benji2014

So I’m due to see my surgeon this coming Friday. What do you reckon to my chances of getting a refund? Took this picture earlier today, it’s really looking a bit of a mess

1 hour ago, Zinedine said:

Hey Benji,

Sorry to see that the results you had expected are not there. It´s not the worst I´ve seen and there is of course some improvement there but ... when you spend all that money, you want to see something a lot better with at least good if not great density.

What is the clinic saying? Are you visiting them on your 1 year Post-OP?

Best of luck!

Clinic are saying the usual -  I have to wait for the one year visit (booked in for the 21st December) for them to assess. I’m disappointed with their aftercare, they have basically refused to see me until the 1 year stage. All of my correspondence has been with the patient advisor and I haven’t heard from the surgeon. Patient advisor said that they will “work with me” if the results aren’t optimal but their idea of optimal will undoubtedly be different to mine.

I just have to wait and see, they might be really good and fix it for me but I’m just so gutted that £9,000 and one year later my hair is not really any different

22 hours ago, fortuneplant said:

No. It just that the number of grafts used and the area covered indicate it's not a high density HT in the first place. As a rule of thumb, 40grafts per square cm give the illusion of density; your post-ops pic looks to be lower than that. (And you still have to factor in miniaturization, shock loss, and % of FUE grafts that did not survive like the ones around your hairline.) 

As a point of comparison, your two blank triangles on top of your head covered a similar area as my front hairline HT. I used just over 1,600 grafts or 3200 hairs. My growth/density, FUT which I did a year ago, came out ok. Not dense but good enough. Your doc not only did your triangles, but also used your 1700+ grafts to cover the whole area between the two blank triangles.

Let say, it'd take 1,600 grafts to cover your two blank triangles, am not sure an extra 100grafts is enough to cover your thinning forelock/dark triangle in the middle. 

Thanks for your input, appreciated. I wasn’t given any info by my surgeon around the number of grafts per sq cm so that is something I can bring up with him at my 1 year review

1 hour ago, Spanker said:

Pretty sparse result IMO.  However, this could be a problem with communication  and plan and not yield. 

That initial area is very large for less than 1800 grafts. 

My surgeon is very conservative in hairline design which is fine and we agreed on the hairline position. However, does a conservative hairline also mean poor density? Not in my opinion and poor density wasn’t something that was discussed. 

It’s so frustrating that after over 5 years of research and considering a transplant I have ended up in this situation 

14 minutes ago, fortuneplant said:

 

benji2014, I think your HT is within the realm of what could be expected.

The left photo is of my head at 1,600 grafts  FUT covering an area that's smaller than yours. My doc advised me then that I might have to do a second round as the clinic's is not into high density transplant.

The right photo is yours at 100+ more grafts and  covering a significantly larger area than mine. If you are going to do a touch up that covers about an inch/2.54cm into your hairline, you'll need around 1,000grafts  to thicken it up. (That's adding about 30grafts per square centimeter.)

Thanks for sharing your picture and your feedback. What stage are you at now and do you know the number of hairs you had?

Your hairline was lowered quite a lot at the front whereas mine was not lowered at all in that area just a bit of filling in. Most of the grafts went into the temple areas and I also didn’t have anything into the temple points as my hair is strong in that area. None of the images on my surgeons website show the lack of density in the temple areas that I have received

For me, I think my transplant looks a bit of a mess. My right side is higher but thicker than the left side. It doesn’t really resemble the hairline shape that you see in that post-op picture. I think something must have gone wrong during my recovery as I can’t imagine it was designed to look the way it does

Hope all turns out well with your transplant!

16 minutes ago, JeanLDD said:

He should of course do ample research and take his time, but a good conclusion in that case probably not involving going back to a surgeon that yielded a hundred and fifty or so grafts out of 1700.

Do you really think that few grafts have survived? 

I don’t have another £9,000 to get this done again. I’m due to become a Dad for the first time in May so telling the wife that I want to spend that amount of money on another HT probably won’t go down too well. Here’s hoping that the surgeon will help me out 

8 hours ago, kw877 said:

I feel bad saying so but I too would be devastated spending 9k for this to be the result. I will say it’s important for us to share the names of surgeons, you’ve not said anything out of line or defamatory and have simply provided good, detailed pictures. If the Dr was to be unhappy about this, it’s only their own work they should be disappointed in. I’m sorry mate, hope you get something worked out in terms of a refund or something.

Im 4 months out of my surgery with asmed and the most recent results are making me worry for my own. Hoping I don’t have to shell out more money and go through this ordeal again in a years time 

Once I’ve had my one year update meeting with my surgeon I will share details, I just think it’s fair to let him have a chance to have assess before I name him and potentially harm his reputation. Anyone can make a mistake and his results normally look amazing and I’ve yet to see any negative comments about him.

Hope yours turns out well. 4 months is still very early as you know. Have you posted your progress on here?

I’m a few weeks away from my one year anniversary. At this stage it looks like £9,000 down the toilet to be honest. Would any of you guys be happy with this result considering my starting position? 

3 hours ago, VicTNYC said:

Definitely looks lacking in density, although, for good coverage you probably should have done 2,500-2,800 grafts.

The surgeon likes to describe himself as conservative so the hairline was designed higher than I would ideally like but he didn’t say anything about how sparse the density would be, I trusted his estimation for the number of grafts and that’s what we went with. I can’t imagine that he intended for it to look like it does, I’m thinking that maybe some of my grafts didn’t take and have died

Frustrating that they haven’t offered any feedback and won’t see me until the full year has passed

8 hours ago, Kaya said:

Definitely lacking density. Can you please post 10-15 day pictures?

Hi,

These pictures were all taken within a couple of weeks of surgery.

To me the shape of the hairline in these pictures is a lot different to what I’ve ended up with 

1 minute ago, PeloDinero said:

This was Dr. Cooley?

No. Why do you ask? Does he do bad work as well 😂

Hi 

For anyone reading here are a few pictures of my current situation. Doesn’t seem to be getting any better to be honest

Any feedback at all? I must say now that the one year mark is only a month away I’m feeling pretty gutted by the result 

On 10/11/2018 at 9:06 AM, Spaceman said:

This does not sound right to me. Not for a procedure focused on the temples and hairline with your starting situation. There was no reason not to design a dense hairline in the temple area. Furthermore, if low density in the temples was intentional then the surgeon should have set this expectation with you up front. During your consultation did he show you other results in his results gallery featuring a low-density temple design? I’m guessing the answer is no.

Obviously you’re still at 8 months, and your density may improve somewhat in the months ahead.  You may see additional growth and what has already grown will thicken and mature. And you may end up satisfied with the result. At the same time, what that the patient advisor is telling you does not make sense.

Hi, sorry I’ve taken a while to respond to you I have been away.

No, they didn’t show me any pictures where the density at the temples looks like mine. (I am now at just over 10 months). All of the pictures on their website show decent growth at the temples. They gave me the usual talk about how it’s not possible to recreate the density I once had etc and I understand all of that but at the minute I have noticeabley different density from one side to the other, which I can’t imagine is by design

What is worrying me even more at the minute is that the hairline on the left seems to be at a sharper angle and therefore higher than my right hand side. It’s very noticeable and it’s not like I am expecting new hair to sprout on my left side and even out the hairline. I’m pretty concerned right now that I am going to have to go through another procedure 

6 hours ago, Curlinginthesquatrack said:

Dr Cooley? Btw, it’s much better but density is so important and I would honestly be unhappy too. I am 3 weeks in and hope my density with my transplant is very good. I had 1550 grafts.

 

its frustrating to think you’ll have to shave your donor hair and front again.

what if you had wanted to grow it out longer permanently and now you start again... frustrating 

Good luck with your growth and yes, if I have to go through the ball ache of shaving my head again then I will be pretty annoyed. It takes a good 4-5 months to grow back properly

7 hours ago, Steeeve said:

At this point you’ll see some maturation of the hairs that have already sprouted but I wouldn’t hold my breathe for any new hairs to sprout. You’ll have to go in for a touch-up for any more density you require. Make sure you do your research and pick a top doc. If your current doc is even a good doc he might be able to finish it off. Without knowing who it is it’s hard to say whether you should go back or go somewhere else. Have you spoken to your doctor about your displeasure with the current situation?

It really doesn’t look bad with your hair styled. You definitely have the beginnings of a solid hairline.

I only get to see my doctor again at the one year stage, which I am booked in for in a couple of months. At this point I liaise with his patient advisor, who is saying that he’s reserving judgment until he see’s me in person as he can’t tell much from pictures. He did say that the lack of density at the temples is by design to make it look natural, but I can’t imagine that it was designed to be as thin as it is, especially as the density at the left and right temples look completely different to each other. It seems so very sparse considering the majority of 1735 grafts went into these areas

This transplant wasn’t done by a back alley doctor, he has a reputation as a top surgeon so I am hopeful that if the situation doesn’t improve he will fix it without charging me the earth. Having already spent close to £9,000 I don’t really want to cough up more money 

A few more pictures here of the areas that are frustrating me at the minute. I’d be interested to get some more feedback here - do people think it is still early and these areas will thicken out? The beginning of a strong hairline are there but the growth seems very stubborn at the minute 

Hi, here is a picture taken by the surgeon on the day of my consultation, which was around 6 weeks before the surgery. The lighting in the pre-op pictures is probably making the forelock look stronger

There were some grafts placed into the frontal forelock but the majority were used to fill in the temples and create a solid hairline 

At just shy of 10 months I’m hoping there is still some more to come. It was always my temples that bothered me so I’m maybe overly critical. 

Can anyone offer any opinion on how the immediate post op pics of the hairline look compared to what I currently have?

These are two more pre-op pictures taken by the surgeon. I feel there is definitely a difference, it’s just the current lack of density at the temples that is frustrating at the moment 

Hi, not going to say who just yet. I don’t want to cause any issues with my doctor just in case things don’t turn out how I want. I can say however that the procedure was performed by an extremely reputable clinic

What do you think to the results so far?

Hi everyone

I had an FUE procedure nearly 10 months ago (December 18th 2017) so I am just getting to the 10 month stage. I was hoping to get some feedback from you guys on how you think it is progressing. I am a bit worried with the shape of the hairline at the minute, it seems way too wispy towards the temples in the corners but I am hopeful that this will thicken out over the next couple of months as I get towards that 1 year milestone. When I look at the hairline in the picture taken straight after surgery to what its looking like now, the shape looks different but it might just be me being overly worried about it. Take a look at my pics and let me know what you think

Pre-op taken by the surgeon :

k. 

Post op taken by the surgeon :

Results at around 9 and a half months :

Any questions at all please ask. If anyone would like to see other pictures let me know!

Thanks all

I appreciate the participation here but so far nobody has offered anything other than warning me away from a clinic and surgeon that they know nothing about.

That's not to say I am convinced by them or that I'm going ahead with it, and I also appreciate the concern, but I'm looking for advice based on actual experience

If anyone has any adviced based on an actual experience then your comments would be appreciated

Thanks all

Ben

To be fair, nobody has offered anything concrete for/against Vinci and/or the surgeon so far. Having said that, the fact that I am struggling to find anything at all about either seems strange and therefore doesn't really fill me with confidence.

Is it normal practice for a clinic to have you only meet with a consultant? I met with a guy and he recommended the FUT etc but said I wouldn't need to meet the surgeon until the day of the surgery which would be when he would discuss my requirements with me. I previously had a consultation with another clinic that insisted on a meeting with the actual surgeon first (although it was chargeable but deductable from the cost of the procedure)

If there is anyone who has had a transplant at a similar stage of hair loss to me I would really appreciate their advice

Cheers

Ben

Stop right there mate , just stop . Not being rude but i think you need to do your homework on here , first place to look is the list of approved Dr's on here .....speak to guys like Spex and Garageland ..

Just my own view but the only UK clinic i would ever consider is Farjo .

Research , research research!

Not being rude but me asking this question IS research. I'm asking for anyone's experience with this clinic and surgeon as there isn't anything currently on this forum about them

Hi,

Thanks for your response. Why would you avoid Vinci? Do you have experience of the clinic/surgeon?

Thanks

Ben