Cryingoutloud

I'm sure Dr. Diep's aftercare instructions would have warned STRONGLY against exposing the recipient area to sunlight during the early months. What are you doing allowing your head to get sunburnt?

In my view, several hours of implantation/supervision shouldn't put that much of a strain on a surgeon who's passionate and committed to making sure his/her patient comes out with a killer result. That being said, I fully accept that techs are part of the process. They are there to - in the case of strip procedures - dissect the follicular units and assist with implantation of those FUs into slits made by the surgeon under his close supervision. You can't have doctors wandering off and leaving techs to conduct so crucial a procedure without appropriate oversight. Techs and co-surgeons should NOT be making recipient slits or implanting FUs without the lead surgeon - the one recommended by the HRN site - being present. I'm sure that your result will be good but not as sure as I would be if you'd said that Dr. Path had made the incisions and overseen the implantations.

I had FUT 3 years ago. Was uncomfortable for 4 months, shock loss started to correct itself after 5 months and still have ever-so-minor numbness. 3 months ago, I underwent FUE to add density. Surgeon took photos of my scar after shaving donor down for FUE; said it was one of the most discreet he'd ever seen. Lucky me! Donor was uncomfortable for about 4-6 weeks after the procedure. No shock loss but the hair in my donor area simply didn't grow for a couple of months, After that . . . BAM, it took off like a rocket and I was back to having to have a trim every 10 days.

Dr. Pathomvanich is a well-respected surgeon with a lot of good results behind him but it's the consistency or rather that of the techs and assistant doctors that could be an issue. There are rumours that he only excises the strip and does the closure while the techs and his co-surgeon do the implantations. Check out results for former patients wb280, jason5 and akuma. If you can get 100% assurances that you'll get a Pathomvanich transplant, I'd book without hesitation. The guy's a legend. If you end up getting a tech/co-surgeon transplant, do yourself a favour and save yourself a LOT of anguish - keep looking.

Grigriman got an excellent result. I do think, however, that the pictures taken in sunlight do provide a timely reminder of the limitations of hair restoration procedures that must cover a relatively large area with a relatively small number of grafts. Obviously, there's probably more maturation and thickening to come but those pictures do highlight why a longer hairstyle is necessary to complete the illusion of a full head of hair. The current hairstyle tends to emphasize the difference in density between native and transplanted hair but Bisanga's work - as always - is stunning

Kudos to Garageland for that post. Doesn't matter which celebs a clinic has done. Look at Wayne Rooney's FUE . . . not much cop. How you finance your procedure is up to you obviously. You won't be the first to borrow to pay for what is essentially elective surgery and I doubt you'll be the last. As Garageland said, though, it's worth looking at family members on both sides for a clue as to where you might end up by the time you're 30, 40 years old and plan your grafts carefully

New hope for this guy thanks to clever usage of just 2500 grafts. Doubt anyone could have put those grafts to better use than Dr. Mwamba

Nice job

Wow isn't that amazing? A patient posts about his disappointment with a surgeon and then, out of nowhere, a glowing review is posted in rebuttal by a guy making his first post on the forum.

I just gave up in the end

You don't go to the trouble of taking well-lit photos, uploading them to a blog, doing the written updates and then, when your "ugly duckling" phase gives way to solid, consistent growth, turn around and say "I'm not gonna bother sharing my delight and elation with all the guys on the forum who gave me encouragement when I was at my lowest" . . . unless, of course, you HAVEN'T had the growth or the result you were expecting. For every coalition surgeon, there are likely a thousand hacks each churning out anything from passable to horrendous results. The whole raison d'etre for this forum is the fact that there was, at one time, a totally justified perception that hair restoration procedures invariably turned out less than favourable results for a significant number of patients. Even now, hair mills like Bosley crank out borderline butcheries on a weekly basis so this forum remains relevant because there's a very good chance that going to any old surgeon will end in tears. If there were only a tiny percentage of failures in hair restoration on the whole, the forum wouldn't be here. You're right though; we can't possibly know what proportion of those "guests" are doing HTs, thinking about it or just interested in looking at pictures. We can only base our opinions on the evidence we're actually presented with and, in this context, that's blogs and results threads. With more than a few blogs or threads being abandoned after a few months, there's a high likelihood that poor results are to blame.

OK well hang on a second; no one's asking about your CURRENT procedure but you DID said this is your SECOND procedure with the same surgeon. I'm assuming you were happy with the first procedure over a YEAR ago but during the one year post-operative period, you just didn't have time to take a photo of your result to SHARE with the community that shared with YOU. I'm willing to bet a fair sum of money that when YOU were deciding on whom to use for your HT, you found the up-to-date before/after photos uploaded by other patients useful but you don't feel the need to reciprocate and, instead, tell people who might be curious as to how your result looks before committing themselves to "do a search". Way to go with the "I'm-alright-Jack-Pull-up-the-ladder" attitude Enjoy your result :rolleyes:

Exceptional result with the hairline density but, personally, I would've addressed the mid-scalp towards the crown area. Looks a bit silly to my eyes with a thick dense hairline and a large thinning area behind it. Hats off to him for trying the Wolverine hairstyle, though Just a shame the site took 2 days to load the 37 photos. OK, that was a gross exaggeration but you get the point.

Hmm 1 year, 2 pages, 20 posts, lots of gushing . . . and not ONE photo

As I was reading through this thread, I found myself thinking about TygerD's experience with the same surgeon and then, as if by magic, he appears in the thread. Jay6, I feel for you. I don't give a toss what the doctor says; the "slow grower" line is pure BS. After 6 months you should be able to see a damn sight more growth than that. You DO NOT want to be given the brush off with "give it 12 or 18 months". The surgeon didn't deliver; that's it, plain and simple! Why prolong the disappointment - get it dealt with ASAP. You've lost 6 months already; don't make it a year Ask for a refund and get yourself to a surgeon who's actually competent with African hair.

Most of the coalition surgeons also post the same results to a couple of the other hair loss sites. Just go there until HRN pulls its finger out and fixes this somewhat dated website

Cheers, Mickey. I think that when someone starts a forum blog or a thread cataloguing their procedure and then abandons it, it's 99% certain that it's because he had a disappointing result. For every guy who comes back to the forum to complain about his result, there are 5 or 10 guys who suffer in silence out of depression or embarrassment after spending months excitedly blowing the HT trumpet and raised hopes. The thing is, though, there's a LOT to be gained by patients raising their concerns on this forum especially, of course, if the surgeon is recommended on here. I've heard of people gaining partial or full refunds that they've used to fund successful follow-ups with alternative surgeons. One guy, who shall remain nameless, came on and complained about a coalition surgeon without mentioning his name. He told the surgeon about the thread and the fact that he hadn't named him. The result was bad enough to compromise the surgeon's rep on here so he authorized a refund after the patient signed a confidentiality agreement promising never to name the surgeon, to let the thread die and never to post under that username again. I firmly believe that most patients accept there are no guarantees with this surgery but they're prepared to take the risk. The fact that those raising complaints are quickly suppressed with phrases like "how was your after-care?", "5 months is still very early", "give it 18 months" or "you're a slow grower" just serve to reinforce the sense among some patients that the problem must be with them. How, after all, can a surgeon capable of producing such sublime, delightful work be at fault? Well they CAN be at fault so anyone with a poor result needs to speak up.

Surfmusic, this thread was started to raise questions about Dr. Charles' APPARENT involvement with hair mills around the US. In this context, a "mill" is an establishment or a chain of establishments where low quality, low-priced hair transplants are carried out by practitioners possessed of minimal skill or experience. Their existence isn't illegal since "mills" like Bosley have been around butchering patients for years. What is troubling is that Dr. Charles is a recommended surgeon on this forum but SEEMS TO BE lending his name and reputation to enhance the credibility of another practice or chain of practices that hasn't earned it. People see his name, his photo, his credentials and the fact that he's a HRN coalition doctor and naturally assume that they can get the benefit of his experience and reputation without having to pay top dollar by going to one of these hair mills. You can't hijack every thread that mentions Dr. Charles just because he was in business with the surgeon that did you wrong. Although it might not be obvious to you right now, this thread could help you in a BIG WAY . . . . IF you give it time and stop pissing people off.

On this forum alone, there are countless patients who've started blogs while gushing enthusiastically about their surgeons and speculating on their results. They've rattled on about everything from what they had for breakfast and the colour of the upholstery in the taxi on the way to surgery. They've posted pictures at various intervals and received the usual "You've got so much more growth to come" or "you chose a hell of a surgeon" or "you're gonna look great" and then . . . . . Nothing!! They disappear never to be heard from again. People ask, "Where's that guy? His post-op looked great" and someone will say something like, "He's probably out enjoying his hair" but that's total BS. If a guy is enthusiastic and excited enough to commit to maintaining a blog about his HT, doesn't it stand to reason that if he's getting the growth he'd hoped for and more, he'd make sure everyone knew he'd hit it outta the park? Frankly, I think there are loads more failures than docs are prepared to admit and I think there are a lot of people on here who are far too eager to wrap cotton wool around mickey mouse results for fear of upsetting surgeons or damaging their reputations. They use the forum to showcase their successes and that's fine but why shouldn't patients use the forum to showcase less than successful procedures. Typically, a fantastic result is attributed to the surgeon's skill/artistry while a failure is often blamed on patient physiology. By choosing a surgeon recommended by this forum who does NOT delegate everything to his techs, one can significantly reduce the chance of a disappointing result. The easiest way to find out if your surgeon does the work himself or runs off to have lunch while his techs practice on your scalp is to ask his previous patients or read write ups on here detailing their recollections of the procedure. I realise some doctors knock people out during the procedure and while they might post great results, personally, I think it's worrying. YMMV Remember, they're YOUR aesthetics that YOU are gonna have to live with for the rest of YOUR life after the surgeon's moved on to the next guy so, wherever possible, don't cut corners on cost and don't be afraid to get on a plane.

OK well we're in August now. Any updates on this case.

Definitely loving the Fabio style. And why not? Outstanding result

I think Diep has more experience with FUE than Rahal. If you want the gold standard of FUE, you need to fly to Europe

Look, you know EXACTLY what this site aims to do so you KNOW that the surgery/clinic you plan to use for your FUE is NOT recommended here. For every recommended surgeon on this site, there are 100 others who do hair transplants. Some will be good, some bad, some will be dreadful. If you want peace of mind with a surgeon who has a cast iron track record, you'd be better off choosing one recommended by this site. If you still want to use your ADHI go ahead but you run the real risk that after a year, you COULD end up crying with a crap result, a depleted donor and thousands of dollars out of pocket.

Thank You !!! If I'm paying top dollar for a surgeon, I don't want techs - no matter how experienced - handling the procedure. Techs are there to dissect strips into grafts and - UNDER THE FULL SUPERVISION OF THE SURGEON - help with the implantations. I know some clinics/practices have two procedures running concurrently on any given day and that's fine . . . . but they ain't getting my business because, by definition, the doctor can't give full attention to two patients when they're in different rooms, right? I expect the DOCTOR - the guy with the experience, the guy with the formal qualification, the guy with his name above the door - to be present no less than 100% of the time. If I wanted a tech transplant, I wouldn't be paying €6 - €8 per graft; I'd be going to a hair mill like Bosley.