win200

Definitely way, way above average for a flap, and you're lucky in that you can end up with a really great outcome. Go to Konior--I'm sure he can address the back of your head. A relatively few number of grafts in front of the flap should easily camouflage the harshness of the edge.

Under U.S. law, at least, it is highly likely that claiming that an FUE procedure is scar-free would expose you to liability for false advertising--and that's not even considering any consequences with respect to medical/board certification.

Yeah, it's definitely too early to throw up my hands. There would just have to be a significant degree of thickening for it to be something that I would be happy with, but who knows--I've been surprised before. And I don't mind going in for a touch up, so I'm hardly panicking.

Mainly wanted to include these pictures to showcase the degree to which the right side is lagging. The left side looks, by and large, done--it's thick, it's dense, and it's fully integrated in my prior hairline. You couldn't tell where the new hair begins and the old hair ends to save your life. The right side is very different. As you can tell, you can easily see the old hairline very prominently behind the new grafts. I had my hair cut by someone new last week, and she asked, "What happened to this patch here?" I definitely get eye drift towards that area, and a couple folks have asked "what's going on" with the area. I usually put some Dermmatch on that temple because it just looks so out of sync with the left side. That said, I'm not upset about it. Either it fills in and all is well, or we throw a few hundred grafts in to bring it up to par. I've never worried about a lack of follow through by Dr. Rahal, so I'm sure I'll end up very happy one way or the other. The left side looks totally outstanding.

I've had two strips as a relatively young guy (29-33) that likes short haircuts, and I'll say that the scar is no big deal. It disguises much more easily than you would think--I wear a 3 guard on the sides and it's only slightly visible. I've also found that it's really easy to rub a little Dermatch on the scar, and that lets me take my hair down to a 2 guard. Not the standard use for Dermatch, but it works really well. My scar is also slightly thicker than average because I'm a relatively poor healer, so take that into account. There are totally valid reasons to get FUE, but I do think scar fear is exaggerated. It's not awful unless you go REALLY bald and need/want to shave down. And, of course, you can always get FUE or SMP into the scar if you want to virtually get rid of it.

Haha, thanks guys! I'll upload a pic soon that shows the area on the left side that needs to density to come up, but at five months there's still plenty of growth/maturing to do. And worst case scenario, the left gets a few FUE grafts to top it off. Not the end of the world. Yes, I love the hairline design. It's exactly what I wanted and the artistry is amazing.

Not that I feel the need to do week-by-week updates, but I've been slammed at work over the last few weeks and really hadn't kept an eye on my hair. I figured that not much had changed since my last update at four months, but looking now that is noooooot the case. This lighting isn't awful but isn't great, so things look better than they look here under some circumstances and worse under others. The picture quality isn't top-notch so there's probably a little false density presented here, but the bottom line is that not even five months this looks really, really good. I was freaking out (exaggeration, but still) to Rahal's clinic that the right side is coming in more slowly (still true and not shown well in these pictures), but they let me know a) it's early, and b) this is my second procedure, and second procedures grow in more slowly. So bottom line, there's still a lot of growth and maturation to augment this result.

Rahal is a relatively short flight away, and there's a travel discount PLUS a really, really favorable exchange rate right now. You'll be getting one of, if not THE, best surgeons in the world at a steal of a price. I'll add a shout-out for Dr. Cooley also, who's one of the very, very best and doesn't get enough credit. He's in North Carolina, so also not very far. I traveled from Seattle to Ottawa to see Dr. Rahal, and traveling for a procedure really isn't a big deal.

Tough to tell. There was already hair in the middle, so it's much tougher to tell how much is growing. Seems to be doing OK. I'm probably just freaking out, but people always talk about how things are "sprouting like crazy," but I'm not seeing that. There was definitely plenty of growth between 2.5 and 3.5 months, but if it largely stops now the coverage will be lacking.

Mine is lopsided--left side is looking pretty decent, but right side is much more sparse. If the right side doesn't thicken up considerably it would need further attention to look even passable.

So I'm four months, one week post-op from my transplant with Dr. Rahal. Everything seems to be going fine, but just in the interest of managing expectations, what percentage of grafts have typically sprouted around this time? Obviously there are tons of grafts already sprouted that need to mature and thicken, but how long does it take before all of the grafts have BEGUN to grow--regardless of maturation? The reason I'm asking is that the density of what is growing so far is OK but not adequate, and I'm not seeing many new sprouts.

This is such a great result. Dr. Cooley never gets mentioned enough as one of the very top docs out there.

This looks really good for six months. How many grafts was the procedure, out of curiosity?

No, you're right. Luckily, everywhere but my hairline is at or very close to original density. I just forgot from my first procedure how torn up you look for months after surgery--and how it looks like everything went wrong until it all sort of comes together at once and takes you by surprise.

Haha, thanks for the head check. It's easy to be level-headed when you're looking at other peoples' results... less so when it's your own head. You always assume the worst-case scenario.

Four months to the day today. Pics aren't the best, but I think they show the progress. I'm feeling mixed about it. I love the hairline, but I'm feeling *somewhat* nervous that it's still very thin looking. Under fluorescent lights, the hairline vanishes almost completely. I'm probably just being paranoid--words of encouragement appreciated. Thanks, guys!

Honestly, I don't see why you even need Toppik. I mean, I get it--I was a NWII and I've had 3,600 hairline grafts. Hair greed is real. But you have a NWI head of hair. You have a teenager's hair. Things can and do go wrong in hair transplantation, even with a pro like Feriduni. You could have poor growth and have a lower but pluggy-looking hairline. You could have loss in the donor area that doesn't recover. And on and on. If everything goes well, then you'll look great. But if you do nothing, you'll also look great. Do yourself a favor a choose the option where you look great with no risk.

Woah... that's a HUGE change. I bet if you could see the entire face that he would look like a different person. Really appreciate that you always post the graft AND hair count... that gives a much better idea of how much hair was actually moved.

Yup, Dr. Rahal himself told me in October that they used the robot, had disappointing results, and it's now mothballed indefinitely. All I needed to hear.

Any updates on this case?

That looks awesome--it must feel incredible to him to actually have a hairline again! He looks completely different after the procedure.

Honestly, it's such a gradual process that I have trouble putting a finger on it. There's still some lingering redness, but I think there was a bit drawdown between 2.5 and 3.5 months--especially those last two weeks.

Not that I need a week-by-week update, but I thought this picture really showcases the extent to which the hairline is coming in. There are definitely two hairlines now; the transplanted hairline and the denser, previous hairline behind it. Every day looks better than the last and I think that this will look very normal/good (though certainly not complete) by month five.

Only the recipient zone. The existing hair that was commingled between the newly transplanted hair is definitely a bit thinner, though not significantly. Much of the now-thinner hair is from my first transplant. My hair was buzzed to almost nothing for the procedure, so I couldn't really tell that the recipient zone was thinner until about two months when it grew out.

Thanks! It makes you borderline crazy waiting for growth, but I'm encouraged by what I'm seeing so far. I have no idea if this is above or below the average for three-month growth, but it's certainly not a bad sign. Strangely, I can't remember what things looked like at this point in my first procedure.