Since21

Looking at others picture it seems to me that many would have already some hair growth by now, even if not much. Most of my transplanted area is just bold. When touching it feels totally bold and it is hard to believe hair will grow. It does not feel at all as after shaving when you can still feel the hairs to grow soon.

 

What is your experience ?

You and I have a similar hair loss pattern and I am 6 months post-op now - 3,452 grafts in the frontal third. Growth started in earnest for me at 2 months and 3 weeks. Matt1978 said he experienced the same thing. The dormant 'ugly duckling' stage is pretty nerve-wracking and will have you questioning 'What the hell did I do?' I think I've achieved 100% growth by now, but to my surprise it appears to be getting fuller and denser. I say 'to my surprise' because at every stage I have wondered 'Is this it?' By the way, Bisanga was one of my top two choices for surgeons. Looking forward to seeing your results.

Another of my concern is the vertex/crown area. I post a before and after picture. It seems I have lost quite some hairs there since the surgery and I don't know why as shock loss would rather happen around the transplanted area or the scar area. My hair are shorter now than before the surgery but still. Any comment on that ?

I looked at your pre-op and current pics of your crown and again, I experienced the same concern. Both my surgeon and hairdresser said they saw no difference in my crown. I think it may have been my imagination, but to be honest, the mid-scalp and crown behind my graft area does appear thinner in my eyes. I wish I could find the thread, but there was a recent discussion on here about that. They don't call it a journey for nothing. Hang in there and try to relax. Everything you're feeling and experiencing is normal.

I read about this very thing a couple of months ago before I took a trip to South Africa. The consensus was to stay covered up and protected in the sun for at least 6 months. I believe Dr. Feller weighed in on the subject and advised the same. He cited a patient who got severe sunburn in his graft site at around 4-5 months and had to be treated with topical steroids.

This month has really been good. Have noticed a lot of thickening of the hairs. Right side is catching up with the left; still a bit weak but much better since month 7.

This is good to hear since I am 6 months post-op and notice gradual thickening, but still hope to see improvement.

Hi Ashwin, I just went through a bout of severe dermatitis in my donor hair. As Blake described, they were large, yellowish, greasy flakes that started out as smaller and white. I ignored it and continued with regular shampooing and it grew worse. My surgeon recommended a rotation of T/Sal, T/Gel and Nizoral and it cleared up after about a week or two and I went back to my regular shampooing. Big mistake. It came back and when I started with the T/Sal, my scalp burned and tingled for several days after.

I went and saw my dermatologist who prescribed a rotation of Ciclopirox, DHS and Nizoral (I use Regenepure Dr instead) shampoos, along with a topical application of Ciclopirox and Triamcinolone Acetonide Lotion for 3 nights. Problem immediately solved. I'm continuing with the rotation of shampoos for a month.

My scalp has never felt healthier since I have always struggled with dandruff and flaking. Consult your surgeon and a dermatologist. An in-person visit is advised. My surgeon was a little surprised by the aggressiveness of my dermatologist's approach, but he wasn't aware of any inflammation just from reviewing the pictures I sent him.

Good luck.

Finally have my self-confidence back and these days my hair is not bothering me any more.

That is a successful outcome. Congratulations, my friend!

I have been told in a consultation, that there is a risk with FUE, in that the curvature of the hair can be more easily determined with FUT, but with FUE because the hair is shaved down, there is a slight risk that the curvature is harder to determine, and when implanting, the curvature is very important.

I have never heard of this - 'curvature' of the hair. Anyone care to explain?

Also, from your pics, I'm surprised you need 2,000 - 3,000 grafts.

im thinking of doing it in my 30's also

Smart man. Life doesn't end at 30 as some here would have you believe. Personally, I'd wait until my mid-to-late 30s when your pattern of loss is more established and predictable.

Dr. K's "scars" are quite awesome! Almost not even there

My hairstylist literally can't find mine.

I think you can't go wrong with Bisanga or Lorenzo.

I second that. Have you considered Konior in Chicago? He does both FUT and FUE and is a former plastic surgeon, so he may be able to address your scar as well.

Just to update, I am going for my second procedure with Dr Lorenzo on Friday. Will update again on fri/sat, let you all know how it went and upload some pics. *excited*

Good luck, man! Heal and grow well.

hsrp, you had a touch up procedure after the one you had 9 months ago? Or was that the touch up procedure? How many grafts were used in the touch up?

Note that Carrie did not wind up with that guy in the end.

What is the PCID?

Geez, the man does it all with artistry and expertise. Anyone know if Dr. Konior does FUE with manuel or motorized punch grafts?

Totally normal. I'm 5.5 months out and still regaining sensation in parts of my scalp.

I made better decisions at 23 than 21 and even better at 30...so maturity or mature advice is an excellent component of the decision tree for prospective patients.

This.

And even better decisions at 35 than 30 and better still at 40 than 35. When I was 25, I could never imagine being 40, and contrary to what you believe then, life is not over at 40. In fact, it's really just getting started because you have a better sense of self.

It's imperative that a young guy who is thinking about surgery realize that he's buying a hairline that has to look age appropriate at age 30, 40, 50 etc.

Do you have a general rule of thumb for setting the height of a hairline when considering advancing age? I know each case is different, but say you have a 30 year old patient with all things being equal in terms of his hair loss and progression of loss, where do you set his hairline at 30 while taking into account the future? 7cm? 8cm?

Please stick to the scope of each topic when replying.

Bill, with all due respect, I know you have interests to protect, but let's be honest, a doctor's judgment and ethics are surely a valid part of the discussion when choosing a surgeon, and Mickey is simply stating an opinion with regards to one of the three surgeons being evaluated in this discussion. We all use other cases as a means of determining a surgeon's value.

What's the saying? “It takes a lifetime to build a good reputation, but you can lose it in a minute.” Sometimes it only takes one case to change your opinion of a surgeon - whether that's based on their skill or ethics. That's our prerogative as members of this community.

I agree with the music. However I thought the patient's commentary was great, he has alot of character and sounds upbeat. Especially for a guy who has been through 30-something years of archaic hair surgery.

I just thought it sounded scripted, which reminded me of a testimonial advert versus it being organic and off-the-cuff.

Looking good.

Are you clipping the recipient area? Transplanted hair will always look fuller when 2-3 inches long, dry, separated, and styled to layer like shingles on a roof. It will look thinner when cut short, spiked up, parted through, wet or clumped with product.

Being in the UK, why aren't you considering Lorenzo? For density and coverage, I haven't seen better.

Great result. But what a strange video. Feels scripted and the music is cheesy. I prefer Lorenzo's 'quiet' approach. I apologize for being overly critical of the video, but as someone who remembers all those Bosley infomercials of the 80s, I cringe when I see anything that even remotely reminds me of those dark days of hair replacement.

There is no minimum age, but I'd suggest waiting at least until your mid-30s when your hair loss pattern is more established and determinable. In the meantime, I'd get on finasteride to preserve what you have and slow down future loss (at least in the mid-scalp and crown). That said, I know how self-conscious I was throughout my 20s losing my hair and always hoped there would be some miraculous breakthrough other than surgery that would save my hair. If hair transplantation were where it is right now, I may have went through with it then. Thankfully, something in my gut told me not to do it. I'd most likely be a repair case now.

If you can hold off doing it 10-20 years, who knows what they'll come up with and FUE is just going to keep getting better. Let's face it, it's a battle against Mother Nature and one you're not going to win. For me, surgery was the last resort. I held out as long as I could.

Still too early to make a full assessment. Try to relax and give it time. I'm a little further along than you and still have a see-through look in my entire frontal third. I'm not sweating it yet, it's still early days. If hair transplants were meant to be evaluated at 4-6 months, the entire industry would be an abysmal failure. It can take a year or more for full results to come in. You chose well with your surgeon. Try to have a little faith.

The Turkish surgeons are generally much more aggressive and do sometimes 4,000-4,500 grafts in one day! Granted they have techs assisting with the punching, extracting and implanting but I personally believe it is too much for the patient.

It seems like this forum has been seeing more and more suboptimal results out of Turkey. Wouldn't be my first choice for FUE. Lorenzo, Bisanga and Feriduni still top my list.