Slickers

I feel you man. Had the same dilemma. I'm booked with Pekiner for next March. And was genuinely considering HLC, their work is superb too. As it turns out next March is a pretty good time for me to take my work sabbatical so sticking with that. Genuinely dont think you can go wrong either way though. Best of luck! 

You're in for a very exciting 4/5 months. It's already taking shape and has the outline of an incredible result 

This is gonna look amazing. Really starting to take shape already 

Massive improvement already

Looking right on track. You're on the last turn, heading for the exit out of the doldrums 

Looks great buddy. I still give it 10/10

The shorter style def suits you and good to see you still rockin the beard!

Just posted some 6 month pics in a new thread...

Slickers - 6 months - Dr Rahal 3,800 FUT

Hey all,

I thought I would post a fresh thread for my somewhat overdue update! I hit 6 months yesterday and all I can say is the last 3 months have been a lot of fun after what seemed like an eternity in the doldrums. I've been seeing big improvements each month which is what every HT patient hopes for on the journey I guess and now looking back at my before pics I really can't believe how bad my hair was! It's easy to forget.

In terms of how I feel about things, I think the pictures speak for themselves. I'm absolutely over the moon at where I am at just 6 months. I don't expect much more improvement from here and quite frankly it's exceeded my expectations even now. Anything more is a bonus.

I've not chimed in as often as I used to, for several reasons. Taking time out from thinking about hair and enjoying not having to is the main reason. But another is the way the forum was being subjected to endless partisan FUE/ FUT debates that seemed to dominate every thread which just got wearisome. I'll save my thoughts on that for another day but overwhelming this forum has been an amazing educational resource and emotional crutch, and for that I had to come back and update.

I'll post a separate thread on this also but a quick word about Dr Rahal. Quite simply he is the real deal. I've stayed in touch with all three guys I met in the guest house and all are really pleased / over the moon with their results (one of the guys posts on here) which I suppose is the best kind of endorsement there is. He is truly deserving of his world class reputation and I can't thank the guy enough. I felt at the time his work was impeccable, it was just a question of it growing in and boy did it do that. Cheers Dr R!

Ps. Link to other thread and pics below. I will get around to putting them in a website at some point.

Pps. Yes I need a new dressing gown

Before, Post Op to 3 month Pics

You've had a lot of good advice on here. Get out and enjoy your life. If the pictures you've posted are truly representative of how your hair looks, you have a nice head of hair.

At the end of the day only you know how you really feel but as others have commented I don't equate your comments with the pictures you've posted. Either way I hope you can find a way to not let it affect you so badly.

 

- Third, I even had some people of the tube coming up to me and asking what has happened to my hairline. I had only 2 occurrences so far but still.

 

 

Seriously, this isn't true is it? People do not just approach total strangers on the tube and ask them highly personal questions. I travel on the tube everyday and I've seen all manner of people and many weird and wonderful things and the reaction from commuters is the same, they don't bat an eyelid.

You expect us to believe that, not once but twice, total strangers have found your hairline so compellingly unusual that they have ignored all social boundaries and come up to you just to ask about your hairline? LMAO. You could have two heads on the tube and no one would stop to ask. I'm sorry but I think you might be embellishing for effect here.

Mate great to see you updating. That's a LOT peeking through at this stage! Great to get such early growth. Big 3 months coming up

Thanks for the well wishes guys. I'm hoping Chelsea beat Villa on Wednesday night (Dr Bisanga is a big Chelsea fan apparently) to put the doc in good form for my scalp on Thursday morning!

 

Great addition to the Coalition network too!

Johnny, whilst I can't agree with you in hoping for a chelski win, I hope the day goes great for you. No doubts at all that it will. I met with Stingray, a two times Bisanga patient (I think he posted on here a few years back) for a few beers and his hair in person looked awesome. He was a very happy camper and I'm sure you will be too.

A big thumbs up for the recommendation but like others have always considered him that anyway.

Thanks mike. I really appreciate your comments pal. This has without doubt been a tough few months and just hoping things get better from here on. I have yet to get any significant growth but there's def been some, just of little cosmetic value as yet but where I should be I should be at this stage I guess.

Your positivity on the forum is refreshing and a real help to many. Looking forward to you 10 month update already!

You can literally count that hairs just by looking at them in the close up shots. The OP was reiterated that there has been little growth.. The OP stated there was little to no improvement from months 4 to 5 and now this. Let's not forget the before and after where the OP showed there was NO difference at months 4.5. The photos are not at all consistent. The pre-op shots are under HEAVY lighting and accentuate the balding areas while the 6 month shots are under totally different lighting. Believe what you want. Here is the the photo the OP took showing no difference from pre-HT to post 4.5 months:

 

http://i1277.photobucket.com/albums/y487/bridgetJones2013/rahal_june2013_zps2cc85f6d.jpg

 

Where did the change happen then if there was no difference at 4.5 months and then at months 5 when he reiterated it looks the same? Then at 6.5 months he says again "Well it did improve form 4 months but insignificantly". I fail to see when(let alone where the difference is) the grafts actually grew.

How many people post asking for feedback unsure of their own progress? Looking at themselves everyday in the mirror unable to see the gradual change. Do I underestimate the importance of the patient actually feeling like they've had growth and it's made a difference, no. That's why we undergo the procedure in the first place, obviously.

But often because it is so gradual especially when it's a small procedure, the patient can lose track of the progress they've made. That's why they reach out to posters for their opinions.

The OP has shared the photos himself. Presumably therefore he's happy that they're representative of how things look, wouldnt you agree?. So over to us for our opinions and short of counting hairs OVERALL it LOOKS like a significant cosmetic improvement notwithstanding I can see some areas of concern that the OP mentions. That said much of the grafts were placed around a forelock so a pic showing one side close up is really difficult to judge the overall result.

Let's just agree to disagree shall we.

We all know how lighting and angles can make a HUGE difference to one's hair.

Of course but I don't believe that the 6 months photos are bad, or deceptive or poor. They're not the exact same angle, lighting but that doesnt make them poor. They clearly show what his hair looks like now vs what it used to look like and in my opinion it's a significant cosmetic improvement.

There are big empty gaps in the close ups where no hair is existent. I dont think more than 30% of the grafts yieldd. You have the OP saying there was little more than 0% improvement and while that may not be exact, i dont think it was higher than a 30% yield rate.

The OP actually said that family and friends have noticed 0% improvement and I think we all know how much that can be taken with a pinch of salt. How many guys who have undergone massive transformations haven then commented on how close friends and family didnt even realise. Sure in this instance the OP has sought their opinion but the gradual process over 6 months on such a small session with a guy that already had some hair to begin with doesn't add much to the final evaluation IMO.

I agree in the close up there does appear to be spareness insofar as there isn't a wall of hair. Overall though I fail to see how you've come to the opinion that it's '30% yield and that's generous' (before you edited). I don't see 450 grafts turning someone from 'quite obviously balding' to 'nice head of hair' as others on here have commented.

I am at the 5 week mark tomorrow. No pictures of my donor before the op unfortunately as I've always had thick hair on the back and didn't think it would thin out so much.

I had seriously thick donor and 2000 FUE noticeably thinned it out for me whereby I was strongly advised to go STRIP over FUE next time. But hey that's the very essence of a HT I guess, you're taking the hair from one place and putting it somewhere else. I just think it's too often overlooked how much of a difference it can make to the density of your donor when it's FUE.

But it's too early to in your case to even make that call. The first few months felt a lot thinner but it will recover just a question of how much. I would strongly advise using minox on the donor though if you're not already.

I think that you may be confusing temple points with corners, but I am not sure. I think that there could be a language barrier, or, you really don't much about hair transplantation. I have strong temple points and it would be ridiculous to transplant into them. Some people may not like that I went for a recessed look, but you are not young forever, and my natural frontal hairline was too low to blunt the corners (IMO, keeping future loss in mind). I kept the recessed corners so that when I am 50, it can still look natural, even if and when my hair thins more, if I could have transplanted higher and met my goals I would have. In the long term, the most natural hairlines are the most conservative, I just couldn't plant any higher and really justify getting a HT. I am not sure what you mean by structured and close knit as much of the density is at or above original density, It is thicker than the hair behind it I believe. If you met me today, I would wet my hair, comb it straight back, and you could not tell I had a transplant.

 

I don't mean to sound cocky, but it my HT is not up to your standards, I am afraid that you will be sorely disappointed with your surgery.

 

Sorry I don't have your approval on my design.

I wouldn't sweat it. I have actually no idea what he's trying to say. Many (I) would kill for a result like yours and the design is flawless IMO.

I was talking about the growth, the new hairs popping through. At 3 months it's only just getting started.

It's hard to say from just the one pic. Most shockloss I've seen tends to be in clumps or patches but yours does just look like overall thinning out so I understand where you're coming from in asking the question.

When did you have your procedure? Do you have a pic of your donor pre op?

A subtle improvement on last month but the majority of the hairs are still in resting, just ready to start popping in the next few months. That's what I keep having to tell myself too

I do believe yield is an issue, sorry. The collage of photos show angles vastly different to pre-op and the lighting is different. You can clearly see the areas of no/little growth in his other photos so the yield is obviously a concern. He got more than a 0% improvement but 30% would be very generous.

The angles and lighting are not identical but that doesn't mean they're any less clear in the second set of pics. They look perfectly bright and clear to me. You really think the improvement here could be achieved by just 450 grafts? i.e. 30% of the procedure?

Based on the results on here and on youtube, an excellent addition.

Worthy worthy winner! I remember by girlfriends reaction when I showed her this one months ago, the before and then the 7 months. She was like, are you sure that's real?! That can't be real. ha. Outstanding result.

Yeah the downtime sucks hard. I told myself I knew what I was letting myself in for but for a quarter of a year I've been virtually hiding out, holidays, making excuses for not seeing people. It's crazy when you think about it. It must feel great when it's all worth it though. Just looked back over your pics ChrisDav. Your final pic looks like one of those 'too good to be true' model shots in a HT ad! Looks awesome mate.

Spanker the no of grafts he estimated I could get from another strip was around 3k. The scar doesnt even go half way up on the left side because of what the right side yielded so he said maybe more even. I don't intend to go chasing the crown though if it goes. I've accepted that I will have some degree of loss but framing the face is much more important to me. The grafts in reserve are an insurance policy to join up any future loss i.e. have a blended thinning pattern so as to keep things looking natural as a minimum...

Hoping 'the next big thing' comes along before then though.

Thanks for the comments guys.

ChrisDav I just realised that your avatar is 3 months to 7 months isn't it?

Cheers Spanker, I really hope you're right. Right now I just want to get back to living a normal life and not hiding away from people. I don't think I'm far away from that now and once I do I think I'll be able to enjoy the months ahead but yeah I did hit the ugly duckling phase pretty hard. ha. It turned out to be quite a big session mostly in-between my existing hair so shaving down and some temp shockloss (as well the stronger hairs from my first HT) didnt make for a good look!!

Janna it turned out to be quite a bit bigger. After consulting with Dr Rahal in person it was apparent I was going to need more like 3,000. Aimed for that but with some decent density ended up with 3,800. I should really get the title of the thread changed! Thanks for the kind words

Eman cheers buddy. Good to have another Rahal success story rooting for me! Looking at your 3 months is a reminder of just how early days it is. It's amazing how much change you experienced month on month from then on. Here's hoping for the same!