densedream

Don't bother. It's a temporary patch that doesn't work in the long run. It will also age your skin horribly.. You are better of letting your hair be and try natural products. Save for a transplant if it gets bad. But as of now your hair looks normal in the picture.

Hi stinger,

 

I spoke to dr lorenzo the day I left and asked home this he magnified an area on his computer and a counted a square cm it was 33cm2 so I feel this will give an ok coverage if it all grow!!

 

Hi densedream

 

If your area was smaller and you had 6000 grafts did they all grow??? For example let's say your crown was 100cm2 which is generous 6000 divided 100 would give you 60cm per cm2 if this was the case your crown should look like a great coverag! So I'm guessing your results have not lived upto what you thought is this correct?!!

They obviously didn't all grow from my 2 procedures with Dr. Panine. You can view my recent thread to see my story. My last small procedure with Dr. Bhatti to help increase density to help augment what ever amount did grow from my previous surgeries with Dr. Panine.

I was on FInasteride 14 months before my first procedure. Almost 6 years total up to now. My crown did get bette initially. After my first surgery with Dr. Pong in the temples I had a major shed in the crown that never fully recovered. The crown wasn't even touched by Dr. Pong but for some reason it shed like crazy until it got to the point that I saw Dr. Panine for a crown procedure and you can see my crown in the pictures. It was kind of bizarre how it happened.

Well what ever your style is, it's working. I got nowhere near the growth you got from your 4300 grafts with Dr. Konoir. My photos clearly shows that. It is what it is now, and I am happy where I am now after the long road I travelled. I just hope finasteride holds up and that I use the rest of my donor, if necessary, as carefully as possible. Cheers for your amazing results nonetheless. Dr. Konoir is a magician.

Thanks for the reply Matt. I don't think my expectations are too high considering the amount for grafts and procedures I've been through. I had nearly double the amount of grafts as you and you were more bald to begin with... I guess it's easy to blame "my far too high expectations" on my screen name when you came away with awesome results. I only changed doctors due to my geographical location. In hindsight I should have flown to see Dr. Pong again. I am trying to be happy with what I have now but I still have to worry about my lucky stars exploding because I'm only 32 years old and could regress to NW 6-7.

Here is shot of my crown before 4500 grafts and after fully matured. You had less than that on your whole head and have thicker results.

I look forward to watching this. I have around 6000 grafts in my crown and it wasn't nearly as bald or as big as your crown to start with.

I was hoping to get more feedback... especially from some of the more esteemed members that have read this. Over 700 views and 2 people gave me their opinion. I curious to know what you all think about my future in terms of donor hair and future balding. My donor scar looks better after Dr. Bhatti added beard grafts to the wide areas on the sides. I hope that if worse comes to worse and I continue to lose hair, that I'll be able to get away with a 3 or 4 blade shaved look..

Here are my pictures before my 4th surgery. This procedure was done by Dr. Bhatti. My crown had already been worked on twice(5200 grafts) by Dr. Panine and my temple areas by Dr. Pong(1800 grafts). The pictures with the long hair was before Dr. Bhatti shaved my head.

Dr. Panine thanks for those pictures. There is no doubt that some hair did grow and maybe my expectations were too high for 5200 grafts and the crown is the black hole that it has been described as. In addition, I could have very well lost all the native hair in the crown I had before my first surgery. I diligently take Propecia but I know that it's not a guarantee for anything. Prior to my surgery with Dr. Bhatti, I had a haircut and the hairdresser pointed out that I was really thin in my crown. I think that really sparked the question of the results since I figured that the two surgeries should have taken care of that. It could be that more hair was lost and that is what made it look so thin. I soon after contacted Dr. Bhatti and had another FUE procedure to address the crown further. I appreciate what your clinic did for me and you have posted many results that speak for themselves. Maybe I just didn't have full growth or maybe my crown continued to thin.

Spanker - Well, I agree. I sort of went with Dr. Panine's professional and his respected HRN coalition opinion on the matter. I figured the first 3200 grafts would be the end of my worries in the crown and then I would have plenty of donor for the rest. After seeing other cases through the years from Dr. Lorenzo, Dr. Bhatti and some other doctors who use way fewer amount of grafts and achieve much greater coverage/density, I've come to the conclusion the 5200 grafts from Dr. Panine was not optimal for me. Albeit not a complete failure because some hair did grow, just not 5200 grafts worth. I'm not angry at their clinic because they tried their best and gave me a 2000 FUE to make things better. I was satisfied I guess I just though that the hair would be thicker, maybe my expectation of crown results was misguided.

Yes I have been on Finasteride the whole time. I did not want to get that many procedures... My first procedure was great but then I started to lose hair in my crown rapidly after that procedure but I didn't lose much anywhere else. So I went to Dr. Panine and had 3200 grafts as he recommended. The surgery didn't give great results and my crown was still thin and see through.. So he offered to do a 2000 FUE. After that matured, I still wasn't satisfied with some area that were still see through.

Although my crown was better than before, it wasn't 5200 grafts better in my opinion but maybe it was and I don't fully understand how many grafts a crown can recieve. Next I had surgery with Dr. Bhatti to fill in those area and to add grafts behind the hairline that were thinning. That is where I'm at today. Dr. Bhatti's transplant did give me an improvement that can be seen in the new pictures. Trust me, this is not what I envisioned but I'm just detailing my story to show how things can turn out. I'm okay in the hair department as of now, but my future is bleak if I lose more hair because my donor has been used up a lot.

By the way, are you satisfied with your FUE into FUT scar results? I am possibly looking down this avenue...

I haven't cut it short to see how it looks with a short haircut, but when I lift my side hair I can no longer see it like I could before so easily. My scar was pretty wide on the sides and it's nearly invisible now. Well worth it in my opinion. I might test a shorter hair cut this summer, like a 3 or 4 on the sides. I'll keep you updated.

Wow, surprised no one has comments. 8650 grafts is an enormous amount of grafts considering where I started... The picture where I had long hair and just a thinning crown... I have had 6000 or so grafts put there supposedly! The pictures with blue tile were taken today after a wash and blow dry. Nothing in my hair whatsoever.

Any comments from the veterans of this site. What do you think is in store for my future? What is the record number of grafts taken on this site? I can easily see myself having over 10,000, maybe 11,000 grafts. Had that been done before. How does my donor look in you opinion? Thanks for your opinion!

Congrats man! You made a great decision and it paid off.

Wow, where do I start. I have been through a long process and I'm probably not out of the woods yet.

My previous screen name was jimmybald for reference. I lost the email to that account and could not access it so I ended up making this account. I did not keep up with updates after my 2 surgery bc of emotional issues and so on. I think now is a good time to share my story and help anyone else that may ask for my opinion since I've been through so much.

1st Surgery Dr. Pong (Thailand)(2011) 1800 grafts to the receding hairline in the left and right corners. Surgery was successful and I am still happy with the outcome. I have no before photos because I deleted them awhile back in a haste that I now regret. You can check my (jimmybald) screen name for a recollection of my surgery.

2nd Surgery Dr. Panine (Chicago Coalition Member)(May 2012) 3200 grafts to the crown and some hair line work. These pictures can be seen under my jimmmybald screenname. I waited 12 months for the results but was unsatisfied with the outcome in the crown.

Dr. Panine agreed and gratuitously offered to do another surgery. I was hesitant bc I didn't want to put more grafts into the crown bc of a limited donor area. Luckily my donor area in very dense. I requested a FUE because I did not want to go through a FUT again. I went through with bc I didn't have money for another surgery elsewhere and he is a coalition doctor after all.

3rd Surgery Dr. Panine(May 2013)2000 FUE into the crown and some in the middle hairline. I do not have pictures of this before and after. I never asked the clinic for pictures and I'm not even positive they took them or not. It was such a long surgery I was out of it.

I am thankful for Dr. Panine and team to perform such a arduous procedure for free. He did stand by his work and this FUE would have cost 10K. The sad part is that I now have 4500 or so grafts in my crown... After 12 months It was better for sure but still not thick as I though it should be for that amount of grafts. Now I'm realising that the crown is really the black hole that people have always described. 14 months later it is Sept 2014 and I am thinning behind the hairline and still not happy with my crown, although it is better than before but just not what imagined for 4500 grafts. What have I got myself into.

4th Surgery Dr Bhatti(Sept 2014)] 1650 FUE grafts (100 or so of beard grafts into my FUT scar from Dr. Panine) if. Into the crown and the middle part behind the hairline. So I'm almost 7 months post-op from my 4th procedure. I am happy with the results thus far especially at the middle hairline and temple points that he closed in. The middle are is looking denser as is the crown. There are a few area that are still a bit see through but it hasn't been 12 months. I can say that this is the best result I have seen from just 1650 grafts, besides Dr. Pong too in which I saw great growth.

Sometimes I wonder how 5200 grafts from Dr. Panine turned out so unsatisfactory but I never blasted or discredited them on this site. I'm not doing that now either. I'm just sharing my story. They tried thier best to make it right by giving me a free FUE procedure and I'm grateful for that. I did have some improvement, but I highly doubt that 5200 grafts grew in correctly especially bc my donor hair is so thick and the coverage should have been thicker I would assume, It is what it is now but sometimes I'm sad about using that many grafts that I can never get back.

Maybe the crown is the black hole after all and that is what 5200 grafts look like, but after having just 1650 with Dr. Bhatti, it's not so see though anymore so I believe the yield in better. I can only imagine if I have 5200 grafts from just Dr. Bhatti, could probably fill everything in with not nearly that much.

So to the future.... my donor hair is still surprisingly thick and Dr. Bhatti says I have at least 2000 FUE left and I have a thick beard. A well know doctor in Seoul told me he could get 2000 from a strip easily as well. I would go back Dr. Bhatti for sure but just wanted to see my options.

There you have it... roughly 8650 grafts all together... which seems ridiculous given how I started out balding. Especially bc I've seen Dr. Hasson use less grafts than that to fill an NW6. I was never that bald to begin with, look at my past pics.

If I could go back to day one before any surgery. I would have waited until 30 years old at least and went to see Dr. Bhatti straight away. No FUT scar and money saved. Nothing I can do now.

I'm waiting for some pics from Dr. Bhatti that will show my head before my surgery with him. Let me know if you have any questions at all regarding the hair transplant process.

some of my previous threads

http://www.hairrestorationnetwork.com/eve/159420-had-surgery-w-dr-pong.html

http://www.hairrestorationnetwork.com/eve/164480-would-you-transplant-crown-head.html

http://www.hairrestorationnetwork.com/eve/165846-surgery-dr-panine-today.html

http://www.hairrestorationnetwork.com/eve/166832-17-months-post-op-11-weeks-post-op.html

The pictures attached is basically all I have went through a frenzy in which I deleted any picture I had with thinning hair. Luckily some were still on this site so I could recover them to tell my story as best as possible. I contacted Dr. Bhatti to get the pictures of my pre-op with a shave head. I might contact Stuart over at Dr. Panine's office to see if he has any pictures on my file he would like to share.

Can't believe that 8600 grafts later and still have some see through area.Think long and hard before you attack the crown and make sure to choose your surgeon wisely. If my hair stays like this for the next 20 years I would be ecstatic. Unfortunately if I continue to bald, I may not have enough donor left in the future. I will continue taking Proscar and using Nizoral once a week. I hope it works out.

Thanks for reading! Please comment if you want to know anything.

Damn that looks amazing, especially for only 3305 grafts! Congrats on your new life with all your hair back!

Hair loss is almost always genetic. Just take a trip to downtown and look at some bums with rockstar hair that subsist on whatever food they can get, cigarettes, alcohol, drugs, and whatever else. I guarantee you have MPB. It can make you lose your hair rather quickly or slowly over time according to your genes. Get on finsteride and wait a year or two and reasses the situation, if it doesn't improve to your satisfaction, look into hair restoration. That what were all here for.

This doctor is one of the best FUE physicians, no doubt about it.

You don't need it but if you do, FUE. Read it so it rhymes.

Wow I just looked at your pre-op pictures! What a transformation, congratulations! You should add a pre-op picture next to these new pictures for comparison because not everyone knows to check your personal page to view them.

Dr. Bhatti removes every donor hair and creates all recipient incisions. He then frequently checks the implant work and makes some small talk. Not much he can do once his main work is done since the technicians are busy implanting the grafts very efficiently and quickly.

I had a procedure almost 4 months ago and I am already seeing good growth so so far, I'm very satisfied. I will make my own thread with pictures was growth has finished but so far so good.

Thanks for you detailed reply that tells more of the story. I still believe that some malpractice was involved because if the doctor took a smaller strip then the tension would have been less and the doctor could have closed the wound properly. A highly trained doctor that is recommended here should know almost exactly how much scalp to take when measuring the elasticity of the patient before the procedure. They should also take less that absolute maximum to guarantee they can close the wound properly. 5000 grafts has been done many times by a few doctors on this site such as Dr. Hasson and Wong, Rahal, and I'm not aware of many others. Dr. Hassan usually takes a longer strip to achieve such graft counts.

I hope you keep posting photos of the healing process of such a wound because it's not everyday this forum sees such a thing from a recommended doctor, I know you said you don't want to dissuade anyone from having a strip procedure, but I assure you that these photos will will send many people running towards a FUE. Your scar is most likely going to look atrocious. It also looks wider than 1.25cm. I would imagine it's not as easy to hide as you think, unless you wear your hair 3-4 inches on the sides. A scar revision is also not a guaranteed homerun procedure. Either way I wish you the best going forward. I hope you continue to update you progress.

Guys,

 

It doesn't even seem like this is a case of scar stretching. It sounds like the doctor tried to let the wound heal by "secondary intention." This is a medical term referring to the practice of leaving a wound open and letting it naturally re-epithelialize or close itself. It's something done frequently in infected wounds; it is not something usually done in hair transplant procedures. Obviously the post-operative shots are quite shocking and I will investigate this.

 

SF,

 

If you don't want to share information here, please send me a private message. I think this requires further investigation and an explanation from your doctor.

 

Thanks.

Thanks Future Doc for stepping in here. I was hoping a moderator would say something and get to the bottom of this. I look forward to the explanation since I've never seen anything like it.

By not mentioning who it is, you are leaving all the people who read this website to possibly fall prey to this practice. That is exactly against what this forum is all about and defeats it's whole purpose. If it is somewhat common like he told you, he can come to this thread and clarify what the hell is going and why he had to do that to you. Do you think he will be angry that you posted here? He is a member and knows that all of his work can be scrutinised, which ultimately leads to a better choice of doctors.. Think about your fellow man.

WTF!!! You were butchered. Where was this and who is the "surgeon". I can't believe this is happening in 2015. If you live near a recommended doctor from this site, please go get a second opinion. Sorry man.