanga has confirmed and re confirmed hat he will do whatever it takes to bring the result to where it should be. He will stand by his work 100 percent. When I saw him this past weekend in person he claims I have about 85 percent yield, but I'm not sure it is that. This kina really sucks, but not much I can do right now. What do u guys think.

Any update. Arek

No prob sun seeker. In the end if it is a 400 graft touch that I need to make result what I was hoping for then really not to bad at all.

No prob man, iwill take some pics tomorrow am when I have bright light shining in my house

Sunseeker, to answer ur question, Dr bisanga said that since I have been bald from a while in front blood flow to the area had stopped for some time and the lower yield could be a result of not enough blood flow. He said that now that most grafts grew out blood flow has been re established and he would expect close to 100 percent growth for the touch up 400 grafts.

Hi Htsoon, luckily I have above average donor and since Dr bisanga is so good with donor extraction my donor looks great and could still produce 4000 plus grafts. I cannot use 400 beard for frontal third as it won't look good, but will definately use beard for crown.

Clarification: in an earlier post up above i made a statement that i lost 400 grafts and need 400 to touch up and stated that i therefore lost 800-1000 grafts. i re read this and realized this does not make sense. if 400 grafts didnt grow then i lost 400 not 800. i thought it important to clarify this inaccurate statement i made

thx HTsoon. im a little down but still in godo spirits. i mean you have seen the pics. i am 1000 times better than where i started so definately no regrets. of course was hoping for better yield, but in the end if a 400 grafts touch up will bring the result from first op where i want to be, then it is not too bad. i also got confirmation that any amount of grafts needed for touch up would be free of charge no questions asked. this shows how a top ethical doc like dr bisanga stands by his work. i was also a slow grower so many by month 12-15 i see even more improvement.

thx ndubya. yes i agree the look is way better than from where i started no doubt. i was however expecting close to 95% yield as dr b consistently produces that yield range from my research. im sure a better yield will have made result that much better. im just a little bumped out because as a higher nw, i need every graft i can get. i cant afford to lose any. the fact that i lost over 400 grafts and now have to use another 400-500 for touch up is 1000 grafts lost that i could have used in another area. i also have to risk doing a touch up in an area i already had work oin and riusk shockloss to transplanted hair. was hoping for op to to focus solely a new virgin area. well it is what it is. stll hoping for more imporvment over next 3-4 months.

not much change from month 8 to month 9 which is a little disapointing. i was in chicago this past weekend to see dr bisanga in person so he could evaluate my progress at the 9 month mark. he admitted yield was below his expectations and probably around the 85% mark. not sure if i will get more growth beyond this point. dr bisanga thinks 400 grafts will be sufficient to touch up and obtain the desired result from my op. It is my understanding that he will not charge for these grafts. from this point on im hoping for some more maturinmg and thickening that will improve the current result. overall, not the knock out result i was hoping for but far from a failed result. i wll post some pics shortly.

Has to be one of the best nw5/6 transformations I have seen. Congrats pma and amazing work Dr lorenzo

i find it looks much better at number 8, i guess htsoon is right

i guess ur right, ill try it out after month 12.

hi grigriman, that is exactly my issue, my crown is uch worse than urs so when i let front grow out the crown looks much much worse. im anxious to get op 2 in the crown done. btw, did you see any improvement from month 9-18

Wow that is quite crazy how much balder he looks after he shaves his head.

i dont regret sacrificing density for covering a larger area. heading to a NW 6 and only wanting to do fue, this is the trade off which im am totally ok with. im hoping i have at least another 3000-3500 scalp graft available plsu another 1500 beard. if so, i am confident i will achieve my end goal. i am anxious to see dr b in sept so he can tell me how many more scalp grafts he think i have left.

Thanks Dances, thanks HTsoon, i agree with ur comments. my plan was to keep things short for another 3-4 months, hopefully have things thicken up and then grow it out a little. i also keep it short because the crown is pretty bald and im thinking if i grow out front half it will make crown look even balder. after op number 2 when i address crown it will make a huge difference i hope and easier to grow it out. i also agree that if kept short it will never look realy dense given how i asked dr b to try to cover as large an area as possible given my extensive loss.

Thx Mickey, yes longer will certainly give better illusion of coverage due to shingling effect. I'm still hoping I will see more thickening over the next 3 to 4 months.

The fue, I really hope it continues to thicken up, but so far it has been cionsistently getting better, although very slowly

Ya huge cosmetic improvement it's crazy. I'm hoping for mor density for sure. But we did cover a large area so not sure how much more ill get. Fingers crossed for more.

Felt bad making you wait, here is a pic 8 months and 1 week, just cut, very short on sides and top. Taken In the car, bright light shinning in but no direct bright light hitting top.