clanvin

Hi All, I had a 4000 hair FUT done a year ago - on seeing the surgeon at the 6 month mark he mentioned that it had become hypertrophic for a 3 inch section and recommended cortisone injections. As I was in a different country, I went to a local dermatologist - what would happen is for the immediate 1-2 weeks after an injection the scar would go down but after 4-5 weeks it would return. The dermatologist explained to me that the darker your skin the more likely you get such a scar. After 5 such injections I stopped as all that would happen is it would go and return - I am probably a little better off then when I started. I was wondering if anyone had any experience with such scars? It doesnt bother me too much but I heard that the surrounding hairs can fall out? I am fine to wait a few hairs for it to naturally disappear but ideally wish I could get rid of it sooner. Many Thanks for reading

Dear All, I have had a failed transplant before so am a little paranoid second time round though I did (or think I did) do my research 2nd time round. Here are 3 pictures for me - before surgery, at the 3 month mark and now at the 8 month mark. This was a strip surgery for 3800 grafts. Clearly I do have more hair but not sure if that represents the 3800 grafts that were said to be implanted in the front and mid of my scalp. The bald area at the back was not touched due to a lack of grafts in this surgery session. My hair per follicle count is not good - it's at the lower extreme of the range and was pointed out to me prior to surgery. Grateful for your thoughts if this is decent progress and if I can trouble for a ball-park idea of how much progress is expected between month 8 and 12 i.e. 25% improvement, 35% etc. I am currently on Minoxidil 5% and MSM 3000mg per day. Many Thanks

Thanks guys. I've been on Minoxidil and MSM daily. and yeah my hair density is not great so I know it's not going to be thick but just hope its atleast an 'ok' to 'decent' result. I'm afraid I dont have any further info on density but am guessing 3800 grafts for me works out to around 6500 hairs?

Yes he is recommended on here. Why you think that the 6 month mark (3rd pic) is not sufficient progress? :-(

Dear All, I have had a failed transplant before so am a little paranoid second time round though I did (or think I did) do my research 2nd time round. Here are 3 pictures for me - before surgery, at the 3 month mark and now at the 6 month mark. This was a strip surgery for 3800 grafts. Clearly I do have more hair but not sure if that represents the 3800 grafts that were said to be implanted in the front and mid of my scalp. The bald area at the back was not touched due to a lack of grafts in this surgery session. Grateful for your thoughts if this is decent progress and if I can trouble for a ball-park idea of how much progress is expected between month 6 and 12 i.e. 25% improvement, 35% etc. Many Thanks

I have, he says to wait and be patient etc etc....maybe he is right but I heard it all with another surgeon for a surgery that eventually failed so wondered if what you see in the pics is normal or sub-optimal for 4.5 months. Thanks

I would advise you against Dr Cahuzac. I had a failed transplant with her some years ago. PM me for more details.

Dear All, I had a failed transplant some years ago where only a few hundred of a promised few thousand hairs grew. This time round went to a coalition surgeon however results to date are not great...or maybe I need to be more patient. I definitely have more hair than pre-surgery to now (4.5 months post-surgery) but it isn't a lot for the 3000 grafts that were supposed to grow. What do you think? Many Thanks

Hi All, Was wondering if I can get a view - I had a 4000 graft FUT with a coalition approved surgeon on this board. It's now been 5 months and the surgeon was in my town for consultations. He said all looked fine but I had a hypertrophic scar in a small part of my donor area and recommended cortisone injections (2-3). He said I can visit him in his country for it again or go to a local dermatologist. As it was my surgeon recommending it and I do not reside in his country, I am going to a local dermatologist to administer the injection. But am concerned: 1) Will this help the scar? it's raised and thick but is only so in 20% of the donor area scar. 2) Why did it happen to me? Many Thanks for your feedback.

Hey, I'm doing FUT - strip....yeah so that's the thing - I do the FUT strip - I must return to work a week late, fine even if I stretch it further I am ultimately a Norwood 5 - so I go away, they shave my head in recipient area and I return to work with much less hair than when I went. And possible redness showing. It'll be soo obvious I think for atleast a month. Only solution is 1 month off work - which is my entire annual leave/is never granted :-((

Yes indeed a recommended doctor - will be either Ferudini or Devroye. Yes the recipient area - the crown is where I am a Norwood 5, other surrounding parts are a 4+. Am I missing something here, I am a Norwood 5...I will be shaved in that area for the new grafts to be planted so effectively I am a Norwood 8 with a whole lot of redness and crusting and the only way it can be hidden is there is existing hair to camouflage it or else I have to stay indoors for a month. Unfortunately I do have to return to work in a week. Your thoughts are welcomed.

3000 grafts.....hmmmm

Dear All, I'm going to be having a 2nd HT later in the year after the 1st HT partially failed. Have narrowed it to 2 doctors and see virtually no difference between the 2 except that one slightly recommends shaving the donor area whilst the other more strongly recommends it. I'm a Norwood 5 in the recipient area (place where I'm going bald and will be receiving the hair from the donor area),my job is such that the current economic crisis reduces number of days I can take off work. So if I return 1 week later, my fears are it'll look pretty bad for a few weeks as not only the redness is still there but it's highly visible as the area is shaved. And the quality of hair I anyway have their is low - so few weeks could easily be few months for that pre-existing hair to grow back. I'm leaning towards permitting them to cut it short or shave partially but wondered what difference it makes - if its 98 Vs 100 there isn't much but 70 Vs 100 there certainly is. Many thanks for your feedback

I'm worried, no-one pointed it out...well 1 person finally did and took a picture. I'm horrified to be frank Thanks for any input..

So that's me now - Norwood 5 going on 6. 4 years ago I had a transplant in France to put 3000 hairs into the front part of the head, post surgery was told only 2500 came, fair enough I thought that's still 2500. If you look at the front you can see a box like small area that is little thick compared to the rest but the growth around it is sparse at best. That's definitely not even 1500 hairs growing. Outside of the EUR 5500 cost, the trauma and everything else I wondered: - why does this happen that the hair doesn't grow, bad surgeon? Could it be something to do with me though nothing happened hair/scalp related in the 1 year after. - will this 1 failed HT affect future transplant? I will have lost some donor area... Many Thanks

Thanks for your input everyone. The next question is - what should I do about the previous failed transplant? I was charged around EUR 5500 for perhaps 1000 hairs. The hair transplant clearly failed - on two meetings in person the doctor stated "all hairs grew" etc. With the sheer shortage of good surgeons I was being careful not to alienate anyone so didn't say anything. The scar has been checked by a dermatologist so is fine. No visible damage. In the UK there is a well known firm of trichologists that recommended this surgeon and even offer their premises for the surgeon to conduct UK consultations. Perhaps one course of action is to approach them first. Many thanks

Dear All, I've been losing hair since I was 19 and am nearly 30 now. Tried practically every non-transplant solution and currently on a regime that reduces the rate of loss but ultimately I'll need a few transplants in my time. I had my 1st transplant with a surgeon unknown on this board in France on recommendation of a well-known UK trichologist. I was a Norwood 4 then - 4 years later the 2500 hairs (not grafts) that should have grown have not - estimates are that it's about 1000 hairs max. I visited a UK transplant surgeon (I am well aware to avoid the UK so it was more a second opinion and even he commented it looked very little). Have spoken to the botched surgeon a couple of times and what is repeatedly said to me is that "all the hairs transplanted have grown but I've lost more hair hence it doesn't appear as such". Well if you counted the number of hairs in transplant region it really isn't more than 1000. Dr Feller and a few other US surgeons appear to be the place to go. I know if I just took the long trip it'll be way better than complaining about hair for years to come. But just thought I'd check - I'm currently a Norwood 5 and see it approaching a 6 in the next 1-2 years. The reputation of Devorye and Ferudini in Belgium appear good on this board. I've also heard of a Bisanga. What is the view of forum users? Thanks for your thoughts in advance, happy to share further details. Take care