Rootz

Like Mike said, and I think it's pretty obvious from the photos, the post-op pics are patient submitted. While I agree clinics should post the best most high quality photos/videos, you can't expect a patient to produce the same documentation. Also Mike did say they are trying to post a result every week so I'm sure many of the post-op results will be patient submitted, because most top clinics service out of town patients and I don't know anyone who would spend money to come back to the clinic for pictures to satisfy the requests of the forum.

Not saying Rahal's clinic didn't do this, but in general I think these clinics should provide specific guidelines for the patients who are nice enough to provide follow up pictures. For example, "Please try to provide pictures of the new hair" is not as informative as something like, "Please try to provide pictures of the new hairline/density in the transplanted area with hair pulled back as well as shots of your every day preferred hairstyle from the profile and front."

I also feel the clinic bears some responsibility for publishing the results, even if the pictures (i.e. results) are patient submitted. Again, just speaking in general, not specifically about this case.

Personally I would recommend filling in the temples, but refrain from touching the front at all. Later on down the road (5, 10, 20 years?) if the hairline needs more work and you liked the result on your temples maybe then do the entire hairline.

Well more specifically I would be very interested to see the hair pulled back at the front and temples. Both the hairline and density are obscured by the patient's curly hair draping down in the one frontal post-op pic. As we all know, a lot can be done to change the appearance of hair with just styling and combing. Maybe these type of pics are something you could incorporate in the future. Just a suggestion. I appreciate you posting this case either way.

From what I can see this looks pretty good, but there's a lot I can't see. Revealing the transplanted hairline at a few angles would have been very informative in my opinion.

It's hard to tell how successful the result is because the pictures are basically apples to oranges in terms of comparison. Pre-op his hair is wet and intentionally swept back to reveal the hairline. Post-op his hair is dry and strategically combed to conceal much more of the hairline.

My 2 cents. This is obviously very subjective but over the past half year or so I've searched pretty miticulously and exhaustively at the results of the top FUE surgeons on these forums, including the ones mentioned in this thread. I've looked at results posted by people here, their blogs, and the websites of these surgeons very carefully... I keep coming back and reviewing the same results/stories to weigh them against each other. I've dug around the internet looking for the worst results too. In my humble opinion Feriduni has the best and also most consistent FUE hairline results. Next up would be Bisanga. My criteria for evaluation:

1) Density: Honestly, in most of the pictures posted that I see the actual density of the HT is concealed and manipulated with strategic combing styles and camera angles. A lot of results considered to be a 10/10 by most do not impress me much as there are hints (or different pics) that reveal relatively low density in the transplanted area.

2) Naturalness: It just needs to look natural. The hairlines that follow smooth, straight lines don't cut it. The angling/placement of the hairs and the design of the hairline are big.

3) Consistancy: Pretty much all the top surgeons mentioned have at least one great result, and they tend to only post the best on their website. I've tried to find all the results I can of the surgeons who stood out. How often their results are subpar is important to me.

I know this doesn't specifically answer your question, and well frankly I can't, but I thought I'd at least emphasize that the recovery from a HT is very long and drawn out process, and the results are meant to be permanent. The inconvenience of taking lots and lots of time to research, possibly spend more money, and possibly traveling somewhere other than Southern Cal will pale in comparison in the long run. Not saying your best option isn't in Cali, only that you seriously consider as many options as possible.

Do not rush into it. If it takes another year of saving to go to a world class doc, do it. In my opinion, if someone places high importance on how soon they can get scheduled and get it done as a deciding factor... they're not ready.

With that said, why is Southern Cal on your radar?

Thanks for posting your update! Do you have a pic right after the operation? I'm curious where the 2500 hairs were specifically transplanted.

I am very confused. The shaved pictures on the left are the before pictures? If so, where were the 6105 grafts placed? It looks like he could have actually just grown out his hair and combed over his temples a bit... and vuala, you have the pictures on the right with 0 grafts transplanted.

It does not look like he actually had a HT... like at all. I think this is a good example of not comparing apples to apples.

I'm supposed to apply it twice a day though, if I applied it after working out when would the second time be? Also, based on how potent it is in my sweat 12-15 hours after applying it, I'm pretty sure it would still be present if I only applied it once per day 24 hours before working out.

Am as I! I'm using foam. I haven't tried rinsing my head before working out yet

I apply it in the morning and this problem is happening later in the evening 12 or more hours later

Anyone else have a problem using topical minoxidil and then when working out having to deal with sweat + minoxidil getting in your mouth? I regularly do high intensity cardio and it's impossible to keep sweat out of my mouth... every drip tastes awful, in fact I can still taste the minoxidil from a work out 4 hours ago. It's not only gross but I'm concerned about negative side effects from swallowing some. Any tips? Am I applying too much? Do I need to shower before working out every time to stop this?

Note: sweat bands help but do not solve the problem completely. Every sweat band I've tried will as some point during a hard workout stop absorbing or blocking the sweat, and then I'm back to square one.

I agree with the above, and the pictures are not really comparing apples to apples. The 1 year pic of the crown for example is taken from the front (not a very good angle for the crown IMO) while the others are from behind. I'm sure there was improvement, but the biggest difference between before and after is simply the way the hair is combed and the angle of the pictures. Kind of deceiving.

Fantastic result. At first glance I could not have guessed that many grafts (3300) were needed. Her hairline at the front seemed to only lower around a cm... but when looking again the sides in the new recipient area flare out quite a bit.

Any info on how many sq cm was covered when all was said and done?

Umm... btw it doesn't look like you have any type of hairloss or thinning whatsoever from those pictures and I'd say you're definitely a NW1.

Very impressive how the hairline can be lowered this way. The actual line of her frontal hair was improved upon as well IMO, comes across more aesthically pleasing. If the scar fades more this will be a superb outcome.

Looks pretty good, up close you can tell it's not as dense as the pre-op hairline but I think most would consider this an excellent little improvement. You said the target density was 60 per cm2. Was the density of the result measured also? Was it still 60 per cm2?

Would be interested in seeing pics of the new 130 op

Definitely agree about post op pics with the hair pulled back, similiarly to how it the hair was shown pre op.

It's hard to say for sure how good the result could have been with only 1272 grafts. But I'm inclined to say even still the density around the temples seems too low for that many grafts, maybe there was a low turn out rate. I would have expected more density to be drawn at the edges of the hairline at least, but from what I can tell the density seems low throughout the general area.

I looked through your pictures, and with the ones you posted today in the frontal area I'd say you've reached the point where you have the same if not more hair. It might just be the way your hair is combed but your crown looks thinner now though.

Thanks for posting this result, but personally I find the density to be disappointing. Maybe the 1272 grafts wasn't enough. Was the patient expecting this level of density, and if so what was his reasoning? Financial obligations? Does he have any plans for another HT?

Also is it just me or in the frontal picture 1 year post (edit: third picture) is there still a visible red line where the recipient hair was transplanted? Kind of surprising to me that there would still be visible redness that long after the procedure.

Paul when I said "unexpected" I mean it is very rare when getting older that one's hairline doesn't mature with the temples receding a bit. So the bad news is your hair isn't 100% perfect. The good news, practically no ones is, and your hair looks solid. You definitely don't look like you're going bald at all. But keep an eye on it, because hairloss is unpredictable. Maybe take a picture in the same lightning/angles every few months and continue to track what's going on.

Based on that picture, in my honest opinion your hair looks pretty dang good. There looks to be some minimal recession at the temples, but again minimal.... nothing unexpected. But you're still young, so things could definitely change. If you have any good before photos when you were a teenager that might help.

There are probably people who have seen your hair and are envious

Mattj were you representing Rahal before your HT? Does he give you any sort of compensation for representing him?

Oops I read this again and the title is kind of confusing. I meant to write "recipient area", not "donor area". I think the rest of the post makes sense though. I know there will always be visible scarring in the donor area (for FUE, white dots; for FUT, a line) but I'm curious about the recipient area. It's very hard to see any such scarring there as, well, there's transplanted hair there!