Spidey

7 hours ago, newpatient99 said:

You're pretty much a dream candidate for every doctor. A NW2 turning into a NW1. Despite the small case, this is what a HT should look like. Amazing result man! 

Have you considered a mini 500 graft touch up in the future? Not that you need it, but you'll probably get your old high school hairline back with one hah. 

I am debating whether to get a touchup down the road. A part of me wants to just live my life not thinking about anymore procedures as there is still a decent amount of down time and ugly duckling phase even for a small procedure. 

At the same time my hair loss so far has been very slow and a touch up down the road might possibly be the last as well.  

If you're asking me. Yes. 

I'm three years post op and after a shower it still is Pinker than the surrounding skin. It subsides and you can't see it under regular circumstances but if I were to shave my recipient area, I'm betting the skin tone would be definitely different. 

On a side not. I went off minox for a few days one time and noticed the pinkness was almost not present. Not sure if minox has anything to do with the lingering pinkness due to the extra capillaries that produced after the recipient incisions we're made. 

Worst case, I'm likely going to try v beam down the road if I decide to shave the recipent area and not go for additional procedures

On 9/3/2015 at 6:22 PM, stairstre said:

Classic Hasson donor area in my opinion. His strip seems to be always taken above the safe zone putting the patient at risk long-term.

 

He's made the same mistake here and extracted (or should I say assistant) outside of the safe zone with FUE.

 

I hope you're not headed for a high norwood. If you are, there is a VERY real chance that you will lose the transplanted hairs due to miniaturization.

 

While the work does look good, it's a small number of grafts. No doubt you will need a second to increase the density or style your hair strategically to make up for the lack of density.

 

I'm guessing that Dr. Hasson would have recommended more grafts had it been strip.

 

In the end, time will tell. As I mentioned, the recipient site looks great. Donor area (though a small number of grafts) good also. The only issue I possibly see is density due to your hair and scalp contrast. Easy fix though with a touch-up.

 

That brings me to the question I'm sure many are wondering. The elephant in the room so to speak.

 

Why on earth would you book FUE with Dr. Hasson?

 

He has no FUE results. None. Nada.

 

You're basically a guinea pig here. He is learning how to do FUE at your expense. He is training on your head. They also offer ARTAS at the expense of patient's heads, which is bad enough. The purchase was a sign of desperation no doubt.

 

I guess what I'm getting at is I hope that you got a really good discount, especially since you're promoting his work on the forum. Something they are REALLY desperate for. Word on the street says their schedule took at hit because of their reluctance to offer FUE.

 

If not, call them now and ask for one or at minimum a discount towards future work. There is a real chance that you won't get stellar growth due to their in-experience with FUE. Did they tell you that during the consultation? I hope so.

 

Anyway, best of luck. I hope it works out. While the work looks good, time will tell if Dr. Hasson has learned how to overcome the many pitfalls of FUE. He is not proven in FUE, and in my opinion should not be changing patients top dollar until proven.

 

There are much better alternatives.

 

Good luck.

Where is this guy these days anyways. ... ?

Since some may be interested. Three year update. 

Under different angles and lighting. Flash not used in any though. Sorry as I only had time to take the pics in selfie mode so quality is super HD. 

Seems like all of you are more concerned than the person with the results.... Doesn't look good, but placing transplanted hairs in between native hairs is always risky as the result is also dependant on the native hairs sticking around.

 The best cases imo are the ones that are on a completely bald area. At least it's predictable. 

But the case is disappointing, nevertheless. 

With that punch size, anything under s number 2 guard, you'll likely see the dots.

Dr diep is known to use larger punches and it really shows. ... The post op photos of his work is always pretty bloody. Hope it works out for you. I know I'm not gonna be the only one that's says I don't think you needed a ht.

Hey Spidey,

 

How do you plan on dealing with the scars in your donor? Or is your donor area healed up well enough that you dont see any scars once shaved?

With my donor I can shave it down to a number 1 without issue. I will never be able to shave it slick without the scars being seen in the donor but I don't plan on ever shaving my head to the bone.

To answer your first question, the skin bumps from the hair is not normal. I look at my native hair and there isn't any bumps at the base of the shaft. My results aren't as bad as others as it's not every single graft that resulted in the chicken skin texture but probably around 25%. It's not that noticeable but if I shaved my recipient area you would notice it. Whether the avg person would even notice, I'm not sure, but I do and that's what really matters. I do notice that when I pluck out the transplanted hair, the texture is a lot better in that it almost flattens out, so that is a good sign. Having the hair laser removed my solve the texture issue as it could be the hair shaft causing the skin at the base of the shaft to tent a bit.

As for my redness. Again it's not bad but you will be able to see it for sure if I shaved down my recipient area. I am however very glad that there is the option of the v beam to reduce or even eliminate the lingering pinkness.

End of the day, I am glad there are options and I'm glad my procedure was a small one. But I will say that knowing what I know now, I wouldn't have had the procedure done. My out was always to shave the recipient and cal it a day if my hairloss progressed, as I didn't think the ht would cause permanent colour and or skin texture issues.

I don't blame anyone but myself for not doing more research. The results I received from my procedure was excellent, and I want to be clear that there was nothing negative about the results I received from my procedure. All I'm really saying is that I never intended to have more than this one small procedure, and because of that, I shouldn't have had it done.

Have you considered having the transplanted hairs permanently removed via Laser?

How many grafts did you get from Dr bhattis procedure? Donor looks pretty good for having 4k+ taken out via fue. Do you have a link for your first procedure?

Harry. Did you notice improved skin texture after plucking the hairs out? I noticed that the hair root and shaft of the transplanted hair actually causes some skin irregularities. I once plucked one hair out and within a couple days the skin that used to around that hair that used to look goose pimplish, flattened out.

Also I am so happy for you that you found something that works. Two years after my ht I still have some pinkness. It is nowhere near as bad as some, and not as noticeable as yours. It is good to know I have an out if I do decide to shave my head and remove my transplanted hairs if my hairloss progresses.

Even before your post I researched and believed v beam would be my best bet.

Really appreciate your post.

I think I speak for most people on here when I say, don't do it! Your hair looks like its in great shape.

I typically don't respond or defend any doctors, but seeing as how this is your first post, typically first posts slandering a particular doctor are always fishy to me.

 

You guys are basing what Mikes hair looks like at a month as the final result, my hair looked exactly the same and it has improved, and now I can shave my head to a one guard with little to no detection. Even at a zero guard it is hard to detect the scars.

 

What has happened with mike is that the scars are still red and they're still healing, the surrounding follicles may have fallen due to trauma from the surgery, just like anything you have to allow your body to heal, once the new growth phase hairs begin the surrounding areas will improve, once the redness goes away you will no longer be able to see the scars as much, as with ANY SURGERY there WILL always be scars NO MATTER WHO DOES THE SURGERY.

 

Let us not forget this very important part, I have been messaged by somebody recently who under went a small FUE under the impression that he could shave his head without seeing any detection of surgery, this is a flat out lie, if you hope to shave your head and never see any sign of surgery DO NOT i repeat DO NOT have surgery.

 

Anyway here is why my head looked like 3 weeks after my first surgery with Dr. Diep, which was 2,120 grafts.

 

 

Now this is what it looked like 6 months after that surgery at a 1 guard

 

Now this is right after my second surgery with Dr. Diep

 

Here I am 5 months later

 

 

In Conclusion, the scalp will take longer to heal the larger the punch size, but it WILL heal, my first surgery I believe Dr. Diep used 1mm to get the thickest roots and I have pretty coarse hair, the second surgery he used .9mm and immediately post op I did not look any different then I did before surgery, regardless I have removed hair from my scalp permanently and placed it in another location, without a doubt I have changed the density of my donor area this is a fact, however this can be mitigated with having the perfect hair length and cut, I prefer guard .5 tapered up to a 3 guard at the very top.

Sorry for replying so late, but in all your pictures you posted from other threads, you can easily see the FUE scars. They may not look like obvious "dots" due to the number of grafts taken, but you can definitely see the scarring.

I always thought Dr diep made extractions that were way too large. Personally, I don't think it's shock loss but just the size of punch he used and the pattern. A 2000 graft fue should not leave your donor as patch as yours is. Generally you should be able to wear your hair with a number 1-1.5 without your fue scars showing.

As for your recipient area, it does look like I I healing very well.

looks good to me man... 7k for 3k grafts is a good price. I may have missed it, but how old are you. The last thing you want is to use up all your donor hair to have a teenage hairline. Your hairline does not look like it has receded, but age appropriate. 99.9% of people won't even notice. The .1% that do notice, is you! All the replies here saying that the results are decent to good, and these are people that KNOW you had something done.

Jay, thank you for the huge response! Good research so far. To answer your questions:

- I'm a combo of european / middle eastern, kind of pale with dark brown hair. So hair density indeed helps covering up, but redness and tenting is visible up close. I also want to reserve the option to shave it all off- what if the skin remains this way?

- Different lighting changes how it looks completely, as seen in the photos attached in previous page. First two were taken in one room, other two in another. I found that in the dark the difference in skin tone is even easier to spot.

- Redness in my case is mostly highlighted around each hair, which highlights the small bumps.

- Attached to this post: 1. Another angle on my skin taken a few days ago 2. I found this photo taken at two months. I remember describing to my dr that it's far redder than this photo has captured. Btw, you can see no bumps are visible, these appeared only as the hair emerged.

 

aWidowsPeek, thanks, I hope so mate. I realize there are far worse cases but if that's how a normal HT look like up close, then there's a huge issue with HT nobody's talking about. The skin is rough, not nearly as smooth compared to any other part of my scalp. It's kind of scaled with tenting. You can feel it and see it. I was definitely not prepared for this (and it's my fault). Can you describe your experience? How was your skin during / after?

I too also have some of the "cobblestoning" that you have shown in your pictures but it depends on the lighting and angle where it can be seen, and only on a few hairs, not all. And like yourself, during the first few months when no hairs were sprouting, the skin texture had no bumps and was smooth as well. I think it has to do with the hairs growing out, and the thickness of the shaft that might be causing the skin to dimple out? As you can see it looks worse when you pull the hair against the natural direction as well...

I know in the future, if my hair loss progresses, I will not attempt to play catch up. I do plan to laser the transplanted hair away and hopefully what I see under is normal skin... If not, I plan to see if there are options like fraxel out there for me.

Redness: I am 2 years post op and after a hot shower my recipient area is still slightly pink.. I think it has some to do with my use of rogaine. I remember going off rogaine for a couple days and the recipient area looked a lot paler, but who knows.

At the end of the day, I had a small procedure, and although I am extremely happy with my results, I am not going to defy nature anymore as I have better things to worry about, and money to spend on...

Please post a picture or your hair without u pulling it back.

If it were me I wouldn't bother with a ht. Your hair doesn't seem to contrast your skin much so it would look decent buzzed down to a zero guard or even 1 guard without too much of a horse shoe effect.

looks good at the 5 month mark, but damn, at 39, I wouldn't have gotten a HT with that already nice looking hair pre op!

2.5 months update

No change. Redness and texture still the same. Hasn't been any real change since the 2-week mark.

 

I've been talking to many doctors in a few different cities, including hair surgeons and different types of dermatologists. Still a few more to go.

 

I've also spoken/written with several men who've had post-HT healing problems. Stroke of genius to have put my email in an earlier post; quite a few lurkers out there who have their own redness issues contacted me. If you have any redness issues, email me at [ jay2cr3 at posteo dot net]. I read and respond to everything .

 

So with all my free time now thanks to my bloody red bandana, I've managed to gather lots of information, research and stories. I'll write it all up when I finish the consultations.

 

________________________

 

 

Hey Spidey-

 

Thanks for your comments in this thread.

 

I actually read all your posts months ago while I was deciding on my own transplant. I really appreciated your honest descriptions of everything you went through. Glad I get to thank you directly, it was really helpful! :-)

 

From your pictures, it looks like your redness was in better shape than mine at the 2.5-3 month stage. I'd love to have a situation at my 3-month mark where you can only see my pinkness under fluorescent lighting, as you write, but I think there's zero chance of that right now.

 

Your hair looks pretty thick/coarse, which I'd guess helps hide the pinkness you still have? I think in my case, because my hair is thin and blonde, it'll be less effective at hiding the redness, regardless of however much density eventually grows in.

 

But however you look at it, pinkness two years after surgery definitely isn't a good outcome. I feel for you!

I am glad my posts were informative for you. I am not sure if the skin is pink under regular conditions or just gets pink easily from warm showers and or rubbing. If I look at it in the middle or the day it doesn't look pink. Even when you look at my 12 month pics you can't see any sign of pinkness. I think the lingering pinkness I have is just increased blood flow/capillaries that is a result or the recipient site creation and/or follicles. End of the day it isn't really a big deal. The only thing that concerns me is I don't plan on doing another procedure and am not sure what the skin will look like when I eventually shave or laser the hair away. I know scars can take up to two years to fully mature so I still have some hope that it will still get better. I have scars in other areas of my body that I got ten years ago that still slowly get better each year. The pinkness isn't as much or an issue as the potential texture diff, as I've read v beam laser does a pretty good job reducing redness. I won't really know how it will look until I remove the hair which I am not about to do until I really have to. The good thing is the rest of my native hair is still thick and I should be able to conceal the area when the day comes.

I am very happy with my ht results, but if I knew there was a potential that the recipient area would not heal 100%, then I don't think I would have ever done it as, my plan was to buzz my hair to a #1 and shave the transplanted hairs if my hairloss progressed.

As for your results, do you feel the area is tender or is it just the colour?

I noticed texture change when the hairs started to sprout at about 3 months. Prior to that the area was more or less smooth. So I have a strong feeling If the hairs were plucked out or lasered away, it would likely leave a smoother area. I have started to massage my recipient area with quite a lot of pressure once a day in hopes it would help minimize any scar tissue that may be present. The pinkness is only present after a shower. A few mins after it fades to normal skin colour. But without shaving off the area there is really no way to tell what it really looks like.

I'm afraid that's not what doctors say behind the scenes. Your doctor included.

 

Should I warn Dr. Lupenzula to remove his thread because, according to you, he should just let his results speak for themselves ?

You can warn whoever you want.

This was a low blow and uncalled for.

 

By the way, it is posts just like this that explain why doctors will not participate on chat forums. Congratulations.

You're the one that created this thread. You've done it before so you should know what to expect. Other doctors don't need to participate because they let their results speak for themselves. You however, find the need to bash fue over and over in order to try to cling on to as many potential fut clients are possible. Seems like your fue needs refining or else you wouldn't try to promote fut as hard as you are. By no means should any patient who requires less than 2000 grafts and wants to keep their hair at a number 2 or shorter settle for fut. The reason there are lot of bad fue results is because of unethical drs and bargain hair mill clinics who have crap level of accountability and ethics. Just like there are crap fut surgeons out there producing bad scars and unnatural results.

Jeanluc, if it worked as well as you said believe then people on the big three should not require ht and should be able to keep and or even regrow their hair. Truth is even as an anti androgen, nizoral is a very weak one. I personally believe that it may help those with scalp conditions by improving psoriasis int he scalp.

As for the studies, wasn't the first one ever done, done by the company that made nizoral? Anyways, the active ingredient in nizoral is not good news anyways.

Most shampoos are bad enough as it is. But medicated ones like nizoral, not thanks. Used it for a little while and hated the way it made my hair feel. Not to mention it made my scalp more itchy than anything. I only use shampoo from health food stores now they are paraben and sulfate free and unscented.