BridgetJones

Hello Everyone, I had a call with Dr Rahal today and I will outline his feedback below but before that I would like to clarify few points. I believe there is a misunderstanding probably caused by some of my comments. Dr Rahal treated the wider area of my head: The hairline zone and the frontal area (behind the hairline). 1. The hairline zone (the strip aprox. 1.5cm in width) is my main concern as it did not grow as expected with only few dozens hair sticking out. 2. The frontal area did grow as expected. I have NO concerns about this area and I am glad it has grown as it creates a big difference on the overall appearance. As we spoke today and back in July, Dr Rahal reassured that he will do 400 grafts, or maybe more as it needs to be evaluated in person. We will also look into doing strip (FUT) procedure. Dr Rahal and his team are aware of my concerns about the hairline and we are exploring options of how to fix it. I know Dr Rahal cares about his patients and wants them to be happy and satisfied with the results. They were and are in contract with me and I know that they will take care of it.

But I am not saying that people are paying attention to the "transplanted" hairlines. If we look at many Dr Rahal's or other surgeons' hairline pictures they all look great. And of course you probably wouldn't even say that it's transplanted. What I am saying is that in my case the hairline does not exist pretty much. There are dozens of hair sticking out creating very unattractive look. Dr Rahal treated wider frontal area which has grown as expected and creates the cover. It looks alright from the distance but when standing closer you see a completely different "picture".

Wow, Slickers I won't even try to convince you. You seem to know everything and everyone in this world and that everyone operates the way you think. P.S. I personally approached one guy on the tube and asked him who did the surgery, because I could see the scar on the back of his head. But of course you will probably say that I am lying again.

I did not have a strip procedure. I only had FUE.

Hello Everyone, Thank you very much for your comments. While I have definitely contributed but I didn't push myself into such a terrible state: - First if I start with my family and friends. Yes, they are all supportive and say that it all looks fine. But even they admit that the hairline is far from being OK. The back of the temples did grow which does create a cover when looking from the top. - Second, my work involves working with a lot of different/new people. I swear to God, 70% of them always look at my hairline. And it's not a random look, they are deliberately looking at the hairline with the very curios looks. Not into my eyes (when talking to me), but to my hairline. - 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. When you have go through this everyday; when you meet new people and when shaking their hands they stare at your hairline, when saying goodbye people stare at your hairline, when people you already know/met also look at the your hairline everytime you see them again. If that all sounds amazing to you, let it be, I won't go into polemic. I didn't come here to argue with anyone, I am only sharing my results and experience. P.S. I still believe Dr. Rahal is a great surgeon. But it looks like I am not suitable for FUE and I wish doctors had better tools to identify who is suitable for what, but I understand that it's not possible currently. The density of my hairline was 47-48 follicular unit grafts per square centimetre, but the hairline does appear less dense than 20 FU/cm with some spots having pretty much 0 hair which can also be seen on the pictures.

8.5 months update: Mood: Very sad Friends & Family: Stopped talking about it. Overall: Well, I don't know what to say. I am very upset. 8.5 months did not bring much changes (I wasn't expecting though). I believe I made the biggest mistake in my life to have HT in first place. My life has become a nightmare ever since. My confidence has simply vanished, I don't go out anymore, I don't meet people, I don't socialise. I feel extremely uncomfortable even going outside. My hairline looks horrible. Like the Beast from Beauty and the Beast I just want to break all the mirrors. As a matter of fact I have pretty much changed all the mirrors at home so they never go above my forehead, because I don't wanna see my hair. I don't know what to do. I don't have donor grafts anymore. I really don't know what to do. All my hopes are broken. My whole life is broken

400 grafts of course will not change anything. It was just a comment from Dr. Rahal's meeting. If I ever do it again, of course it won't be 400 grafts... I also do not really agree that 1400 was too little. While it's of course a small amount of grafts but it was estimated not only by Dr. Rahal himself but by other surgeons as well that I don't need more than 2000 grafts to restore it to reasonable density. In fact, some have said that transplanting more than 2100 would not be a good idea as it could imbalance the hairline where transplanted area would look more dense than the existing hair. I don't not necessarily agree with that but still.. I don't think if we would do 2000 it would make huge difference. Besides Dr. Rahal wanted to transplant more in the back that he did with 1400 but the hairline was pretty much as he planned it with 2000 grafts. @Mickey85 In my case new hair are very thin first but after a month or so they do mature. Which is why there is difference between 5 and 6 months. In my previous post maybe I didn't express myself clear but I was referring to overall results, not just hairline. And hair at the back of the temples matured since then. If you would look at the first 6 months pic you will that the hairline is pretty much the same as at 4.5 months. I did have growth at the back of the temples but the hairline changed insignificantly. Again, because new hair are very thin they are even hard to see in the mirror camera wouldn't pick them up until they mature.

6.5 Moths update Mood: Not suicidal Friends & Family: Asking where exactly did I have have hair transplant. They see 0% difference between now and pre-op. Dr. Rahal comments: In July I met with Dr. Rahal in London to review my progress. He said that it will continue to thicker, which is true. I do feel (like stubble) hair popping up. Overall: Well it did improve form 4 moths but insignificantly. At the end of the "temples" I do see hair growth and it's good I should say. But there is no hairline which is what I need… Dr. Rahal also said that he will do 400 grafts free of charge and we agreed to meet again later in 2013 to review the final outcome. While I know that is not possible to predict the results for patients and I do know that Dr. Rahal and his team do want their patients to have great results. I still think that perhaps there could be some kinds of test or something that could help surgeons to delivery better results for patients like me. It looks like I am not suitable for FUE or maybe even for HT at all... Below are the pics. I know that some people may say. You should be lucky, you have enough hair anyway and blah blah blah. Well, yes maybe I do and my hair loss is not as noticeable as for some other guys. However the purpose of the hair transplant surgery is not be happy about what you had but to be happy about new results…

With regards to my procedure: I mostly slept through it. However I do remember that Dr. Rahal did a part of extractions for me. It was in the beginning and when I woke up it was also Dr. Rahal who was sitting and doing extractions. But of course a part of extractions were done by Mike as it is with other patients. As far as I remember Matt said his extractions were also done by Mike... After the procedure Dr. Rahal did incisions and technicians inserted(implanted) the grafts. As far as I know surgeons do not implant the grafts. This is what I heard also from many clinics. I also felt asleep during the implantation part but when I woke up Dr. Rahal was in the room overseeing the process and giving instructions to the technicians. I don't think I received a B class service or something. From the comments I heard from other patients and people I met in the guest house, this is how it works in general and this is how it is in many clinics. P.S They did NOT use robotic system during my procedure.

Hello, I will upload some pix and comments from my meeting with Dr Rahal some time next week. There are no updates on my hairline, it has improved maybe by 10%. My colleagues, friends and family see 0% difference though.

5 months updates. I won't be uploading pictures this time, if you want to see how it looks like, you can take a look at the picture on Page 2 (June 2013), there is no difference to it. I was approached by the Dr Rahal's rep (mattj) saying that Dr Rahal will be in London week of July 15 and I should meet him on July 16 to follow-up on my "progress". I still haven't received any confirmation though.

To clarify, I am not expecting my hairline to be full of hair by 4.5 months and I am not making any conclusions. I did however expect to see some signs of growth by now... I do use propecia daily and minoxidil not more than 5 times a week (my skin can be sensitive).

To be honest I don't know where you are seeing "growing nicely" guys. It has been almost 4.5 months now and this what I have - No results. Same think on the right side - No changes since 2012 whatsoever.

Before the surgery there was enough hair to cover the scar. Dr Rahal said there is still enough to cover it even after this surgery should I decide to have a 3rd surgery in the future. I don't see how this would be possible looking at my donor area now, if I only grow long hair maybe it will cover...

Yeah, about 250 on each side. I believe I have those 250 on each side from the previous surgery so it should make 2000 in the end. I think I have standard head for the person of my size. It's not big or small, it's just right Btw, I have decided not to shave my head so in one month time I should start seeing if there is any new growth from this surgery and how much.