pidda

Thanks for the replies. Once again, using more donor grafts is absolutely not an option for me and I am not at all interested in that. I rather laser off the hairline over adding more grafts to it.

I didn't think pictures would have mattered too much but I can post some for fun. To be honest, when I look at these pictures again (Taken 4+ years postop) I have a strong desire just to shave off the grafts because I HATE how it looks, I think I looked WAY better without the grafts for this haircut. Again, maybe if I grow it out longer maybe it would blend in more but at that point I would have never bothered with the surgery in the first place.

I've talked to other doctors that I've trusted and they recommended that I get no more work done. I don't think getting more grafts would benefit my life whatsoever. This was a complete regret and mistake from day one. It was a very important life lesson, I see the world differently now

I consider finasteride side-effect free so I moved on to dutasteride for fun. Of course, I cannot speak for everybody

I don't see the point is using any more donor grafts, I already feel completely tapped out of donor, I don't think I have nearly as much donor as I was led to believe. I might just do nothing and move on with my life.

I would say that maybe it is similarly effective as topical minoxidil. I get horrible side effects from minoxidil and I only use finasteride/dutasteride. It probably doesn't stop hair loss but it might slow it down. I wouldn't mind adding a growth stimulant that works differently from DHT blockers. There was that French topical product that claims similar regrowth to minoxidil that I was using for a while but I got lazy using it and forget I even had it.

I never cared for the hair transplant i got from a robotic clinic a few years ago. Turns out that the hair transplant bugs me way more than hair loss ever did and I feel as if I learned things the hard way. I just wish I could go back to my previous scalp without any surgery and I would have had way more self-esteem and confidence in myself. Even though it was just fue, my donor area never felt the same and I think I had some nerve damage from the surgery. There is no greater regret in my life. Even with fresh haircuts, I still think I look better without the grafts. Maybe if i grow it out longer I would like it better, but with my normal short haircuts I completely don't care about the grafts. So anyway, I am curious about just lasering off the grafts from that unnatural looking graft hairline. The robot had very poor growth but I don't think I would still be satisfied even if all the grafts grew. This surgery was never for me. Never been so disappointed or let down so much by anything.... would never seriously consider an elective surgery again most likely

im rooting for you

Well, as for me personally, I would never trust the ARTAS robot ever again no matter how many "updates" or "upgrades" it has in the future. I would only trust manual punches in the right hands from now on.

For example, this is probably a bad idea: http://www.hairsite.com/hair-loss/board_entry-id-124213.html

I agree.

please don't goto bosley

I don't have a happy story to tell you guys... I regret getting this procedure done. I feel as if the hairline design of it being really straight and having a very visible density difference with my natural hair beneath doesn't look natural to me. I think this could have maybe worked if the hairline was more "U" shaped. I also believe that the robot has significantly lower yield than compared to a manual punch. Plus I believe I notice some hypopigmentation scarring in the donor that probably wouldn't be there if an actual 0.9mm manual punch was used instead since the robot isn't a true 0.9mm punch since it also uses a 1.2mm one (yikes!). I really wish the clinic talked me out of this as I would have been a much happier camper without any surgery. If I was aware that the ARTAS robot is only FDA approved for straight brown hair, I wouldn't have even done this kind of procedure as my hair color is not brown. I suppose the life lesson here is that the research isn't going to be spoon fed to you. For anybody that is even seriously considering the ARTAS robot for a transplant, I highly recommend reading a thread on a forum (use a search engine) made by topccat29 regarding robotic FUE.

still expecting more yield but new hairs are popping up

5.5 months post op fresh #2 electric razor shave. Finally got someone to help me take pictures. EDIT: My electric razor does not represent the traditional #2 (1/4th inch) correctly, this is much closer or is exactly a #1 guard setting (1/8th inch). The shockloss in the donor area recovered very nicely and I am content with the way it looks now.

Here are the 5 month post op pics. Still no haircut since late January. One of the pictures is wet with hair styled up. No concealers used in any of the pictures.

I was hoping dutasteride would give me regrowth but it mostly caused me to shed a hell of a lot more than finasteride, maybe with some mild regrowth. RU58841 was something I added just for the hell of it because some people claim hairloss is also caused by testosterone and RU58841 supposedly blocks DHT & T from reaching the follicle locally instead of internally. Some people use RU58841 alone with decent success so it seems.

Thanks. Yeah, Dr. Yates seems like a good guy, I just felt my decision was a little hasty as I didn't think I was able to handle the first three months properly. I been exercising a lot and have a personal trainer now. I can understand the concern for grafts taken out of the traditional safe zone, but I actually feel neutral about it, maybe there was a good reason for it?

4 months post-op. I'm going to have a good buddy help me do some future pictures.

I shaved to a #1 about two weeks ago. These are January 26th photos. I think there might be some shockloss that is yet to be resolved? I think at this point, I can't get away shaving shorter than #2, while #3 is on the safe side. If the donor doesn't change then I'm done with messing with transplants for good. Looks different in pictures compared to real life, hard to explain. Maybe I need a better camera?

ya i didn't expect 3 months to show much, I just wanted people to know I didn't abandon my thread

Three months post op. Maybe my life isn't too eventful but this has been the most stressful three months I ever had in my life. While I don't mind having a 0.9mm punch used on me, I'm not sure if the artas robot has an advantage over doctors that preform manual fue in 0.7-0.9mm punch sizes with consistently great results without transecting. Not sure if the one-size-fits all approach is the best. Not sure if I'd ever be interested in using up anymore donor in the future as it put a bigger dent in it than I thought. I didn't do the math or did any research plus I didn't put much thought into my decision while having price and convenience as a factor. A week prior to agreeing to the surgery, I didn't seriously have the thought of doing a surgery at all. On a positive note, the recipient area looks great without any cobble-stoning or ridging so far. I am hoping the donor will fill up more, I had severe shockloss in the donor and recipient area that mostly recovered after 3-4 weeks.

I think people should consider going about fue in 500-1000 graft sessions at a time to see if transplantation is right for them. Past 1000 starts to make a dent in the donor. 2500 is a lot but shouldn't exhaust the donor I think. Waiting 6-12 months post op should give you a good idea of what the final outcome of your donor area. I think I am also still having shockloss in the donor, you just got to wait it out, grow it out and try not to worry about it.

Could be shockloss? Wait another 3 months before you start to worry.

That's all the fin you ever used? Seems like me back in october/november of 2011 when I used finasteride once and felt what I thought to be super heavy side effects like gyno and e.d. and quit for a few months only to use it every day starting February of 2012 without any problems what so ever after a day. Seeing my crown starting to go made me want to try it again. Anyway, I bet you could quit RU for two weeks without problems for a HT. I'm not sure how I'd feel about relying on experimentals only tho but for some people, it's their only option.