johndoe1

No noticeable difference

Correct

Sorry too busy over the next few weeks to take/upload new pics, but my 6-month post further above pretty much syncs up with this 2-yr assessment. Pros - My hairline is low and looks youthful - No one has any idea I had a HT. That includes the donor area. Cons - Density IMHO really should be 2x. I shave my hair short so it hides the density issue. But if I had longer hair I think one could definitely tell where the balding area is. Overall still very happy though. When I look back at pre-HT pics, I wince at my high hairline in em

I did a 1500 graft FUE with Diep about 18 months ago. Click on my name and you will see a post where I detail it. The guy is legit..I looked at 2 other docs and picked him. In my posts, I esp detail the first few weeks. Yes, your hair will fall out with the crusts still on it. This is expected. And even the existing hair will fall out from shock loss. So for a few weeks you likely will look *worse* then before. In my case I think it was between 1-2 months where things started getting better then the "before"...so be patient. Fast forward to today and I am very happy with his work.

Ok, here is my 180 day/6 month update. Bottom line is that I am very happy with the procedure. See attached pic with the first being a “before” and the rest being now. My hairline before was 3 inches above my eyebrows and even then the first inch above this was very sparse. Now the hairline starts around 2.25 inches and looks full, knocking 5-10 yrs off my appearance easy. People at work ask if I have done something diff with my hair, my friends know something has changed with my appearance but can’t put a finger on it, and I definitely get more attention from the ladies...which I’m not complaining about Also, no lingering numbness or redness. It’s not all perfect though. One con is that the density could be thicker. I would estimate the density in the recipient areas is like 30-50% that of the donor area. Pic 2 is what my hair looks like in very bright light if you are inches from it. But in other lighting and if you are at more of a distance, it looks more like pic 3. Also, I cut my hair at around razor length 1 so this lack of density is not really noticeable, but if I went to razor level 2/3 you would be able to tell the hair in the front is less dense. But to be clear today is still a MAJOR improvement over where I was before. So net-net I am very happy. Now when I see pics of myself I smile at my new/youthful hairline…instead of wincing at my slowly receding hairline!

Didn't mean to imply Pak has left NHI...just that Rassman is no longer working Rassman was a pioneer in fue and many fue docs today were trained by him (incl Diep who did my fue in NorCal). That's why when I was researching good fue docs in California, Rassman was on my short list. I did a phone consultation with Rassman and for what it is worth he did say at least 40% of his procedures are FUE. And he has done thousands of FUEs over the years. I would encourage the original poster to do more research on this forum (and other forums) on Pak and his fue abilities. If it comes back positive, a phone consultation can't hurt...

The pills probably were Propecia (active ingredient is finasteride). Please do some online research on this for yourself to learn the facts around it. While Propecia can have negative side effects, this happens to a small % of users (one data point....I have been on it for ~15 years with no issue I also use Rogaine. And I got a 1500 graft FUE done a few months ago so for sure I am not stopping the medications) Assuming you take this medication, then the real question is it worth getting a FUE? If you have accelerated hair loss AND thin hair you may very well find that your first FUE works for a few years...then you lose more hair....then need another FUE...then you lose more hair...then you need another FUE...you get the point. You eventually run out of donor hair and you are worse off then when you started b/c you have small FUE scars everywhere and your wallet is lighter. My advice would be try the medication first to see how you react to it. If no side effects and it stops/slows the hair loss, then a FUE is a feasible option and proceed with that.

Umar and Pak in SoCal both have excellent reputations. Pak worked with and was trained by Rassman who is a pioneer of FUEs

+1 to what others said. Avoid Bosley. In NorCal Diep is good (I did 1500 FUE with him..click on my name to see my thread with pics so far). Umar and Rassman in SoCal are very very good as well. Rassman actually trained Diep Also I am fairly certain Rassman is now retired, but his colleague Pak is supposedly top notch...

I remember looking at your pics way back at the "ugly duckling" stage. Daaaang...what a massive improvement since then!! Congrats!

Wow - what a difference from month 3 - congrats! And ya still have ~7 months to go

what would be helpful is if you shared the # of hairs. Anyhow there are plenty of pics of the donor area right after HT. See the link I sent you for my own pics. The donor area can be large, even for 1500 hairs, so I highly doubt you can somehow cover it all up with longer/existing hair. See my day 1 pics - a pic is worth a thousand words. Also I would NOT put Toppix or any other chemicals on the recipient area. Google Toppix ingredients and you will see plenty of chemicals in it. Before my FUE I read the "post op directions" for at least 10 different, trusted docs and as a rule of thumb, they all say to keep the transplant area free of harsh chemicals/dyes for at least 30 days. For the first 2 weeks really only indirect saline/water. *Maybe* at say day 14 when all the wounds have fully closed. I would say toppix is okay. Trust me when I say this....a HT is a large investment in time, pain, and $. You do NOT want to take a chance of hurting hair growth during the critical first 10-14 days by putting chemicals on the open wounds. Be conservative here....treat each transplanted hair like it is the most precious thing on earth

Just reading this now. Glad it worked out for ya. I was going to suggest you NOT put the Neosporin on the transplant area. I researched a ton before my FUE and all the docs said Neosporin/Bactrin only on the donor area. Transplant area was just saline/indirect water esp because they are essentially open wounds and you want to keep lotions off of them. But again, it looks like Neosporin worked for ya, so congrats

You can look at my "story" below. I also was receding in the front...like a Norwood 2/3. I did 3 consultations with very good FUE docs (recommended on this forum) and consensus was 1500 grafts. That said, def stick with Rogaine and Propecia. I did that starting at 24 and it held my hair in check until now...I am 40. I agree with others that you should hold off for now esp until you get a better feel for how the meds are working (or not working) .... http://www.hairrestorationnetwork.com/eve/174273-1500-fue-grafts-dr-diep.html

Try Rogaine also. Anecdotal evidence indicates it may work in the frontal area..worth a shot. Agree with other posters. Do NOT rush out and get a HT now. Lets the meds run their course and also see what your hair loss is like after a few years. If it is very aggressive, it is not worth getting a HT b/c you will inevitably have to shave your head at some point and you will regret the tiny FUE scars. I am 40 and just now got my first HT (1500 FUE). As others said, you will care about your hair past 35 Also some docs in the US do "micrografts" which are smaller procedures of like 500 hairs to fill in small bald areas. But again, do not even do this yet...

I did a phone consultation with Rassman last year. Yes, Dr Pak is now doing the HTs and Rassman is pretty much retired from HTs

+10 to what others said. Do not worry about price..it is all about getting the best doc possible. When you are at home recovering you will be staring at your head endlessly. Then the next few weeks/months you will still be staring at it and hoping for hair to grow. And you will have zero regrets that you went with the best doc possible even if it cost you more....

I am 3 months into a 1500 FUE. Per the prior comments, people WILL notice 2 days in. For me it was 14 days of time off. Heck, between shock loss and redness, for me it was around the 2/3 month mark where my head went back to "normal". Not trying to scare you...I'm happy I got a HT...just trying to set your expectations correctly http://www.hairrestorationnetwork.com/eve/174273-1500-fue-grafts-dr-diep.html

Approx 3 month, Day 97 update Funny what a few weeks can do. 2 weeks ago I was still unhappy with my hair as shock loss was in full effect plus redness in the transplant area was still clearly visible. But in the last few weeks the transplanted hair has started to emerge and it has hidden most of the redness. And I dyed my hair brown again so the new hair is more visible. See attached pics - clipper length is prob around a 2. So now I am happy with where I am given I am 3 months in. The hairline is lower for sure then where it was pre-FUE (see my initial post for the before pic) I resumed Rogaine about a month after the FUE (FYI - never stopped the Propecia) and do it twice a day so maybe that helped, but who knows. Anyhow, now I just wait for more hair to emerge over the next ~9 months. The density right now is not where I want it to be, but hopefully that changes down the road

My twin, identical bro is a lucky son of a gun. He has a full head of hair...absolutely no hair loss Also, he has been on propecia they same time I started it. That was some 16 yrs ago when we were around 24 yrs old and we both noticed hair falling out.

I didn't notice a steroid shot in the waiver and have no idea if I got one Would've been fine with me either way though. My post HT trauma was pretty much in line with what others see (crusting, pain, redness, numbness, some swelling around forehead/eyes, etc.) IMHO the HT is so traumatic to the head in general, I don't think the steroid shot really is something to worry about. Search the forums though for other opinions. Also they will offer you Acell for $500. I paid for it after doing some research on it. It is not FDA-approved to help, but there is some scientific findings that it can help. I figured given all the time/$/pain involved in a HT, why not pay a little more...

Saw your post and it threw up a red flag for me. Not good given I am a recent FUE patient of his! But I poked around a bit & it looks like just the user name changed and his videos are all at: hairtransplantmd - YouTube

Been late in this update, but here is an update for day 37/week 5. See attached photos with hair shaved down to level 1 and dyed. Anyhow, I am right in the "ugly duckling" phase from shock loss. Not only have 80%+ of the transplanted hair fallen out, but some of the surrounding pre-existing hairs have too. So I have gone backwards in the Norwood scale at least half a step. Also redness is still present in the now-bald recipient area matching up exactly with where the new hairs went. Good times I can tell that some coworkers who I have not seen me in weeks notice something is off and I see their eyes dart up to my head. But they are too polite to say anything Anyhow, I just gotta wait it out for the hair to come back. I restarted rogaine a week ago (never stopped propecia) so hopefully that jump starts things. On the positive side, my recovery after the HT was pretty smooth The ingrown hairs and nerve pain went away around 2-3 weeks after. Also, per the attached pics, the donor area hair blends in relatively well with the surrounding hair. Yeah, if you know I had a HT and you are looking for it, you will see the hair is sparser where the donor hair was taken from. But at shaver level 1, a lot of skin shows regardless, so the donor area is not noticeable to the average person.

congrats!!

24 day update: I have been on a multi-week work trip but when back home will post 30-day pics. So crappy old shock loss has hit, as expected. It has taken out at least 50% of the transplanted hairs. Even some of the non-transplanted hair have fallen out. Before was a Norwood 2/3 and now I am prob a 3/4. Plus I can’t dye my hair so now grey hair is showing. So I look 5-10 years *older* then before the HT. Also, my recipient area is still reddish (not as bad as before) and numb. I applied aloe from days 9-15 but it did not seem to help much with the redness. Good times J To be clear, I am not trying to play the gloom card here. Everything that is happening is fully to be expected and I knew this going in. You will look worse before you look better. And that “better” takes around 12 months (can be earlier/later). So for anyone considering a HT, go in eyes wide open on this. Any doc who says you will be back at work in 2-3 days and no one will notice a thing, an HT is painless, etc, is not being honest and you prob should look at a diff doc. Sure, there can be exceptions to this if the HT is minimal and you have long hair to hide it, but still. I fortunately had my hair at shaver length 1 before, so my short hair will not raise an eye with co-workers/friends. On a diff note, I may resume Rogaine (been using it for 10+ yrs), but Rogaine is strong stuff with some harsh ingredients. It caused some itchiness on my head pre-transplant. So right now with the recipient area still red and numb, I don’t want to put something that strong on it. Anyhow, that's it for now. Just gotta wait it out...and say my nightly prayer that my transplanted hairs all come back, thicker & stronger